Laura Jane Boyd Cooper 1853-1921 - Part 1

St. Ann's Church on Dawson St. in Dublin.

Laura Jane BOYD Cooper was my great grandmother. She married Alexander Sisson COOPER on 19 July 1875 in Dublin, Ireland, in St. Ann's Church. She was the eldest and only daughter of William BOYD and Jane CARRICK.

William BOYD was a commercial traveller in Dublin, Ireland, and also had a glass manufacture business in Glasgow, Scotland. 

"Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XT5H-D3T : 2 January 2015), Laura Jane Boyd, 17 Jul 1853; citing , Duddingston, Midlothian, Scotland, reference 2:17HSFPX; FHL microfilm 1,066,685. Accessed 6 Oct 2005.

Laura Jane BOYD was the eldest and only daughter with 6 younger brothers including:

William Henry Boyd 1854-1917
John James Carrick Boyd 1858-1943
Alexander George Boyd 1859-1874
Andrew Lockhart Boyd 1863-1888
Robert Joycelyn Boyd 1864-1869
Male Boyd 1875-1875

All of these children were born in Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland.
The Boyd family lived at 14 South Frederick Street (now an Italian Restaurant) in Dublin, Ireland, above his business. 

Photo taken by author 2010.

Ireland Marriage Records. Alexander Sisson Cooper and Laura Jane Boyd. 17 July 1875. Quarter 3. Volume 12. Page 495. Civil Registration Office, Roscommon, Ireland. Accessed June 2008.

Alexander Sisson COOPER and Laura Jane BOYD had nine children. You can find them listed in Alexander Sisson Cooper's blog post. 

Laura Jane also took care of her elderly mother, Jane CARRICK Boyd, until  her mother's death in 1903.

In 1905, Laura said “Goodbye” to her husband and 

youngest son, Alex Jr. as they left for America. Her eldest daughter, Laura Jane Cooper Dawes, and two other sons, John Carrick Cooper and Edwin Irwin Cooper, also emigrated to the United States the following years. A son, Austin Sisson Cooper, and daughter, Elizabeth Cooper Corcoran, remained in Ireland; yet, both sadly died before their mother.

Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, "Civil Records," database with images, IrishGenealogy.ie (https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/ : accessed 10 May 2017), image, death registration of Laura Cooper (28 November 1921, 22 Liberty Lane, North City Dublin), citing Group Registration ID 3417878; registration filed 30 November 1921 by Geo. R. Cope, in North Dublin Registration District, undignified register, folio 474, “Second page,” stamped no. 04395624A, entry 421.

 Laura Jane died 28 Nov 1921 of liver cancer and exhaustion from toxemia (blood poisoning) at Meath Hospital. At the time of her death, she was living at 22 Liberty Lane. 

Laura Jane is buried in Mt. Jerome Cemetery in Dublin at Grave C-106 Grant 2760. This information was researched by a genealogist in Ireland for one of my Boyd cousins. On the actual cemetery card it stated the informant as George Corcoran, her son-in-law. I would love to see a photo of her headstone, if she has one.

Time Will Tell

Pocket Watch and Rings

My grand uncle, Edwin Irwin COOPER, 1889-1935, inherited his father's pocket watch which was engraved with his initials, ASC for Alexander Sisson COOPER. Look closely in the center to find all three letters engraved on top of each other. Who had this made for him & for what occasion?

Open the watch cover and engraved inside is the COOPER crest seen here. It has the bull with words LOVE and SERVE.

Edwin also possessed two family rings with the family crest.

Edwin passed these on to his son, John David COOPER (1921-2011) who took these pictures of the watch and crest rings for me. John’s daughter, my 2nd cousin, now has the honor of possessing these heirlooms.

This got me curious about our family crest. I will share about our crest in a future post.

Alexander Sisson Cooper (1854-1927) Part 2

Alexander Sisson COOPER is my great grandfather. My favorite photo of him is holding his grandson, Stanley Gibson COOPER, my father, born 1924, in New York City.  I find him, age 51, in the U.S. Census record in 1910 as a boarder with his youngest son, Alex S. Cooper, Jr., age 19, in Manhattan. This document tells me that both father and son immigrated to the U.S. in 1905. My next step is to find the passenger ship that brought them to America. 

They left Liverpool on 13 May 1905 on the SS Etruia. 

Alex Jr. is age 11 and father is 47. Alex Sr. is a bookkeeper who can read and write. He is Irish from Dublin. Their destination is Brooklyn and he has paid for both of their tickets. He had $31 cash in his pocket. The next line told me that he had been to the US before! Both in 1881 and 1886. He is meeting his brother-in-law, J. E. Edmonds of 450 52nd St. of Brooklyn. 

Year: 1905; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 0576; Line: 25; Page Number: 104 Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

This document raises more questions for me to answer.

• Who is J.E. Edmonds?
• Why would he come to U.S. in 1881 and 1886?
• Why is “US Citizen” written over “Self and $31” in columns 13 and 14? 

I recently found an attempt for U. S. Citizenship with his Declaration of Intention dated 29 Jul 1907. The U.S.1910 Census states he is in Pa (Papers process). 1920 Census states both immigration year and US citizen status as Unknown. At least, Alexander, Sr., made the attempt.

 New York, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1940. Circuit Court, Southern District. Vol 015-017 , 11 July-7 Sept 1907 (No. 6994-8487). Alexander Sisson Cooper, No. 7412. 29 Jul 1907. Ancestry.com. [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Naturalization Records. National Archives at New York City, New York, New York : accessed 30 Dec 2016

Alex, Sr., with son, Jack, out fishing with a bunch of buddies. This photo in possession of my aunt. Love the comments written in blue pen!

I find Alexander’s death certificate. He died in Brooklyn on 28 March 1927. He is widowed. His occupation was an office clerk. He was born in Ireland. His parents are listed as Austin D. Cooper and Elizabeth Gibson, both born in Ireland. He died of pancreatic cancer. 

New York. Brooklyn County. New York City. Death Certificates. 1795-1949  Microfilm 2,048,713 : accessed Jul 2003.

Family history was given as “Austin Damer Cooper” as my 2nd great-grandfather. After connection with my distant cousin, Richard Austin-Cooper, he stated that Austin Damer COOPER was (the first cousin of MY Austin COOPER) the son of Rev. Austin COOPER, the younger brother of Samuel COOPER. I will go into further detail of this COOPER line in the future. I crossed out the “D.” Alex is buried at Evergreen Cemetery of Brooklyn, New York. This was the first time for me looking at death certificates on microfilm. I did not know to look at the next page to see who provided the derivative information. I will have to look at this document again.