Margarita Cooper Willett

Margarita Cooper was born in November 1788. She was the daughter of Albany residents Obadiah and Anna Vandenbergh Cooper. She was among seven daughters who grew up in Pearl Street home of a Southside business family.

She was the wife of her first ward neighbor Edward Willett. Their two surviving children were born well after 1800.

Edward Willett followed the law but did not live long enough to prosper.

Her husband's will filed in May 1815 named her as heir and executor. Not yet thirty, Edward Willett died later that year. In 1816, the city directory fixed her address at 22 Union Street. In the years that followed, widow Margaret was listed at a number of first ward addresses.

Margarita Cooper Willett died in July 1846. She was buried in the Dutch church cemetery. She had lived fifty-eight years.

Sources: The life of Margarita Cooper Willett is CAP biography number 491. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.