Richard Cooper’s (1639-1724) true parentage is unknown. Some sources indicate that he is the son of [Deacon] John Cooper (1600-1683) and Priscilla Carpenter (1598-1689). Priscilla Carpenter was first married to William Wright and they are believed to have had one son, Richard Wright (1619-1691). William Wright and Priscilla Carpenter, his wife, arrived in the Plymouth Colonies in 1621 on the Fortune which had sailed from England. Historical records indicate that their son, Richard, was sent to join his parents in the colonies when he was 11 years of age. William Wright died in 1633; Priscilla married John Cooper in 1634 and he is often identified as Richard Cooper’s father. However, there is some evidence that John Cooper never had children. In his will he provided for “my loving wife Priscilla” and, after her death, he directed that his property be divided into thirds: “The Church of Barnstable shall have one third parte, and the Survived Children of my sister Mistris Allice Bradford another third parte, and the surviveing Children of my sister Lydya Morton the other third part thereof….” There was no mention of providing for his own surviving children despite the fact that Richard Cooper, who did not die until 1724, was still living at the time of John Cooper’s death.

The other theory about Richard Cooper’s parentage is that he was the illegitimate son of Humilitie Cooper and Richard Wright. Humilitie Cooper was likely a first cousin of John Cooper, although he would have been almost 20 years older. We know that Humilitie Cooper was born to Robert Cooper (Cowper?) and Joan Greshom in 1619 in Leiden, Holland. According to some sources, Robert Cooper died shortly after Humilitie was born and her mother, being unable to provide for her, sent her to Plymouth in 1620 on the Mayflower in the custody of Edward and Agnes (Cooper) Tilley, her aunt and uncle. Agnes Cooper was born in 1585 in Henlow, Bedford, England; she was the daughter of Edmund and Mary (Wyne) Cowper and sister of the elder Robert Cooper. She married Edward Tilley on 20 June 1614 in Henlow. (Agnes' sister Martha married James Samson, and they were the parents of Mayflower passenger Henry Samson.) The Coopers' ancestry has been successfully traced back as far as Wido de Reinbudcourt, the Domesday Lord of Chipping Warden and Burton, Northampton, England, who lived during the 10th century.

Both Edward and Agnes Tilley died during the first winter at Plymouth and different theories about young Humilitie are found in historical documents. Some sources indicate she was sent back to England, baptized as an adult at the age of 19 at Holy Trinity, London, and died sometime before 1651 without ever marrying or having children. Other sources, however, make a convincing case that, following the death of her aunt and uncle, Humilitie was raised by her cousin John Cooper. When Priscilla Carpenter, widow of William Wright, married John Cooper in 1634, Priscilla’s son Richard Wright and Humilitie Cooper, although not related, were raised as brother and sister. When Richard and Humilitie were about 18, Humilitie purportedly got pregnant and was likely sent back to England so she would not be called before the Church for the sin of fornication. This would have occurred well before Gov. William Bradford wrote in the “decreasings & increasings” section of Bradford’s History Of Plimoth Plantation (1651) that, “Edward Tilley and his wife both died soon after their arrival, and the girl Humilitie, their cousin, was sent for into England and died there.” Upon returning to England, there are documents that indicate Humilitie was baptized in March 1939. Richard Cooper is known to have been born in 1639; if Humilitie was pregnant when she returned to England, it is likely that she gave birth to Richard shortly after her baptism. Humilitie died in England, possibly while giving birth to her son by Richard Wright who appears to have remained in the Plymouth Colony. Richard Wright married Hester Cooke in 1644, was a property owner, and had at least seven children. Richard Cooper is known to have immigrated to the Massachusetts Colony in 1661 and he was a blacksmith by trade. Richard Cooper married Hannah Atwood (1660-1718) in 1693; she was born in Plymouth to John Thomas Atwood and Sarah Masterson.