Milford chronicle., 1883-04-13
DEATH OF A GOOD MAN.
"REMINISCENCES OF THE FOUNDER OF
THE COOPER INSTITUTE.
Incidents and Happenings in the Life Of the
Late Peter Cooper.

o. New York City February u, 1871. HI,
2 maternal grandfather, John Campbell
: was Deputy Quartermaster General dur
5 ing the war Of the Revolution. and ex.
= pended n considerable fortune in tbe
. service OF his country. His father was a
t Lieutenant in the army in the struggle
. for independence. After the close Of fbe
, war he established hat factoryin which
young Peter worked. He also learned
D the coachmaking trade. He finally en-
I gagged in the manufacture of cabinet
ware; then engaged in the grocery bust
. ness, and finally in the manufacture of
glue and lsinglass, which he has carried
ON more than forty years. He was Sue
r cesstul IN all these enterprises, and he
largely attributed this success to the rule
OF never incurring debt and never having
interest to pay.
Mr.. Cooper's name is identified with
the early history Of some of the most
notable inventions and improvements of
the past one hundred years. While in
Baltimore, he built, after his own de-
signs, the first locomotive engine turned
out on this continent, and il was
operated successfully on the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad. He invested large
capital in the extension of the electric
telegraph. Mr.. Cooper served in both
branches of the Common Council Of
| New York city and among other meas
ures which he advocated was the build
ing OF the Croton Aqueduct, regarded as
colossal enterprise in those days.
Convinced that the common school
system could not supply chronological
| education, he determined to establish in
his native city an institution in which the
working classes could secure that in.
struction which he sought in vain when
he was young and ambitious, and the |
result was the noble Union for the |
Advancement of Science and Art" |
commonly called the Cooper
Institute, covering the block at Seventh |
and Eighth streets, Third and Fourth
avenues. The cost of this Cncluding in
terest on the outlay, which he would
have received on an ordinary investmenN
was about 50, 900, 600, to which he added
an endowment of $4,000 in cash. and
other gifts. This building is devoted
by a deed of trust with all its
rents, issues and profits to the instruc-
ton and elevation of the working classes
of New York city. For years the expen-
ses of this institution have exceeded
$50, 900 annually The munifcence Of
this gift, the methods by which it
reaches the public and the rich results.
are too well known to demand elaborate
details. Thousands and thousands :
trained there, to-day rise up and call :
Peter Cooper blessed.
Mr.. CooPER's WIFE AND FAMILY /
Peter Cooper married Miss Sarah Be a
dol rf ETor,,V,eNooI ! .
1913, being then twenty-five years old,
and his wife in her twenty-first year. C
They had six children, four of whom t
lied in childhood. The two surviving t
children are Edward Cooper, of the firm Il
Of Cooper & Hewitt, merchants in New o
York City; and Mrs. Sarah Amelia b
Hewitt, wife of the Hon. A. S. Hewitt. il
Member of Congress. Mrs. Cooper died Al
n the seventy-seventh year Of her age il
md on the fifty-sixth anniversary of her G
Wedding day, December, 1869. Mr.. d
Jooper never spoke of his wife without ID
motion. He attributed all his highest Il
and most Of his success in fo
lie, to the sterling qualities of character Ia
n his wife. He said she was the "day it
tar, the solace and the inspiration of 81
is life"-words that express a deep feel fo
lg, and also a substantial fact; for there b
no doubt, from the character given pa
er by others, that she was woman of a
1perior moral qualities and had pre- sb
isely that fitness and training that made st,
worthy and most efficient "helpmate" in
Mr.. Cooper. Certain it is, that her tic
ositiOn was one of no secondary i'm in,
ortance in Mr.. Cooper's life and the de- en-
slopment of his character.
WHAT HE HAD SEEN.
At one time the Arcadian Club ten
red Mr.. Cooper a reception, at which, ael
the course of a long and interesting an
sponse, he said: "When I was born ii,
ew York contained 80, ,331 inhabitants. m1
he upper limits of the city were at ~
lambers street. Not a single free No
hool, either by day or night, existed in,
eneral Washington had Just entered of
ION his first term as President Of the no
nited States, the whole annual expen- r,
ture of which did not exceed 50, ,500,- 90,
o, being about sixty cents per head of Al,
e population. Not a single steam 90,
gine had yet been built or erected on a.,
e American continent, and the people 10
ere clad in homespun and were charac- ior
lAAIu nJ AAAG NAAAtANn anu AAt4bAta
lich are usually associated with that ~;
imitive garb. I need not tell you On,
nat the country now is, and what the -,
bits and the garments of its people a.,
w are, or that the expenditure per
Oitd, of the general government has va
creased fifteen fold But have wit ~,
ssed and taken a deep interest in every ~
,p of the marvellous development and lie
ogress which have characterized this oai
injury beyond all the centuries which 9 ce,
We gone before. ke,
THE FIRST CITIZEN. tru
A. Oakley Hall, editor of Truth, thus moi
eaks of Mr. Cooper: Truth ranked wo
ter Cooper as the First Citizen of the sp'
non. The people always thought of seN
ter Cooper-who was eight years old Ia Ia
len the first citizen Of the Union of On
e last century died-as ''first in peace
d first in the hearts Of his country
N" is
Peter Cooper was ever at peace with col
men, and all men were ever at peace so
III him. The hearts Of his country his
N always regarded his benevolence as ma
} true touch-stone for the bringing out ref
their best emotions for him. He was fro
the people and for the people. He hir
S born in their ranks and he never tio
their ranks. col
did not produce sluggish- tai
IS in his blood. Wealth did not taint cid
goodness. The toiler was as his is
other. Pride he never knew Mere wo
tward appearances he despised, Dis tol
aulation he abhored sh'