James Fenimore Cooper | Page 5

THE ESCAPE. From "Wyandotte." By F.O.C. Darley
MISS CAROLINE ADRIANCE FOOTE, AGE 13. From a
daguerreotype by the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
MISS ALICE TRUMBULL WORTHINGTON. From a daguerreotype
by the courtesy of owner, Mrs. Alice Worthington Synnott
LIEUT. ALEXANDER SLIDELL MACKENZIE. From Duyckwick's
"Cyclopedia of American Literature"
HELL GATE. From "Pages and Pictures," by Susan Augusta Cooper
NIAGARA FALLS. By W.H. Bartlett
JUDGE BAZIL HARRISON OF KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN. From
Hearth and Home, 1870

HON. GERRIT SMITH. From an old print
WILLIAM BRANDFORD SHUBRICK. From Lossing's "Field-Book
of the War of 1812"
CHARLES MATHEWS. From "Memorials of Charles Mathew" by
Mrs. Mathews
JAMES H. HACKETT. From "Modern Standard Drama"
STEWART'S MARBLE PALACE. From an old print
MISS SUSAN AUGUSTA COOPER, ABOUT 1850. From a
daguerreotype. By permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper,
Esq.
OTSEGO LAKE PARTY IN 1840. By J.L. Pease
JOE TOM. From a photograph by the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese
NATTY'S CAVE. From an old print
OTSEGO HALL--BACK VIEW. From "Pages and Pictures," by Susan
Augusta Cooper
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a daguerrotype by Brady. By
permission of the owner, [unreadable] Cooper, Esq., Albany, N.Y.
THE SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE (JENNY LIND). Portrait by J.W.
Orr From Soule photograph
JENNY LIND AT CASTLE GARDEN, NEW YORK CITY, 1850.
From an old print
DR. JOHN WAKEFIELD FRANCIS. From portrait by J. Goldbruam
DR. FRANCIS' HOME IN NEW YORK CITY. By Richardson

CHRIST'S CHURCH, COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. From a photograph by
A.J. Telfer
FENIMORE COOPER'S SCREEN GIFT. From a print by courtesy of
Miss Alice Bailey Keese
BISHOP WILLIAM HEATHCOTE DE LANCEY. From Scharf's
"History of Westchester County, NY"
DE LANCEY COAT OF ARMS. From "A God-Child of Washington,"
by Katherine Schuyler Baxter
THE NEW HOME AND THE OLD HOME.
INDIAN HUNTER. By J.Q.A. Ward
COOPER GROUNDS. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
THE CHILDREN'S TRIBUTE. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
LAKE OTSEGO. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
LEATHERSTOCKING FIGURE OF COOPER MEMORIAL. From a
photograph by A.J. Telfer
LEATHERSTOCKING MONUMENT. By R.E. Launitz, N.A. From a
photograph by A.J. Telfer
GEORGE POMEROY KEESE. From a photograph by permission of
Mrs. George Pomeroy Keese
BERRY POMEROY CASTLE. By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese
Acknowledgment is due The F.A. Ringler Company of New York City
and Messrs. John Andrew and Son of Boston, Mass., for the care and
interest they have shown in making the cuts used in this volume.
[Illustration: THE ENGLISH FYNAMORE COUNTRY AND

FAMILY ARMS.]

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
[Illustration: COOPER'S BIRTHPLACE, Burlington, N.J.]
The light of this world fell on James Fenimore Cooper September 15,
1789. The founder of American romance was born in a quaint,
two-storied house of stuccoed brick which now numbers 457 Main St.,
Burlington, New Jersey. It was then "the last house but one as you go
into the country" and among the best of the town. In a like house next
door lived the father of the naval hero, Capt. James Lawrence. These
two houses opened directly on the street and their slanting roofs were
shaded by tall trees rooted at the curbstones. This outline of Fenimore
Cooper's birthplace is from the text-picture in "Literary Rambles," by
Theodore F. Wolfe, M.D., Ph.D. The first of his father's family in this
new country was James Cooper, who came from Stratford-on-Avon,
England, in 1679. He and his wife were Quakers, and with Quaker
thrift bought wide tracts of land in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Seventy-five years after James Cooper stepped on American soil his
great-grandson William was born, December 2, 1754, in Byberry
township, Pennsylvania.
On December 12, 1775, at Burlington, New Jersey, William Cooper
married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Fenimore, whose family came
from Oxfordshire of Old England, and, at intervals, held office in her
provinces. James, the future author and named for his grandfather
Cooper, was the eleventh of twelve children. About 1807 Cooper, by
request of his mother, said he would adopt the name of Fenimore as
there were no men of her family to continue it. The change was delayed
by the untimely death of Judge Cooper, and also to make less difficult
the settlement of his large estate. But in 1826 James Cooper applied to
the legislature for his change of name to James Cooper Fenimore. This
request was not granted, but the change to "James Fenimore Cooper"
was made. Cooper's comment on this outcome is a graphic record and
"suggests," says an authority, that "the legislature would do well to

assume that a petitioner, in such a case, knew better than they did what
he wanted." The hyphen, at first used, was soon dropped. And so it was
for his mother's sake that he made world-wide his fame by the name of
James Fenimore Cooper.
[Illustration: THE FENIMORE BOX.]
"The Fenimore Box" is an "English measure box,