William Frierson Cooper

[1] His paternal grandfather, Robert Cooper, served in the American Revolutionary War.

[1] He joined the law offices of his uncle, Chancellor Samuel Davies Frierson, in Maury County, Tennessee.

[1][2] Cooper was the manager of his family Mulberry Hill Plantation in Maury County, Tennessee from 1840 to 1845.

[1] In 1851–1852, with Return J. Meigs III, Cooper were appointed to codify the laws of Tennessee.

[1] They completed their project in 1858, and their work was adopted, almost without modification, as the state's official code.

[2] Cooper was initially reluctant to embrace secession, but he fully supported the Confederate States of America (CSA) once it was established.

[6] He renamed the property Riverwood because of its location on bluffs on the north side of the Cumberland River.