Henry Cooper

Who was Henry Cooper?

Henry Cooper was a Tennessee attorney, judge, and politician who served one term in the United States Senate, 1871–1877. He was a Democrat.

Cooper was born in Columbia, Tennessee. He attended Dixon Academy in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and was graduated from Jackson College in Jackson, Tennessee in 1847. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1853 to 1855 and again from 1857 to 1859. He was appointed judge of the former 7th Judicial Circuit in April, 1862. In January, 1866 he resigned this position and moved to Lebanon, Tennessee where he became a professor at the Cumberland School of Law. In 1867 he moved to Nashville, where he served in the Tennessee State Senate, 1869-1870.

The Tennessee General Assembly elected him to the United States Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1871. He did not seek another term, and his Senate service ended on March 4, 1877.

He was engaged in mining operations in Tierra Blanca, Mexico when he was murdered there by bandits on February 4, 1884. He was buried nearby.