David Shipman (colonist) the author's youth, Shipman would often appear at the Cooper home, "Otsego Hall", to offer the family some of his latest products. Susan Fenimore Cooper wrote that "rude equipments, dogs, and rifle, had much attraction for the lads of the house". James Cooper referred to Shipman in his "Chronicles of Cooperstown" as "the 'Leather Stocking' of the region, ... could at almost any time, furnish the table with a saddle of venison". David Shipman (colonist) David Shipman (1730 – 1813) is generally considered to be the real-life inspiration for James Fenimore Cooper's character Natty Bumppo in the "Leatherstocking Tales" along
James Fenimore Cooper Linonian Society. Cooper served in the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, which greatly influenced many of his novels and other writings. The novel that launched his career was "The Spy", a tale about counter-espionage set during the American Revolutionary War and published in 1821. He also wrote numerous sea stories, and his best-known works are five historical novels of the frontier period known as the "Leatherstocking Tales". Cooper's works on the U.S. Navy have been well received among naval historians, but they were sometimes criticized by his contemporaries. Among his most famous works is the Romantic novel "The Last of