from The History of Hendricks County (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914)--pages 413-415
There is no class to whom greater gratitude is due from the world at large than the self-sacrificing, sympathetic, noble-minded men whose life work is the alleviation of suffering and the ministering of comfort to the afflicted, to the end that the span of human life may be lengthened and a great degree of satisfaction enjoyed during the remainder of their earthly sojourn. There is no standard by which their beneficent influence can be measured; their helpfulness is limited only by the extent of their knowledge and skill, while their power goes hand in hand with the wonderful laws of nature that spring from the very source of life itself. Some one has aptly said “He serves God best who serves humanity most.” Among the physicians and surgeons of Hendricks County, Indiana, who have risen to eminence in their chosen field of endeavor is the subject of this review, whose career has been that of a broad-minded, conscientious worker in the sphere to which his life and energies have been devoted and whose profound knowledge of his profession has won for him a leading place among the most distinguished medical men of his day and generation in the city of his residence.
Dr. Ernest Cooper, the son of William B. and Rachel (Ritter) Cooper, was born in Guilford Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, June 8, 1870. His father was a native of North Carolina and his mother of Hendricks County, Indiana. William Cooper came to Hendricks County in 1850, when about eighteen years of age, driving through in a wagon. He was a farmer all his life and continued that occupation until his death, which occurred in 1893, at the age of sixty-one, his wife having preceded him in death in 1879, at the age of thirty-eight. To Mr. and Mrs. William Cooper were born twelve children, four of whom are living: Mrs. Etta Wolfe, of Clearwater, Florida; G.A., of Oregon; Everett, of Escondido, California, and Ernest.
Ernest Cooper was reared on the home farm and enjoyed all the pleasures which fall to the lot of the ordinary farmer's boy. He secured his elementary education in the district schools of his township, and at the age of nineteen entered the Central Academy at Plainfield, this county, working his way through the four-years high school course. After his graduation, in 1893, he taught school in his home township for two years and worked on his uncle's farm in the summer seasons. While he was attending the school at Plainfield he slept in a doctor's office and here he got his first taste of medical life. Although he had but little money, he was determined to secure a medical education, and with that end in view he entered the Indiana Medical School at Indianapolis in 1895 and worked his way through, finishing with the class of 1898. Upon the outbreak of the Spanish-American War he enlisted as a private in the hospital corps of the regular army and served during the summer and fall of 1898. Within the first four weeks of his service he was promoted to acting hospital steward and mustered out as such. Returning to his home county, he began the active practice of medicine at Plainfield as a partner of Doctor Carter and continued this partnership for the next seven years, since which time he has practiced alone. He has built up gradually a large and lucrative practice, and in 1911 he built his present modernly equipped office brick building, which is fully equipped for general practice and all kinds of surgical work. At the present time he is in charge of the Boys' Reform School at Plainfield, and has had this important position for the past five years. He has served four years on the pension board, several years as health officer, and is also surgeon for the Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company at Plainfield.
Doctor Cooper was married on June 12, 1900, to Eleanor Hanna, daughter of Hon. John Hanna, ex-congressman and one of the notable men of Indiana. Doctor and Mrs. Cooper are the parents of two daughters, Portia E., aged ten years, and Lucia V., aged seven.
Doctor Cooper is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias and Improved Order of Red Men, and takes a very active interest in lodge circles, for the past seven years having been treasurer of the Masonic Lodge at Plainfield. He is a member of the Hendricks County, State and American medical associations. He and his wife hold affiliations with the Friends Church and contribute generously of their means to its support. He has been a life-long Republican in politics, but, in accordance with the usual custom of physicians, he does not take an active part in political affairs, deeming it better to devote all of his time and attention to the medical practice.
Doctor Cooper has won his success only through hard work and diligent study. His life history is the history of a man who has struggled through his boyhood and manhood to attain the position which he holds today. He met with a very unfortunate mishap on July 22, 1910, when an accidental discharge of a shotgun so crippled his left leg that it was necessary to amputate it. The fortitude which he showed upon this occasion is characteristic of the indomitable courage of the man and stamped him as a man of unusual character. His whole life has been one of struggle, and now that he has reached a place where his practice is sufficiently lucrative to enable him to enjoy life he takes a supreme pleasure in helping those less fortunate. He and his good wife are the centers of a happy home and dispense hospitality to a large circle of friends and acquaintances.