“This essay was originally published in the 1941 OCHS Yearbook. Please note that this essay was published over 83 years ago. While still useful for general education, language may be outdated and at times offensive. The Oswego County Historical Society does not stand by the language used in this essay. All photos were added in 2024 when this article was uploaded to the web. To view the original document, please visit NYHeritage.org.”
(Paper Presented Before Oswego Historical Society at Oswego, January 14, 1941, by Dr. Lida S. Penfield.)
Who were the Coopers who lived in the old Cooper house on West Second street near Van Buren street? How were the Coopers of Oswego related to the Coopers of Cooperstown ?
An answer to these questions may be gathered from the Cooper genealogy, the files of old newspapers and directories at the City Library, from records at the County Clerk’s office and in the office of the Surrogate, from the register of baptisms at Christ church, and from the lists of burials in old cemeteries at the City Hall.
The Cooper house was built when Oswego was a thriving village. The location, with its fine view, unobstructed then, of the harbor, of the lake and of Fort Ontario, was in an area where many of the prosperous built their homes. In that neighborhood lived the McNairs[sic], the Eagles, the Cranes, the Petti bones, and the Barbours[sic]. Here and there among us there are those who have heard from their elders of the pleasant home of the Cooper family in its prime, of the spacious rooms and winding stairway, of the beautiful garden, filled with fruit trees and flowers, where there was “a grand well.”
The registry of deeds shows that Judge William Cooper, his son, Richard Fenimore, and possibly a younger son, William, owned land in the town of Hannibal in 1805. (At that time Os wego’s West side was included in the limits of the Town of Hannibal.)
Ark Builder Novelist’s Brother
Readers of Crisfield John son’s “History of Oswego County” and John C. Churchill’s “Landmarks of Oswego County” are familiar with Midshipman James Fenimore Cooper’s two years in Oswego (1808 09) and “Cooper’s Ark,” built by William in 1813. Dr. E. P. Alexander of Cooperstown, who recently made us freshly acquainted with James Fenimore Cooper, has sent the following pleasant addition to our scanty information about the inventive William Cooper:
“William, the brother of Fenimore Cooper, is referred to several times in the recollections of her father written by Susan Fenimore Cooper, (daughter of the novelist) and used as an introduction to the Correspondence of James Fenimore Cooper (Yale University Press, 1922). She describes her Uncle William (quoting her mother) as: “wonderfully clever, quite a genius, a delightful talker, very witty.” It is not clear that Susan ever saw her Uncle William, and he evidently died quite young. Fenimore Cooper interested[sic] himself in William’s children (there were three), especially the two eldest, William and Eliza, who were “frequently with us.” William in fact, was virtually adopted by his Uncle James, acted as his amanuensis, and lived abroad with the Fenimore Coopers until his death at Paris in 1831. Among the references to William (brother of the novelist) in his niece’s reminiscences, there is, however, no mention of his ever having lived in Oswego. There is this rather cryptic statement in a letter from Fenimore Cooper to his wife, dated at Cooperstown, April 26, 1812: “Of William we know nothing; his wife is ignorant of his object, as are all the rest of the family; in fact the little insight he has thought proper to give us baffles all my speculations. He drew no money from here for his journey.” This may conceivably refer to a trip to Oswego and to the project of his curious boat; but this theory is pure detective work, of course and . may have no foundation in fact.”
Johnson’s History of Oswego County in speaking of the “floating battery” which William Cooper undertook to build for the U. S. Government in Oswego Harbor in 1813 says:
“William Cooper, a brother of Fenimore Cooper, was a rather eccentric genius, who then made his home about Oswego. He undertook to build a floating battery, which was to be taken to Sackett’s Harbor and used to defend that post from the British. Full of faith, Cooper went to work at his own expense, the government agreeing to pay him $16,000 for the battery when it should be completed and had proved actually capable of being floated to Sackett’s Harbor. It was nearly suare[sic], about 60 feet across, and rose some four or five feet out of the water. It was made of large logs hewed partially square, and Mr. E. W. Clarke, describes it as looking like a big, low, half submerged log house.
“Whatever name the inventor might have given it, nobody else called it anything but ‘Cooper’s Ark.’ There was a mast in the middle, and when the thing was done, Cooper placed it in charge of a Captain Gould, who boldly spread a large sail and with a few men started for Sackett’s Sarbor. There were also two or three prisoners on board whom the government officers wished to send to the Harbor. The guns were to be put on board at the latter place. The ‘Ark’ had gone but a short distance (being somewhere off New Haven, as near as we can learn) when the wind rose slightly. The log craft became unmanageable and soon went to pieces. Fortunately, all the men escaped to shore without serious injury. Cooper had used up his means on this curious contrivance and his loss, together with the ridicule to which he had subjected himself, soon caused him to leave this part of the country.”
Churchill’s “Landmarks of Oswego County” speaking of the same incident: “William Cooper entertained the belief that he was destined to immortalize his name as the builder of a vessel in Oswego Harbor, which, armed, would prove largely instrumental in ending the conflict.” (The War of 1812.)
Fate of the “Ark”
The “Otsego Herald,” published at Cooperstown, N. Y., in its issue of August 21, 1813, contained an item which throws a little additional light on William Cooper’s strange boat and which definitely links up the boat builder with Cooperstown. The item follows:
“We are informed, that a Floating Battery, in the form of an Octagon, constructed under the superintendent of Mr. William Cooper, formerly of this village, was stove[sic] to pieces on its way from Oswego to Sacket’s[sic] Harbor, the forepart of July. It is said that 15 men were navigating it, one or two of whom were drowned and the remainder considerably injured. It is stated to have been built at the expense and risk of Mr. Cooper, and to have cost about $5,000 dollars—intended to have carried 16 heavy guns.”
Leon N. Brown of Oswego has provided me with a copy of a quotation from Captain J. Van Cleve’s book on sailing vessels and steamboats on Lake Ontario which refers to William Cooper, the “Ark” builder, which I think will prove of interest:
“A small vessel, though a large one for those days[sic] had just been built by Messrs. Townsend, Bronson and Company She was built on the bank of the river at what is now the foot of West Cayuga street, that being for some years the ship yard of Oswego. Time for the launch came and with it the population of all the country about, for a launch was a great occasion in those days, only equaled by the Fourth of July.
“William Cooper, a brother of James Feennemore[sic] Cooper, was an Oswego merchant then, and he had asked and obtained permission to christen the ship and break the bottle of brandy over the bows. Everything being ready and in waiting and the people excited and impatient, William Cooper stepped up to Mr. Alvin Bronson, one of the owners, and asked her name, which had not been told to any one, and as bland as a May morning, answered, “Judy Fitz-Golly Hog -Magol[sic]. “What?” said William Cooper. The name was repeated and “Judy Fitz-Golly Hog Magol[sic]” glided into the water, a thing of life.
“Such was the launch of one of the first score[sic] of American vessels that navigated Lake Ontario. She was sold to the Government during the War of 1812. The horrible name by which she was christened was obtained from a then popular parody on one of Scott’s poems. Her name was of course shortened into Judy, which answered all practical purposes.”
For years, tradition has declared that “Pathfinder” was written by J. Fenimore Cooper in Oswego. Miss Lizzie Gordon of 21 Montcalm street, Oswego, re -calls that when she was a small child a front window in the second story of the Cooper house (which commanded a fine view including the old earthworks of Fort Oswego), was pointed out to her as that of the room where novelists created the story of “Pathfinder.”
Many others have affirmed the account. With regret I must ad mit that I have found in Oswego no dated contemporary record, written or printed, showing that Fenimore Cooper ever visited Oswego after his retirement from the Navy (1811).
James Cooper, Washington’s Friend
If, as seems possible, Fenimore Cooper did not come again to Oswego, he certainly missed contact with an exceptionally interesting kinsman. James Cooper, elder brother of Judge Cooper, uncle of his namesake, the novelist, and the first of three generations to live in the Cooper house in Oswego, was a vigorous and unusual man. The “Oswego Daily Commercial Times” for May 2, 1849 carries this account of him:
Death of James Cooper
Mr. Cooper died at 8 o’clock, last evening, at the residence of his son, C. C. Cooper, Esq. in this city, after a short illness in the 97th year of his age, having been born on the 6th day of March, 1753, in Bucks County, Penn sylvania. He was a brother of the late Judge Cooper of Cooperstown, and uncle to J. Fenimore Cooper. Till within a few days, Mr. Cooper retained in a remarkable degree, the powers and faculties of an athletic frame and strong intellect. He emphatically belonged to the iron race of the Revolution, to an age gone by, and was the friend and intimate acquaintance of Washington. At the commencement of the Revolution he served in the navy of Pennsylvania, and subsequently in the militia of that, his native state, and participated in the hard fought battles of Monmouth and Germantown. He was a Whig of the old and the new school, of the past and of the present age, a man of high moral principles, of unbending integrity, and upright in all walks of life. He belonged to the Society of Friends, and was so tenacious in his religious views as to refuse a pension for his services.
The funeral of Mr. Cooper will take place from the residence of his son, on the corner of Van Buren and Second streets at 10 o’clock a. m. to morrow.”
There was a real person!
Cortland Comly[sic] Cooper
Cortland Comly[sic[] Cooper—(often his name is spelled with a “u,” Courtland; his will is signed C. C. Cooper)—is listed in the Cooper genealogy as the son of a sister of James Cooper, Sussanah[sic]Cooper, who married John Breese, October 25, 1771; but the Oswego records all name him as the son of James, so we may fairly conclude that to his son rather than to his nephew were given the names James for his father and Comly[sic] for his mother, Sarah Comly[sic], the wife of James Cooper.
Cortland Cooper (1793 1857), in his church affiliations an Episcopalian, in his politics, like his father, a Whig, in business, a ship chandler and a dealer in real estate, served his community in public office, and throughout the three decades of his residence in Oswego was honored as a leading citizen. He came to the village of Oswego the year after the Oswego branch of the Erie Canal was opened (1827), when commerce was the chief business of the port and transportation was limited to sails, packet boats, and stagecoaches. He lived to see the village incorporated as a city (1848), the railroads capture the bulk of the transportation, and the establishment not alone of the grain elevators, but also the founding of such important manufactures as the Washington Mills and Kingsford’s Corn Starch.
From 1828 to 1856 more than 20 transactions by Mr. Cooper in real estate are listed at the County Clerk’s office here. Among his earliest purchases, with Sally, his wife, was the land in Lot 5, Block 2, of the Cemetery Plot where the Cooper house stands. He also owned land in other parts of the village, and dealt in Hannibal farmlands.
Early Owners of Parsons Ship Chandlery
The firm of ship chandlers in which he was a partner is especially interesting to us as the forerunner of the ship chandlery, later owned for many years by Mr. John S. Parsons. In Mr. Cooper’s day (according to advertisements in the daily press and the city directories of that period) the business was established in Water street near the corner of Cayuga street. In 1850 the firm was C. C. Cooper and Thomas Barbour. After Mr. Barbour died in 1855 and Mr. Cooper in 1857, the firm partners were James Comly Cooper and Daniel Lyons. It was from D. Lyons and Son that Mr. Parsons took over the business in 1890. Mrs. Parsons tells me that a New York firm wrote her after Mr. Parsons’ death last May, that it had dealt continuously with this chandlery over a period of 110 years.
Courtland was prominent not only in business but also in politics. Five times he was elected to office. As Trustee he served the village of Oswego in 1834, in 1838, and in 1841. In 1850, and again in 1851, he was elected alderman to represent the First ward of the newly incorporated 4 city (1848). The files of old newspapers at the City Library contain accounts of spirited campaigns in those days. “The Commercial Times ” was wholly Whig and championed with spirit the party to which Courtland Cooper belonged.
Even without letters or journals to enrich the story with the personal touch, from the old records can be gathered the outline of the family life. Under the shelter of the roof tree of the family homestead came and went life and death. Youth and old age celebrated weddings, births, and funerals. Courtland Cooper, then 33 years old, brought with him to Oswego village his twenty eight year old wife Sally and two children: Emily, the eldest daughter, and James, aged 6. Their little girl Sally, born in Oswego in 1831, came into the world on the day her mother died. Of these children Emily alone grew up to marry and have children of her own. The others died in childhood.
Touching Incident of Motherliness
The young widower soon brought home to his motherless brood a new mother. Her name was Clarissa. She became the mother of six sons and daughters: James Comly Cooper, Adeline, Julia, Henry George, Adelaide, and Clarissa Cornelia. A touching incident of her motherliness was revealed in the baptismal record of Christ church. She herself was baptised[sic] on May 10, 1847. On July 2 the three children were baptised[sic], the young lad James Comly, and his two small sisters, Adelaide, aged six, and the two year old Clarissa Cornelia. These were Clarissa Courtland’s only living children. The poignant significance of these baptisms came to light among the record of burials: “Clarissa, wife of Courtland C. Cooper, died July 16, 1847, aged 42 years.” (Just a fortnight after her children were christened).
Following for a moment the fortunes of these children: James Comly inherited his father’s business, married and left at his death a widow and three small children. Adelaide married Peter Fonda and died in 1874. Clarissa Cornelia married Norman Holly and lived to be eighty years old, dying in 1925.
Children Of Sally Cooper
Emily Cooper, daughter of Sally, married Thomas Barbour, her father’s partner. Their three children were:
1. William Cooper Barbour, Baptised 1850; died, 1861.
2. George Gordan Barbour, Baptised 1845.
3. Isabella Barbour, Baptised July, 1850; died Noverber[sic], 1872.
That Emily Cooper Barbour died not long after the birth of her little daughter, Isabella, is shown in the will of Thomas Barbour, dated 21 January, 1855[sic] and proved 30 March, 1855[sic]. Here in he names[sic]as his heirs his second wife, Matilda Cooper, and the children of Emily, expressly providing that his daughter Isabella, then five years old, shall have her mother’s clothes and jewelry, including her watch and chain. He further stipulates that, before dividing the estate, his executor shall set aside the sum of one hundred dollars to purchase for Matilda Cooper “suitable habiliments of mourning and a gold watch and chain.” Thomas Barbour named[sic] as guardian of his three minor children, Joel B. Penfield. The executor of the will was S. B. Johnson.
After the Barbour home was broken up by the death of the head of the family, the two boys went to live with their grandfather, Courtland Cooper. Isabella was adopted by Joel Penfield and lived in his house at 88 West Fifth street (now owned by Mrs. Daniel H. Conway) until her untimely death at the age of twenty two. Her portraits show that she was beautiful. Her friends remembered her as also talented and charming.
Returning now to the story of Courtland Cooper: Whether it was soon after the death of his wife, Clarissa, when his aged father and young children needed a woman in the home to care for them, or whether it was a few years later, when Emily’s orphaned sons came into the household, the fact remains, and is certified by his will, that he married again. She was Margaret Comstock, a widow, who brought with her to her new home her young daughter, Ann Amelia Comstock. Mr. Cooper was good to them all, children, grandchildren, step daughter and wife, and provided for them in his will. The days of his pilgrimage were soon to end. The love and admiration felt for the man shine in the lines of the notice of his passing, printed in the “Oswego Daily Times” for Friday, January 9, 1857:
Death of Courtland C. Cooper
Few citizens among us could be removed and cause a greater void, and none whose departure would be more sincerely lamented. Mr. Cooper was one of our oldest citizens, having settled here some thirty years ago, and wherever known, was universally respected, esteemed and beloved. Such marks of confidence as were in their power were bestowed upon him by his fellow citizens in various offices of honor and responsibility while we were a village and since we have become a city. In the different relations of life, he proved the elevated husband, the affectionate father, the sympathizing friend, and to the community, “The noblest work of God, an honest man.” His was a modest and retiring walk, benevolent without display and governed in all things rather from principle than applause. His life was a pattern, and though he had nearly reached his “three score years and ten,” many are those who will regret deeply that he could not have been spared longer to soothe them with his friendship and to sustain them with his counsel.
Cooper Homestead Changes Hands
Third in the family stands James Comly Cooper, bearing the Christian name of his virile Revolutionary Quaker grandsire and the family name of his grandmother. He lived just less than thirty years. We have already seen how he formed a link in the continuance of the ship chandlery. True to family tradition, he was loyal in his response to the call of his country in the Civil War. His name appears among the members of a large committee for a Union Convention to be held at the City Hall, Monday, 9 September 1861. In October of the same years[sic]he enlisted as private[sic] with the Twenty fourth New York Volunteers. But he was destined not to serve with them in action; he died of disease at home, February 18, 1862. His three little children were:
1. Edward R. Cooper
2. Cortland C. Cooper.
3. Clarissa Cooper.
His stepmother, Margaret Com stock Cooper, after the death of her husband, continued to keep the family united in the homestead; but after the death of James Comly[sic], since the daughters were married and the grandchildren provided for, the estate was divided, the furnishing of the home were sold, the house passed into other hands, and Mrs. Cooper removed to live in the west.
Hamilton Cooper Family
Another chapter might be written about Hamilton Cooper whose name appears during the eighteen thirties and forties in the registry of deeds. We are indebted for the following brief outline of his family connections to his granddaughter, Mrs. Frances Cooper Smith French of Syracuse, and sister of Mrs. Julia Smith Thurston of Constantia. She writes:
“As for our connection with James Fenimore Cooper—he was a nephew of my great grandfather, who lived in Oswego, and was probably named for him—My mother (Sarah Cooper Smith) used to tell us the story that when J. Fenimore Cooper’s novels were first published, he sent copies to his Uncle James, who looked them over, then sent them back with a note telling him: ‘Use the time God hath given thee in a more profitable way than in writing such trash.’ . . . They both (Fenimore and his brother William,) spent a great deal of time at their Uncle James’ home with their cousin Hamilton (my grandfather) Hamilton Cooper married Mary Ann Dole, sister of Mrs. S. B. Johnson.”
Mrs. W. S. Dodd tells me that the Hamilton Coopers eventually made their home in Wisconsin. When her mother, Mary Ann, died, Sarah Cooper came to live with her aunt and uncle in the Johnson home at West Fifth and Bridge Streets. From this home she was married to Mr. W. D. Smith. They lived in Oswego on West Fifth Street, between Bridge and Oneida streets. The house, now divided into apartments, is owned by Mr. J. C. Leadbetter.
Mr. Faust has provided a chart showing the lines of relationship of the Oswego Coopers with each other and with the Coopers of Cooperstown. Now that we have gained acquaintance with the three generations of a fine family, and in some measure answered our questions concerning the part they played in Oswego, in conclusion I wish to thank the many friends who have helped in this study. I am debtor to our president, Mr. Waterbury, to Mr. Faust, to Miss Kersey and the staff at the City Library, to Miss Czirr[sic] at the office of the County Clerk, to Judge George M. Penney and Miss Helen Wright at the Surrogate’s office, to Mrs. James G. Riggs, to Miss Lizzie Gordon, to Mrs. Fred A. Wiley, to Mrs. Catherine Carey, to Mrs. George Reed, and others in Oswego. Dr. Alexander and Mrs. French, by their delightful letters, have extended the borders of our knowledge of the Coopers in Oswego. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Churchill, John C. Landmarks of Oswego County, 1895; Cooper, W. W. “The Cooper Genealogy” in New York State Historical Association Proceedings Vol. 16. p. 193 211, 1917; Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. IV. Articles on James Fenimore Cooper and William Cooper, 1930; Johnson, Crisfield History of Oswego County, 1789 1877. 1877.
