Charles DeKay Cooper (1769 – January 30, 1831) was an American physician, lawyer and

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

politician.

Early life

Born in

Rhinebeck, New York Rhinebeck is a village in the town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,657 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well ...

, he was the son of Dr. Ananias Cooper and Elizabeth DeKay Cooper. He studied medicine with Dr. Crosby in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and became a physician, like his father. By 1791, Cooper had settled in Albany. In 1792, he began to practice medicine.

Career

In 1794, he was appointed Health Officer of the Port of Albany In February 1804, Cooper attended a dinner party during which

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charle ...

spoke forcefully and eloquently against the Federalists' plan to nominate

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexand ...

as their candidate for

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor h ...

. Cooper later wrote a letter to

Philip Schuyler Philip John Schuyler (; November 18, 1804) was an American general in the Revolutionary War and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually known as Philip Schuyler, while his son is usually known as Philip J. Schuyler. Born in Alb ...

, Alexander Hamilton's father-in-law, in which he made reference to the "despicable opinion" Hamilton had expressed about Burr. The letter was published in '' The Albany Register'', but was tame compared to other attacks on Burr in the press. Still, Cooper's letter proved the last straw in the ongoing rivalry between Burr and Hamilton. When Burr read the letter weeks later, shortly after his defeat in the governor's race, he was enraged by Hamilton's alleged remarks, and challenged Hamilton to a duel, in which Hamilton was killed. From March 1806 to June 1807, Cooper was First Judge of the

Albany County Court Albany, derived from the Gaelic for Scotland, most commonly refers to: *Albany, New York, the capital of the State of New York and largest city of this name *Albany, Western Australia, port city in the Great Southern Albany may also refer to: ...

. From 1815 to 1816, he was a member of the Erie Canal Commission. In April 1817, while his father-in-law was Acting Governor, Cooper was appointed

Secretary of State of New York The secretary of state of New York is a cabinet officer in the government of the U.S. state of New York who leads the Department of State (NYSDOS). The current secretary of state of New York is Robert J. Rodriguez, a Democrat. Duties The secr ...

Personal life

He married Margaret Vernor (–1860), the adopted daughter of the future Lt. Gov.

John Tayler John Tayler (July 4, 1742 – March 19, 1829) was a merchant and politician. He served nine years as Lieutenant Governor of New York, four months acting as the sixth Governor of New York, and also in both houses of the New York State Legislat ...

and the former Margarita Van Valkenburgh. They had five children, including: * John Tayler Cooper (1798–1878), a lawyer and Major-General who married a daughter of

John Vernon Henry John Vernon (or Vernor) Henry (1767 – October 22, 1829) was an American lawyer and politician. Life John V. Henry was born in 1767, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Vernor Henry. He was admitted to the bar in 1782. He was a Federalist membe ...

. * Charles DeKay Cooper (1813–1902), a Reverend who married Cornelia Lansing Sutherland, a granddaughter of Chancellor

John Lansing, Jr. John Ten Eyck Lansing Jr. (January 30, 1754 – vanished December 12, 1829), a Founding Father of the United States, was an attorney, jurist, and politician. Born and raised in Albany, New York, Lansing was trained as a lawyer, and was long in ...

Death and burial

Cooper died on January 30, 1831. He was buried in the

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

section of the State Street Burying Grounds, but his remains were later removed to a family plot in the

Albany Rural Cemetery The Albany Rural Cemetery was established October 7, 1844, in Colonie, New York, United States, just outside the city of Albany, New York. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful, pastoral cemeteries in the U.S., at over . Many historical A ...

Sources

*
Charles D. Cooper
on Political Graveyard *About his letter to P. Schuyler, at PBS
Obit of his son, spelling erroneously the name of Gov. John Tayler and confusing the names of the governor and Charles Cooper's brother John Tayler Cooper
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' on October 13, 1902 (PDF)
Bio at NYSM
at Rootsweb

at NYSM *Report submitted by the Canal Commission on March 8, 1816, to the State Assembly, signed by Cooper, i
''Niles Weekly Register''
(Vol. 10, March 1816, page 101) *Cooper genealogy i
''A History of the County of Westchester, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time''
by Robert Bolton (Alexander S. Gould, 1848, Vol. 2, page 511)
''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (page 358; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)

*Death date fro
''The Annals of Albany''
Vol. VI, by Joel Munsell (re-published by BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, , , page 142) {The burial ground inscription says "...in the 60th year of his age." but all sources give 1769 as birth year, which means he died in his 62nd year.] {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Charles Dekay 1769 births 1831 deaths 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American physicians 19th-century American politicians Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery Democratic-Republican Party politicians Erie Canal Commissioners Lawyers from Albany, New York New York (state) state court judges People from Rhinebeck, New York Physicians from Albany, New York Politicians from Albany, New York Secretaries of State of New York (state)