Cooper, Mark A. (Mark Anthony), 1800-1885

"Mark Anthony Cooper - a soldier, lawyer, politician, farmer, and entrepreneur - is best remembered as an industrialist whose ironworks was one of the leading businesses in antebellum northwest Georgia. He founded the town of Etowah in Bartow County. (...) Cooper was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1838 as a statess rights Whig and in 1842 as a Democrat. In 1840 he lost his bid for reelection but was chosen to fill the unexpired term of William C. Dawson, who had resigned. Six months into his last term, Cooper himself resigned to run unsuccessfully for governor. Moving to Bartow County in 1842, Cooper embarked on his most ambitious enterprise. Believing the area's mineral resources could bring in more wealth than "King Cotton," he partnered with the pioneer ironmaster Moses Stroup to establish the Etowah Manufacturing and Mining Company and the town of Etowah and undertook a lifelong campaign to promote the economic development of northwest Georgia." -- "Mark Anthony Cooper (1800-1885)" from the New Georgia Encyclopedia (Accessed March 5, 2009).