Clover Family Compendium
The following article was originally published in the Clover Family Chronicles Spring 2004, volume 1, Issue 5, page 127. The article was copyrighted 2004 by June Clover Byrne. If you have further information on this complicated situation, please contact me. I have since then added material to this page.
The numbers in parenthesis refer to endnotes for your convenience.
The Complicated Cooper Question
Sir Astley Cooper, 1768 to 1841, was born the son of a Norfolk Clergyman. His uncle, William Cooper, was staff surgeon at St. Thomas's and Guy's Hospital. Sir Astley has been regarded by many as a leading surgeon of his day making numerous academic contributions to surgery and anatomy.(1) Maria Susannah Bransby of Shottesham married the Rev Samuel Cooper (1740-1800) who was the son of a successful apothecary and the brother of William Cooper, surgeon at Guy’s Hospital from 1783-1800. One of their sons was Astley Cooper (1768-1841), born at Brooke three miles from Shottesham.(2)
Sir Astley Paston Cooper, 1st Baronett, born 23 August 1768, died 12 February 1841. He married, (first), Anne Cocks, daughter of T. Cocks, on 12 December 1791. He married, (second), Catherine Jones, daughter of J. Jones, on 5 July 1828. He died on 12 February 1841 at age 72, without issue.
Sir Astley Paston Cooper, 1st Bt. was a surgeon.1 He was created 1st Baronet Cooper, of Gadebridge, Co. Herts [U.K.] on 31 August 1821, with a special remainder to his nephew, Astley Paston Cooper.(3)
Thanks to Brant Cooper for sending me this reference. According to Burke's Peerage, Sir Astley Cooper left no children.
History of Morris County, New Jersey, (New York: W. W. Munsell and Co, 1882), 211-212. The article on the Coopers is from Chester Township.
This is a long article on General Nathan A. Cooper. Thanks to Carol Jeanne Turk for sending this article to me.
The Cooper family of which Nathan A. was a member
descended from Sir Astley Cooper, the celebrated English
surgeon,
of England. Some of the family, in 1700, settled on Long
Island,
when Nathan Cooper came to Roxiticus, which comprised what are now the
towns of Medham, Chester, Washington, Mount Olive, and Roxbury.
He purchased 1,600 acres of land, made a clearing, and
erected a
small frame house, in which the family resided some years.
His
son, Nathan Cooper, was born 22 February 1725, and was
married in 1748 to Mehitable Seward, great aunt to ex-Secretary of
State William H. Seward. They had six children.
Nathan
built a house near where the present Cooper mansion stands.
It
was recently demolished, but the stone steps remain to mark the site.
He died December 30, 1797. His wife died 15 April
1812.
Their son, Abraham Cooper, was born 18 February 1762. he was married in 1799 to Anna Wills. Their children were Beulah Ann and Nathan A. Abraham died 13 September 1818, and his wife 24 April 1856. Nathan A. Cooper, the subject of this article was born 29 April 1802. His wife, to whom he was married in 1843, was Mary Henrietta, youngest daughter of Dr. John W. Leddel of Ralstontown. .....[The article continues with more of his children, life, and military career. Children: Anna E., Abram W., Beulah S., Mary L., Tillie R., Laura H., and Nathan A. All of them and their mother were still living when the book was published in 1882 ]
Their son, Abraham Cooper, was born 18 February 1762. he was married in 1799 to Anna Wills. Their children were Beulah Ann and Nathan A. Abraham died 13 September 1818, and his wife 24 April 1856. Nathan A. Cooper, the subject of this article was born 29 April 1802. His wife, to whom he was married in 1843, was Mary Henrietta, youngest daughter of Dr. John W. Leddel of Ralstontown. .....[The article continues with more of his children, life, and military career. Children: Anna E., Abram W., Beulah S., Mary L., Tillie R., Laura H., and Nathan A. All of them and their mother were still living when the book was published in 1882 ]
Armed with the above information about Astley Cooper, 1768-1841, we can see that Nathan A. Cooper cannot have been descended from Astley Cooper, who left no issue. Abraham Cooper, the father of Nathan A., was born one year after the birth of Astley Cooper. It is pretty obvious that Nathan A. was name dropping. I suspect that this article may have been the genesis for a lot of the mythology floating around on the Clover/Cooper front.
Lewis Peter Clover and the Cooper Question:
In the information given on Lewis Peter Clover of New York City in the Clover Family Exchange, Volume 5: 3: 3, the statement is made, purportedly by William Charles Clover, his son, that Peter, the father of Lewis Peter Clover, married a Martha Jane Cooper, the granddaughter of Ashley Cooper, a near relative and named after the distinguished English surgeon Astley Cooper. When one realizes that Lewis was born in 1790 in New Jersey, at a time when Astley was only 22, it obvious that Lewis’s grandfather could not have been Astley Cooper and could not have been named after Astley Cooper. It is certainly possible that Lewis Peter Clover had a mother or grandmother named Martha Jane Cooper, because we are not sure of his antecedents, but we can scratch Astley.
There was an Ashley Cooper Clover, born 1866 in Missouri. He was the son of Henry Ashley Clover (born 1824, New York City), son of Lewis Peter Clover. Henry went to St. Louis, Missouri where he married and had a family. This is where the name Ashley Cooper Clover comes into play. But his name was not Astley. So I think that Astley myth is just an erroneous connection based upon “sounds alike.” But the Ashley could be a surname or a Christian name from the family.
So what of this might be true? There was a Martha Cooper Christened 22 April 1748, in England, the daughter of Ashley Cooper and Susanna. This is an extracted record from the IGI. She was apparently christened in Chatteris, Cambridge, England. There was another child, same name, same parents, same church, christened in 9 December 1753. So the first one probably died and the parents gave the same name to another child. This was a common practice at that time. There is a record in the same church for an Ashley Cooper and a Susanna Nickolson. Could this Martha Cooper be the mother of Lewis Peter Clover? This is just a possibility and please do not say I said it was absolutely true.
A quick glance at the tax indexes for New Jersey told me that there was an Ashley Cooper living in Hillsborough Township in 1784 in Somerset County, New Jersey and in 1793 in Roxbury Township in Morris County. As a coincidence, there is a Joseph Clover in the 1783 tax list of Roxbury Township also.(4) I don’t know if this is a real Clover or not, but he is there in the index. So this is a real possibility and it is the direction in which I would point interested parties. The Ashley Cooper theory has the advantage of at least being possible. The Astley Cooper theory is not possible.
Note the following site which is very typical of this level of research. Some people have decided that the Nathan Cooper will which lists his daughter as Mary Cooper was an error and that this is really Martha Jane Cooper. Martha Jane Cooper is said to have been the mother of Lewis Peter Clover of New York City.
www.baileypages.net/JensCorner/
Mary (Cooper) Clover and the Cooper Question:
It is also impossible for Sir Astley Cooper to have been the father or other ancestor of the Mary Cooper who married Philip Clover, because Mary was born before Astley and he left no issue. So there is no reason to refute the 1788 New Jersey will of Nathan Cooper in which Mary Clover is named as his daughter. She named a son Nathan Clover, who named one of his sons Davenport C. Clover. Note she had a brother Davenport Cooper. These are all Dutch names. They are not English.
Note: Mary (Cooper) Clover was the wife of Philip2 Clover(John Peter1 Clover)
1788,
July 12. Cooper, Nathan, of Roxbury Township, Morris County,[New
Jersey]; will of.
Sons, Henry and James, all lands in Roxbury, on south side of road from
Mendham to Roxbury, bounded by James Hopkins and Daniel Seward, of 250
acres; also land on north of road bounded by Nathan Cooper Jr, Samuel
Wills and James Hopkins, of 200 acres. Son Nathan, 5
schillings.
Son Davenpoort Cooper, £ 10. Daughter, Hannah Saterly, 5
shillings. Daughter, Mary Clover, 5 shillings. Executors--Sons, Henry
and James. Witnesses--David Thompson, Caleb Howell, Pain
Brown.
Proved August 7, 1788.
1788, November 29. Inventory, ₤ 8.13.0, made by Jacob Conine and Constant Victor King. Lib. 31, p 179. (These were published in New Jersey Colonial Documents, New Jersey Archives Volume XXXVI, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Volume VII, page 51)
1788, November 29. Inventory, ₤ 8.13.0, made by Jacob Conine and Constant Victor King. Lib. 31, p 179. (These were published in New Jersey Colonial Documents, New Jersey Archives Volume XXXVI, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Volume VII, page 51)
I have seen a number of suggestions that Nathan Cooper, father of Mary Cooper, was English and a connection of Astley Cooper. I think this is very unlikely.
Actually, there were three Nathan Coopers in the 1778-1780 tax lists of Morris County, New Jersey. When you look down the road, you will see Jacob Conine.(5) Philip’s sister, Mary, married a Jacob Conine. Could he have been visiting his sister and met and married Mary Cooper there? And does anyone know which Nathan was Mary’s father? Eldest, Junior, or 3rd? Note that did not mean that they were even related. It referred only to their respective ages.
Take a look at the map on the New Jersey Home Page. I know some of us are used to doing research in large states where someone in eastern Texas may have no connection with someone in western Texas. But New Jersey is small and Morris County, Hunterdon County, and Somerset County have contiguous borders. So it was easy for people to leak over the border of one county into the next.
Morris County, New Jersey 1779 tax list
Nathan Cooper 250 acres 2 horses 6 cows
Nathan Cooper junior 230 acres 6 horses 6 cows 1 slave a riding chair
Nathan Cooper 3rd 80 acres 2 horses, 6 cows.
Jacob Conine was on the 1780 list only.
Jacob Conine 85 acres 3 horses 7 cows 1 hog, tanyard, had £ 500 at interest [which was a lot.]
Another Cooper Story
There was a Nathan I. Cooper born in 1696 in East Hampton, son of James Cooper and Hannah Pierson. This Nathan Cooper had a daughter Mary Cooper born 4 April 1718. As nearly as I can tell, she married 12 February 1735, a Henry Wick/Wyck and she died 7 July 1787 in Morris County, New Jersey, leaving a will. I have seen this Nathan Cooper confused with our Nathan Cooper. East Hampton is on the far east tip of Long Island, New York. The distances are not great and it would have been possible for these families to have been connected but I don't think that they are. I believe that the East Hampton Coopers are English while the Morris County Coopers came from the Dutch name Cuyper. This Nathan's daughter Mary was born way too early to have been married to Philip Clover. [For much more on the East Hampton Coopers, see FHL Catalog no. 1750815, item 31. Descendants of John Cooper Family, published 1976, by C. Fred Hockenbary.]
Endnotes:
(1) http://www.surgical-tutor.org.uk/default-home.htm?surgeons/cooper.htm~right
(2) http://www.takeheart.co.uk/gooch.htm
(3) 1.[S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 887. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
Available on: http://www.thepeerage.com/p25191.htm#i251905
(4) James S. Norton, New Jersey in 1793, (Salt Lake City, 1973), 255.
(5) Kenn Stryker-Rodda, “New Jersey Rateables, 1778-1780,” The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Volume 46, (1971), pages 86-7.
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Created,
Edited, and Maintained By June Clover Byrne
For the Clover Family Historical Society
Copyright 2007 June Clover Byrne
For Contact Information, Return to Home Page.
This page last updated 4 September 2011
For the Clover Family Historical Society
Copyright 2007 June Clover Byrne
For Contact Information, Return to Home Page.
This page last updated 4 September 2011