Taken from the Yearbook For Texas - 1901

Oscar H Cooper, LL. D, Waco, President of Baylor University, was born near Carthage, Panola County, Texas, November 22, 1849. His father, Dr Wm. H Cooper, a Mississippian by birth, moved to Texas from Mississippi in 1849, and was distinguished throughout the eastern portion of the State as a physician and man of letters.

Gen. T S Rosser, of Virginia, who was educated at West Point as a Texas student, is an uncle of Mr Cooper.

The first instruction received by Mr Cooper was from private tutors, chosen by his father for their capacity and moral worth. He was a student at Marshall University, Marshall, Texas, in 1865-67, and then entered Yale College, from which he graduated in 1872 and where he was subsequently a tutor for three years. At a later period he completed a course at the University of Berlin, Germany, and, then, after a tour through Europe, returned to Texas, where he was successively President of the Male and Female College, at Henderson, and Principal of the Sam Houston Normal Institute, at Huntsville, and Houston High School, at Houston.

While filling the position last named, he was nominated by the Democratic State Convention for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and November 2, 1886, elected to that responsible office. In 1888 he was renominated and re-elected to the office for a term of two years, before the expiration of which he accepted the position of Superintendent of the public schools of the city of Galveston. Later he was in change of a private educational institution until August, 1899, when he was elected President of Baylor University.

He was married at Marshall, Texas, November 24, 1886, to Miss Mary B Stewart, granddaughter of the late Dr James H Starr, of that city.

Mr Cooper was instrumental in the passage of the bill that resulted in the opening of the University of Texas, and was also a principal factor in the establishment of the Sam Houston Normal Institute.

He is joint author, with Profs. Harry F Estill and Leonard Lemmon, of a history of the United States, entitled "History of Our Country," that is a standart authority and has been in general use in the public schools of Texas since its publication, having been adopted by the State Text-Book Board. He is, besides, author of many literary productions (articles, monographs, etc.) of exceptional merit, and is, also, a lecturer and general speaker of talent, learning, and force.

His labors in the cause of education have extended over many years, and, if his character as one of whose life-work has resulted in large benefits to the people among whom his lot has been cast rested upon no other foundation, it would be securely grounded, in this particuklar, in the history of the State.