"[Last Will & Testament of William "Cow" Cooper]",

This two-page document is the last will and testament of William "Cow" Cooper, a member of Austin's Old 300. Much of Cooper's estate is bequeathed to his wife Sarah Cooper including the plantation, a slave named Lewis, and a slave family including Jack (father), Annie (mother), and children Emily, Thom, Mary Jane, Joseph and Albert. The will further stipulates that all household furniture and farm animals (cows, horses, oxen, and a gray mare named Margaret) are given to his wife. His remaining property was to be divided equally among his surviving children with the exception of a 900-acre parcel reserved for the children of his deceased son James Cooper. Dated May 26th, 1857 with several signatures including James Hall Bell, Clerk of Austin County, who later became the first native-born Texan to serve on the Texas Supreme Court.

William "Cow" Cooper, along with his wife Sarah (James), moved from Tennessee to Texas in 1822. He was a member of the Old 300, having been awarded 1.5 leagues of land (6,642 acres) in Waller County and additional land in Austin County. According to the 1826 census of Austin's Colony, he was a married farmer with 5 children, 2 servants and 3 slaves at the time. Cooper served in the Texas Revolution and furnished military supplies and horses for Sam Houston's army.

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Condition: B

Folded with some light staining. There is cello tape along the top edge of the second sheet, a short separation along the right sheet edge, and some minor paper loss at a fold junction.