E. C. Cooper, commissioner of insurance, has been a resident of Grand Forks, North Dakota, since 1883. He was born in Antioch, Illinois, April 11, 1856, and moved to Iowa with his parents when six years of age, where he lived until his removal to Grand Forks, where he first took a position with a large lumbering concern, and remained with the same firm until he embarked in the insurance business on his own account, and has since been identified with only the oldest and most conservative insurance companies in existence, and the character of his work has especially fitted him for the position he now holds under the state administration, and has enabled him during his term of office to render invaluable aid to the state in particular and the policyholders in general.
Mr. Cooper is an active and energetic man, and has always taken a lively interest in state and municipal affairs and has always held the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He has been honored by the people of Grand Forks from time to time, and for six years was a member of the council of that city, one term of which was as president of the council. In 1896-7 he was chairman of the Republican state central committee, and at the legislative session of 1896-7 was voted for as United States senator.
In 1904 Mr. Cooper was chosen by the Republican voters for commissioner of insurance, and again elected to that position on the Republican ticket of 1906 and 1908.
In 1901 Mr. Cooper was married to Miss Flora K. McGillivray, at Oak Park, Illinois. They have no family.
Source
C.F. Cooper & Company, History of the Red River Valley, Past And Present: Including an Account of the Counties, Cities, Towns And Villages of the Valley From the Time of Their First Settlement And Formation, volumes 1-2; Grand Forks: Herald printing company, 1909.