Cooper: Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper, Sea Captain, Adventurer,
Ranchero And Early California Pioneer, 1791-1872. By John Woolfended and
Amelie Elkinton, Pacific Grove, Cal. Boxwood Press, 1983. Illustrations. Maps.
Bibliography. Index. Genealogical Table. 159 Pages. $7.95 Paperback.
Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper was a California shipper, rancher
and merchant. Although headquartered in northern California (mostly Monterey
and Sonoma) his family and business connections brought him into contact with
much of California, including San Diego. He knew and worked with many prominent
people of his times: California like Governors Juan Bautista Alvarado and Luis
Antonio Arguello, and various Vallejos; and Anglo Americans such as his
brother-in-law Thomas Oliver Larkin and mountainman Jedediah Smith. This
readable biography, based on many family sources, covers both Cooper's life and
career, and a nice view of California in the middle half of the nineteenth century.
