John B. R. Cooper
| John Bautista Rogers Cooper | |
|---|---|
| Born |
John Rogers Cooper September 11, 1791 Alderney, Guernsey, UK |
| Died |
June 2, 1872 (aged 80) San Francisco, California |
| Citizenship | British, Mexican |
| Occupation | Sea Captain, landowner |
| Known for | Early Monterey, California pioneer |
| Spouse(s) | Encarnacion Vallejo |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Cooper and Anne Rogers |
John Bautista Rogers Cooper (September 11, 1791, Alderney, British Channel Islands – June 2, 1872, San Francisco, California). Raised in Massachusetts in a maritime family, he came to the Mexican territory of Alta California as master of the ship Rover, and was a pioneer of Monterey, California when it was the capital of the territory. Marrying into the family of the Mexican territorial governor, he acquired extensive land holdings in the area prior to the Mexican-American War.
John (Juan) Bautista Rogers Cooper was born John Rogers Cooper on the island of Alderney, Guernsey, in the British Channel Islands, son of Thomas Cooper and Anne Rogers. His mother and he relocated to Boston, Massachusetts when he was a boy. His mother married twice, and Captain Cooper was a half-brother of Thomas O. Larkin.
After moving to Boston with his mother, he traveled extensively, first attending school in Charleston and then serving as second mate on a missionary trip to the Hawaiian Islands. He arrived in Monterey, Alta California as master of his own vessel, the trading schooner Rover, in 1823.
Upon his arrival in Monterey, Cooper made arrangements to sell the Rover to the government of newly-independent Mexico, which as yet had no ships on the Pacific Coast with which to maintain contact with Alta California. To help cash-poor California governor Luis Arguello pay him for the ship, Cooper agreed to stay on as captain and enter the lucrative China trade, twice carrying Californian and Hawaiian goods to Canton and returning with Chinese manufactured goods. Cooper and Arguello quarreled, however, over how to split the profits, and it was many years before Cooper received the payment due. Collection was made more difficult when Arguello was replaced as governor in 1825. In 1826, the Rover was sent south under a new captain, and never returned to Monterey.
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