University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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Thomas Mclntyre Cooley, LL.D. N October 6, A. D. 1859, Thomas M. Cooley delivered his Hrst lecture in the law department in the University of Michigan. This was the begin- ning of instruction in law at this institution. The subject of his lecture was The Origin of Title to Real Estate in America? With this period in Judge Cooley's life as a starting-point, we will sketch only a few features of a career that has become permanently fixed as a part of our state and national life. The biographical facts we are all familiar with. They have been published again and again. His labors in the various departments of work-his contri- butions to history, politics and jurisprudence-cannot be even catalogued within the limits of this article. A fair review of them would iill several volumes. When Judge Cooley delivered his first law lecture he was only thirty-four years old, and had not received the advantages of a liberal education. He was the only resident member of the faculty, and upon him fell the adminis- trative duties. Perhaps some unpleasant things may have been said, at the time, about placing the important responsibilities of organizing and develop- ing a law school in the hands of one so young, but his dog star soon disap- peared. He had for several years devoted his best efforts to the study of law. He had mastered the fundamentals of the science. It is proper to state, in this connection, that his early and severe study of the law had been made under adverse circumstances. He had inet many of the trials which confront students now seeking for a legal education. WVealth was not his heritage. He had been compelled to solve financial problems, involving the support of himself and l1is family. The possibilities and opportu- nities for a great future had not been given him. He made them. Through that industry and mental acumen for which he is now so famous, every active principle of jurisprudence was fresh in his mind when he first appeared on the lecture platform. Right from his books, he met with a warm hand those who sought to enter them. Of what great value to the student is such a teacher! When a man has learned everything he is in no position to teach anything. It is the growing man that leads the student. The new law school was a suc- -23-

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cess at the beginning, but its early growth was remarkable, and its true founder grew with it. In less tl1an six years the attendance increased from ninety to nearly four hundred, and the young professor became judge of the supreme court of his state. While it is true that Judge Cooley did not have the advantages of a college education, he has ever been recognized as a man of very broad and liberal culture. This fact is comforting to those students who are seeking a profes- sional education without first having acquired an academic degree. What is there in a degree more than the man who possesses it? A hasty review of the early events in Judge Cooley's life will show the sources of his great culture, and his fitness for the responsible position as founder of our law school. He was born on January 6, 1824, at Attica, N. Y. His parents were of New England stock. They had moved to the then t'Far Westf' He was a farmer's lad, with fourteen brothers and sisters to- keep him company and share his father's bounty, which was very limited. The principle of self-reliance he learned at the very beginning of his life. His elementary education involved simply an' attendance at the common schools until he was fourteen, and then for four terms he attended private schools taught by classical scholars. Then he became a district-school teacher. This was his first opportunity to study human nature and strengthen that chord of sympathy through which, in after years, he was able to tie so many young men to him. About this time he commenced the study of the law. In 1843, at the age of nineteen, following the example of his ancestors, he pushed westward, to make for himselfz. He had intended to go to Chicago, but his funds gave out-for which we are all thankful now-and he stopped at Adrian, in this state. The country was new and offered opportunities. Here, uncon- sciously pe1'haps, he commenced his great life work. While prosecuting his legal studies he met the daughter of David Horton-Miss Mary Elizabeth Horton-to whom he was married in 1846. By this act his future environ- ments were determined. He became a Michigan man. Not many of the students of today know much of the late Mrs. Cooley. The writer knew her personally, and for a period of twenty years heard of her many acts of love- and self-sacrifice. Few women have made as great and lasting impression on the people of this state. About the time of his marriage tl1e subject of this sketch became wedded also to the little town where, through poverty, he had been compelled to stay his fiight westward. The changes of the next ten years are somewhat inter- esting. During this time he was deputy county clerk and an attorneyis clerk, then he entered a law partnership at Tecumseh, then returned to Adrian, and