Cope family of Rowan and Cabarrus Counties, NC

Cope researchers give the immigrant ancestor as Johann Jost Cope, who was born in Saxony about 1700 and died 26 Nov 1784 in Montomgery Co. PA. His wife is identified in on-line files as Dorothea Beuscher or Bucher. I haven't researched the early family myself.

His son Johann Nicholas Cope, who is said to have been born at sea in 1727, moved to Rowan Co. NC, where he settked in the area that is now Davie County. His will dated 9 Aug 1785 was probated 8 Nov 1785 in Rowan County, as Nicholas Coape. The will names wife Catherine (Anna Catharina Goebbel), sons Phillip and John, daughters Elisabeth, Dority and Catharin, and "Yost Coape's oldest son when he comes of age".

A transcription of the complete will, by Melissa Bailey Duggins, is in the USGenWeb Archives: http://files.usgwarchives.org/nc/rowan/wills/nichcope.txt

First Generation

Children of Johann Nicholas Cope and Anna Catharina Goebbel
Elisabeth Cope (1751-?)
Georg Philip Cope (1751-1835) m. Catherine (was her maiden name Bostian?)
Johann Friedrich Cope (1754-bef. 1820) m. Elizabeth ____
Dority (Dorothea?) Cope m. ___ Bostian
Catherine Cope m. Andrew Bostian
Yost Cope (d. before September 1785) m. Mary Bowen

Second Generation

Children of George Philip Cope and Catharine
John Andrew Cope (1781-1835) m. Mary Bostian (some sources say Mary Margaret)
Catherine Cope (1783-?)
Mary Magdalene Cope (1785-?)
Elisabeth Cope (1787-?)
Susanna Cope (1789-?)
Lydia Cope (1792-?)
Judith Cope (1794-?)
John Cope (1797-?)
Jacob Cope (1799-?)
Sarah Cope (1801-?)

This family lived in what is now Davidson Co. NC, then part of Rowan County. None of this information is from my own research, and some comes from undocumented web sites. I would be grateful for corrections and additions, and for supporting data.

Third Generation

Children of John Andrew Cope and Mary Bostian
Thomas Cope
William Cope
Andrew Jacob Cope (1808-1892) m. Olive McKinney, moved to Illinois
Elizabeth Cope (1811-?) m. ___ Hays
James Cope (1815-1893) m. Margaret Melissa Plunkett (1819-?), lived Cabarrus Co. NC
George Cope (1822-1874) m. Mary Ann Eller, lived Rowan Co. NC

John Andrew Cope's will, Davie Co. NC, 1844

Fourth Generation

Children of James Cope and Margaret Melissa Plunket
Robert Wilson Cope (1839-1908) m. Mary Elizabeth Spears (1847-1911)
James William Cope (1840-1863)
Mary Jane Cope (1842-1844)
Sarah Elizabeth Cope (1844-1910) m. Charles Frazier
Charles Franklin Cope (1848-?) m. 1) Laura Spears, 2) Martha Spears
John Samuel Cope (1850-1919) m. Mary J. Wiggins (1856-1912)
Margaret M. Cope (1854-?) not in the 1860 census, maybe died young?

In 1850 this family is living in Cabarrus Co. NC. Margaret's mother Mary (Gilmer) Plunkett is living with them.

Fifth Generation

Children of Robert Wilson Cope and Mary Elizabeth Spears
daughter, name unknown (b. & d. 1867)
Robert Wilson Cope (b. & d. 1868)
William Edward Cope (1869-1941) went to Texas as a young man, m. Mary Elizabeth Campbell
Charles Hampton Cope (1870-1937) m. Janie Wallace (1890-1929)
Minnie Ada Cope (1872-1965) m. William Edney Harris (1862-1932)
son, name unknown (b. & d. 1875)
Robert Jay Cope (1876-1942)
Victor Fleming Cope (1879-1904)
Everard Wilson Cope (1882-1967) m. Ida Mae Tedder (1887-1971), lived Shreveport LA
Mary Janette Cope (1885-1963) m. Herman Clark Kissiah (1886-1965)
Samuel Lloyd Cope (1887-1929)

Sources

Thanks to James W. Cope for information on this family, by e-mail and on his WorldConnect page. Additional information came from Judy Spears.

Additional Resources

Cope family DNA project

This page was created on May 23, 2008.

 

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Elizabeth Harris, ncgen@mindspring.com