Hello Everyone, I recently posted the will and estate settlement of my ancestor Thomas Cooper, who was b. 1733 or so, maybe Frederick Co VA, bought land in Albermarle Co 1755, later moved to Henry Co VA (part formerly Pittsylvania). CA. 1791 he and most of his children and their families moved to Hancok/Greene Co GA, where he died bef. Feb 1796. In response to my post I received three emails (which I can't locate) from other descendants asking if I had any proof of the information "out there" that he was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and participated in the Virginia Convention of 1788, which was convened to ratify the Constitution, that troublesome document under much scrutiny now. I hope this email gets to all of you. Since checking this out seemed like a good idea, I found a book, which does confirm these facts, but House of Delegates, not House of Burgesses, I didn't find him there before the Rev.: "The General Assembly of Virginia, July 30, 1619-January 11, 1978: A Bicentennial Register of Members" Compiled by the Library of Virginia. Specifically: VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1788. Thomas Cooper represented Henry Co with John MARR. FYI, Franklin Co was represented by John EARLY and Thomas ARTHUR. Pittsylvania was represented by Robert WILLIAMS and John WILSON (names I don't recognize). Bedford was represented by John TRIGG and Charles CLAY. Campbell by Robert ALEXANDER and Edmund WINSTON. Thomas Cooper was a member of the House of Delegates from Oct. 15, 1787 until 1790, about the time he went to GA. The particulars for the VA House of Delegates: SESSION, OCT 13-1787 - JAN 1788, Henry Co: John MARR, Thomas COOPER (Abraham PENN is mentioned as well, but a footnote says "Abraham Penn was declared unduly elected, and Thomas Cooper was declared elected"...Wonder what the story behind that is, maybe undervotes?) Bedford Co: John TRIGG, James TURNER Campbell Co: John CLARKE, Charles Moil TALBOT Franklin Co: John EARLY, Thomas ARTHUR Pittsylvania Co: William LYNCH, Benjamin LANKFORD (the above five counties rep'd in the VA Senate by Charles LYNCH) SESSION JUNE 1788 and OCT 20-DECEMBER 19, 1788: Henry Co: Thomas COOPER, Abraham PENN Bedford Co: Thomas LEFTWICH, John TRIGG Campbell Co: John HUNTER, John CLARKE Franklin Co: John EARLY, Joshua RENTFRO Pittsylvania Co: Benjamin LANKFORD, Constant PERKINS (The above rep'd in the Senate by Charles LYNCH) SESSION Oct 19 - DEC 19, 1789 Henry Co: Thomas COOPER, Abraham PENN Bedford Co: John J. TRIGG, Thomas LEFTWICH Campbell Co: John HUNTER, John CLARKE Franklin Co: Joshua RENTFRO, Samuel HAIRSTON Pittsylvania Co: William DIX, Benjamin LANKFORD (These rep'd in VA Senate by Charles LYNCH) SESSION OCT 18-DEC 1790 Henry Co: Joseph MARTIN (more on him below), Thomas COOPER Bedford Co: John TRIGG, Christopher H. CLARKE Campbell Co: John CLARK, David G. TALBOT Franklin Co: Joshua RENTFRO, John EARLY Pittsylvania Co: Matthew CLAY, Benjamin Lankford (Robert CLARKE represented the above five counties in the Senate..Anybody know who all these Clarks are?) I have copied all of the pages for the above, plus the next two General Assembly sessions. Now I was most interested that in his last term Thomas Cooper served with Joseph MARTIN (who served several more terms), one of THE most interesting personas of early Eastern Tennessee History ("married" the daughter of the revered Cherokee Nancy WARD, while also having two successive marriages inHenry Co, everybody knew about). For an interesting sketch on him check out this site at the New River Notes: http://www.ls.net/~newriver/swva/hssv-2.htm#martin Best Regards, Janet Hunter