Sutter County
Biographies
SAMUEL MILLER COPPIN
Although a native of Canada, Mr. Coppin has been a resident of the Sacramento Valley since a small child, and has been a part of the agricultural growth of Sutter County for the past fifty-three years. Born at Toronto, October 8, 1846, he is the son of Robert and Catherine (Miller) Coppin, both natives of England, who came to Canada when they were young folks and were married in the Dominion. There Robert Coppin was a cabinet-maker; but in 1854, seeking greater opportunities, he brought his family across the plains by prairie schooner and ox-teams, and settled in Sacramento County, near Lagune Valley. Here he took up a quarter-section of land and built a home, and reared his family to become a part of California’s growth.
Samuel Miller Coppin is the eldest in a family of six children born to his parents, and the only son. He gained his schooling in the Alabama district school, Sacramento County, and until twenty-six years old helped his father on the home ranch. In 1871 he came to Sutter County, the first one of the family to settle here, and located in the Pleasant Grove district, there buying eighty acres of land, where he engaged in agriculture on his own account. To this nucleus he has added from time to time, until he now owns over 1000 acres in Sutter, Sierra, and Placer Counties, on which he engages extensively in the raising of grain and stock.
At the Mitchell home on the Cosumnes River, January 1, 1874, occurred the marriage of Mr. Coppin to Miss Elizabeth Mitchell, a daughter of Joseph B. and Jane Mitchell, natives of England but early settlers of Illinois and afterwards pioneers of this State, to which they crossed the plains in early days, settling near Nevada City, where the father mined for a number of years. He then moved to Sacramento County, on the Cosumnes River, and there the family were reared. Mr. Mitchell lived to be sixty years old, while his wife died aged eighty years. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Coppin: Effie, who became Mrs. McClellan and is now deceased, James R., George E., Arthur, Marilla (Mrs. McWilliam), Emma (Mrs. Shackelford), Clarence, Wray W., Samuel, Gladys (Mrs. Dewey), and Herbert. Mr. Coppin served as a trustee of the Cottonwood school district for a number of years. He is a man well known in the district, and is keen for the further development of his county’s resources. He has seen wonderful changes take place in this section during the last half century, and firmly believes that the future holds even greater opportunities for men who are willing to back up their knowledge with industry, and the right sort of thrift.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 952-955