Copeland, James E. (James Edward), 1845-1937

The Copeland family settled in the Hillsborough (herein after Hillsboro) area of Loudoun County, Va., in 1765 when David and Deborah Copeland built a family farmhouse. Their son James Copeland expanded the farmhouse in 1804. Several generations later, James Edward Copeland (1845-1937) was born in Hillsborough. Copeland served as a private in the 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion, Company C for which service he and his wife, Fannie V. Copeland (1859-1950), received Confederate pensions. Although an outspoken critic of public schools Copeland started his career as a teacher in the first Hillsboro public school in 1870. He received an MD from Washington University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1876 and commenced his medical practice in Rectortown, Fauquier County, Virginia where he met and married in 1881, his wife Fannie V. Copeland. Copeland practiced medicine from 1877 to 1925 when a kick in the elbow from a horse ended his career. He had two children, Edward Virgil Copeland (1882-1918), also a physician who joined his father in his practice until his untimely death from influenza, and Maria A. Copeland (1886-1969) a teacher in Round Hill. The family is buried in the Hillsboro Cemetery. J.E. Copeland was an enthusiastic recorder of historical events and was known as the historian of Hillsboro. A large collection of scrapbooks, still held by the family, attest to this lifelong interest in recording events.