George Henry Cooper

George Henry Cooper was the youngest son of Samuel Cooper &  Elizabeth Hill. He was born in Wellington, New Zealand in March 1843, eighteen months after the family had arrived in the colony.

Again, not much is known about his early life. It is likely he and his elder brothers attended school in Sydney Street, Thorndon, though records to verify this have not been found, perhaps do not even exist.

In June 1868, George’s brother Fred and brother-in-law Michael Twomey advertised in the Evening Post their plan to dispose of their Ginger Beer, Aerated Water and Cordial Manufactury Business on Molesworth Street by lottery. I believe this was the business they had taken on after the death of another of George’s brothers, Thomas in 1867. Two hundred tickets were to be sold at £1 each. A letter to the editor of the Wellington Independent dated 29 April 1867 and published 30 April signed by George indicates that he too was assisting in the business which had been his brother’s.

It appears that either 25 year old George had the winning ticket or that perhaps the lottery did not work and he simply bought the business. Whichever was the outcome, from 1868 George carried on the business, first at Mulgrave Street and then relocating later that year to Thorndon Quay in what eventually became known as the Hotel Cecil block.

In October 1868 George married Elizabeth Carrick (or Calvert), who worked alongside him in the business and also a small shop adjacent to George’s factory where she sold ha’penny cakes, lollies and of course ginger beer. A letter to the editor entitled “Old Wellington” published in the Evening Post 8 September 1934 in response to a previous reminiscent article helps to place these building on the Thomas Ward maps held at Wellington City Archives. (From the maps it would seem that the start/end points of Thorndon Quay & Lambton Quay may have changed over time.) Also in this block and adjacent to Elizabeth’s store was a general store identified as Osbourne’s. The writer also states that prior to being run by the Osbournes the general store had been Stagg’s. This was an exciting revelation as that meant that Frederick Stagg – cousin to all these Cooper boys was living right amongst the family in Wellington.

In 1869, when his mother died George was reputedly in Kaikoura as mentioned in a notice (not yet verified) in the Kaikoura Herald recording the death in Wellington of “mother of John and George Cooper. I’m not sure why George would be in Kaikoura, unless simply visiting his brother. He can’t have been living there as his business was established in Wellington by then.

George and Elizabeth had no children of their own. I have often wondered if they cared for the orphaned children of his brother Thomas. At least one of the children later worked in the bottling and cordial industry and may have had their start working for their uncle. However, when George died of a stroke aged 40 in 1883 he left everything to his wife Elizabeth to be hers and hers alone – free from the control of any future husband she may have. After her death the money obtained from the sale of his real and personal estate and effects was to be divided equally between the children of his brothers John (of Kaikoura) and Frederick (of Wellington). The shares of any of those nieces and nephews not reached 21 was to be held in investment until they were old enough. No mention was made of the children of his other siblings, Thomas, Elizabeth or James.

Elizabeth did remarry, in 1888 to Charles Brodie – another ginger beer manufacturer in Wellington. He seems to have assumed control of George’s business and absorbed it into his own company. Elizabeth died in 1911, her will was dated 14 March 1889 – a year after her marriage to Charles – and left everything to him. He was described in her will as a gasfitter – but at her death his affidavit describes him as a gentleman. A bit of a rise through the ranks of society – I wonder if any of John or Frederick’s children ever did benefit from their uncle’s estate.

Frederick Cooper

Frederick Cooper was the last of Samuel and Elizabeth’s children to be born in England before they emigrated to New Zealand. He was noted as aged 6 months on Samuel’s application for Free Passage to New Zealand in November 1840. After purchasing his birth certificate, his birth date as confirmed as 20 April 1840, and he was baptised on 10 May at St Catherine's, Montacute.

The family were first offered passage on the Lord William Bentinck to sail from Gravesend on 7 January 1841 when Frederick would have been just 8 months old. For some reason they did not take up this offer, reapplying instead and travelling on the Oriental which sailed from Plymouth 22 June 1841.

As with his older siblings, nothing is known of Frederick’s early life in Wellington. His obituary in 1908 seems a little tangled with the lives of his older brothers. He apparently went to the Otago goldfields and then on to Ballarat, returning to New Zealand to marry. The dates don’t seem to make sense to me.

Gold was discovered near Bendigo in 1852 when Frederick would have been 12 years old. From all accounts the goldrush in Otago began in 1861.

It may have been the Otago goldfields that brought his brothers back to New Zealand from the Victorian goldfields but I’m pretty sure Frederick either did not go at all, or perhaps went to Otago very briefly.

In 1860 he had launched his seed and nursery business in Wellington where he first had a nursery at the top end of Taranaki Street. In 1863 he married Ellen Carpenter and the two of them worked at growing the business and established a store on Manners Street near Herbert Street (about where McDonalds is today). In 1864 he applied to be on the electoral roll and gave his address as Wingfield Street and his eligibility as a freeholder owner of a house and land at that address. Wingfield Street itself doesn't exist today. It ran parallel to Fraser's Lane which was pretty much where Aiken Street runs today and could be accessed from Molesworth Street or John Street which ran from Fraser's Lane. John Street today  looks like a delivery entrance running off Aiken Street between the National Library and the now demolished Defence Building and Freyberg Building (but is labelled Guthrie Street on maps). Frederick & Ellen had ten children; eight daughters and two sons between 1864-1879. Two of their daughters died in childhood, one aged 3 years and the other 9 years.

The family run business traded for more than 100 years before being sold in his grandchildren’s generations to their one time business rival business Yates. Frederick had nurseries in Taranaki Street and in Lower Hutt as well as the store in Manners Street. Bijoux Nurseries were in Woburn near where Te Omanga Hospice is today. Frederick traded globally, Cooper’s Seeds being in great demand. An article in the Upper Hutt Leader gives some history about the beginnings and development of the business in its 100^th year.

Frederick left notably the most well known footprint of all his family in New Zealand history. He was recorded on a number of documents throughout his life helping us to paint a better picture of who he was. He was amongst the witnesses at the inquest into his brother Thomas’ drowning in 1867. He also appears to have taken over and run Thomas’ business for a time after his death as mentioned here. His affidavit when his cousin Frederick Stagg died intestate in 1875 was a recent find, which lead to the discovery that other family members had also emigrated to New Zealand.

It was a surprise after all the discoveries of his great business success and legal interactions to learn that he died intestate in 1908 aged 67.

James Cooper

James Cooper was Samuel and Elizabeth’s 8^th child and 5^th son. If you’ve been keeping track you will be thinking I can’t count. There were however two other sons born in the 6 years between Elizabeth and James.

William born in early August 1833, baptised 11 August and buried aged 5 weeks on 17 September. Nine months later in June 1834 they welcomed another son who they also named William. He was baptised 3 August 1834 but also sadly died and was buried on 8 February 1837 aged 2 years 8 months.

James was baptised on 10 April 1837. It is possible he was born before William died and so avoided becoming the 3^rd William or maybe his parents decided that two Williams was enough. James' birth was just 5 months before civil registration began in England. 

James was 5 when the family emigrated to New Zealand. Not a lot is known of his early life in Wellington. Even his adult life has been a bit of a mystery, but a DNA match has changed some of that.

I was sceptical at first since he seems to have acquired an additional christian name in adulthood. But there are too many coincidences, and DNA in the right range to be a 3^rd cousin to Dad sharing the same great grandparent couple.

I have done a lot of investigating, building trees, chopping off wrong branches over the last year or so and I’m pretty confident now. I found James’ obituary in the Southland Times. This mentioned that he had arrived in Wellington with his brothers from Somerset in 1840. No mention of his parents who we know also came, and the year was out by one. It also mentioned he and one of his brothers had gone to the Australian goldfields in the 1850s which seemed to tie in with the suggestion that Thomas had gone to Australia too.

The obituary suggests that James returned to Wellington in 1861 and a year later moved south to Invercargill. He set about establishing a horticultural business there, importing seeds and plants. On 18 June 1864 he married Harriet Ware in Hobart, Tasmania. Harriet was born in Hobart and was 22 when they married. James (with his additional name Wade) was described as a merchant and a fruiterer & seedsman of Tay Street in Invercargill.

At the time of his marriage James’ business in Invercargill was situated in Lowther Arcade facing on to Tay Street. The arcade ran through to Esk Street. In 1869 his shop had moved to Dee Street adjacent to the Prince of Wales Hotel and later to the Athenaeum Building on Dee Street which also housed the library and eventually the museum. In addition to his store front he established Waikiwi Nursery on land he had acquired soon after his arrival in the area. It comprised thirteen acres and was situated on either side of the North Road at Waikiwi. James’ obituary describes how he transformed the land planting flowers, shrubs and trees. Numerous business advertisements appear in newspapers available at PapersPast.

Kete Invercargill, Accessed 31/10/2020 

James and Harriett had 10 children in the next 18 years and evidently travelled back and forth to Tasmania as one daughter was born in Hobart in 1877. By the time of James’ death in 1911 they had 27 grandchildren. Eight of their children were girls so that gets a bit tricky to follow when names change at marriage.

In 1888 he sold the nursery and his store to James Lennie. James was a Scot who had trained in the nursery business after leaving school and had been employed at Arden Capell Castle (the seat of the Duchess of Argyll) and at the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens among other appointments before travelling to Ireland. He had arrived in New Zealand at Bluff in 1862, At first he was employed by local gentlemen seemingly offering landscaping advice and had three sons who were also involved in his business. I imagine our James sold with a heavy heart; his two sons possibly not being prepared to take over the business. After tracking them on electoral rolls it seems they both became butchers instead.

James along with James Morton were instrumental in the establishment of the Southland Horticultural Society and James was the first President.

I recently purchased his death certificate which confirmed that his father was Samuel, a tailor. So it certainly does seem that James Wade Cooper is our James Cooper.

Elizabeth Cooper

Elizabeth Cooper, Betsy, was 10 years old when she and her siblings arrived in Wellington with their parents. She was baptised at St Catherine, Montacute on 17 April 1831.

Six years later, at just 16 she married Daniel Morrison a mariner who was 18 years older than her, just a few months before her elder sister was married. Betsey was the first of Samuel and Elizabeth’s children to marry.

In August 1858, Daniel died from injuries sustained when his ship was wrecked, leaving Elizabeth with their five children aged 2-11. Shortly after his death Daniel Wilson placed notices in the local newspapers asking for donations toward a memorial for Daniel and from September three others placed advertisements for subscriptions to benefit his widow and children who were left “wholly unprovided for”. On 8 November a concert in aid of the widows Morrison and Mackenzie (I don’t know of the connection between these two ladies, perhaps it was just fortuitous timing) was held at the Lyceum Theatre on Lambton Quay with glees, songs and instrumental music. Another researcher some years ago had found information at Alexander Turnbull Library reporting that the monies raised by public subscription enabled the public of Wellington to purchase a house for Elizabeth and her children.

Eleven months after Daniel’s death Elizabeth married Michael Twomey. He too was a mariner, they married at her private residence in Little Ghuznee Street (Now Egmont Street which runs between Ghuznee Street and Dixon Street).

They had a number of children together, possibly 10, although only 5 appear to have survived childhood. To make life interesting, or research tricky, Michael is sometimes recorded as Henry or Michael Henry. This was the case for the birth of one of their sons whose birth was registered by Elizabeth’s elderly mother in 1866.

Just yesterday I found advertisements in the local newspapers for 1868 where an

“old established GINGER-BEER, AERATED WATERS AND CORDIAL MANUFACTURY BUSINESS”

was to be sold by lottery. 200 tickets at £1 each. The business was being carried on by Messrs Cooper and Twomey on Molesworth Street, and the manager was noted as F Cooper. I have not been aware of this at all, but it would seem that this must be the business of Thomas Cooper who had drowned in February/March 1867, and that his younger brother Frederick and brother in law Michael had taken over to keep it afloat and possibly help to support Thomas' orphaned children.

At some time shortly after the sale Michael and Elizabeth left Wellington with their children. They made their way to the West Coast where Michael was involved in mining. It has been suggested that they may have spent some time visiting with Elizabeth’s brother John’s family in Kaikoura. In 1870 Elizabeth’s daughter Elizabeth from her first marriage was married to a local Kaikoura boy. By 1871 Michael and Elizabeth were in Hokitika area where their youngest two sons were born. They moved back to Kaikoura around 1894/95 and Daniel died there in 1897 described as a gardener.

I have often wondered if anyone in the family might have offered assistance to John Cooper’s wife Mary, who left him and took her three youngest children to Australia, creating a new life with Charles Nicholls there. It has been suggested that they sailed from Hokitika around 1876. Maybe it was Elizabeth. She and Mary would have been contemporaries, quite likely knew each other in Wellington before their marriages. They were two years apart in age and both married husbands a lot older than themselves. Perhaps Mary and the children visited or stayed with Michael and Elizabeth before their departure. Perhaps too, Michael’s network of connections from his time as a mariner helped them find passage on a ship bound for Melbourne. I have only just had these pieces of information fall into place in the timeline in my mind today.

Maybe it’s true, it is mostly conjecture, but it does feel like it could add up.

What stories she could have told. Old enough to remember what life in England was like, old enough to remember her grandmother and aunts and uncles. She experienced travel on an immigrant sailing ship, life in the fledgling Wellington settlement, survived both the 1848 and 1855 earthquakes and was part of the gold rush on the West Coast before returning to the pioneer town of Kaikoura for her final years. Elizabeth died 27 May 1906.

Mary Anne Cooper

Samuel Cooper had two daughters named Mary Anne.

The first was his second child with Charlotte Hann. She was baptised at St Catherine Montacute on 31 January 1820, the day after her mother was buried. This suggests that she was born in January 1820 and that her mother may have died shortly after her birth. So far no record for her death or a marriage has been found. In the 1841 census there is an Ann Cooper living in Montacute of the right age. Could this be her ? All of the other Coopers in the church records and on the census seem to be connected to the one family, but this Ann has a daughter in 1841 and does not appear to have a husband. As yet, I haven’t been able to find her on subsequent census’ to gather more information about her.

So the jury is out.

Maybe she did die in infancy and the Ann on the census is just a red herring.

On 20 August 1828 Samuel and his second wife Elizabeth had their second daughter, Mary Anne, baptised at St Catherine Montacute. It doesn't make a lot of sense, would you give a new child the same name as another living child ? Perhaps. Stranger things have happened.

This Mary Anne was about 13 when the family left England in 1841 for their new life in Wellington, New Zealand. Six years later in 1847 she married Christopher Lockyer. He has lots of appearances in the local newspapers running into trouble with the law, appearing in court for drunkenness, fighting with his brother, being a vagabond, keeping a disorderly house (brothel), spending time in jail in his old age because the Benevolent Home would not have him. But there is never a mention of Mary Anne.

There is a death record for Mary Ann Lockyer in 1931, but the notice in the newspaper (New Zealand Herald, 27 August 1931) identifies her as the wife of Samuel Lockyer, not Christopher…and Christopher had died in 1904. There is also a marriage for a Mary Anne Lockyer and Joseph Sanders in 1849, but when that Mary Anne died her age is out by about 10 years. 

The search continues to unravel this story.

Charlotte Cooper

Charlotte Cooper was Samuel’s 2^nd daughter, but the first for him and his 2^nd wife Elizabeth. She was born on 28 April 1824 and baptised 23 May the same year at St Catherine, Montacute, Somerset.

Since we don’t know anything about Elizabeth before her marriage there are no clues about where the name Charlotte might have come from for their daughter. Perhaps it was her mother’s name, or a sister- hopefully it wasn’t chosen by Samuel to memorialise his first wife.

Not a lot is known about Charlotte’s life either as is often the case with daughters.

She was 17 when the family emigrated to New Zealand and I imagine would have been a great help to her mother on the voyage caring for her younger siblings – the youngest just over a year old.

No marriage or death records have been located for her although it has been suggested by some researchers that she may have died about 1857. Three of her siblings named daughters Charlotte around this time – a clue perhaps ?

Thomas Cooper

Thomas Cooper was born in Montacute in 1826. He was baptised on 30 July that year but no birthdate was recorded in the register.

Thomas was 15 years old when his family emigrated to New Zealand in 1841. He first appears on a Jury list in 1847 when he would be 21 as a labourer living in Thorndon Flat. By 1848 he was recorded as a shoemaker and this remained the same until 1850 when he was described as a publican.

Thomas was married in 1850 to Charlotte Pike, another Somerset native who had emigrated with her parents arriving a few months ahead of the Cooper family in 1841. By 1852 his aerated water business, making ginger beer, soda water and cordials in Pipitea Street was becoming established. Thomas had placed advertisements in local newspapers from at least 1853 wanting to buy bottles.

By 1866 Thomas and Charlotte had a family of nine children. For a short time in the mid 1850’s Thomas is thought to have left Wellington and ventured to the Victorian goldfields with his brother James. There is also a mention of him relocating to the Rangitikei area briefly before returning to Wellington to re-establish his ginger beer and cordial enterprise on Mulgrave Street.

It would seem that the business must have operated from the site now occupied by Wellington Girls’ College or across the road close to the site of the old brewery (Staples Brewery est. 1866, later Thorndon Brewery and then Lion Breweries) where New World is now located.

In October 1866, two months after the death of his father, Thomas’s wife Charlotte passed away leaving him with their nine children aged 2-16. Just four and a half months later Thomas mysteriously disappeared. A report of his disappearance appeared in the local newspapers. This one in the Wellington Independent on Thursday 28 February reads:

"MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE. – We regret to state that Mr Thomas Cooper, a ginger-beer manufacturer, residing at Thorndon, has disappeared in a very mysterious manner. He left the Thistle Inn about eight o’clock on Monday night, and was seen shortly afterwards by a man named Allison to be going in the direction of Brown’s wharf. It is feared that Mr Cooper, who had been drinking, missed his way and fell into the water, and the drags were employed in that part of the harbour yesterday, but nothing was discovered that would throw any light on the fate of the missing man."

The following week, on 5 March, 10 days after his disappearance his body was found by a lighterman taking ballast out to a ship moored in the harbour from near Plimmer’s wharf. The witnesses at the inquest held the same day at the Te Aro Police Station included a friend who had been with him at the Thistle and his younger brother Frederick. They, and the lighterman who also knew Thomas, identified him by the clothes he was wearing. Ten days in the water is not gentle on a body.

His death certificate records his date of death as 5 March 1867, the day of the inquest, when it is more likely to have been 25 February, the date which he was last seen alive.

I have done a little bit of research and have been able to identify the location of Brown’s wharf. Very close to the Thistle as it happens. Anyone familiar with Wellington will know the stories about patrons of old, including Te Rauparaha, pulling their dinghies or waka up on to the beach near the hotel. The steps outside now take you from the pavement to Kate Shephard Street (formerly Sydney Street West) but back in the days before earthquakes and reclamation the shoreline was right there.

In 1867 some reclamation had begun and of course the earthquakes of 1848 and 1855 also contributed to the changing shoreline. Browns wharf is described in the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection “Early Wellington” published by Whitcombe and Tombs Limited in 1928, as being

“opposite the Royal (now Cecil) Hotel”

The site of the Royal Hotel which later became the Cecil Hotel, was known as the Hotel Cecil Block and was situated on Thorndon Quay where the Wellington bus terminus now is.

Plimmer’s wharf will have been located further along Lambton Quay, close to Plimmer’s Steps near the Old Bank Arcade (formerly Bank of New Zealand). 

Who was looking after the children all of this time while their father was missing ? Who assumed responsibility for them after his death ? More about Thomas’ business can be found here. 

 

 

 

 

John Cooper

John Cooper, my 2 x great grandfather, was born in Montacute, Somerset most likely in the summer of 1822. His baptism is recorded in the church register for St Catherine on 10 June 1822. He was the first born son of Samuel Cooper a tailor, and his 2^nd wife Elizabeth. 

Nothing else is known about John before his arrival in New Zealand, and even that is shrouded in mystery. John was listed on Samuel’s application for passage for his wife and family, first for the Lord William Bentinck and then the Oriental. At the time that the Oriental sailed he would have been 21 years old, perhaps that caused confusion and he should have been recorded separately to the rest of his family because of his age. Whatever happened, he isn’t recorded as disembarking in Wellington with the rest of the family once they arrived after 3 months at sea.

This sailing of the Oriental in 1841 was under charter to the Plymouth Company, ostensibly bringing settlers to settle in New Plymouth in the Taranaki, but arriving by way of Wellington. News of unrest in the Taranaki apparently caused some settlers to abandon their plans to travel on further and some disembarked in Wellington. I am not sure if the Cooper family’s intention was to settle in New Plymouth at all. Since their first application was for a voyage to Wellington, perhaps Wellington was their chosen destination all along. We have wondered though, whether John travelled on to Taranaki after the rest of the family disembarked to survey the situation and report back. However, he is not recorded as disembarking there either. Only recently I discovered that after delivering the remaining settlers to New Plymouth, the Oriental returned to Wellington before preparing to leave to return to England via India. So did John join the crew for the trip to New Plymouth and back and just not get recorded anywhere ?

However, we know he did arrive because we are all here as proof.

Occupationally John followed his father and become a tailor, although on the earliest Jury Lists for Wellington he was recorded as a labourer. In 1860/61 he placed regular advertisements in the Wellington Independent advertising his business on Lambton Quay next to the Eagle Tavern. I have tried several times over the last ten or more years to find out where the Eagle Tavern was situated. No luck at all until last week. Did I choose different search words or just see something I had completely missed before ?

Turns out Lambton Quay didn’t end where it does today, at Stewart Dawson’s corner. For some time it extended around that windy corner into what is now Willis Street – and that was where the Eagle Tavern was; a few building beyond the Commercial (which eventually became the Grand), about opposite Chew’s Lane.

In 1850, John married Mary Ann Barratt. She had arrived in Wellington with her parents and siblings in May 1842. When they married Mary was 17 and John 27. They lived in Wellington until about 1861 when they moved, along with some of Mary’s married sisters, to join her mother and youngest siblings in Kekerengu north of Kaikoura where John had secured a position as a tailor on the sheep station. Their first 6 children were born in Wellington and a further 4 at Kekerengu. About 1871 they moved further south to the township of Kaikoura. It has been suggested by another family historian, that the move to Kaikoura may have been prompted by the Tetley Affair. This involved some mismanagement of finances on the part of the owners of the Kekerengu Station and would likely have had follow on effects for those employed to work there. Another 3 children were born in Kaikoura.

Electoral rolls and jury lists show his occupation as tailor, apart from 1847 where he was listed as a labourer. His death certificate in 1895 records him as a gardener and a photograph has recently been shared with us of him standing outside his shop in Kaikoura where he is “J. Cooper, Fruiterer”.

Charles Cooper

Charles Cooper was the first child of my 3 x great grandfather Samuel Cooper and his 1^st wife Charlotte Hann. He was baptised on 11 October 1818 just 5 months after his parent’s marriage. The cleric made an error with the entry and he is recorded as Charles Hann instead of Charles Cooper – the other details (parent’s names and occupation) are correct.

Not much else is known about him. He is referred to (but not named) in the Churchwarden Accounts for the parish of Montacute several times while the parish contributed financially to his upkeep after his mother died in January 1820. Because residents were not identified by name (unless they were the householder) on the 1821 Survey or Census he hasn’t been identified there. But, he wasn’t recorded as living with his father and does not appear to have been with his paternal grandmother either.

The next entry for Charles in the church records is his marriage to Mary Ann Tavender (sometimes written as Taviner) in 1837. By the time the 1841 census came around, Charles and his small family were living in Middle Street, Montacute. By this time there were two young daughters, Ellen & Jane. Charles was a Chandler; a candle maker or a seller of provisions like groceries.

By searching the GRO indexes it appears that Charles and Mary had four other children by 1850; Matilda, George Owen, Walter Henry and Richmond Tom. To be extra helpful for researchers like me almost 200 years later, Charles and Mary don’t appear to have had their children baptised, at least not in the Church of England.

Charles appears a couple of times in the Churchwarden Accounts living in a rateable property in 1841 and 1847. I haven’t been able to find any further documentation for him post 1850. Did they emigrate too ? And if they did, where did they go ? Or did something else happen ?

The search continues.

Samuel Cooper

Samuel Cooper, my 3 x great grandfather, was probably born in Montacute, Somerset or a nearby parish in about 1789, no baptism record has been found for him yet. His parents John Cooper and Ann Pullman had married in Stoke sub Hamdon in the summer of 1784. The marriage record says they were both of the parish although John was described as a Sojourner.

Samuel earned his living as a Tailor, it is unclear where he learned this trade but occupations in the rag-trade feature throughout the census’ of the mid 19^th century. Perhaps his father was also a Tailor, but no records survive to confirm that. Almost as many townsfolk were listed as Glovers, Leather dressers, Weavers and Tailors as were recorded as Ag Labs in the 1841 and 1851 census’.

Samuel’s brothers John and Uriah are often mentioned in the Churchwarden’s accounts for St Catherine’s, Montacute, being paid for work on the roads in the parish, cleaning the inside of the church tower, washing down the wall between the church and the chancel, picking up boundary stones and other menial tasks. Samuel’s father John died in March 1810, most likely a few days after the baptism of his son Thomas, who subsequently died a month later. From the church records for Stoke sub Hamdon and Montacute it seems John and Ann had at least 10 children, however only half of them lived to adulthood. After John’s death Ann often appeared in the Churchwarden accounts receiving financial assistance from the parish.

Samuel’s sisters Ann and Mary married in 1812 and 1818. Mary died just six years later, Ann however lived to be 101, almost 102. Samuel married Charlotte Hann on 11 May 1818 in St Catherine, Montacute, 6 weeks after his sister Mary had married. He and Charlotte had a son Charles in September, followed by a daughter Mary Anne in January 1820. Charlotte died in the same month. It is unclear whether Mary Ann survived, however on the 1841 census there is an Annie Cooper of the right age, a Glover and single parent. There only seems to be one Cooper family in Montacute and Yeovil this whole time, so maybe ?

On the 1821 census, found amongst the documents in the parish chest (and available thanks to the Church of the Latter Day Saints), only the name of the householder is recorded, then tally marks to denote the numbers of people within given age frames and identifying their occupations. Samuel is there, living alone and engaged in a trade. His mother Ann is in a different house, where his brother John is recorded as the householder. John is engaged in agricultural work. The ages of the others, a male aged 10-15, 2 males aged 20-30, another 30-40 and a female aged 50-60 seem likely to be Ann 57, her sons, John 33 & Uriah 13 and two other unknown people. Not knowing the name of Charlotte’s father made it difficult to place Samuel’s children. Hann is a much more common name in Montacute than Cooper ! However the Churchwarden accounts record Samuel receiving assistance from the parish for himself and his child/children up until 1821.

Samuel remarried on 17 September 1821 to Elizabeth Hill. In the margin of the church register is a note "First marriage solemnized after rebuilding of the chancel". There don’t seem to be many people named Hill either in Montacute so nothing is known of Elizabeth prior to her marriage. But, she is definitely a Hill despite many people naming her otherwise in their trees having accepted an error on her eldest son’s death certificate as correct. I now have 4 documents where her maiden name is correctly recorded as Hill.

Of his siblings, Samuel appears to be the only one who could sign his name. He did this for both of his marriages, and also as a witness to another marriage in the parish. Charlotte his first wife signed her name, but Elizabeth did not. As a Tailor and businessman, the ability to read and write would have been necessary, I imagine.

Emigration schemes to New Zealand enticing free settlers to take the opportunity to settle a new colony at the far reaches of the globe began advertising in the late 1830’s. I guess we will never really know what Samuel’s motivation was to pack up his family and leave for New Zealand. At about the same time his brother Uriah was planning to leave Montacute too, although he would make his new life in the colonies which later became Australia.

Competition for work, and overall work opportunities may have been deciding factors. Times were changing in 1830/1840s England. Cottage industry weavers and glovers were being replaced by larger urban factories. Even in a tiny village like Montacute there were about 7 other Tailors in the 1841 census.

Samuel & Elizabeth applied for passage to Wellington on the Lord William Bentinck but did not sail for some reason, re-applying instead a few months later for passage on the Oriental which was to leave Plymouth bound for Wellington and New Plymouth. Their youngest son Frederick was 5 months old at the time of their application for passage on the Oriental. So perhaps they had decided to wait until he was a little older before travelling. He would have been about 8 months old had they sailed on the Lord William Bentinck compared to 14 months when the Oriental sailed. 

Samuel and his family don't appear on the 1841 census in Montacute - and so far nowhere else either. The census was taken on 6 June 1841 and the Oriental sailed from Plymouth on 22 June. I have wondered if they were somewhere en route, or perhaps even on board as ships in port were not enumrated in 1841. However being on board twelve days prior to sailing seems a bit extreme, especially since I discovered another family who emigrated on an earlier sailing still at home on census night. Perhaps they just decided not to complete the census as they were leaving.

Samuel’s son Charles, from his first marriage, was married with two children by 1841. He has been a little elusive to track since then – but I think I might have found him in Yeovil. Some more research is required.

Once in Wellington, the family lived in Thorndon Flat, around Little Pipitea, Mulgrave and Molesworth Streets. Samuel continued to make his living as a Tailor. Samuel and Elizabeth had one more child after their arrival in Wellington. Most of their children had married and were growing their own families by the time Samuel died in 1866 and Elizabeth in 1869. Like most early settlers in Wellington they were buried at the Bolton Street Cemetery.

  

U - Uriah

Uriah Cooper has been sitting in my tree for some time. I feel that he fits. The fact that makes some people less convinced is his supposed date of birth.

As I see it, he is a younger brother of my great-great-great-grandfather Samuel Cooper. Samuel too has a pretty fluid date of birth, somewhere between 1789 and 1801 depending which document you are reading. I’ve not yet been able to find a baptism for Samuel, but I believe he (and Uriah) are the sons of John Cooper and Ann Pullman who married in Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset in June 1784. It appears from the church register that a sister of John’s also married that day.

There aren’t many Cooper families around this area so I think they have to all be connected. John and Ann had several children baptised in Stoke sub Hamdon and by 1797 had moved to Montacute where they had some more before John died in 1810. John was a tailor according to one story I read attached to someone's tree. My great-great-great-grandfather Samuel and his son John were both tailors too, so this new revelation seems like it could have an ounce of truth to it. My Dad and I spent a lot of Saturdays at the National Library in Wellington reading the microfilm copies of the church records for Montacute about seven years ago. We even managed to find evidence for my great-great-great-grandmother’s maiden name, but still haven’t been able to convince everyone who has it wrong in their trees to make the correction.

But back to Uriah. He is thought to have been born between 1798 and 1807. His death certificate in 1878 gives his age as 80, but who knows ? I remember being reminded recently about the literacy levels of our ancestors and that their numeracy skills were likely low too. Did they really remember which year they were born in, if they couldn’t write it down or have a document to refer back to ? And what were their addition skills like ? 80 might just have been a fair assumption made by his wife, the informant…who signed with an x.

My ancestor Samuel emigrated to New Zealand in 1841. Uriah had however left two years earlier and sailed on the Asia to Adelaide with his wife Elizabeth (nee Hockey) and three children. Some sources have only documented 2 children. He appears to have had a run in with the law before leaving England and spent some time in Ilchester Gaol.  He and his brothers may even have been involved in a riot which occurred in Montacute in the 1830s. I wonder if their wives and sisters were involved in the women led riot that occurred around the same time. You can read about the riots here. 

Uriah & Elizabeth stayed in South Australia for about 3 years before moving to Launceston, Tasmania. There they had six more children before moving again to Melbourne where their last two children were born. Uriah appears on the 1856 Electoral Roll living in Hawthorn, Melbourne. I am unsure where they lived in South Australia but it should be noted that there is a small settlement there, in the Adelaide Hills named Montacute after the birthplace of a financier of the Copper mine established there in 1843. I wonder if Uriah & Elizabeth knew John Baker ?

There is also a Montacute in Tasmania, near Hobart. This settlement was also established by a former Montacute resident. Captain William Langdon RN was the son of a former vicar of St Catherine’s in Montacute. He had been granted land in Tasmania in 1823, he regularly traded between London and Hobart and is reputed to have owned his own sailing ship. Other former Montacute residents are thought to have joined him there as well. Uriah though seems to have been further north. Uriah was a sawyer by trade and I imagine he would have had no shortage of work as settlers arrived and timber was required for building.

Uriah and Elizabeth had at least 13 children, not all of whom survived infancy, but many of who went on to marry and have families of their own.  He died at his home in Highett Street, Hawthorn. I know that the church records make the connection look pretty sketchy, but DNA matches are certainly pointing in the right direction. We all have matches coming up with descendants of Uriah, through at least 5 of his children and we and they also share matches with the descendants of their sister Ann. Contacting some of them is my next priority to compare information and see where can help each other.

Searching for Mary Ann and remembering her

They say that when we are gone we live on, as long as people still speak our names or tell our stories. I reckon my ancestors are all pretty lucky then, to have me searching for them, trying to discover all that I can; who they were, where they lived etc - and then sharing that with the rest of you.

So today, one year and one day since relocating to Victoria, we made a trip to Melbourne. I had done some inquiring you see, something I kept telling myself I had to do one day. So one day came !

I knew that my 2 x great grandmother was buried at Melbourne General Cemetery from her death certificate. But where ? Have you seen the SIZE of that cemetery ? And the records aren't online just yet. So I emailed and asked and got a reply very quickly.

From their information I also learnt that her "husband" was buried in the same plot as well as one of her daughters and an infant grandchild. I had been unable to find his death before, but now I had a date. 

Certificate purchased !

I know a bit more about him too now. He was from Cornwall and came to live in Geelong with his parents as a young child. What enticed him to go to New Zealand then ? Haven't solved that piece yet. But he returned to Australia in March 1876 after his father died and made him executor to his estate. Looks like that might have been when great great grandma Mary left her husband in Kaikoura and her ten eldest children and started a new life in Melbourne. (You might remember her from here)

Anyways, back to today. We went exploring in Albert Park/Middle Park/South Melbourne. What a lovely area. Today it still has quite a bustling village atmosphere.

We found the house where they lived

and walked the streets she will have walked

spotted the school where the children likely attended (emailing on Monday)

Then we caught the tram to the cemetery and armed with the information in my email reply and the map we went walking.

And found her resting place with a bit of divine intervention steering me in the right direction. Not so many magnificent headstones in the Wesleyan "compartment" that they are in, and none for them either. No wrought iron surround, just SCHNEIDER at the foot of the simple concrete border. The married name of her daughter Mary Ann (Mollie), the last of the four interred.

Still waiting for some of the descendants of those three children to get DNA tested, or share information. It has taken over 60 years to get this much of the puzzle solved, so what is a few more ? There is still time.

Mary Ann Barratt (married name Cooper; known as Nicholls) 1831-1903

Charles Nicholls 1837-1900

Mary Ann Cooper (known as Nicholls, married name Schneider) 1873 - 1932

Baby Schneider 1907-1907

©we remember you still©

My roots run deep in Somerset

For the past week we've been staying with some distant relatives - 6th cousin distant ! That means having to go back to the mid 1700's to find the marriage of our common ancestors.

These cousins run a farm stay on their family farm. It is in a lovely little village on the levels of Somerset where they were fortunate to be just high enough that the flooding last winter/spring did not seep into their home or cottages. There isn't much going on here, as a visitor, but it would be a great place just to sit and relax, enjoy the pool and the sunshine if you didn't want to go exploring. We've been truly spoilt while we've stayed. Last Sunday we enjoyed lunch with some other cousins (5th once removed I think) who are in their 90's but full of life and with a great sense of humour. They chatted about all sorts of family, and it was hard to keep up with who was who all the time.

We've been out everyday as well, getting lost, driving down teeny laneways and discovering the teeny places our Davys family lived and farmed before they emigrated to New Zealand...and where some still are today. Clatwothy, Selworthy, Monksilver,Brompton Ralph, Chipstable, Wiveliscombe, Milverton, Wellington, Raddington, Waterrow and more that we haven't managed to get to this time. Some are larger than I imagined, many only have a few houses and a church.

Raddington Church built c1754

We met the gentleman who owns the farm where my great-great grandparents were tenant farmers before emigrating in 1862 with their children. He was a wonderful source of knowledge and had a collection of old photographs of the village at the bottom of the lane as well as some of the house. He also had copies of all the tything allotment information. We were able to have a tour as well since it was not being used. The house is available to book - wouldn't it be great to have a family reunion there ? How else would you fill nine bedrooms ? He told us how they had uncovered the enormous fireplaces, and altered other aspects to make it a little more modern inside. Walking up the 17th century staircase was awesome, to think that "our people" had walked those same steps each day.

Kingston Farm - farmed by Thomas Davys, brother of James Davys

Hurstone - farmed by James Davys before emigrating to NZ

The view from the front steps !

On other days we've been to Exeter, Watchet, Wells (though it poured with rain so we need to go back), through Glastonbury and had a good look at Taunton and Bridgwater. We also went to Montacute (where the Cooper family came from) and East Chinnock (where the Bartlett family was from). We've even joined the National Trust.

Montacute

Today we went to the beach at Lyme Regis. It rocked ! But was very pretty and a gorgeous day for a trip to the seaside. More on that next time. Tomorrow we are off again, back to Bristol for a show and then on to see another part of the country.

A weekend to explore

All these discoveries I have been making, to help build a better picture of my forebears lives have also made me get myself organised to take a flying trip to the area where some of them they had lived. 

So last Friday with the weather playing along, we caught the Interislander to Picton after I finished work. It was a lovely sailing, cruising across the strait and through the Queen Charlotte Sounds enjoying the twilight and sunset vistas.

Early next morning, after a quick stop at Macca's for breakfast, we set off on our drive southwards through Marlborough and to North Canterbury. Destination - KAIKOURA .

Back in the 1800's there were two big industries in Kaikoura - whaling and farming. Actually these days they are both still pretty big, but the focus has changed a little. Now we go whale watching instead of hunting, and farming has diversified; grapes, lavender, as well as sheep and dairy. There is some great information about early Kaikoura and old photographs in the Cyclopedia of New Zealand which is part of the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection digitised by Victoria University of Wellington. None of my family is mentioned, though I believe William Cooke could be the cousin of Thomas Cooke VC's father Tom.

My 2x great grandparents relocated from Wellington to Kaikoura in the 1860's. John Cooper was a tailor and for the early part of their time in the district was employed at Kekerengu one of the large sheep stations. Other members of his wife's family also worked here and at other neighbouring stations. Last night on www.ancestry.com.au I found some newly added electoral rolls where I found the family at Kekerengu, Cottage No4. 

Kaikoura has grown somewhat, especially since the whale watch business has taken off, but it still retains some of the sleepy beachside village atmosphere of days gone by. As we drove about, relishing the stunning views and wildlife I couldnt help but wonder what John and Mary and their contemporaries must have felt as settlers. Coming to New Zealand for a better life for themselves and their families, what a different childhood their children will have experienced to that of their parents. Mary was nine when she emigrated, so would have had some memory of life in Camberwell, Surrey. Even early Wellington would have been a real difference - but Kaikoura would have been a whole different kettle of fish. John emigrated as a twenty year old with his parents and younger siblings. His family was from Montacute in Somerset, so a little more rural than 1830-40 Surrey but still a contrast I'm sure.

And on the way back to the ferry home, we paid a visit to this cute wee church. St John in the Wilderness. My great grandmother was baptised there in 1875. I will have to spend some time working on my notes about her family a bit more so that I can record it here. 

Watch this space.

So, not really a #TroveTuesday post this week, but without Trove and Ancestry I wouldnt have found out so much about  Thomas Cooke VC or my runaway great great grandmother . I cant wait to go back and spend a bit more time there.

This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.

An Inheritance Lost ?

Totally on a tangent this week - I have become entangled with the family of my VC winning cuz as I try to unravel the connections and find where that Army Chaplin from ANZAC Day fits in.

I discovered by chance that Pte Thomas Cooke's sister Catherine had had children before her death from influenza in 1918. None were mentioned in her death notice in the paper, so I had had no leads to follow there. Thanks to google, I found on ancestry a file uploaded by a genealogical group detailing the grandparents of members - and there was Catherine ! I was interested to see that Catherine's father in law had been born in Geelong, Victoria.

On the National Library of New Zealands digitised newspaper site Paperspast I found a couple of items about Catherine's husband Charles Albert Oldman and his brother. They were apiarists and lived at Waiau which is inland from Kaikoura. One year seems to have been a bumper year for honey production and Charles got caught for being a bit clever looking for solutions to process all the honey his bees had provided.

The Auckland Star, New Zealand, Friday May 11 1934 page 3 AS19340511_1_3

But then I thought, why not see if I can find anything about his Dad on Trove, before he migrated to New Zealand - only one result was returned that pertained to the family.

Examiner (Launceston Tas 1900-1954) Tuesday 25 August 1931 page 6 article53934332-5-003

What a shame the judge made the decision he did - or have I interpreted this incorrectly, and he did order the money to be divided between the beneficiaries ? I'm sure it wouldn't have been too difficult to track the people down - they had the names of two of them, after all. If they missed out, I wonder if they can get the money back now (with interest) ? Victor Albert was Catherine's father-in-law. It would also appear that Catherine's husband's grandmother Agnes Oldman had just a little bit in common with Catherine's grandmother Mary Cooper - leaving the family home and taking a couple of kids to another country.


This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.

Remembrance Day

Private Thomas Cooke. Source: www.anzacday.org.au

Sunday was Armistice Day and I was reminded of the story I heard at the Dawn Service at ANZAC Day this year. It wasn't a new story to me, I knew a lot of the details myself - but I didnt know the person telling it that morning.

Thomas Cooke - Kiwi, Aussie, Hero - was born in Kaikoura, Marlborough, New Zealand on 5 March 1881. His mother Caroline was an elder sister of my great grandfather, and the sixth child; fourth daughter of John and Mary Cooper (nee Barratt) - you might remember Mary from an earlier post, she left her family in New Zealand and went to Australia and changed her name.

Thomas grew up in Kaikoura amongst a large extended family. His father was a builder, and Thomas followed him into the trade. Rumour has it my great grandfather, Thomas' uncle was apprenticed to Thomas' father as well. Thomas was the eldest of four children born to Caroline and Tom and sadly none would survive past 35 years.

Thomas moved to Wellington after finishing high school when he was 17, where he worked as a builder.  He was a keen musician and was a member of Jupp's band and the Garrison Band. He married a local Wellington girl, Maud Elliott in 1901 and they had three children. Around 1912 his family moved to Melbourne where he continued to practise as a builder, besides taking an active interest in brass bands and the Ancient Order of Foresters.

In February 1915 he became a member of the Australian Expeditionary Forces, enlisting with the 8th battalion. He sailed on 26 November 1915 with the 7th Australian Reinforcements arriving in Egypt on New Years Day. From there he went to France with a machine gun section and saw a lot of action. The first major action they saw in France was at Pozieres where 81 lives were lost. Thomas was killed in action on 25 July 1916 at Pozieres, France and posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. At some point he had been promoted to Acting Corporal, but was awarded the Victoria Cross for action at Pozieres, France whilst serving with 8 Battalion, 2 Brigade, 1 Division as a Private. The citation in the Supplement to the London Gazette September 9, 1916 reads

"No. 3055 Pte .Thomas Cooke, late Aus. Infy.
         For most conspicuous bravery. After a Lewis gun had been disabled, he was ordered to take his gun and gun-team to a dangerous part of the line. Here he did fine work, but came under very heavy fire, with the result that finally he was the only man left. He still stuck to his post, and continued to fire his gun.
        When assistance was sent he was found dead beside his gun. He set a splendid
example of  determination and devotion to duty."

There is extensive coverage about this on Trove,

The Argus (Melbourne Vic 1848-1956) Monday 11 September 1916 page 8 article1611874-3-001

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW 1842-1954) Friday 2 February 1917 page 6 article15734182-3-001

(complete with typos ! the Sydney Morning Herald article has Gallipoli instead of Pozieres - woops) and also in the New Zealand papers at PapersPast

The Evening Post (Wellington New Zealand) 15 September 1916, page 8

as well as on the Australian War Memorial site, New Zealand History online in the Australian Dictionary of Biography and many more. Google is a great help when researching.

It appears that his widow had drawn out negotiations with bureaucracy claiming her pension, from the correspondence I discovered on his file at National Archives of Australia , back and forth between Australian and New Zealand officials. His Victoria Cross is held in the collection at the National Army Museum in Waiouru.

The Army chaplin telling his story on ANZAC Day had visited Gallipoli and toured the battlefields to walk in the steps of his great uncle, I still dont know exactly where he fits into the family - I feel he is more likely related through the Elliott or Cooke families, since  we can account for most descendants on the Cooper side. I hunted him down at the breakfast between the dawn service and the citizens service at St Paul's cathedral but couldnt do much more than share our family connection and thank him for sharing the story.

I have wondered since discovering my other Cooper relations in Melbourne whether Thomas met them. From the electoral rolls they didnt live too far apart. Did his mother Caroline keep in contact with her mother - the mysterious Mary Cooper, nee Barratt also known as Nicholls ? or her younger siblings now married and starting their own families in Melbourne ? I might have to keep wondering about that for now.

Victoria Cross. Source: http;//medals.nzdf.mil.nz

So, there is the tale as it exists now of Thomas Cooke VC my 2nd cousin 1x removed who I feel wholly embodies the ANZAC spirit; being born a Kiwi and serving as an Aussie. Both countries can feel proud of this soldier.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Lest we forget

Laurence Binyon



This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.