Laura Jane “Jinny” Cooper Dawes (1876-1959)

Laura Jane "Jinny" Cooper 1927. Original from Doris Cooper.

Laura Jane “Aunt Jinny” COOPER was the first and oldest daughter of Alexander Sisson COOPER and Laura Jane BOYD, born in Dublin, Ireland, on 29 Jan 1876. She is my paternal grandfather's (John 
Carrick COOPER) eldest sister. I find a copy of her birth registration from Salt Lake City. The family was living at 18 Leinster Ave. in 1876.

"Ireland Birth and Baptisms, 1620-1881," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FR99M-7JD : accessed 25 May 2005), Laura Jane Cooper, 29 Jan 1876: citing Dublin, Ireland, reference v 2-2  p 580; ; FHL microfilm 255,946.

18 Leinster Ave. 2010

She had 10 siblings with only 5 
surviving. I find her mother in the 1911 Ireland Census stating this fact. 

I find Jinny with her family in the 1901 Dublin Census. She is 24, single, working as a clerk. See census record below. There is a reason Jinny's mother's name is crossed out. I will also cover this in Laura Jane BOYD's future post.

1901 Census of Ireland, County Dublin, unpaginated, household no. 139, Alexander Cooper; digital image, National Archives of Ireland, Census of Ireland 1901/1911 (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie : accessed 29 Sep 2016)

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

In 1905, her father and youngest brother, Alex, Jr. sail for the United States. Three years later, on the 6 Mar 1908, Laura follows them across the Atlantic on the S.S. Baltic from Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland. According  to the ship's record, Line 1, she was living with her Aunt Bessie PEARSON (father's sister) in Rathmines, Dublin, Ireland, when she left for America. She paid for her own passage, meeting her father in New York City. Jinny is 5 feet tall with a fresh complexion, fair hair and blue eyes. She arrives in New York the 14 Mar 1908.

 Manifest, SS Baltic, 14 March 1908,  backside of stamped page 32, line 1, Laura Jane Cooper, age 32, Image New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Sep 2016).

Manifest, SS Baltic, 14 March 1908,  stamped page 34, line 1, Laura Jane Cooper, age 32, Image New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Sep 2016).

Two days later, 16 Mar 1908, she married Alexander Chalmers “Uncle Barney” DAWES in Manhattan at City Hall according to marriage registration. Her youngest brother, Alex, Jr. is a witness.

"New York Marriages, 1686-1980," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F648-K2K : accessed    16 March 2017), Alexander Dawes and Laura Jean Cooper, 16 Mar 1908; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 1,452,363.

Barney and Jinny. Original from Doris Cooper.

Alexander Chalmers Dawes

Researching, “Alick,” he is born 19 Aug 1883, to Robert Clement DAWES and Martha COLOHOUN  (several spellings) in Dublin. He sails on the S.S. Etruria from Liverpool on 6 Jul 1907 to meet the same Alexander Cooper, his future father-in-law. Alick was known to family as "Barney." Jinny and Barney knew each other in Dublin. Arrangements were made to send Barney to America first to find a job and a prepare a place for his bride to be. She came six months later. This is why she married two days after her arrival. 

I find the couple in the 1910 census living in the Bronx on East 175th St. Alick is in the Pa “papers” process of Naturalization. His occupation is very general as a “Street Laborer.” Their first son, Robert Clement DAWES, is listed. He is 9 months old. Robert was born on 20 Jul 1909, in Lynhurst, New York.

Four years later on 18 June 1913, Edwin Ashley DAWES was born in Brooklyn, New York.

In the New York 1915 Census, I find this family at 415 Sixteenth St., Kings, New York City. Alick is listed as a Boiler Maker. I find my grandfather, John C. COOPER (Jinny’s younger brother) living with them as a book keeper.

Dawes family 1927. Original from Doris Cooper.

The Dawes family around 1919.
Photo in author's possession.

On January 6, 1920, the DAWES family is living in Brooklyn, New York. Alec DAWES is a boil-maker in a shipyard. His brother-in-law,  Alexander Sisson, Jr., "Alex" COOPER is living with them and is also working in a shipyard as a ship fitter.

He petitions for U.S. Citizenship on 6 April 1920. This document  gives me my first clue for his birthday listed above. He lists his wife’s and two sons’ birth dates and birth locations. His affidavits include Alexander Sisson COOPER his father-in-law and Austin Cooper EDMONDS, his wife’s cousin.

United States. "Selected U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Sept 2016).

In the 1930 Census, the Dawes family is living on 859 Oakwood Ave. in Schenectady, New York. Barney is now a guard for an electric works company. 

By 1940, Jinny is the source for the census taker. Her husband is a “police man” or security guard for an electrical management program. My aunt remembers that Uncle Barney loved being in "uniform." Their sons are now off on their own. 

Original from aunt.

Alexander "Barney" Dawes died in 1944. Jack Cooper comforts his sister at Barney's funeral in above photo.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 Sep 2016). memorial page for Laura Jane Dawes (1876-1959), Find A Grave Memorial no. 16914191, citing Parkview Cemetery, Schenectady, Schenectady County, New York; the accompanying photograph by Dawn Sherman is materially informative,

"Jinny" Cooper Dawes died on 31 Aug 1959. They are both buried in Park View Cemetery in Schenectady, New York.

I wish I knew more about their two sons, Robert “Bob” Clement DAWES and Edwin “Ashley” DAWES. 

Aunt Jinny Cooper Dawes. Original from aunt.