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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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ALEXANDER STUART COOVER, who is engaged in farming and poultry raising near Shippensburg, in Cumberland county, was born April 2, 1856, on the old Jacob Coover homestead in Southampton township, that county, part of which he now owns.

Mr. Coover is the second son of Jacob and Mary E. (Renshaw) Coover, the former of whom was born in 1816, in the eastern part of Cumberland county, and descended from a pioneer family of the Cumberland Valley. He became a successful farmer, widely and favorably known as one of the most enterprising and intelligent men of his day in Southampton township. He married Mary E. Renshaw, who was born on the Ridge road, in Southampton township, Cumberland county, about 1825, and died in 1873. She, too, was a representative of a worthy old family of the county. The father passed away Jan. 19, 1891.

Alexander Stuart Coover was reared a farmer boy, and in his early youth attended the local district school. He continued with his father until 1889, when he married, and he and his wife took up their residence on a part of the old homestead, Mr. Coover subsequently purchasing a part of the Meyers farm, containing fifty-five acres. He has his place well equipped with good buildings, including a substantial bank barn, dwelling, sheds and all other necessary outbuildings, most of them built by Jacob Coover, his grandfather. Alexander S. Coover takes great interest in the details of up to date farming, paying as much attention to good stock, hogs, cattle and horses, and to improved farm machinery, as he does to the actual work of the farm, and the appearance of the place speaks volumes in favor of his methods. He takes rank deservedly with the most intelligent and progressive agriculturists of his neighborhood.

In 1889 Mr. Coover married Miss Emma Shoap, of Mt. Holly, Cumberland county, daughter of David and Rebecca Shoap, and they are the parents of two children, Iva and Roy. Mr. Coover is a Republican in political faith, and he takes considerable interest in the success of his party. His wife is a member of the Bethel Church at Shippensburg.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company. 

View additional Cumberland County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Biographies

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