William of Sailor's Hooe

by Harry Baglole

The story of the Cooper family is Take time to remove the grass and earth Sailor's Hope unparalleled in pioneer history. It is from the part of the stone which has The murder of Edward Abell was an stranger than fiction.... been covered and you reveal, exceptional event in Island history.* The name Patrick Pearce is remembered for J.H. MacDonald in The Highly respected by all who knew that one bloody deed. Other tenants Maple Leaf (Oakland, him. defied landlords, withheld rents, California, 1936), p. 51. threatened agents or constables with The graveyard overlooks a paved pitchforks, burned houses, even highway, some fields and spruce forest, marched through the streets of Char- A he stone is uncared for. It stands, and, to the northeast, Abells Cape and lottetown. One brave soul, John Macin- modest and obscure, in the southeast the sea. There is but one other Cooper tosh of St. Margarets, stood forth in corner of the Bay Fortune United stone, that belonging to Cuthbert, a church to berate his priest, also a Church Cemetery. The tilt becomes retired American actor and no relation. landlord. Intimidation and the expres- slightly more pronounced each year; People from the surrounding com- sion of outrage came to be expected; the letters near the base gradually munities of Fortune Bridge, Howe Bay, but murder — stabbing a man with a disappear into the ground. The in- Little Pond, Annandale come to visit bayonet — that was something else scription bespeaks the man — might, other parts of the cemetery, gather again. Pearce's tenant neighbours indi- indeed, have been written by him. around other graves to speak in whis- cated sympathy, if not outright support, pers over forebears. The name William by hiding him in the woods and aiding SACRED to the memory of WIL- Cooper means little to them. Try asking. his escape. They, too, had hated Abell, LIAM COOPER ESQ. an eminent Someone might recall that Cooper built agent of Lord James Townshend, the patriot who faithfully advocated the a ship and went to California, or that his absentee proprietor of Lot 56. The interest of the people through the son "went bad," or that his ghost still murdered man's successor as land press and in Parliament for up- haunts "Percy's Hill." Most will just agent in 1820 was William Cooper. wards of thirty years, during part of smile, apologetically. Cooper's origins are obscure. Since which time he filled the office of Yet no Islander sought fame with he has left no personal papers, no Speaker of the House of Assembly more compulsive zeal than William with credit to himself and the Cooper. At one time he was the most * See "Drama at Abells Cape," The Island Colony, died June 10, 1867, Aet. feared and revered public figure on Magazine, Number Six, Spring-Summer 1979, 82. Prince Edward Island. pp. 33-37. land agent. On the one hand, he was successful in forcing leases on approxi- mately 60 tenants, a substantial achievement given that Lord Townshend's terms were generally less favourable than existed elsewhere in the colony. Yet, in 1829 Cooper was replaced as agent, allegedly because he had appropriated funds owing to Lord Townshend to build the Hackmatack, a failed business speculation. Cooper reacted swiftly. For whatever motives — whether of personal griev- ance or public altrusism — he suddenly switched loyalties and emerged in 1830 as a radical champion of the tenants and their right to the land whereon they dwelt.

Promised Land "Like some other parts of the world," wrote a correspondent from New Lon- don to the Royal Gazette of January 5, 1832, "Reform seems to be the order of the day with Prince Edward Island." In Britain, it was the time of the great electoral Reform Bills of 1831-32. On the Island, the issue was land. The correspondent went on to state that until "the lands" were taken from the propri- etors and "given to those by whom they autobiography, and no Island descen- farm Sailor's Hope. He married Sarah are occupied..., Prince Edward Island dants, his story must be pieced together Glover and began to raise a large family. must remain in its present state of almost exclusively from public docu- His activities during the next ten years vassalage and wretchedness." ments. The closest to a family memoir is can be traced from occasional refer- The story of the Land Question has an account in The Maple Leaf, a ences in newspapers and church, land, been retold by generations of Island magazine published in the early decades and shipping registry records. On historians; has become both litany and of this century by expatriate Canadians November 6, 1819, Sarah gave birth to morality tale: In the beginning was the living in California. In "The Story of the a son, William. In February, 1820, Island. Then came the British Conquest, Cooper Family," J.H. MacDonald, for- Cooper was made land agent for Lot 56 the Expulsion of the Acadians, the merly of Whim Road, Prince Edward by Lord Townshend. The Prince Ed- Holland survey into 67 lots of 20,000 Island, states that Cooper was born in ward Island Register of March 6, 1824, acres each, and the parcelling out of England about 1786. carried an ad in which Cooper sought virtually the entire colony, on a single conveyance from a place near Canso, day in the summer of 1767, to favour- At the age of eleven he ran away from Nova Scotia, for "from four to six pairs ites of the Crown. Thus the Island fell home and went to sea, shipping as a of Mill-stones, to be delivered at Grand from Grace; and the absentee pro- cabin boy. Later he joined the British River, the East Coast of this Island"; he prietors entered the Garden. There Navy and was with Lord Nelson at was soon in business as a miller. In 1826 followed a century-long struggle be- Trafalgar. He became a sea captain he built a 72-ton ship, the Hackmatack, tween greedy landlord and hard-working and sailed the seven seas. In the which he sailed to England and sold, settler. The natural prosperity of the course of his travels he went to Prince returning in May, 1827, as a passenger Island was strangled, the local ruling Edward Island. Arriving there he on the Carron. On July 21, 1829, the class of lawyers, merchants, and land decided to give up the sea, and settle Prince Edward Island Register recorded agents behaved as mere toadies of the down to a life of farming and stock a family tragedy: proprietors, and the policy of the British raising, and as Prince Edward Island Colonial Office was dictated by an was then a new and unexplored Last week a fine boy, about eight invincible lobby of absentees in Lon- province, he decided to cast his lot years of age, the son of Mr. William don. This version of Island history owes there. Cooper, Bay Fortune, was so dread- much to political reformers like William fully injured in consequence of his Cooper. The reality was somewhat This young, retired seaman settled clothes catching fire, that he survived more complex. beside the Little River near Bay For- the accident only forty-eight hours. When the proprietors obtained their tune. In homage both to past occupa- land grants in 1767, they agreed to tion and new aspiration, he called his Cooper had an ambiguous career as several specific conditions, failure to comply with which carried — in theory — the penalty of forfeiture to the Crown. Chief among these were an annual quitrent levy of between two and six shillings per 100 acres, and the settling of each lot with at least 100 non-British Protestants within ten years. By 1830, these obligations had for six decades been largely ignored by the great majority of the proprietors, with virtual impunity. The tenants were deeply offended by this. They were routinely forced by public authorities to pay rent to pro- prietors who had thus been permitted to flaunt their own commitments. Yet the poorer settlers were not without power. The 1833 Census revealed that of 4,451 Island "heads of families," two- thirds were either tenants or squatters. Most of these were entitled to participate in House of Assembly elections, a modest free- or leasehold property being required of both landowner and tenant voter. Moreover, in 1830 the more underprivileged half of the popu- lation, the Catholics, were allowed the franchise for the first time. The occasion seemed ideal for the emergence of a gifted political demagogue. William Cooper was unsuccessful in the general election of 1830. A second opportunity occurred with the death of one of the victorious candidates and a by-election in Kings County a year later. Cooper ran under a flag with the inscription, "Our country's freedom and farmers' rights." A riot occurred at St. Peters, home territory of the largest resident proprietor, Charles Worrell. A man called Hogan made a speech urging those assembled not to vote for Cooper since he was only a poor farmer and miller. At the height of the tumult, Public Archives of Prince Edward Island Cooper hid in a nearby barn for fear of William Cooper of Sailors Hope. his life. The final results: William Cooper, 317; Angus MacDonald, 243; Escheat question, the more plain it philosopher John Locke was cited: John Jardine, 41; Thomas Irwin, 9. appears to me that nothing less than a Cooper outlined his political doctrine general Escheat will do justice to, or . . .the labour of a man's body and in his first major speech in the House of satisfy the inhabitants of this Island." He the work of his hands, we may say are Assembly on March 27, 1832. He argued two principal justifications for properly his. Whatsoever then he addressed himself to the tenants: "they such action. First, none of the pro- removes out of the state that nature have wasted their youth in clearing land prietors had precisely fulfilled the origi- hath provided and left it in, he hath for others, they have planted their nal conditions of the 1767 grants, which mixed his labour with, and joined to it labour where the forest grew..., and Cooper interpreted to demand settle- something of his own, and thereby built a cabin where the bear has had his ment by German Protestants. Second, making it his property. den." There cannot, he said, "be the tenants had acquired a natural right greater power given to one man over to the land they occupied by virtue of The proprietors, too, had grievances. another than the right of a landlord over the immense added-value given wilder- The conditions attached to the 1767 poor tenants . . . . " His solution was ness land by their labour — a concept grants proved quite harsh: the quitrents radical: the government should confis- further developed in later speeches, assessed were generally higher than in cate the proprietors' land and regrant it particularly one reported in the 1855 the neighbouring colonies; and no to farmers. "The more I consider the Assembly Debates in which British proprietor could settle his 20,000 acres of wilderness without great financial (For the Royal Gazette.) ^ do humi.._ aiese opin. .,u pray jou. sacrifice. Several made an effort. The jesiy's gracious consideration—and your Petitioner* will ever pray. MEETING AT H A Y R I V E R more foolhardy, like the Quaker mer- 1. R E S O L V E D , That the draught of the Petition chant Robert Clark, went bankrupt. The Agreeably to notice given in the Gazette of the just read be agreed to, as the foundation of a Petj. more prudent, like Sir James Montgom- 22d November, a Public Meeting of the Inhabitants tion to His Majesty; and that it be referred to a of th- Northern part of King's Comity took place Committee, who may obtain the assistance of the ery, Lord Advocate for Scotland, soon near Hav River, on the 20th December. About Committees in the other Counties, to render it per. desisted. Yet even these men violated 1 o'clock,'Mr. William Dingweli addressed the in- fecr, and suitable to be laid at the foot of the Throne* habitants assembled, and proposed that the) should as the Petition of the Inhabitants of Prince Edward the conditions of the grants by sending proceed to business; the Sheriff could not be ex- Island. out British settlers. Captain John Mac- pected after that late hour, and many of the people 2. R E S O L V E D , That a copy of the Petition be bad a long way to return home—he therefore moved,, prepared for the British Parliament, to be forwarded Donald of Glenaladale* went a further that the Representatives of the County do preside by a Deputation, that contributions be made, by step, and peopled his estate at Tracadie at this Meeting, which was agreed to, and Messrs. subscription, to defray the ex pence, and that a Com. Cooper, Le Lactamur and Mackintosh were called to mrttee be appointed to carry these Resolutions into with British Catholics. These proprietors the chair. effect. made a notable contribution to the early Mr. COFFIJ* then came forward with the draught 3. R E S O L V E D , That the representations just read, of a Petition, and four Resolutions, which the. Com- in the draught of a Petition to His Majesty, and settlement of the Island; to them and mittee had directed him, as Chairman, to submit to agreed to by this Meeting, are truths which cannot their heirs it was unthinkable that their the Meeting. The papers were no secret—they had be controverted, and exhibit a scene of fraud, de. been amongst the people from last, night until now, ceit and oppression, on the part of the grantees and land be taken away for what they and had been read frequently; but it was necessary land monopolists, against the inhabitants of this considered petty, legalistic reasons of that they should be read and agreed to in due form. Island, which, in the opinion of religious and reason, There were seve-d present who could read them able men, is wickedness in the sight of God, deroga. ancient history. well, and he hoped some one would volunteer his tory to the honour and <*[|jnity of the King and the Cooper proceeded with great skill, services for that purpose, and save him (he task—he British Nation, and subversive of the sacred right of therefore moved/that the draught of the Petition and property; that longer to pay rent to such landlord!, and apparent deliberate intent, to Resolutions be read, which was seconded and agreed under such circumstances, and after our repeated to, and are us follows:— prayers for justice, is to foster oppression and to re. polarize Island politics around the single ward crime. issue of Escheat: he and his supporters To the King's Most Excellent Majesty; 4. R E S O L V E D , therefore, That this Meeting i» were to be on one side, all others The Petition of the Inhabitants of Prince Ed,vaid Island: moved by the sacred obligations of religion—by the Humbly Sheweth: honour and dignity of the Kingfand the British na. opposite. To achieve this, he stigmatized J ion—by the rights of m*n to t"i e fruits of their la- 1. That the information received lately by the Lieu- hour—by justice and equity (the basis of good go* every man in public life who opposed tenant Governor, in a Despatch from Lord Glene!*, da- vernment unci civilized society), to preserve from ted the 10ih of' August, and published in this Colony— die distress of sin h landlords the fruits of our iudus. him as a lackey of the proprietors. In That your Majesty has not been advised to sanction the truth, however, the self-interest of Islan- appointment of a Court of E-cheats in this Island, as fry, raised for the maintenance of our families, and prayed for in the several Addresses of the House of As- : the dwellings we have erected for our homes, until ders dictated more varied responses. seinbly—has produced the most deep regret. i Mis Majesty is informed of tht> true situation and Throughout the 1830s most politicians 2. That your petitioners are humbly of opinion, that < on'ditiou of his subjects in this Island, and his deci. such advice to your Majesty originated partly from the sion obtained according to the merits of the case. expressed themselves in favour of a nature of the Addresses of the House of Assembly—and The question was then put separately on the from misrepresentations by an interested party, an asso- Resolutions, width were again read, and passed moderate escheat of a few still- ciation, a combination of Lnid Monopolists, who claim unanimously, and signed sparsely-settled townships. Island the labour of your petitioners, and have by such mis re- ' WM. COOPER, presentations prevented the Escheat of the forfeited lands J. LE LAOHEUR, lawyers, land agents, merchants, and and the sat lenient of the Colonists, to which they be- J . MACKINTOSH. others of the elite were well aware that lieved themselves entitled when the conditions ot settle- When the Representatives left the Chair, Joseph ment were not complied with according to the original Coffin, Esq. was called thereto, to take into conside- they, not the tenants, stood to benefit Grants. ration the business of the Committee, to which a most from any dramatic change in land 3. Your I'etitio icra therefore deem it a d\i\j incum- considerable addition was made, and arrangements bent on them humbly to submit their <;iievances to your agreed to for the purpose of carrying the Resolu. ownership. In the resulting chaos of Majesty, in order thuf a fid! investigation may take place, dons into operation, and the Meeting broke up by uncertain titles, speculation, and litiga- and justice be administered by disinterested and upright 4 o'clock. men to your petitioners; that the oppression of the Co- Considerable disappointment was felt by the in* tion, the "insiders" would move to fill lonists by a faction may remain no longer a blot on the habitants of the neighbourhood, who had provided a the power vacuum vacated by the good faith and honor of the British Nation. dinner at the house of Mr. D. Macdonald, for the 4. Your Pe.irioners humbly submit, that the great body members of the Committees who came from a dis- disinherited proprietors. If most did not of the inhabitants of tins Idand are tenantry—and great- tance; several went away without notice, and others ly in arrear of ren', for land which has long been for- excused themselves on account of pressing business, hasten to support a more radical es- feited to the Ciown, and was of no value until it was u c yet twenty-seven sat down to a dinner, which wa* cheat, it was primarily because they made valuable •'•>« labour and ran'" ' vcir petition- er./' -u.,1 b- aeknowled""- 4 to be the b' '-"fare »• " ' ' thought it improbable. Cooper was an able, if somewhat Excerpts from a full-page report on the Hay River meeting; Royal Gazette, unorthodox, political tactician. He made January 10, 1837. skillful use of the existing Island news- papers, the Royal Gazette and Colonial to the House of Assembly, scorned by from a comment by William Cooper, in Herald. An indefatigable writer of letters his opponents as "vest-pocket a letter to Provincial Secretary T.H. to the editor, he also saw to it that the speeches," were read from carefully Haviland, January 24, 1837, that to press received full reports of the many prepared texts. Then, as now, Island move the British Government to action public meetings organized by him and newspapers were glad of free copy, and against the interests of the proprietors his supporters. These would appear Cooper's speeches received a dispro- "requires a degree of public excitement over the ominous-sounding words, "By portionate amount of space. He was to prove the necessity.. . ." To a large order of the Committee." His addresses soon perceived to be a leading force in crowd of his supporters at Rollo Bay on Island political life. January 12, 1836, Cooper declared: * For sympathetic accounts of the settlement Cooper was aware, too, of the power 'The more the question is agitated, the efforts of two large proprietors, see J. M. of the fear of violence. Town dwellers more clear truth and justice will appear Bumsted, "Lord Selkirk of Prince Edward had long been apprehensive about in your behalf." Island," The Island Magazine, Number Five, unrest in the countryside: One Patrick Fall-Winter 1978, pp. 3-8; and "Captain John This agitation was a perilous game. MacDonald and the Island," The Island Pearce had been enough; a mob of To be consistent, Cooper, who claimed Magazine, Number Six, Spring-Summer 1979, tenant assassins would signify insurrec- the land titles of the proprietors to be pp. 15-20. tion. Little comfort, then, could be taken invalid, supported the tenants in their opposition to the payment of rent. A a position of great responsibility, for the who shared the confidence of the resolution passed at a famous public tenants had high expectations of him. people with himself." LeLacheur was meeting over which he presided at Hay But he had little real power. Although, kinder: he said the people still had faith River, eastern Kings County, on De- prior to Responsible Government in in Cooper's integrity. cember 20, 1836, stated "that longer to 1851, the Speaker was usually the Cooper remained Speaker of the pay rent to such landlords under such leader of the majority party in the Assembly for three more unproductive circumstances, and after our repeated House, the Assembly had no direct years. The Escheators rallied behind prayers for justice, is to foster oppres- control over the executive branch of him and produced a flurry of bills, sion and to reward crime." The result administration. Cooper's task was not petitions, and remonstrances — all to was an increase in civil disorder, espe- made easier by his many enemies in little effect. cially in Kings County. Land agents and high places, nor by the legislative The election of 1842 made it official: law officers encountered an imaginative inexperience of his Assembly cohorts, as a coherent, thrusting political force, array of hostile acts; one man was most of them tenant farmers. One the Escheators were through. Cooper pelted with frozen cow dung, others had unkind correspondent to the Royal and a handful of his supporters sur- the ear or tail of a prized horse cut off. Gazette, November 20, 1838, made vived; but when the Speakership was By such intimidation and petty violence, slighting reference to "William Barrel- gained by Joseph Pope, Cooper's heart tenants were frequently successful in maker" and his "All Fools Parliament." went out of public life. He was absent keeping rent collectors at bay. Often, One of Cooper's great schemes, long from the House during the sessions of though, there were arrests. And evic- advocated in speech, petition, and letter 1845 and 1846, and did not contest the tions. to the editor, was that an official 1846 election. Some years later, he Cooper's consistency went only so delegate be sent to represent the recalled the events of that period far. Himself a tenant on Lot 56, he took tenants' case directly to the British (Islander, May 25, 1855): care to pay his own rents, however Government. This project was put in reluctantly. Many were upset by this motion in 1839; Cooper himself was The election of 1842 was in favour of apparently hypocritical flirtation with appointed Delegate and £300 voted to the usurpers, and against the Tenan- violence. Lieutenant-Governor Sir pay his way. To save money, he crossed try; and what was gained by the ten Charles Augustus FitzRoy described the Atlantic as a steerage passenger on a years agitation, was lost for another Cooper as "an artful person although lumber ship, and upon arrival repor- ten years, by that Election; and as I very illiterate, possessed of much low tedly took up residence in "Whooping could do no good for the people cunning and perfectly unscrupulous in Old Stairs" —an establishment, accord- when I was in a minority, and the making any assertion to serve his ing to Bay Fortune historian J.C. people themselves bewildered, I purpose." Underhay, "not much more respectable would not keep my seat for the sake The Escheat movement flourished, than its name would indicate." of pay; and, therefore, I left the and the resistance of government au- London was far from Sailor's Hope. Assembly to do something for myself. thorities only seemed to make it Cooper called on the Colonial Minister, stronger. Urged on by the lobby of Lord John Russell. He was refused an The hope of the sailor returned to the absentee proprietors in London, the audience. Instead, Lord Russell sent sea. British Colonial Office blocked all efforts directly to Lieutenant-Governor FitzRoy of the Island House of Assembly toward on the Island his negative reply to the Sea Walker a moderate land reform; after the request for Escheat. After a half-hearted After agriculture, shipbuilding was the general election of 1834, Cooper was attempt to have the matter raised in the principal occupation of Islanders in the joined in the House of Assembly by two House of Commons, Cooper returned middle decades of the nineteenth cen- steadfast supporters, John Macintosh of home, a defeated man. tury. Everywhere — coves, rivers, bays, St. Margarets and John W. LeLacheur For Cooper, the House of Assembly and creeks were brightened with the from the Murray River area. The Island during the session of 1840 was a dismal activity of pit-saw, broad-axe, caulking Government also unwittingly aided the place. Leading the attack against him mallert, and adze. For its size, the Island Escheators' cause. Under the insistence were two of his arch-rivals — Joseph was a major producer of vessels: be- of Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Har- Pope, a merchant and shipbuilder from tween 1840 and 1890, more than 3,000 vey, new on the job and determined to Bedeque, and Charlottetown lawyer ships were constructed in 176 different make his mark, Cooper and his col- Edward Palmer. There was not, Pope localities.* Shipbuilders grew in wealth leagues Macintosh and LeLacheur were declared, a more prosperous colony in and prominence in public life. When suspended by the Assembly for their British North America than Prince Ed- Joseph Pope, a ship-merchant, be- involvement at the Hay River Meeting, ward Island; and it would be even more came Speaker of the House of Assem- and committed to the custody of the so if it were not for demagogues. Palmer bly, therefore, it seemed somehow sergeant-at-arms for the 1837 and 1838 claimed that Cooper's agitation had appropriate that William Cooper, the sessions. This made them martyrs, both served merely to alert the proprietors to ex-Speaker, should turn to vessel con- in their own eyes and those of the their interests and gain for them the struction and trade. people. In the election of 1838 the support of the British Government. Escheators won a resounding victory, Even Cooper's supporters were critical. * For a concise overview of shipbuilding in and when the Assembly met in January, Escheator Alexander Rae hoped the Prince Edward Island, see Lewis R. Fischer, 1839, Cooper was elected Speaker by a "slap in the face" received at the "The Shipping Industry of Nineteenth Century Prince Edward Island: A Brief History," The margin of 16 to six. Colonial Office would induce him "to Island Magazine, Number Four, Spring- As Speaker, Cooper found himself in pay more regard to the counsel of those Summer 1978, pp. 15-21. Cooper was joined in business by two politics, was proving poor business. The sheeted all over." of his sons, William, junior, and John W. Cooper shipbuilding enterprise was In 1849 other Islanders had California Cooper. The father continued to reside clearly foundering. The lingering fantasy on their minds. Forty individuals, mem- at Sailor's Hope; the sons lived at Grand of mercantile wealth, accumulated bers of the "California Association," River, sometimes called Cooper's Mills, slowly by hard work, sound investment, had purchased the brig Fanny from situated on Blackett's Creek not far from and thrift, soon fell before a more James Peake and made ready to depart the present village of Annandale. powerful vision. In 1849 gold was for the gold fields.* One of their number Their first ship, the Flora Beaton, discovered in California. And Island was J.C. Pope, son of Joseph Pope, sailed for England in the summer of newspapers could speak of little else. Cooper's old political nemesis. Urged 1844 with a cargo of hardwood, juniper, on by an enthusiastic press, the Island spruce, spars, deals, and lathwood. Eureka public suffered a mild case of Fanny Although now nearing 60 and long This item appeared in the Islander, fever. Meanwhile, all but ignored as absent from the sea, Cooper himself January 4, 1850. they laboured away building their ship went as captain. He complained in a at Bay Fortune, the Coopers must letter to James Peake, a prosperous The brig Packet, owned and navi- surely have felt themselves in competi- ship-merchant from Charlottetown who gated by Capt. William Cooper (for- tion. insured the vessel, that he could not merly Speaker of the House of The Packet departed the Island more "stand the fatigue which I could at 30 Assembly), sailed on the 5th De- than three weeks behind the Fanny. years of age." It was a rough trip; the cember last, from Bay Fortune, for After rounding the Cape on March 14, Flora Beaton lost a mast in each of two CALIFORNIA. Her cargo consisted of 1850, the Fanny arrived at San Fran- severe gales. Upon arrival at Sunder- House Frames, Lumber, and Agricul- cisco on June 26, a voyage of 228 days. land, County Durham, Cooper sold ship tural Implements. All Capt. Cooper's The Packet reached San Francisco on and cargo, and returned to the Island as family, consisting of his wife, [six] July 20, 230 days after leaving Bay passenger on another vessel. sons, [three] daughters, daughter-in- Fortune. In 1845 Cooper contracted with John law, and son-in-law, have accom- Then a strange thing happened. The MacDonald of Souris to send a cargo of panied him. Cooper family suffered a cruel split, lumber to Liverpool, England, on the revealing an intense father-sons rivalry Olive Branch. There followed quite a The Packet, a 182-ton brigantine, and the darker side of the paternal nasty dispute over measurements. Later was built by the Cooper family at Grand that year Cooper was involved in River in 1849. Great care was taken to * The expedition of the Fanny is famous in another altercation, this time with a Mr. make the vessel strong. George Chaf- Island story. For a first-hand account by a Walker — over money. fey, a local blacksmith who worked on member of the California Association, see Stephen MacCallum (editor Irene L. Rogers), The Sea Walker, a 188-ton brig, was the construction, recalled — some years "The Voyage of the Fanny," The Island built for Cooper at Little River in 1845 later, when he was living in California — Magazine, Number Four, Spring-Summer by John Morrow. Once again, Cooper, that she had two keels and was "copper 1978, pp. 9-14. ship, and cargo sailed for England. The old sea captain returned the following year on one of James Peake's vessels, the Fanny. The Malvina, named for Cooper's eldest daughter, was built at Grand River in 1846 by Murdoch MacLeod. Unlike his usual practice, Cooper did not dispose of this vessel after the first voyage. He arrived at Yarmouth, Eng- land, on September 4, 1846, dis- charged the cargo, then sailed the Malvina home. In 1846 the two Cooper sons became more actively involved in the business. With credit provided by James Peake, they engaged John Morrow to construct the Plenty, launched in 1847. Again a dispute arose, this time with the builder. William Cooper wrote Peake, July 28, 1847: "The arbitrators in the case between Mr. , Morrow and me have given in their award of £236-12-8 currency to Mr. Morrow." From Peake, Cooper obtained an advance of £361 sterling on the present cargo of the Malvina. Controversy, sometimes useful in Lot 56, Prince Edward Island. character. William Cooper gave his range, two Cooper brothers, David and LeLacheur — into a new reform coali- version of events in his last will and Adolphus, were attacked and killed by tion, the Liberals. To the tenants and testament, written in 1859: Indians. The following year, on the way the former Escheat politicians who were home from another Sacramento trip for now Liberals, the attainment of Respon- It should be known that it was at the cattle, William Cooper, junior, was sible Government was.but the begin- desire of my Family that I took them taken ill and died. ning, a means to an end: They were to California and also at their desire The two surviving brothers returned optimistic that this new authority vested that William and Adolphus, my sec- to more familiar occupations. They built in Premier Coles and his Executive ond and third sons, were appointed a grist and sawmill, known for many Council could somehow be used to trustees to land and dispose of the years as Cooper Mills. On July 23, divest the proprietors of their property. cargo and stores according to a 1861, there was another attack by William Cooper felt left out. Perhaps contract which may be found Indians; George Cooper and a hired in part to distract his mind from the fate amongst my papers. About six weeks man were killed while sawing lumber. of his family in California, he stepped after the Family had landed, I sold the The last of the Cooper brothers, John back into the fierce little cockpit of Island ship, and finding I had funds after W., returned to the Island in 1875, politics. Once again, in the summer of payment of the duties and port married Lydia Conoghan, took her to 1851, he lifted high the banner of charges were paid, I proposed to California, and purchased a large ranch Escheat. The pattern was familiar: Island bring my Wife and some of our at Jane's Creek on the Mad River. newspapers were besieged with corre- younger children back to the Island. Thereafter, he prospered. They had spondence from Sailor's Hope; a peti- But the Trustees made objections to three children, of whom J.H. Mac- tion from "the Inhabitants of King's their Mother returning and I returned Donald wrote in 1936: County" was got up and presented to alone. the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Alexander The two sons are citizens of high Bannerman; there appeared in Hazard's News of the Coopers gradually fil- standing in Eureka at the present Gazette (December 30, 1851) a paid tered back to Charlottetown. On time. John W. Cooper is the prop- advertisement — "The Petition of Wil- January 17, 1851, the Islander pub- rietor of an up to date funeral parlor. liam Cooper on behalf of the Tenan- lished an account of recent events in Dr. A. Fenimore Cooper is one of the try." But events had apparently passed California, based on letters from people leading dentists of the city, while the Cooper by and he was easily rebuffed. who had gone out on the Fanny. "For daughter is Mrs. Connick of San Most well-informed Islanders now be- some days previous to the departure of Francisco. lieved Escheat to be an impossibility, a the last Mail, Capt. Cooper was missing, fantasy. Newspaper editors responded and it was believed by some he had Old Sing-Song with a yawn: said Hazard's Gazette, been murdered, for the sake of his "William Barrelmaker, Esq. of "The subject of Escheat has been worn money, and by others that he was on his Sailor's H o p e . . . has just returned from threadbare"; said the Islander, "it is just way back to the Island." Then nothing the land of G o l d . . . . " Thus was the old sing-song over again. . . . " more was heard of him — for a time. Cooper's arrival home, in June, 1851, George Coles and his administration The history of the Cooper family in announced by "John Waterproof, tackled the Land Question with gentler, California is a chronicle of disaster. First J.P.," a correspondent to the Islander less apocalyptic methods. They ac- came the cholera, while they were still at (September 5). This information was knowledged the rights of private prop- San Francisco. Dead, late in 1850, were addressed to "Right Hon. Mr. Jarge erty, including those of the large absen- Sarah Cooper, age 53, and her son Coals, Cabinet-maker, Whiskey Hall, tees. Then they proceeded by purchase, Oscar, age 21. J.H. MacDonald, in his Charlottetown" — a transparent refer- rather than expropriation. Support was account of the family in The Maple Leaf, ence to George Coles, brewer, distiller, obtained from the British Government says a total of seven died, including all self-made businessman, and politician. for the Land Purchase Act of 1853, the married women. A report in the Cooper had been away a year and a enabling the Island Government to buy Islander, January 17, 1851, listed half. In his absence an event of great land from willing proprietors. Between among the victims a daughter (probably consequence for the eventual resolution 1853 and 1873 more than 450,000 Malvina) and a daughter-in-law (proba- of the Land Question had occurred. acres — almost one-third of the entire bly Margaret Davidson Cooper, who Throughout the 1840s, the British colony — were thus obtained for resale married John W. on November 13, North American colonies of Canada, to tenants. After Confederation, the bill 1849, less than a month before the Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick had was re-enacted to make it compulsory Packet set sail.) There remained five sought, and gradually achieved, Re- for proprietors to sell holdings in excess Cooper brothers and two sisters. sponsible Government. This meant that of 500 acres — and the remaining The family stuck together. Their power over Executive Councils was estates were procured. loyalty to each other was quite intense, given to the popularly-elected Houses But this long-term program of land perhaps out of a long experience of of Assembly. On Prince Edward Island, reform achieved fruition only after much mutual support against an imperious the fight for Responsible Government painful frustration and discouraging de- father. Within a short time, they had all — eventually successful early in 1851 lay. In the mid-1850s, the momentum settled down to farming and stock — provided the issue about which of government purchase was stalled by raising in the Eel River Valley, near George Coles and Edward Whelan lack of public funds and proprietor Eureka, Humboldt County, northern were able to gather the remnants of the reluctance to sell. The ancient abuses California. In 1852, while driving a herd Escheat Party — men like Alexander remained; one landlord, Sir Samuel of cattle from Sacramento to stock their Rae, John Macintosh, and John W. Cunard of Halifax, owned over 200,000 acres. As long as land agent and bailiff California gold, and an energetic family nineteenth century. Yet, he can hardly continued to prowl the countryside, the growing up about him. be considered a great man; the short- tenants retained their appetite for radical comings are too many, and too obvious. solutions. In 1854, with the first general Malvina's S o n As a former land agent, allegedly fired election following Responsible Gov- In 1862, William Cooper retired to his by his employer, his reform motives are ernment, the indefatigable veteran Es- home near Bay Fortune, a place refer- suspect. While urging other tenants to cheator from Sailor's Hope, now almost red to by an unsympathetic newspaper risk their farms by withholding rents, he 70, saw a fresh opportunity. He still writer as "Sailor's Hope Forlorn." paid his own — a fact established for the possessed sufficient of his old powers to There, where he had settled with Sarah period after 1846 by an examination of win his way back into the Legislature. Glover more than 40 years earlier, he the rent books of T.H. Haviland, now in Cooper remained in the House of lived out his last years in the company of the Provincial Archives. He purchased Assembly until 1862, a figure of con- his teenage grandson, William Cooper several farms on nearby Lot 55 in the troversy to the end. Although he Morrow. This was Malvina's child, born 1830s and '40s, but refrained from successfully retained the support of his on the Island about 1848. It is not clear having the sales registered until the neighbour-constituents of eastern Kings, if William Morrow had accompanied his 1850s, possibly for political reasons. He in Charlottetown he was ridiculed and parents and grandparents on the Packet failed, utterly, in the darling project of maligned for the ever-more-convoluted adventure in 1849. his political life, Escheat. He was a arguments by which he contrived to Cooper seems to have considered domineering father, and must bear part keep alive the dying flame of Escheat. rejoining his family in California; but he of the responsibility for the fate of his Some painfully harsh things were said remained at Sailor's Hope. He took family. about him. care, however, to keep the public And yet — all this acknowledged — Even his political colleagues were informed of his children's activities. Cooper remains one of the most fas- embarassed by his views. Cooper was Island newspapers carried the marriage cinating, and effective, political figures in now — at least nominally — a supporter announcements of his daughters, Island history. From nothing, beginning of the Liberals, a party committed to the Caroline in 1853 and Rowena in 1855, in a small rural community in remote Land Purchase Act as a method of both wed in Humboldt County. In eastern Kings County, he originated and resolving the Land Question. Cooper, September, 1861, he informed the led a reform movement — complete however, was never the sort of man to Examiner of the death of his son with its own unique doctrine — which toe a party line, unless it was his own George, killed by Indians. "It will be a grew to dominate Island political life. party. The Liberals' impatience with this consolation to the rest of the family," he Perhaps of more enduring importance, Escheat-obsession was given eloquent wrote, "to know that there are others he placed, and sustained, land reform at expression by Edward Whelan, a lead- here besides their father who sym- the top of the Island political agenda for ing politician and the outstanding Island pathize with them in their loss." almost a quarter of a century, a feat journalist of his day. In an editorial William Cooper died, at Sailor's which could only be of longterm benefit entitled "Monomania" (Examiner, Sep- Hope, on June 10, 1867. In a final, to his constituents. "Although Mr. tember 24, 1851), Whelan dwelt upon posthumous attempt to ensure the Cooper's agitation was unproductive of the delusions of several individuals. He survival of his name on the Island, he any direct benefit to the tenants," wrote had heard of a man, he said, who was left his estate to his grandson — on J.C. Underhay, one of Cooper's Bay convinced he was a pump. A certain condition that he "leave off the surname Fortune neighbours, "while it was in lady in Charlottetown thought she was of Morrow and retain that of Cooper." progress there is little doubt that it Queen of England; another woman, an The young man complied with this legal helped materially to pave the way for inmate of the local Asylum, requirement; then he sold out and the settlement obtained under the more departed for California. For many years constitutional advocacy of Coles and fancied herself Miss Fanning, and that William Cooper operated a store at Whelan some years later."* she owned half the property in the Myrtle Point, Oregon. Today, Cooper is almost forgotten, a Island. But William Cooper, Esq. of Today, no buildings remain at the man stranded in the historical cul de sac Sailor's Hope, eclipses all his rivals Sailor's Hope farm. A slight depression of Escheat. With no Island descendants and contemporaries in the domain of in a field now marks the house-site, to help keep his memory alive, he is little folly by the extraordinary wildness of beside the Little River and Highway known in his home community. During his fancies. This gentleman has the 310. the prime of his life, most of his reputation of being a shrewd thinker productive energy was devoted to polit- on commonplace subjects, and of a Eminent Patriot ical manipulation: He issued no call to tolerably sane mind; but in reference In death, as in life, the name William arms, committed no bold, desperate act, to what he calls the "Land question," Cooper is haunted by ambiguity and gave no large, redeeming gift of inspira- the vagaries of his imagination are contradiction. A man of great natural tion or compassion. He damned himself such, that even his most indulgent energy and ability, he was, at one time with his contemporaries by daring too friends cannot blink the fact that the or another, sea captain, shipbuilder, "fine old English gentleman" has a merchant, farmer, miller, and the do- *J.C. Underhay, "Bay Fortune," Prince Edward thundering bee in his bonnet. minant politician in Prince Edward Island Past and Present, edited by MacKinnon Island; and his active life emcompassed and Warburton (Charlottetown, c. 1906), In the end, Escheat proved a mirage, both the Napoleonic Wars and the p. 392a. Underhay witnessed the signing of a codicil to Cooper's will in 1866, and was a eluding Cooper's dream-driven grasp as California Gold Rush, two of the pre- member of the Island Legislature in the 1880s surely as did shipbuilding wealth, dominant world events of the and early '90s.

10 Acorn's poem "William Cooper" in The Island Means Minago (Toronto, 1975). Acorn's first line is memorable: "Who knows William Cooper. Who gives a damn?" In writing the present article, I found J.H. MacDonald's "The Story of the Cooper Family" (The Maple Leaf, Oakland, California, April and May 1936) to be a godsend, especially for the section "Eureka." Useful for the discussion of British colonial land policy was Beverley W. Bond's The Quit-Rent System in the American Colonies (New York, 1919). Almost all primary sources used are available at the Public Archives of Prince Edward Island, either on micro- film or in the original. Worthy of special note are — the Peake Papers, for information about Cooper's ship- building business in "Sea Walker"; the heard Papers, for Bay Fortune oral history; and Abstract of the Proceedings Before the Land Commissioners' Court (Charlottetown, 1862), for comments by T.H. Haviland about Cooper's ac- tivities as a land agent. Other primary sources consulted in- clude — Shipping Registers; Land Registry Records; House of Assembly Journals (1830-1862) and Debates and Proceedings (1855-1862); Supreme Court records (for Cooper's will); Colo- nial Office correspondence (CO 226/49-64 and 227/8); T.H. Haviland rent books; birth, marriage, and death records at the Division of Vital Statistics, Department of Health; and the various Prince Edward Island newspapers iden- tified in the text of the article. I am grateful to several residents of much; he damned himself with posterity "A Farm of One's Own" in The Island the Bay Fortune area who shared their by daring too little. and Confederation: The End of an Era hospitality and old stories with me. The "Sacred to the memory of WILLIAM (D. Weale and H. Baglole, 1973); the late Harry Burke was unfamiliar with COOPER ESQ.," the stone reads, "an second, a 3,000-word essay in the Cooper, but related the Pearce-Abell eminent patriot who faithfully advo- Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. episode with great relish. Tommy Banks cated the interest of the people through IX (Toronto, 1976). remembers hanging about the Annan- the press and in Parliament for upwards Cooper has received relatively little dale wharf as a child, listening to the of thirty years " Ask the people of attention from other writers of Island stories of Ed Norton who had visited the Bay Fortune, Annandale, Howe Bay, history. F.W.P. Bolger gives a fairly Cooper Bros, mill in California. Gladys Little Pond, Sailors Hope: Patrick detailed account of his 1830s political (Jenkins) Johnson knew a lot about Pearce, the man of the bayonet, is agitation in Canada's Smallest Province William Cooper (Morrow), who had better remembered. (Charlottetown, 1973). In The Gov- married her great-aunt, Maria Jenkins. ernment of Prince Edward Island (To- As for William Cooper, senior, she had a ronto, 1951), Frank MacKinnon covers vague recollection he was "mixed up the same territory more briefly. A new with tax collectors." interpretation is found in Enrol Sharpe's A Peoples History of Prince Edward Sources Island (Toronto, 1976). Sharpe, I have made two earlier attempts to perhaps too uncritically, lauds Cooper make sense of William Cooper and the as a folk-hero in the class struggle. The ^ccT Land Question: the first is the chapter most romantic treatment is Milton

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