Page 13 - Delaware Lawyer -Spring 2021

as the years pass, the books begin to display a more American flavor with the appearance of law books printed in this country, American editions of English reports, and, eventually, pub- lished reports from American courts and reference works by American legal scholars.3
The books in this early library — there are over 160 volumes4 — were owned by a succession of Sussex County lawyers who inscribed their names in the books, frequently add- ing the date they acquired a particu- lar book. As was the custom, when a lawyer died or stopped practicing, his library of law books was passed along, frequently by sale, to fellow lawyers. In this brief survey of books in the Sussex County library and the lawyers who used them, we can glimpse into how law developed in the new nation.
The Lawyers
The library was initially formed by James Patriot Wilson when he began his law practice in Sussex County in 1791, six years after the signing of the Treaty of Paris which formally ended the American Revolution and recog- nized the United States as a separate and independent country. Wilson, born in 1762, was a native of Lewes, where his father was the esteemed Pres- byterian minister. Wilson’s distinctive middle name was reportedly given him by his father and reflected the father’s staunch opposition to the English — even though his son was born some 14 years before the momentous events of 1776.5
Wilson graduated from the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania with high honors and was offered an assistant profes- sorship of mathematics at that institu- tion. However, Wilson chose to return to Delaware, where he studied law under Chancellor Ridgely and began his practice in Lewes. When the seat of county government moved, Wilson relocated to the new county seat of Georgetown.6
In the ensuing years, Wilson suf- fered a number of personal tragedies that had a profound effect on him. By 1795, his young wife, whom he had married in 1792, and the two children born to them, had all died.7 Then, in 1806 his younger brother, Dr. Theo- dore Wilson, was involved in one of the most notorious crimes in Delaware history. The brother, a Lewes physi- cian, was slain by the husband of a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair.8 Not long thereafter, James P. Wilson left the practice of law and studied for the ministry. In 1807, he moved to Philadelphia where, un- der the sponsorship of his close friend Benjamin Rush, he became minister of the First Presbyterian Church. During his long career in the ministry, he au-
thored numerous theological treatis- es.9 Wilson died in 1830 and is buried in Neshaminy Churchyard in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His son, also named James Patriot Wilson, became a Presbyterian minister, serving in Newark, and was president of Newark College, precursor of the University of Delaware.
When Wilson left his law practice, his law books were acquired by Thom- as Cooper, who had studied law under Wilson. Cooper grew up near Laurel, in a family of wealthy landowners. However, during his career, Cooper lived and worked in the county seat of Georgetown, as did most of the Sussex County lawyers of the era. Al- though it is sometimes claimed that Cooper attended the first law school in the United States — Litchfield Law School in Connecticut — there is no independent verification of his atten- dance. Cooper, who was admitted to practice in 1803, was, from all ac- counts, a “very able lawyer and highly esteemed.”10 He was also a successful businessperson. He was a founder of the Farmers Bank, and, as President of the Farmers Bank in Georgetown, op- erated the bank from his house on the Circle in the center of town.11
During his career, Cooper served in the Delaware General Assembly and the United States Congress, and in 1817 was appointed an associate justice under the Delaware Consti- tution of 1792. Despite his success- ful career and prominence in his day, there is no known portrait of him or, for that matter, of his younger brother, William Cooper, who at age 69 was elected Delaware’s Governor, serving from 1841 to 1845. Further, the lo- cation of the Cooper family cemetery where Thomas is said to be buried is unknown.
Cooper added numerous books to Wilson’s collection, and on his death in 1829, his law books became the
SPRING 2021 DELAWARE LAWYER 11
JASON MINTO