Jacob Cooper

Background

Jacob Cooper was born on December 07, 1830 on a farm near Somerville, Ohio, United States. He was the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Walls) Cooper, and a brother of Elias Samuel Cooper.

Education

Jacob worked by day and studied at night to prepare for college. After some time at other institutions he entered Yale in the Junior class and graduated with high honor in 1852. He was ordained as a Presbyterian Minister in 1853. From Berlin in 1854 he received his Doctor of Philosophy, and then studied theology at Halle and Edinburgh and was licensed in the Presbyterian ministry. He received the degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Jena in 1873.

Career

In 1855 Cooper became professor of Greek in Centre College, Danville, Kentucky. This town was then rife with antislavery agitation, and when the Civil War broke out it became the center of opposition to the secession of Kentucky. To uphold the Federal cause some professors of the college and of Danville Theological Seminary established the Danville Review (1861 - 1865). Cooper was an editor, and wrote fervent outspoken articles.

In 1862 he became chaplain of the 3rd Kentucky Infantry, composed chiefly of mountain men, whom he served with signal devotion. The next year he returned to the college, which had before it several years of extreme disturbance. In 1866 he joined the faculty of Rutgers College. For twenty-seven years he was professor of Greek, and for eleven, till his death, professor of mental and moral philosophy.

Besides teaching, he gave the service of college pastor, preaching often in the chapel, and also constantly in churches. He impressed himself deeply on generations of students, and became in a remarkable way identified with the life of the college. He had large and various learning, and contagious intellectual enthusiasms. A rare gift of personal sympathy and many kindly acts won for him the hearts of his students. His individuality of speech and manner gave spicy interest to his teaching and his other relations, and made him vivid in memories. His influence in the college was increased by his high place as a citizen of New Brunswick. While decided and indeed militant in his opinions, he was and is remembered for great Christian goodness and friendliness.

For two years from 1883 he was importuned to become professor in the University of Michigan, but Rutgers would not release him. He was an editor of Bibliotheca Sacra from 1897 to 1903.

Achievements

• Jacob Cooper has been listed as a noteworthy educator, clergyman by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Loyalty Demanded by the Present Crisis

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Biographical sketch of Rev. George Duffield, Jr., D.D.
  • Theodore Dwight Woolsey

Religion

Cooper was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Politics

Cooper had a life-long intense interest in politics and was a zealous supporter of the Republican party.

Membership

In 1853, Cooper was elected to membership in the Philosophical Society of Berlin.

Connections

Cooper was married in 1855 to Caroline Macdill of Oxford, Ohio, who died two years later. In 1865 he married Mary Linn of Cincinnati.

Father:

Jacob Cooper

Mother:

Elizabeth (Walls) Cooper

Spouse:

Caroline Macdill

Spouse:

Mary Linn

References

• Religion, Race, and the Making of Confederate Kentucky, 1830-1880 (Cambridge Studies on the American South)