1908-1909 Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University
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OBITUARY RECORD OF GRADUATES OF YALE UNIVERSITY Deceased during the Academical Year ending in JUNE, /9O9, INCLUDING THE RECORD OF A FEW WHO DIED PREVIOUSLY, HITHERTO UNREPORTED [Presented at the meeting of the Alumni, June 29, 1909] [No 9 of the Fifth Printed Senes, and No 68 of the whole Record] OBITUARY RECORD OF GRADUATES OF YALE UNIVERSITY Deceased during the Academical Year ending in JUNE, 1909, Including the Record of a few who died previously, hitherto unreported [PRESENTED AT THE MEETING OF THE ALUMNI, JUNE 29, 1909] [No 9 of the Fifth Printed Series, and No 68 of the whole Record] YALE COLLEGE (ACADEMICAL DEPARTMENT) 1838 WILLIAM FRIERSON COOPER, born in Franklin, Williamson County, Tenn, March 11, 1820, was the eldest son of Matthew D. and Mary Agnes (Frierson) Cooper. His father was a merchant residing afterward in Columbia, Maury County, Tenn , and, with an interval in New Orleans, La, was later for twenty years President of the Columbia Branch of the Union Bank He entered college from Columbia, and with him in the class, also from Tennessee, were the youngest brother and two nephews of President Polk. After graduation he returned home and studied medicine two years under Dr Hayes, and then attended medical lectures at the University of Pennsylvania Turning then to the law, he entered the office of his kinsman, Chancellor Samuel Da vies Frierson, and at the age of 21 was admitted to the bar and for over three years was in partnership with 99° YALE UNIVERSITY Chancellor Fnerson After spending a few months in New Orleans, he removed to Nashville, Tenn., and formed a partnership with Hon Alfred O P Nicholson (University of North Carolina 1827), afterward Chief Justice of Ten- nessee In 1851-52 he was editor of the Nashville Union and in the latter year he and Return J Meigs, Esq, were appointed by the State Legislature commissioners to codify the laws of Tennessee Their report, submitted in 1858, was almost without modification enacted as the code of the state About 1851 he became a partner of Hon Andrew Ewinor and continued in this connection ten years, when he was elected one of the judges of the State Supreme Court, but during the Civil War no session of the court was held and he devoted the interval to a long-contemplated visit to Europe, where he gave much time to the study of equity jurisprudence m London He had not approved all the radical measures preceding secession, but after the conflict came on his sympathies were wholly with the South At the close of the war he returned to Nashville, and on the reopening of the courts resumed the practice of his pro- fession, confining himself to chancery cases. He was in partnership for a few years with Hon Robert L. Caruthers, and later with his brother, Hon. Henry Cooper, United States Senator During this time he distinguished himself as one of the state's counsel in its foreclosure suit against the railroads for its bonds issued to them, a case which m\olved the legal standing of the bonded indebtedness of Tennessee In 1872 he was appointed by the Governor of the state Chancellor of the Nashville District, and in 1874 was elected to the same office His opinions on the cases of importance winch came before him, clearly and strongly presented, were printed in three volumes known as "Cooper's Chancery Cases " which were widely used by judges throughout the country These volumes were dedicated to Alphonso Taft, IX D (Y C 1833), his Tutor while in college He also YALE COLLEGE 99I issued a new edition of "State Reports" from the earliest times to i860, and edited a new edition of "Darnell's Chancery Practice" Besides this work he contributed literary articles to the Southern Review and articles on legal subjects to professional journals. In August, 1878, he was elected the second time a judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, and in this office showed great legal knowledge and unusual capacity to dis- pose of cases His opinions rendered in this court appear in "Lea's Reports" Although so learned m the law he was most considerate of the young men of the bar, who held him in the warmest affection. He retired from the bench in 1886 He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Yale in 1890, also the same year from the Universities of Tennessee and Nashville Upon the organization of the American Bar Association he was chosen Vice-President. In order to be near large libraries he removed to New York about 1890, and there spent the remainder of his life, dying of old age May 7, 1909, at the age of 89 years He was never married Two classmates only survive him. 1840 CURTIS FIELD BURNAM, second son of Thompson and Luanda (Field) Burnam, was born May 24, 1820, at Richmond, Ky. After graduation from college he took the law course in Transylvania University, received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from there in 1842, was admitted to the bar in 1843, and practiced his profession in his native place Mr. Burnam gave much time to public service, state and national, and during the Civil War suffered severe personal loss in his efforts to hold the state in allegiance to the national government He was elected to the Kentucky legislature from his home county in 1851, and successively from 1859 to 1863, in the last year being Speaker of the House of Representatives In 1852 he was one of the 992 \ALE UNIVERSITY presidential electors from Kentucky, and the following year declined the candidacy for Representative in Congress, although it is said his election would have been certain. In i860 he was a member of the Constitutional Union Con- vention m Baltimore In 1863 he received the support of the Republicans in the state legislature for United States Senator, but his opponent was elected after rnore than thirty ballots He was Assistant Treasurer of the United States in 1875-76, during President Grant's administration In 1890 he was a delegate from Madison County to the Con- stitutional Convention of Kentucky In 1899 and 1903 he \\a^ elected to the Kentucky state senate He received the degree of Master of Arts in course from Yale in 1846, of Doctor of Laws from Central University in Kentucky in 1873, and was for a time Professor of Law in the latter At the meeting of the Associated Western Yale Clubs in Cincinnati in 1907, Mr Burnam was present, vigorous and alert, and his warm interest in Yale continued through life He died at his home in Richmond, Ky , March 19, 1909, in hi«5 89th year He married, May 6, 1845, Sarah Helen, daughter of Dr Anthony Wayne Rollins and Salhe Harris (Rhodes) Rollins, and sister of Hon James S Rollins, a member of Congress, of Boone County, Mo They had five sons and three daughters, of whom four sons and two daughters <uir\i\e The eldest son, educated at the United States M1I1- tar\ Academy at West Point, was recently Chief Justice of Kentucky The second son was a student in 1869-70 at the LTm\ersity of Michigan, and the other three sons grad- uated from Central University at Danville, Ky , respectively \\a? elected one of the judges of the State Supreme Court, in 1877, 1878, and 1883 One son was also a Graduate student at Yale, and his son is a member of the Class of 1909 in Yale College The youngest daughter is the wife of Waller Bennett (Y C 1872) YALE COLLEGE 993 Lucius WOOSTER FITCH, born in New Haven, Conn., July 25, 1820, was the son of Rev. Eleazar Thompson Fitch, DD. (Y. C. 1810), by his first wife, Elizabeth Lucia .(Wooster) Fitch, who was the only child of Joseph Lucius Wooster (Y. C. 1781). Dr. Fitch, who was a man of wide learning and remarkably varied powers, succeeded the elder President Dwight as Professor of Divinity and College Pastor in 1817, and continued in active service until 1852, and as Professor Emeritus until his decease in 1871 After graduation Mr. Fitch was connected with the religious press in Boston, Mass , for a few months, and for a time studied medicine. In 1843 he received the degree of Master of Arts m course from Yale From 1845 to 1847 ne was engaged in farming in Huntmgton, Conn , then returned to New Haven, where he lived till 1873. Since that time his home had been in Westville, a suburb of New Haven. From 1849 to 1857 he was a bookseller, in partner- ship with Mr. Horace Day, in New Haven, and afterward devoted much of his time to literary work. He translated for Barnard's Journal of Education the first volume of Von Raumer's "Paedagogic," also the "Gaudeamus Igitur" and "Launger Horatius " From 1857 to 1881 he was the Assist- ant in the Treasurer's Office of the University and con- tinued to have the financial supervision of the College Read- ing Room until 1902 In 1848 he became a member of the North (now United) Church of New Haven, and in 1889, after his removal to Westville, he was elected a deacon of the Congregational church there. Mr. Fitch died at his home in Westville, September 26, 1908, at the age of 88 years He married, March 5, 1845, Sarah Porter, daughter of Matthias R. and Matilda Tufts, and had two sons and three daughters One daughter and a granddaughter are the only surviving members of his family Mrs Fitch died in 1884 Mr.