Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/399

 COOPER

COOPER

state troops under Governor Brownlow and served as such, 1866-67. He was collector of internal revenue, 1869-78. In 1898 he was en- gaged in fanning in Kansas.

COOPER, Mark Antony, representative, was born in Hancock county, Ga., April 20, 1800. He was graduated at the South Carolina college in 1819, admitted to the Georgia bar in 1821 and practised in Eatonton and Columbus, Ga. He served as an officer in both the wars against the Seminole Indians in Georgia and Florida, 1825 and 1836, gaining the rank of major. He was a representative in the 26th and 27th congresses 1839—43. In 1843 he was nominated for governor of Georgia but was defeated in the election by George AV. Crawford. He founded the Georgia state agricultural society and was largely instru- mental in promoting the agricultural and indus- trial interests of the state after the civil war. He died in Columbus, Ga., March 17, 1885.

COOPER, Myles, educator, was born in England in 1735. He was graduated at Oxford in 1760, and became a fellow of Queen's college. In 1762 he was sent to America as assistant to the Rev. William Johnson, president of King's college. New York, and was made professor of mental and moral philosophy in that institution. In 1763, on the resignation of President Johnson, he became his successor and did much to advance the cause of education in the colonies. He made a prolonged visit to England, 1771-74, and soon after his return was charged with the authorship of a political tract in the interest of the crown, which attracted much attention and called forth replies from Alexander Hamilton, then an undergraduate in the college, and from General Charles Lee. So unfavorably were his outspoken loyalist sentiments received that his personal safety was threatened by the students, and he escaped mob violence only by fleeing at night to the house of a friend and sailing on the following day in an English ship-of-war. When he reached England two parishes were placed in his charge, one in Berkshire, the other in Edinburgh. He published: Poems on Several Occasions (Oxford, 1761); The American Querist (1774); and a poem in the Gentleman's Magazine for July, 1776, describing his escape from New York. He died in Edinburgh, Scotland, May 1, 1785.

COOPER, Peter, philanthropist, was born in New York city, Feb. 12, 1791. His father was a hatter, brewer and brick maker and served as a lieutenant in the American army during the Revolution ; and both his grandfathers were in the same war, his grandfather Campbell being a deputy quartermaster and subsequently an alder- man in New York. Peter was brought up in his father's hat manufactory and worked at the trade from the time he could reach the bench by

standing on a stool. He became a proficient workman in all the details of hat making. His entire attendance at school was a half day ses- sion during one school year, probably not eighty school daj's. The business not proving profitable, his father removed to Peekskill, N.Y., where he engaged in brewing, and here the boy helped in the brewery and in delivering the ale. He then removed to Catskill, N.Y., where he resumed the hatter's business and combined with it the man- ufacture of bricks. Here Peter was made useful in handling bricks during the drying process. This business not being satisfactory to the elder Cooper, he removed to Brooklyn, N.Y., where with his son he established a hat manufactory on a small scale. They then went to Newburg, N.Y., and erected a brewery. In 1808 Peter went to New York with his savings, which amounted to ten dollars. He invested his all in a lottery and lost. He was then apprenticed to John Woodward, a carriage-maker in New York city, for a term of four years. He lived in a room in a rear building on Broadway owned by his grandmother Campbell, and in this room he carried on a workshop, doing carving of parts of coaches, mortising hubs and such other work out of business hours as he could readily turn into money. He invented a machine for mor- tising hubs. His employer, when his time had been served, offered to loan him the money to establish a carriage shop of his own, but young Cooper would not run in debt and therefore de- clined the offer. He located at Hempstead, N.Y., where he found employment in a shop for making machines for shearing clotli. This was about 1812. In 1815 he had saved sufficient money to purchase the right to manufacture for the state of New York and he added to the patent an improvement of his own. His business was very profitable owing to the embargo on foreign trade caused by the war with Great Britain. At this time he was married to Sarah Bedell of Hempstead. The close of the war caused a de- preciation in the value of his machines and he added to his business cabinet making. He after- ward removed to New York and engaged in the grocery business and soon after invested all his savings in a glue factory in New York city.

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