Henry COOPER, Congress, TN (1827-1884)

COOPER, Henry, (brother of Edmund Cooper), a Senator from Tennessee; born in Columbia, Maury County, Tenn., on August 22, 1827; attended Dixon Academy, Shelbyville, Tenn., and graduated from Jackson (Tenn.) College in 1847; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1850 and commenced practice in Shelbyville; member, State house of representatives 1853-1855, 1857-1859; appointed judge of the seventh judicial circuit of Tennessee in April 1862 and resigned in January 1866; professor in the law school at Lebanon, Tenn. 1866-1867; moved to Nashville where he resumed the practice of law; member, State senate 1869-1870; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877; was not a candidate for renomination in 1876; was killed by bandits in Tierra Blanca, Guadelupe y Calvo, Mexico, on February 4, 1884, where he was engaged in mining operations; interment in Tierra Blanca.

Bibliography

McKellar, Kenneth. “Henry Cooper,” in Tennessee Senators as seen by one of their Successors. Kingsport, Tenn.: Southern Publishers, Inc., 1942, 352-357.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present