The Coopers came from Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois, a farming community near the Mississippi
River. They are variously listed as living in New Hartford and Martinsburg, two small towns near
Pittsfield, or in Pittsfield itself. There is a David and Nancy Cooper living in Gilmer, Adams,
Illinois in the 1860 census, born in Illinois and Ohio respectively, which correspond to what
George Douglas Cooper, the earliest Cooper that can be traced with certainly, listed in the 1900
census as the origins of his parents. In any case, George Douglas Cooper is listed in the 1900
census as a farmer living with his wife Addie and their children in Pittsfield, Pike, Illinois.
He was born in Illinois in September of 1859, and his wife, Addie Lee Barton, was born in Missouri
in July of 1862. The had five children, including Virgil Newlan, listed on his WWI draft registration
card as born in Pike County IL 27 Feb 1881, Elsie W. (Feb 1883), Maud (Jan 1885), Emmet J. (Mar 1887),
and Elma L. (Jun 1894). Virgil married Grace Rose West, who was born in Illinois in about 1881,
and they had Lyndle Ross 24 Jul 1903 in Pike County, Illinois. In 1910 Virgil was a farmer in
Martinsburg, Pike, Illinois. Grace died about 1915, and after that Virgil left the area and
worked in a series of jobs, e.g. he was listed as working in an electric shop in Chicago in
1930. He died in Pittsfield in August of 1968. Lyndle was raised by his aunt Elsie in the home
of his grandparents George and Addie in Pittsfield together with another "granddaughter" who
apparently was his sister Mary F., born about 1915 in Illinois.
Lyndle Ross Cooper moved to Washington State after high school and attended Washington Normal School
in Cheney, WA (now Eastern Washington University) where he met and married Madeline Lucile Cooney in Nov 1923.
They both graduated with degrees in education. She was a substitute teacher for years and he
taught history in Four Lakes, and then was a school principal in Almira, Reardan, and finally
Renton WA.
Madeline Cooney by family history in born in Dallas, Oregon 28 December 1903. No birth certificate
exists for her, which was attributed to a court house fire, although the 1910 census lists her
as being born in Washington State. She was adopted by Alfred C. Cooney and
Malvina A. Schroeder Cooney at the age of eight. Her father, Charles D. Bishop,
was an agricultural worker with a drinking problem and her mother, Lulu Becker Bishop,
was physically ill when Madeline was adopted. They had eight children as listed in the 1910
census where they were living in Ritzville, Adams, Washington, including (birth years approximate)
Elroy (Oregon, 1901), Onie (Wa, 1902), Madeline Lucile (28 Dec 1903, Or or Wa), Buster (Wa, 1905),
Loile (7 Apr 1907 in Cathlamet, WA, according to Wa birth index), Clarence and Anetta (Wa, 1909)
and Claire C. (Wa, 1909). Claire was living with Lyndle and Madeline Cooper in Wenatchee in
1930. After Lulu's death the children were adopted or placed in foster care. A grandson, Richard Bishop,
was later able to find all of them except for Anetta.
It was said that Lulu thought that Madeline was only going to be temporarily taken care of and that when
she understood that she had been adopted that hastened her demise.
Malvina Schroeder was born 29 January 1875 in Wolcottsville, Niagara County, New York, to German immigrants.
Her parents wer both born in Germany, Gottfried Schroeder (aka Schrader), in about 1821
and Wilhelmina ("Minnie") Flatow, about 1834. The emigrated to Niagara County, NY, in about 1871
based on the listed birth places of their children or 1864 based on Wilhelmina's report
on a later census. The births of their children were recorded in the German Lutheran Church
and Niagara County had a large German Lutheran community. The name Flatow, however,
in the 20th Century was largely a Jewish one (derived from the name of a town in
what is now part of Poland) and there were a large number of Flatows who died in the
Holocaust. Many Jews who immigrated to the US converted or otherwise shed their Jewish
identity when they moved, since it wasn't easy to shed one's Jewish identity in Europe.
They had two children in Germany, (birth years approximate) Gottfred (1866)
and Ida (1870), and five in New York, Elyra (1872), John (1873), Malvina (29 Jan 1875,
with Wolcottsville listed as the birth place on her death certificate), Minnie (1877), Anna (1879)
and Anna Maria (after 1880). In 1880 they were listed as living on a farm in Royalton, Niagara(br>
New York. Gottfried Schroeder probably died sometime before 1900 and in 1900 Wilhemina
was living in Lynn, St. Clair, Michigan with her daughter Anna Schroeder Gottschalk
and her husband Herman Gottschalk (another immigrant from Germany). The Gottschalks were
living in Mussey, St. Claire, Michigan on a farm in 1910 without Wilhelmina, who
probably died between 1900 and 1910. Vinnie Cooper
remembers visiting the Gottschalks in Michigan as a child.
Malvina Schroeder married Alfred C. Cooney in 1897 in Becker County, MN.
The Cooneys moved around a lot, listed in censuses as living in Carsonville, Becker County,
Minnesota in 1900, Springdale, Stevens, Washington in 1910 (where he was a salesman in a Department
Store), Monroe, Monroe, Michigan in 1920, and Wenatchee, Chelan County, Washington in 1930,
where they lived in their house at 406 N. Emerson Street. Sometime
before 1930 they lived at Orchardvale (near Zillah) WA. In Wenatchee they were neighbors of
Madeline and Lyndle Cooper who had married in 1923. In later years Malvina ("Grandma Cooney")
in the hourse on Emerson Street in Wenatchee until she died 8 December 1965. She was remembered
with affection as a thoughtful and loving person.
Madeline Cooney and Lyndle Cooper both attended Washington Normal School in Cheney WA
now Eastern Washington University where they majored in education. They married in 1923.
After graduation they taught school in Taholah at the Quinault Indian Reservation.
Sometime before 1930 they moved to Wenatchee where they both taught school and lived around
the corner from the Cooneys. About 1930 they had a daughter they named Madeline who
died shortly after birth while they were waiting for the doctor to arrive.
The next year they moved to Cheney and adopted
Madeline Laurnell whom they named after the deceased child but who went by the name "Laurnell."
Madeline Laurnell Cooper Bremner was born on February 23, 1932, in Spokane, Washington,
to Alice Pauline Lloyd
and Edward Joseph Ehrlich.
Alice was attending college at Washington Normal School in Cheney and Edward was working
in a hotel in Spokane (the Dessert Hotel).
After Alice got pregnant she lived with Edith who acted as a "birthing mother",
i.e. a place where she could live during pregnancy and then deliver her baby in secrecy.
After birth Laurnell was adopted by Lyndle and Madeline Cooney Cooper.
Madeline's first child (Madeline) died shortly after birth in Wenatchee
while the family waited for the doctor to arrive. She apparently became depressed
after this and they moved to Cheney WA and adopted Laurnell. There is no
record of a legal adoption and the most likely scenario is that the "Dr Hall"
who delivered her arranged in advance for the adoption through mutual acquaintances
in Cheney.
A year later, 12 May 1933, they had another child, Vinnie Lou. She was named after Malvina Cooney's nick-name
and Madeline's biological mother Lulu.
After her birth the family moved to Four Lakes and later to Almira in about 1938 and Reardan in 1941
Renton in 1945 where the Coopers eventually retired. Lyndle taught history and was school
principal in Almira, Reardan and Renton. Madeline worked as a substitute teacher.
Lyndle died of a heart attack 28 Apr 1958 and Madeline 7 Nov 1992. Vinnie married and raised four children
in Gresham, Oregon. Laurnell married a psychiatrist and had four children; she died in Olympia WA
12 Feb 1966 of spinal meningitis.