Copeland, Annie M. Rector, 1855-1915

Annie M. Rector Copeland was born in July 1855, the daughter of W.A. (William) Rector of Little Rock, Ark., and Martha Hinston, his first wife who died in 1858. W.A. Rector was born the slave of Chester Ashley, U.S. senator from Arkansas from 1844 to 1848. During Reconstruction, W.A. Rector was elected city collector, city marshal, and constable. He was also a member of the famed Ashley Band of Little Rock. Annie married William L. Copeland on 22 Oct. 1874 in Pulaski County. Copeland, a lawyer, was born 1845 in Oberlin, Ohio, and had served in the Union army during the Civil War. He also served in the Arkansas Legislature from 1873 to 1875, representing Crittenden County. The family moved back to Little Rock at the end of his legislative career. Copeland worked for the postal service before becoming a Little Rock policeman. He died in the line of duty on 30 Dec. 1885 from wounds received in an attempt to apprehend a convict. Annie Rector Copeland died on 12 May 1915 in Hot Springs, Ark. She is buried with other members of the Rector family in Fraternal Cemetery, Little Rock, Ark.