George B. Cooper

Who was George B. Cooper?

George Bryan Cooper was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.

Cooper was born in Long Hill, New Jersey, where he attended the public schools. He moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1830, and later to Jackson in 1835. In Jackson he engaged in mercantile pursuits and became postmaster of Jackson from 1836 to 1846. He was a member of the Michigan State Senate 4th District, 1837-1838. He established an iron foundry at Jackson in 1840 and served in the Michigan State House of Representatives in 1842. He served as State Treasurer of Michigan from March 17, 1846 to March 13, 1850. He engaged in banking at Jackson in 1851.

In 1858 he defeated incumbent Republican William Alanson Howard to be elected as a Democrat from Michigan's 1st congressional district to the Thirty-sixth Congress, serving from March 4, 1859 until May 15, 1860. Howard contested the results in the U.S. House, alleging voting irregularities in several wards. Following its investigation, the House Committee on Elections reported that the sitting member, Cooper, was not entitled to his seat and that the contestant Howard was.