Henry Ernest Cooper Sr.

Henry Ernest Cooper (28 August1857 - 15 May 1929) was a lawyer who became prominent in Hawaiian politics in the 1890s.

Biography

Cooper was born in New Albany, Indiana, to Harriet A. Cooper and William Giles Cooper, a lawyer from England. He was educated in common schools and received the LLB degree from the Boston University School of Law in 1878.

Cooper married Mary E. Porter in 1883 and had the following children: Alfred (born 1886 in California; Wallace McKay (born 1888 in California); Theodore A. (born 1889 in California); Alice (born 1890 in California); Henry Ernest (born June 1904 in Hawaii); Isabella (born 1904 in Hawaii); and Francis J. (born 1905 in Hawaii).

Cooper practiced law in Boston for a while, then moved with his family to Hawaii about 1890.

Career

In Hawaii, Cooper quickly got involved in Hawaiian politics.

In 1890 Cooper was the Acting President of Hawaii. He read the 1893 proclamation abolishing monarchy in Hawaii, and negotiated with the United States on annexation. In 1893 he was Chair of the important Committee of Public Safety during the Hawaiian Revolution, and was Advisory Council to the Provincial Government.

From 1893 to 1895 he was Judge of a Circuit Court. For four years beginning in 1895, he acted as Hawaii's Minister of Foreign Affairs, followed in 1899 by a term as Minister of Public Instruction. From 1899 to 1900 he was Attorney General of Hawaii, and in 1900 he was Ad Interim-Minister of Interior, Finance, Board of Health. From 1900 to 1903, he served as Secretary of the new Territory of Hawaii, appointed by President William McKinley.

By a series of transactions between 1888 and 1911, he purchased Palmyra Island.

In his later years he practiced law in Honolulu and was active in Masonic affairs. He died in Honolulu, 15 May, 1929.

References

Sources for this information are primarily "Who Was Who" v.1, and the US censuses of 1860, 1880, 1900, and 1920.