Samuel Cooper (March 28, 1725 – December 29, 1783) was a Congregational minister in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, Massachusetts, affiliated with the

Brattle Street Church The Brattle Street Church (1698–1876) was a Congregational (1698 – c. 1805) and Unitarian (c. 1805–1876) church on Brattle Street in Boston, Massachusetts. History In January 1698, "Thomas Brattle conveyed the land on which the meet ...

. He was born in Boston to William Cooper and Judith Sewall, attended the

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...

, and was graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

in 1743. He was ordained as a minister on May 21, 1746, and served as pastor of the Brattle Street Church, 1747-1783. Members of his parish at the Brattle St. Church included some of the most influential people of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...

John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of ...

Samuel Adams Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, a ...

Joseph Warren Joseph Warren (June 11, 1741 – June 17, 1775), a Founding Father of the United States, was an American physician who was one of the most important figures in the Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot movement in Boston, Massachusetts, Bos ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

, and others. He corresponded with

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a m ...

Charles Hector d'Estaing Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, comte d'Estaing (24 November 1729 – 28 April 1794) was a French General officer, general and admiral. He began his service as a soldier in the War of the Austrian Succession, briefly spending time as a prisone ...

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, Charles Gravier de Vergennes; and was associated with

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: Ameri ...

. In 1780, he co-founded the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

. He served as "chaplain to the General Court" 1758-1770 and 1777-1783. Around 1783 Harvard College offered Cooper the position of college president, but Cooper declined. In September 1746 he married Judith Bulfinch; they had two daughters. A portrait of Cooper by

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. Afte ...

now resides in the collection of the

Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street in Bost ...

.Massachusetts Historical Society
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Selected publications

* A sermon preached to the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company in Boston, New-England, June 3, 1751 : being the anniversary of their election of officers. Boston: Printed by J. Draper for J. Edwards ... and D. Gookin, 1751. * A sermon preached in Boston, New-England before the Society for Encouraging Industry, and Employing the Poor; August 8. 1753. Boston: Printed by J. Draper, for D. Henchman, in Cornhill, 1753. * A sermon preached in the audience of His Honour

Spencer Phips Spencer Phips (June 6, 1685 – April 4, 1757) was a government official in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Born Spencer Bennett, he was adopted by Massachusetts Governor Sir William Phips, his uncle by marriage, whose name he legally took. ...

, Esq; lieutenant governor and commander in chief; the Honourable His Majesty's Council; and the Honourable House of Representatives, of the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, May 26. 1756 Being the anniversary for the election of His Majesty's of the Council for the said province. Boston, New-England: Printed by Green and Russell, by order of the Honourable House of Representatives. 1756. * A sermon preached before His Excellency

Thomas Pownall Thomas Pownall (bapt. 4 September 1722 N.S. – 25 February 1805) was a British colonial official and politician. He was governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1757 to 1760, and afterwards sat in the House of Commons from 1767 ...

, Esq; captain-general and governor in chief, the Honourable His Majesty's Council and House of Representatives, of the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, October 16, 1759 Upon an occasion of the success of His Majesty's arms in the reduction of Quebec. Boston massacucetts New-England: Printed by Green & Russell, and Edes & Gill, by order of His Excellency the governour, and both Houses of Assembly, 1759. * A sermon preach'd April 9, 1760 : at the ordination of the Reverend Mr. Joseph Jackson, to the pastoral care of the church of Brooklin. Boston, New-England: Printed by John Draper, 1760. * A sermon upon occasion of the death of our late Sovereign, George the Second Preach'd before His Excellency Francis Bernard, Esq; captain-general and governor in chief, the Honourable His Majesty's Council, and House of Representatives, of the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, January 1. 1761. Boston: Printed by John Draper, printer to His Excellency the governor and the Honorable His Majesty's Council, 1761. * A discourse on the man of sin; delivered in the chapel of Harvard College, in Cambridge, New-England, September 1, 1773. Boston: Printed and sold at Greenleaf's printing-office, in Hanover-Street, 1774. * A sermon preached before His Excellency John Hancock, Esq; governour, the Honourable the Senate, and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, October 25, 1780 Being the day of the commencement of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

, and inauguration of the new government. Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Printed by T. and J. Fleet, and J. Gill, 1780. * Cooper was a direct ancestor on my mother's side - her father was named after him - Marvin Cooper Taylor. Samuel Cooper was also entrusted by Washington (Cooper having signed his Honorary Harvard Law Degree) and others with one of the eight rough draft copies of the Treaty of Paris - his was one of only two with the Spread-Wing Eagle Seal of The United States on the cover. He made his corrections and suggested changes in the margins of the rough draft - many of which were adopted in the final version. My family sold his copy of the rough draft of The Treaty of Paris; a 7-Page letter written to him by his friend Lafayette after the surrender at Yorktown; and a number of the sermons mentioned above, at auction at Swann Galleries, New York, NY (USA) - c. 2001. They are now in major university collections and at Williamsburg.

Selected publications

References

Further reading