Samuel Cooper (clergyman)
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Samuel Cooper (March 28, 1725 – December 29, 1783) was a Congregational minister in Boston, Massachusetts, affiliated with the Brattle Street Church.
Cooper was born in Boston on March 28, 1725, to William Cooper and Judith Sewall. He attended the Boston Latin School and Harvard College, where he graduated in 1743.
Career
He was ordained as a minister on May 21, 1746, and served as pastor of Brattle Street Church from 1747 to 1783. Members of his parish at the Brattle St. Church included some of the most influential people of the American Revolution, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Joseph Warren, and others. He corresponded with Benjamin Franklin, Charles Hector d'Estaing, Gideon Hawley, Charles Gravier de Vergennes,[1] and was associated with Phillis Wheatley.
In 1780, he co-founded the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He served as chaplain to the General Court from 1758 to 1770 and 1777 to 1783. Around 1783, Harvard College offered Cooper the position of college president, but Cooper declined.[2]
Personal life
In September 1746, he married Judith Bulfinch; they had two daughters.[3] A portrait of Cooper by John Singleton Copley now resides in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.[4]
