# Women of distinction/Chapter 77

CHAPTER LXXVII.
MRS. ADA A. COOPER.
This acute little lady was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., February 6, 1861. She is the daughter of Rev. A. H. Newton and a granddaughter of Robert Hamilton, who was a strong Abolitionist. At a very early age she manifested a desire for books, and before she was five years old she could read and write a little. At the age of eight years she was astonishingly brilliant, both in her studies in school and in music; was always apt and ​could speak from the rostrum with much ease and readiness. At the age of fourteen she wrote a story that was much praised by her teacher. Her mother having died when Ada was only seven years old, she remained with her grandmother until fifteen, when she went to her father, who was then in charge of the A. M. E. Church at Little Rock, Ark. Still desiring to be somebody and to do something to help forward the cause of humanity and civilization, she continued in study with an earnestness that was simply surprising. She wrote another story, "The Bride of Death," when only fifteen years old. Remaining in Arkansas one and a half years, she went to New Orleans and spent one year; then going to Raleigh, N. C, with her father and step-mother, she entered Shaw University. Being a very poor, motherless girl, she could not dress herself as did the girls in her department, and, as a result, she was often held in ridicule by those who could do better. They often referred to her shabby dress and plain clothing in such a way as to try her very soul with vexation. However, she was only stimulated to greater effort, knowing that a well-cultivated brain was far more ornamental and useful than fine dress. She pushed her way on and on until she was recognized as without an equal in her class in elocution and composition, being only seventeen. At the age of eighteen her story, "The Bride of Death," was published in the North Carolina Republican, edited by William V. Turner. This called forth many congratulations from the reading public. Owing to circumstances she did not remain in the institution to graduate, ​having spent three years there, during which she supported herself by teaching, etc.
Returning to Brooklyn, she remained awhile and then went to Newbern, N. C. It was while at this town (last named) she was called upon by a committee to read the poem on emancipation celebration day. She accepted the invitation, but afterwards remembering that she had not a decent dress to wear. what to do was the Question. Finally she succeeded in borrowing a dress of a friend. This necessity so humiliated the girl of tender years that she resolved that since she was compelled by necessity to read in a borrowed dress she would not (as was the custom) read a borrowed poem. She set to work and made a poem from her own original brain and read it upon the occasion mentioned. It so stirred the people that it yet lives in the memory of many who heard it.
Some time was spent in teaching school throughout North Carolina at various points. She then came to Raleigh, N. C., and was married to Mr. William R. Harris, to whom she had been engaged for six or seven years, and who was, at the time of marriage, a teacher in St. Augustine Normal School. Just eight months after this happy union she was left a widow.
After the death of her husband she taught one year in St. Augustine Normal School, and from there accepted a position in the city graded schools of Raleigh, and at the same time edited the "Woman's Column' in the Outlook. Now health at this time fails, and a hospital operation is the only very slight hope. Death stares her in the face, for the chances were that she ​might die ere the operation was completed. She decided to try and did withstand the keen blade of the surgeon; she conquered her disease and yet lives.
Mrs. Cooper is a brilliant scholar, a pleasant lecturer, a fine writer and an earnest, energetic Christian woman. Her speech on the 5th day of November, 1891, at the North Carolina Industrial Fair, in connection with the Interstate Exposition, was, possibly, the best effort of her life.
She has recently joined the A. M. E. Conference and is now at work in that Church, and on the 13th day of January, 1892, was married to Rev. A. B. Cooper, a young but rising A. M. E. minister.
Though her way has been beset by many an obstacle, often disappointed and discouraged, she has steadily passed forward, climbing higher each year. Young and accomplished as she is there can scarcely be any doubt about the brightness of her future.
She is accustomed to visiting the sick-room, jails and huts of the poor, and reading the Bible she kneels and offers a word of prayer with them. When leaving them she always, in a very comforting way, commends them to Jesus Christ, who alone can, at will, heal the sick, free the captive and provide for the poor. Who can estimate the good this woman may do in this way? Who will do likewise? Truly the call for such women in this special mission is indeed great!