{{Short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder |name=John Copp |office=Member of the<br/>House of Representatives<br/>of the<br/>Colony of Connecticut<br/>from Norwalk<ref name="histd">[https://books.google.com/books?id=YCgBAAAAYAAJ&dq=Samuel+Keeler+norwalk&pg=PA77 An Historical Discourse in Commemoration of the Two-hundredth Anniversary of Norwalk]</ref> |term_start=May 1706 |term_end=October 1706 |predecessor=Thomas Betts,<br/>Samuel Hanford |alongside=Samuel Keeler |successor=Joseph Platt |term_start2=May 1716 |term_end2=October 1716 |predecessor2= |alongside2=John Betts |successor2=Joseph Platt,<br/>John Raymond, Jr. |term_start3=October 1718 |term_end3=October 1719 |predecessor3=John Bartlett,<br/>Samuel Marvin |alongside3=Joseph Platt |successor3=Samuel Hanford,<br/>Joseph Platt |office4=Town Clerk of the Town of Norwalk |term_start4=1708 |term_end4=1740 |predecessor4=Samuel Hanford |successor4=Elnathan Hanford |birth_date={{birth date|1673|06|09}}<ref>"Massachusetts, Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FHM3-16X : accessed 13 May 2014), John Copp, 09 Jun 1673; citing Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, 90-91; FHL microfilm 592866.</ref> |birth_place=Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony |death_date={{death date and age|1751|05|16|1673|06|09}}<ref name="nv1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=FulEAAAAYAAJ&dq=John%20Copp&pg=PA67 Norwalk vol. 1]</ref> |death_place=Norwalk, Connecticut Colony<ref>"Ancestral File," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/MZCZ-TZQ : accessed 2014-05-13), entry for John COPP.</ref> |resting_place=East Norwalk Historical Cemetery, Norwalk, Connecticut |spouse=Mary Jagger Phelps (m. March 16, 1698),<ref name="fs-01">"Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/9438-G51 : accessed 2014-05-13), entry for John Copp, submitted by wdecoursey2723591.</ref> Ruth Hayes Belden (daughter of Samuel Hayes, widow of John Belding, m. December 30, 1701)<ref name="fs-02">"International Genealogical Index (IGI)," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/MPCW-Q4F : accessed 2014-05-13), entry for John Copp.</ref><ref name="ahr">[https://books.google.com/books?id=vwYCAAAAYAAJ&dq=John%20Copp&pg=PA206 The Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Connecticut]</ref> |occupation=Teacher, deacon, surveyor, doctor |battles=Queen Anne's War }}
'''John Copp''' (June 9, 1673 – May 16, 1751) was a member of the House of Representatives of the Colony of Connecticut from Norwalk in the sessions of May 1706, May 1716, October 1718, and May 1719. He served from 1708 to 1740 as the town clerk of Norwalk. He was one of the purchasers of the land for the present town of Ridgefield, Connecticut from the Ramapoo Indians, as well as the town's clerk and surveyor. He also laid out the lots and roads of the present town of Bedford, New York.
== Early life and family == He was born in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on June 9, 1673, the son of David Copp, and Obedience Topliff.<ref name="fs-01"/> His father was a cordwainer, a clerk of the market, and a sealer of leather.<ref name="ps">[http://www.profsurv.com/magazine/article.aspx?i=767 Professional Surveyor] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514041007/http://www.profsurv.com/magazine/article.aspx?i=767 |date=2014-05-14 }}</ref> He was also a surveyor and adviser to selectmen of Boston on matters dealing with the laying of bounds for highways and property listings.<ref name="ps"/>
John Copp moved to Stamford, Connecticut Colony, while still in his twenties.<ref name="ps"/> There he married the widow Mary Jagger Phelps on March 16, 1698, but soon thereafter she died. He worked in Stamford for some time as a schoolteacher.<ref name="ps"/>
== Settlement at Bedford == In 1699, he temporarily moved to Bedford (which was, at the time a part of the Connecticut Colony, but would later be a part of New York.)<ref name="nv1"/><ref name="bdfd">[https://books.google.com/books?id=8qgtnfJ1Un8C&dq=John%20Copp&pg=PA104 Bedford]</ref> On November 14, 1699, he was granted 23 acres with the condition that he settle on the land for three years.<ref name="bdfd"/> Copp was appointed to a committee to negotiate with the Natives to purchase more land. By February 1700, he was appointed town treasurer and chief surveyor.<ref name="bdfd"/> As town surveyor, he laid out the lots and roads of the town.<ref name="bdfd"/>
== Life in Norwalk == In 1701, a town meeting in Norwalk, Copp was hired as a schoolteacher.<ref name="ps"/><ref name="nhs">{{Cite web |url=http://norwalkhistoricalsociety.org/mill-hill-historic-park/about-the-schoolhouse/ |title=Norwalk Historical Society |access-date=2014-05-13 |archive-date=2014-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514094650/http://norwalkhistoricalsociety.org/mill-hill-historic-park/about-the-schoolhouse/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 1705, the selectmen of Norwalk recommended that Copp apply for a medical license. He was subsequently granted a license. On July 24, 1711, at a meeting in New Haven, the Governor's Council of Assistants voted to dispatch Copp as a surgeon with a Connecticut regiment which was assigned to attack the French in Port Royal.<ref name="ps"/> Whether or not Copp actually had any medical training is not known.<ref name="ps"/>
== Purchase of Ridgefield == On May 9, 1706, the Connecticut General Assembly appointed Captain Jonathan Selleck, David Waterbury and John Copp to visit the area north of Norwalk, and south of Danbury for the purpose of inspecting the land for a settlement.<ref name="rftl">[http://jackfsanders.tripod.com/1700s.htm Ridgefield Timeline]</ref> However, complications arise and no action was taken.<ref name="rftl"/> On May 3, 1708, John Copp and John Raymond, Jr. visited the area.<ref name="rftl"/> They may have camped at Settlers Rock at the south edge of today’s Ridgefield Cemetery on North Salem Road.<ref name="rftl"/> They reported that the land was good and would sustain 30 families or more.<ref name="rftl"/> As a result, about 20,000 acres of land were purchased from Catoonah on behalf of the Ramapoo Indians.<ref name="rftl"/> In 1710, the original proprietors of Ridgefield chose John Copp, Josiah Starr and Major Peter Burr to survey their land.<ref name="rftl"/><ref name="rp">{{Cite web |url=http://www.theridgefieldpress.com/22077/who-was-the-copp-of-copps-hill/ |title=The Ridgefield Press |access-date=2014-05-13 |archive-date=2014-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514114221/http://www.theridgefieldpress.com/22077/who-was-the-copp-of-copps-hill/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Copp was Ridgefield’s first doctor, first schoolmaster and first Town Clerk. He recorded all the land sales, took the minutes at town meetings and listed all marriages, births, and deaths in the town records. When the Reverend Hauley arrived in 1712, Copp returned to Norwalk.
Copp's Island<ref name="rp"/> ({{coord|41.0589|-73.387|region:US_type:isle|display=inline|name=Copps Island}}), Copp’s Hill Road, Copp’s Hill Shopping Plaza and Copp’s Mountain are all named in his honor.
== References == {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{succession box|title=Member of the <br/>House of Representatives<br/>of the<br/>Colony of Connecticut<br/>from Norwalk |before=Thomas Betts |before2=Samuel Hanford |with=Samuel Keeler |after=Joseph Platt |years=May 1706 – October 1706 }} {{succession box|title=Member of the <br/>House of Representatives<br/>of the<br/>Colony of Connecticut<br/>from Norwalk |before= |with=John Betts |after=Joseph Platt |after2=John Raymond, Jr. |years=May 1716 – October 1716 }} {{succession box|title=Member of the <br/>House of Representatives<br/>of the<br/>Colony of Connecticut<br/>from Norwalk |before=John Bartlett |before2=Samuel Marvin |with=Joseph Platt |after=Samuel Hanford |after2=Joseph Platt |years=October 1718 – October 1719 }} {{succession box|title=Town Clerk of the Town of Norwalk |before=Samuel Hanford |after=Elnathan Hanford |years=1708–1740 }} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copp, John}} Category:1673 births Category:1751 deaths Category:Surveyors from the Thirteen Colonies Category:People of Queen Anne's War Category:Burials at East Norwalk Historical Cemetery Category:City and town clerks Category:Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Category:People from Bedford, New York Category:Politicians from Boston Category:People from Ridgefield, Connecticut Category:Politicians from Norwalk, Connecticut Category:18th-century American medical doctors Category:18th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly Category:Politicians from colonial Connecticut Category:Medical doctors from colonial Connecticut