OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 251 
ONE OF GOD’S GENTLEMEN 
97. Among the busy men of industry who grounded their suc- 
cesses in the soil was Emery Coss, one of the formative spirits of 
the Western Union Telegraph Co. Mr. Copp was born in Dryden, 
N. Y., August 20, 1831. At eleven years of age his father died, 
but under his maternal grandfather, Lemt BrapLEy, he secured 
the best of common school educations and was financed for a 
course in telegraphy at Ithaca, N. Y. After a few assignments, 
in which he was exceptionally successful, he was made manager 
of his company, the old Erie & Western. In 1852 he proceeded 
by water from Cleveland to Chicago and was one of the few 
survivors to float ashore when the boat burned. This laid the 
foundation for a delicacy under indoor life that ultimately forced 
his retirement. In 1853 under Mr. Cosp’s control five separate 
telegraph companies were merged under his management, and in 
1856 these were absorbed by the Western Union, Mr. Coss being 
made western superintendent at Chicago. He established the 
transmittal of money by telegraph and during the Civil War was 
in charge of the transmission of the War Department orders and 
reports that were sent by wire. He was entrusted with the service 
code, and was a valued friend and aide to PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 
Failing health forced him to seek release from his arduous duties 
after the Civil War, but so desirous was the company of retaining 
his services that they sent him abroad for a year in the hope of 
restoring him. The attempt was unsuccessful, however, and he 
retired to his farm in Kankakee, purchased in 1861. 
Here his improvement was gradual. He was made president 
of the First National Bank, and in 1867, GovERNOR OGLESBY ap- 
pointed him a member of the Board of Trustees of the University 
of Illinois. In 1873, the board was reduced from a membership 
of twenty-eight to nine, and Mr. Cops was made chairman of the 
finance committee, a position held twenty-six years. 
