Ragan, Cooper K.

Cooper Kirby Ragan was born on June 15, 1905, in Newton, Texas. He received a Bachelor’s of Arts degree (1925) and an LL.B. (1928) from the University of Texas. After admission to the Texas Bar in 1928, he began work as an attorney with Huggins, Kayser, and Liddell in Houston, Texas. He then served as general counsel and director of Kirby Petroleum Company in Houston, Texas (1930-1956). Ragan married Susan Menefree Wilson in 1945. He became a partner in the firm of Ragan, Russell, and Rorschach after 1964, was chairman of the Texas Civil War Committee from 1959 to 1963 and secretary-treasurer of the Jefferson Davis Association. Ragan became a member of the Texas State Historical Association (1946) and served as president from 1970 to 1971. He was also president of the Houston Civil War Round Table and a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas, Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the American Law Institute. Ragan wrote numerous articles for professional journals and authored two books, Josephus Somerville Irvine, 1819-1876: The Worthy Citizen (1963) and Massachusetts Bay and the Lone Star State: Shall the Twain Never Meet? (1971).

Cooper K. Ragan died on December 30, 1986.

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