Cooper Family
Papers, 1796-1880

SC20184

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Historical Note:

Dr. Charles Dekay Cooper (ca.1769-1831) was the son of Dr. Ananias and Elizabeth (Dekay) Cooper of Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York. He moved to Albany, New York, in 1792 and was employed as a physician. He married Margaret Venor Tayler (ca.1773-1860), the natural daughter of John and Eva (Van Valkenburgh) Venor [of Stillwater, New York?] and adopted daughter of her uncle, John Tayler (1742-1829), an Albany public official. Dr. Charles D. Cooper and his wife had five children: John Tayler Cooper, Charles D. Cooper Jr., who became an Episcopalian clergyman, Elizabeth (ca.1807-1867, Mrs. Benjamin Nott), Margaret (Mrs. Joel Benedict Nott), and William. Benjamin and Joel Nott were sons of Eliphalet Nott, one of the founders and presidents of Union College. (See the Gertrude Lansing collection, accession number 14822, for further family information.)

Dr. Cooper was appointed health officer of the Port of Albany under Governor George Clinton. Among the other political offices he held were Indian agent and clerk of Albany County. In 1817 he became the New York State Secretary of State.

Dr. Charles D. Cooper is noted for his letters to Andrew Brown and Philip Schuyler recounting Alexander Hamilton's comments on Aaron Burr which he heard at a dinner party at John Tayler's and which sparked the Burr/Hamilton duel resulting in the death of Hamilton in 1804. The letters were published in the Albany Register. (See Aaron Burr: A Biography by Nathan Schachner (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1937), p. 247 et seq., and Memoirs of Aaron Burr, with Miscellaneous Selections from His Correspondence by Matthew L. Davis (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1858, Vol II, p. 294 et seq.)

Dr. Cooper, his son John Tayler Cooper, and his father-in-law, John Tayler, were land agents in addition to their other occupations, and the materials in this collection and the John Tayler Papers (SC20183) reflect their mutual business concerns.

John Tayler Cooper (1798-1878) was a lawyer with Bloodgood and Cooper, his partner being Simon DeWitt Bloodgood, and a military officer in the New York militia, achieving the rank of major-general of the Third Division. His first wife, Charlotte Henry, was the daughter of John V. Henry, an Albany lawyer. In the legal series are papers of Peter Seton Henry, a New York lawyer, relative to a custody suit with his wife, Harriet Townsend Henry, for their son. Charles Henry, who may have been Charlotte (Henry) Tayler's brother. John Tayler Cooper's second wife was [Angelica?] Schuyler. John T. Cooper left no issue aside from stepchildren from his second marriage.

Provenance note:

This collection of documents was created in September 1991 by collating numerous items that had been accessioned separately by this repository. Many items in this collection came from SC9838, a collection of ca. 515 items of documents assembled by Charles S. Ransom, a collector. The collection was purchased from Ransom in December 1926. Another series of 49 documents related to the Hazen Estate were donated to the repository in December 1968 by Ethel Gilliland. This originally was accessioned as SC14821. All other documents were from the single accession collection. Original accession numbers are in parentheses.

Note that there are some single accessions that actually consisted of several items; thus, care must be exercised when looking through the folders to determine that all items associated with a single accession number have been located. For example, there are several items stamped 8261. Also, because of the date arrangement, items with the same single accession number may be housed in more than one folder.

Scope and Content Note:

Being a compilation, and due to the fact that the personal and professional lives of Charles D. Cooper, John Tayler Cooper, and John Tayler were so closely intertwined, there is some overlap within the papers. The papers were separated as much as possible by signature and date into the John Tayler Papers (SC20183) and the Cooper Family Papers (SC20184) which is further divided between Charles D. Cooper and John Tayler Cooper. Papers relative to Mrs. Margaret Vernor Tayler Cooper may be found in all three divisions and there may be some confusion in the correspondence between Charles D. Cooper and his son, Charles D. Cooper, Jr. It should also be noted that there are some correspondence and land papers from the Cooper family of Otsego Lake, relations of James Fenimore Cooper.

Genealogical and family history information may be found in the finding aid folder, in the John Tayler Papers' biographical folder, and the Gertrude Lansing collection.

Charles D. Cooper

The correspondence to Charles D. and Margaret Cooper and from Charles D. Cooper to others regards almost exclusively land matters including rents, sales, and timber rights.

The financial series consists primarily of accounts of taxes due on properties and includes a list of properties owned by Charles D. Cooper.

The land papers document a land dispute involving Margaret Cooper in the Canadian and Nova Scotia refugee tract (old military tract), Clinton County. Included are a field book of the 16th township in the Totten and Crossfields Patent and memoranda.

The legal series includes the assignment of Charles D. Cooper as attorney to Samuel Huntting, a matter of a sidewalk on Herkimer Street in Albany, New York, and the indenture of Ann Sweeney, age 8, bound out by the Orphan Asylum Society to Charles D. Cooper.

John Tayler Cooper

The correspondence is primarily letters to John Tayler Cooper with a few letters to Charles T. Cooper, J.J. Cooper, Orlando Meads, an attorney, and others. The correspondence is, for the most part, about land sales, rents, and the repair of property.

The financial series consists of accounts, bills and receipts for the law firm of Bloodgood and Cooper, and land transactions and rent. There is a folder on John T. Cooper's business dealings with John B. Sanders.

The land papers contain articles of agreement, indentures and leases primarily on properties in the City of Albany but also including Chenango, Clinton, Kings, Rensselaer, and Saratoga counties. There is an 1831 map and survey of Lot 45, Elias Naramore and David West's property in New Berlin, Chenango County, by Samuel Medbery and a survey of a wood lot in Guilderland, New York. Property at the corner of Green and State streets, Albany, is mentioned frequently. There are also docket searches and an eviction notice.

The legal series includes court papers and correspondence regarding various court cases of John Tayler Cooper, or ones in which he was the attorney. There are two folders of correspondence between Peter Seton and John V.L. Pruyn and with James King involving the estates of John V. Pruyn and James King and one folder in which Peter Seton Henry requests visitation of his son Charles Henry. There are estate papers from Casparus F. Pruyn and Robert McGill, a passport for Joel B. Nott, and miscellaneous affidavits, insurance policies, and memoranda. A document of taxes due lists the properties of John Tayler Cooper.

A memorandum, in Dutch, written on monograph leaves, belonging to [Dr. Ephraim Wendell?], comments on Wendell's friend Wyngart, the death of Major Goozen Van Schaick (1725), and a notice on the death of Robert Livingston (1725).

The military papers pertain to John Tayler Cooper's participation in the New York militia from about 1800 to 1874. There is correspondence to John T. Cooper focusing primarily on the business of running the army; elections of officers, invitations to parade reviews, and regimental court actions. There are also inspection returns, orders, reports on the election of officers, letters of resignation, and miscellaneous rosters and commissions.

Printed material consists of a few miscellaneous materials on transportation and the "One Hundredth Anniversary [1897] of the Establishment of the Capitol at Albany."

Box and Folder List: