Charles Henry Cooper (1865 - 1954)

Born 26 Jun 1865 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Mary (Stephens) Cooper — married 31 Oct 1893 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Husband of Emily (Lawson) Cooper — married 12 Feb 1908 in Tasmania, Australia

Descendants

Died 5 May 1954 at age 88 in Montrose, Tasmania, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Julia Whitty [send private message]

Biography

Birth

Charles Henry Cooper was born 26 June 1865 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, son of William Henry Cooper and Elizabeth Petworth.^[1]

Marriages & Children

Charles married Elizabeth Mary Stephens on 31 Oct 1893 in the house of the bride's father in New Town, Tasmania.^[2] He was 38 years old and she was 30 years old.^[3]

Together they had the following children:

1. Winifred May Cooper
2. Lily Maud Cooper

Five months after the birth of Lily Maud Cooper, Charles' wife Elizabeth Mary Stephens died of tuberculosis.^[4] His two very young daughters were taken to be raised by their mother's family, the Stephens of New Town, Tasmania, Australia.^[5]

Charles married Emily Lawson on 12 February 1908 in New South Wales, Australia.^[6]

Together they had at least the following children:

1. Charles Henry Cooper
2. Eric Alexander Cooper
3. Robert George Cooper
4. Mavis Cooper

Occupation

Charles was a farmer and owned a hops farm in Molesworth, Tasmania, Australia. The house he built there still stands.^[7]

Family stories recall that Charles used to drive a horse and cart the roughly 14 miles/22 kilometers to and from Hobart to deliver his hops and to get supplies. He always came home asleep at the reins late in the night, and he always left a bag of flour or some other staple out on the porch of his house for the bushrangers living wild nearby. Mark Stephens Whitty, his grandson, claimed that Charles had sympathy for these outlaws and escaped convicts, and that this might have implied that Charles knew of convicts in the family tree, a fact that Mark Stephens Whitty had no knwledge of, as the family memory apparently suppressed these stories over the generations.^[8]

Death

Charles died at age 88 at his home in Montrose, Tasmania on 5 September 1954^[9] and was buried in the Malvina General Cemetery on Molesworth Road, Tasmania, Australia.^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9CH-W9KK?i=545&cc=2125029
2. ↑ https://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=Elizabeth&qu=stephens#
3. ↑ Marriage record [1]
4. ↑ https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=ANZ/BMD/TAS/007368138/00371&parentid=ANZ/AU/TAS/BMD/D/0000044374
5. ↑ Family knowledge of Julia Whitty
6. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C956-D9Y9-7?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQ244-BWXT&action=view
7. ↑ Family knowledge of Julia Whitty
8. ↑ Family knowledge of Juliawhitty
9. ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27244908?searchTerm=Lily%20M%20Whitty
10. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/215234369/charles-henry-cooper

• Tas birth registration #7849/1865 - Name: Cooper, Charles Henry, Father: Cooper, William, Mother: Petworth, Elizabeth, Date of birth:, 26 Jun 1865, Registered:, Hobart
• Tas Wills #9159/1955

Research Notes

His mother is listed as Elizabeth Cooper, nee Petworth on his birth registration. What is also interesting is that it was his mother who was the informant of his birth, signed by her mark, as she did with all her children's births.

Was the mother's surname misinterpreted by the Registrar at birth?

Charles' mother had married his father under the alias of Elizabeth Edwards, which was presumably later revealed when the government of New South Wales began to advertise for her whereabouts. In Charles' birth record her true surname of Petworth is finally recorded.^[11]