QUAKER ROOTS

WILLIAM COOPER, SR. - b. 1632 d. 1710, Society of Friends (Quaker), Yeoman, Blacksmith, m. Margaret ? (Cooper), children were William*, Hannah, Joseph, James & Daniel.  William Cooper was born in Coleshill, Amersham, Hertford, England.  He and his family  fled religious persecution   and emigrated to America in 1679.   He first settled in Burlington, West Jersey but shortly after built his home  on a high bank (Cooper's Pt.) at the mouth of the Cooper River and Delaware River in what is now Camden, NJ.  He named it Pyne Poynt after the vast forest of pine trees in the area.  There, monthly meetings of the Friends were held for both sides of the Delaware River (present day Penn Treaty Island and Kensington, Philadelphia).  A canoe ferry had already been established so that settlers could attend.