Marmaduke Cooper (1748-1797)
- Identifier
- NJS-PER-04405
- Given Name
- Marmaduke
- Family Name
- Cooper
- Birth Date
- 1748
- Death Date
- 1797
- Sex
- Male
- Biographical Description
-
Marmaduke Cooper was an enslaver who lived in the area of modern-day Camden, although during his lifetime, it was called Newton Township and was part of Gloucester County. He was the third owner of Pomona Hall, a house he inherited from his father Isaac Cooper. This historic house is now the home of the Camden County Historical Society.
Along with Pomona Hall and the surrounding land, Marmaduke Cooper inherited seven enslaved people from his father, who died in 1767 when Marmaduke was 19 years old. Marmaduke was a Quaker and member of the Haddonfield Monthly Meeting. When the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Society of Friends fully embraced abolition and enacted the 1776 Minute on Slavery, which made it a requirement for all Quakers in the region to manumit their slaves, Marmaduke refused to follow this new rule. In 1780, he was read out of the meeting (expelled from membership in the Society of Friends) because he refused to manumit his slaves and continued to hold people in bondage at Pomona Hall.
The exhibit "Enslaved Africans of Pomona Hall" at the Camden County Historical Society highlights the following people who had been enslaved by him: Cuff, Grace, Greg, Mark, Luke, Sam, Peter, and Thomas. Images of documents related to some of these people are included in the exhibit. - Keywords
- white person
- enslaver
- Child of
- Isaac Cooper (1694-1767)
- References
-
“Enslaved Africans of Pomona Hall,” exhibit researched and curated by Bonny Beth Elwell with artwork by Erik James Montgomery (Camden County Historical Society), https://cchsnj.org/online-exhibits/.
This person is represented on the following page(s):
WikiTree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cooper-19712 - Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
