WILLIAM COOPER 



WILLIAM COOPER, born about the 

 year 1798, was the son of James 

 Cooper, an English merchant belonging to a 

 good Yorkshire family, who, coming to New 

 York shortly after the Revolutionary War, 

 accumulated a comfortable fortune for that 

 time, and died in 1801. His other sons hav- 

 ing died in early youth, William gave up ideas 

 of business for study of nature and for travel 

 in Europe, which was then a rare pleasure for 

 Americans. 



His tastes seem to have been inherited from 

 his mother, who was Miss Frances Graham, of 

 Ulster Co., New York. When about twenty 

 Mr. Cooper united with a number of gentle- 

 men of scientific inclinations in establishing 

 the " Lyceum of Natural History," organized 

 in 181 7, of which the distinguished physician, 



