James Fenimore Cooper was born in Burlington New Jersey on September 15,1789. James Fenimore Cooper was America's first successful popular novelist and son on of the prominent Federalist William Cooper. Cooper was an exceptionally smart child and entered Yale in February 1803. Cooper was educated at Yale in preparation for a genteel life as a federalist gentlemen. In Coopers junior year at Yale he was expelled for executing many pranks. He even trained a donkey to sit in the professors chair and created an explosion by blowing up a dorm door. After being kicked out of school Cooper became a commissioned midshipman in the Navy on January 1, 1808. .
Cooper was the eleventh of twelve children. James father, William Cooper founded Cooperstown NY. In 1796 James Cooper's father was determined to make his home permanently in the town he had founded, which by that time promised to become a thriving settlement. William began the construction of a mansion, completed in 1799, which he named Otsego Hall. James married Susan Augusta Delancey on January 1,1811 and had 5 daughters and 2 sons with Susan. Between 1813 and 1819 his mother and all five of Coopers brothers died. Cooper was a traditional man and agreed to support his brothers widows and children. Around the last of these deaths Cooper began to write. The only way Cooper could support his family was to turn to writing. In 1809 Cooper's father died leaving his estate to Cooper. After receiving his fathers inheritance Cooper is able to write for himself and no longer for income.
In 1826 Cooper added Fenimore as his middle name legally. Fenimore was Cooper's mothers maiden name. Cooper also named his first son, Fenimore, in memory of his mother. Cooper began his literary career with Precaution. Cooper's wife Susan bet Cooper that he could write a better book then the one she was reading. Cooper modeled this book after Sir Walter Scott's Waverle Novels.