Thomas Copeland, born in Richland County, Ohio, in 1833, served as the mayor of Diller, Jefferson County, Nebraska. A Civil War veteran who served in the Twenty-first Indiana Light Artillery, he moved to Nebraska in 1880 after stints in Indiana and Iowa. Copeland married twice and fathered six children. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Odd Fellows, and was active in the Methodist Episcopal church. His political career included serving as mayor and on the board of trustees in Diller.
Thomas Copeland, the present mayor of the thriving town of Diller, Jefferson County, Nebraska, is one of the old settlers of this part of Nebraska, having first taken up his residence here in 1880, which is an early date in the annals of Nebraska. He has enjoyed a successful career in the various pursuits to which he has devoted his seventy years of life, and is popular and highly esteemed among all classes. He is an ex-soldier of the Civil War, having followed the flag on many hard-fought battlefields of the South, and this fact alone is ample proof of the loyalty and public spirit which have always pervaded his actions.
Mr. Copeland was born in Richland County, Ohio, on February 2, 1833, of a family known for their integrity and substantiality. His father, William Copeland, was a native of Lincolnshire, England, and his mother, Mary Wells, was born in Devonshire, and after their marriage, they came to America and settled in Richland County, Ohio, near Mansfield, General Sherman’s old home. The former, who followed farming and was a Republican voter, died at the age of seventy-five, and his wife, a member of the Methodist church, lived to be eighty-six years old. Their seven children were Charlotte, Henry, Rebecca, Catherine, Thomas, John, and Charles W., who died at the age of eighteen.
Thomas Copeland was reared on the Ohio farm and learned very early the lessons of industry and the honor of labor. He also learned the carpenter’s trade and followed this occupation until the Civil War. At Lincoln’s call in August 1862 for sixty thousand troops, he enlisted in the Twenty-first Indiana Light Artillery, under Captain W. W. Andrews, of La Porte, Indiana. He took part in many of the crucial battles of the war, among them being Chatlet Gap, Hooper’s Gap, Columbia, both of the battles at Franklin, Tennessee, at Nashville, Chickamauga, thence back to Chattanooga, was with Sherman at Ringgold, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, was then sent back to Tennessee and on detail duty for a time, and at Indianapolis, Indiana, received his honorable discharge in 1865, with a worthy and honorable record as a soldier and defender of the flag. He lived for a time in Indiana, and in 1869 came to Schuyler, Nebraska, where he homesteaded a place for five years, and then went to Iowa and lived in Marion County until 1880, in which year he came to Jefferson County, Nebraska, and settled near Steele City. He conducted a farm and raised stock there, and later came to Diller, where he has been one of the enterprising and popular citizens ever since.
Mr. Copeland was first married in Bourbon County, Indiana, to Miss May Lucas, who died in Jefferson County, Nebraska, leaving six children: Rosa Bell, Thomas Ellsworth, Francis W., Emma, Charles Walter, and James Ernest. In 1895, Mr. Copeland married Mrs. Jennie Boilett, the widow of Egen Boilett, who died in Gage County, Nebraska, leaving her and three children, two of them married, Leah and Jennie. Mrs. Copeland was born in France, of French parentage, and is a lady of intelligence, conversant with both the French and English languages. Mr. Copeland is a Populist in political principle. He was elected mayor of Diller by a good majority and gave a most capable and satisfactory administration. He was also on the board of trustees for two years. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has been commander of his post. He is also an Odd Fellow and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company, A Biographical and Genealogical History of Southeastern Nebraska, 2 volumes, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904.