Alexander Sisson Cooper (1854-1927) Part 1

Alexander Sisson COOPER is the third child, second son of Austin COOPER and Elizabeth GIBSON. He was born 3 Oct 1854 in Marlinstown, Westmeath, Ireland, according to the family Bible. See previous post. http://familyfilmfabricfood.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-old-cooper-bible.html

By 1875, I find him in Dublin. He married Laura Jane BOYD on 17 Jul 1875 in St. Anne Church in the Parish of St. Anne. I find the marriage register by writing to Roscommon after finding their names in the index found online from Salt Lake City. 

Dublin, Ireland. Ireland Marriage Records. 1875. Quarter 3. Vol. 12. Page 495.Civil Registration Office, Roscommon, Ireland. Accessed June 2008.

The groom is listed as Alexander Sisson Cooper, age 20, a bachelor, occupation as a clerk, living at 27 Upper Buckingham St. His father is Austin COOPER, also a clerk. 

The bride is listed as Laura Jane BOYD, age 21, a spinster, no profession, living at 14 South Frederick St. (which is right around the corner from the church). Her father is William BOYD, a what? I could not figure out his occupation. The witnesses are listed as J. C. Boyd and Edward Grange. (The same week-June 2008- I received this record from Roscommon; on Ancestry.com, I was contacted by some Boyds in Australia, who just discovered an older sister of six younger brothers, two who emigrated to Australia before 1878.) These are the third cousins I visited in Australia in October 2016.

I was in Dublin back in 2010. I spent an afternoon walking around St. Stephen’s Green and Merrion Square. (More about that story later.) I tried to visit St. Anne’s. The door was locked on a Monday afternoon.

Years later, I was able to find this same marriage registration online, but a different written copy which answered the question of William BOYD's occupation, a Commercial Traveller!! 

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=d-344-3-6-022

I find Alexander and Laura Jane listed next in the 1901 Irish Census.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003707038/

Alexander Cooper is listed as the Head of the Household and family are all listed as Protestants with the Church of Ireland. The family can read and write. He is 44 and a Bookkeeper. He is married and born in the County of Westmeath. His wife, Laura Cooper is listed as Wife. Age 47, born in Scotland. She is crossed out. I later find her listed with her mother, Jane CARRICK Boyd on the evening of 31 March 1901. More about that when I write about the Carricks.

The children are listed as:

Laura Cooper, daughter, 24, clerk, single, born in the City of Dublin.

John Cooper, son, 14, scholar, single, born in the City of Dublin.

Edwin Cooper, son, 12, scholar, single, born in the City of Dublin.

Alexander Cooper, son, 10, scholar, single, born in the City of Dublin.

I am familiar with these four children listed, as all of them came to the US from 1905-1908, as well as their father, Alexander S. Cooper, Sr. I hunt down their birth/baptism records finding six more children. 

Child #1 - Laura Jane Cooper born 29 Jan 1876 Dublin, Ireland. MF#255,946

"Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FG2P-VT5 : 8 December 2014), Laura Jane Cooper, 29 Jan 1876; citing Dublin, Ireland, reference v 2-2 p 580; FHL microfilm 255,946. Accessed 25 May 2005.

Child #2 - Male Cooper born 9 June 1877 Dublin, Ireland. MF#255,980 

"Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGXF-5RG : 8 December 2014), Cooper, 09 Jun 1877; citing Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, reference v 7-2 p 591; FHL microfilm 255,980 : accessed 24 Sep 2009.

Child #3 - Elizabeth Cooper #1 born 4 Apr 1878 Dublin, Ireland. MF#256,003

"Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGKG-ZM9: 8 December 2014), Elizabeth Cooper, 04 Apr 1878; citing Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, reference v 2-2 p 550; FHL microfilm 256,003: accessed Feb 2006.

Elizabeth died 6 hours later due to premature birth. 

Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, "Civil Records," database with images, IrishGenealogy.ie (https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/: accessed 14 January 2021), image, death registration of Elizabeth Cooper (4 April 1878, 142 North Strand Road, North Dublin,  County of Dublin, city of Dublin), citing Group Registration ID 7008735; registration filed 4 April 1878 by J. P. Nowlan, in North Dublin Registration District, J. R. Ferguson Register, folio 439, “First page,” stamped no. 07198165, entry 114.

Child #4 - Austin Sisson Cooper born 27 Apr 1879 Dublin, Ireland. MF#256,028

"Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGLB-43J : 8 December 2014), Austin Sisson Cooper, 27 Apr 1879; citing Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, reference v 2-2 p 586; FHL microfilm 256,028 :  accessed Feb 2006.  

Child #5 - Elizabeth Cooper #2 born 30 Apr 1881 Dublin, Ireland. MF#906,717 

Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, register of labour patients, master's ward book; records of births, admissions and discharges, 1797-1882. Master's Ward Book Vol. 4 1879-1881. Microfilm #906,707 Salt Lake City. Accessed 23 Sep 2009. 

On my second trip to Salt Lake City in 2009 for research in the Family History Library, one of my goals was to focus on Dublin Hospital birth records and Birth Registrations that were available there. On the last page of the Master’s Ward Book Vol. 4 1879-1881 I found the following. This only listed these facts. Bed No. - 83. Name of Mother - Laura Cooper. Age - 26. Date & Condition of Patient on Admission - 30th. No. of Pregnancy - 5. Date & Hour of Delivery - 30th & 5 hrs. Hours ill - 3. Length of 2nd Stage in Hours - 1/2. Length of 3rd Stage in Minutes - 12. Sex & State of Child Now Born - F & 6 1/4.  Total # of Births at Viable Period - 2 males 3 females. [On next page not posted here.] Result to Child - [blank]. Result to Mother - May. 7". This does not list name of child. I found this unindexed document going through microfilms page by page. I found this on the last page[s]. 

I later find Elizabeth's baptism record with the matching above date.

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=d-298-2-9-042

Child #6 - Female Cooper born 10 Apr 1884. Dublin, Ireland. 

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1884/02692/1991510.pdf

Interesting to see the father listed as a Robert Cooper. I connected with my distant cousin who collaborates with me over our BOYD side of the tree. The address listed here matches with Laura's mother, Jane CARRICK Boyd and maternal grandmother, Ellen CARRICK (died in 1885) at this time. Robert must be an error from the person who recorded this birth who was present at birth. 

Child #7 - John Carrick Cooper born 5 Nov 1886 Dublin, Ireland. Roscommon order. See blog posts about John Carrick Cooper (my grandfather) in six parts. Now online. See below.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1886/02583/1954474.pdf

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=d-298-2-9-085

Child #8 - Edwin Irwin Cooper born 9 Jan 1889 Dublin, Ireland.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1889/02486/1922640.pdf

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=d-45-2-18-102

Child #9 - Alexander Sisson Cooper, Jr. born 24 Mar 1891 Dublin, Ireland. 

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1891/02390/1891537.pdf

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=d-45-2-18-125

Child #10 - Samuel Pearson Cooper born  12 Oct 1894. Dublin, Ireland. Samuel Pearson Cooper died a year later on 4 Oct 1995.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1894/02240/1843764.pdf

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=d-751-2-1-088

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1895/05916/4679531.pdf

I find Laura Jane BOYD Cooper in the [2 April] 1911 census by herself in Dublin.  

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000192382/

It states that she is married for 36 years. It lists that 5 children are still alive of birthing 11 children. I know this includes her 4 children who came to the United States and one Elizabeth who married with a family by 1911. See “The Letter That Started It All”). So, yes, she had one more child, which I now need to search for their birth records. Most of these Ireland BMD Records can now be found online at Irish Genealogy.ie. https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ which are referred to above.

She died on 28 Nov 1921, in Dublin, at Meath Hospital, age 65, Cancer of the Liver for 5 years & ???? (Can anyone read this?) for 3 months. It states she was still married as a wife of a clerk. 

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1921/05085/4395624.pdf

I asked my aunt if she was ever told why Laura Jane Boyd Cooper, her grandmother, remained in Ireland as she said "Good-bye" to her husband and four of her children as they left for the United States, some to never return home to Ireland again. My aunt told me Laura Jane was sickly and she felt she did not have the strength to cross the Atlantic Ocean. 

I feel both Alexander and Laura Jane wanted a better future for their surviving younger four children by the turn of the century because of the political upheaval in Ireland at the time for independence. My cousin contains a century old scrapbook with newspaper articles covering these troubled times before Ireland's Independence from England. Two children, Elizabeth Cooper Corcoran and Austin Sisson Cooper remained in Ireland. Or did they?

Alexander Sisson COOPER's adventures in America will continue in my next blog.