Hello Marion, I realise this may be a little late and may not be of interest, and is away from Geelong, but there is a John Cooper Hall attached to the now Uniting Church in Benalla. Did your John COOPER by any chance belong to the Benalla area at any time? Could they be the same person? If so, and you can supply some further details we maybe able to help. Cheers, Bill Willett Secretary, Benalla & District Family History Group. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marion Stainsby" <[email protected]> To: "GEELONG List" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 8:55 PM Subject: [GEELONG] COOPER of Highton - & Modewarre? > Is there some very kind person out there who has access to the Digger > Index, and could tell me anything of the family of a John COOPER? >

Bill's response illustrates how the Barrabool Hills area, having been occupied so early, was a sort of seed-bed for families who spread out across the state as new lands were opened up. On Monday I had an e-mail off-list from Gaylene McCooey, who wrote, "Looks like the family ended up in Benalla", and sent me this information from the Edwardian Index 1902-1913: Surname: TREWIN Given Names: Carol Event: D Spouse Surname/Father: Cooper Jno Spouse Gvn Names/Mother: Hannah BIRD Age: 56 Birth Place: Death Place: Benalla Year: 1906 Reg. Number: 390 Surname: COOPER Given Names: Hannah Event: D Spouse Surname/Father: Bird Spouse Gvn Names/Mother: Unknown UNKNOWN Age: 82 Birth Place: Death Place: Benalla Year: 1903 Reg. Number: 8546 and from the Digger Death Index 1921-1985: Surname: COOPER Given Names: Joseph Father: John Mother: Hanna BIRD Death Place: BENALLA Age: 85 Year: 1950 Reg Number: 18070 Event: D Surname: COOPER Given Names: Jas Jno Father: Cooper Jno Mother: Hannah BIRD Death Place: BENALLA Age: 84 Year: 1944 Reg Number: 22091 Event: D Now that it seems the Benalla Coopers were possibly Wesleyan, it makes it a little more likely that the John Cooper I'm looking for COULD have been the one married to Hannah Bird - but we've still got to prove it! I still can't see why a couple living at Highton in the 1860s would have the births of their children registered over the hills at Modewarre. Bill, are there any descendants of your Coopers still around Benalla? We have photos of "Mr & Mrs Cooper" which were framed and labelled "Pioneers", and I could send you a scan for someone to identify. I have collected quite a bit of information about Hannah, which I can pass on. Apart from John Cooper's name on an 1861 map, this is all I know of the Highton family: From the GEELONG ADVERTISER ?th April 1914 > Mr Cooper, of Melbourne, took up the story as to the opening of the > present church, and referred to the self-denying efforts of the > Barrabool farmers, Mountjoy Brothers, Honey, Coomb [=Honeycombe?, a > member of the 1867-68 Building Committee], Ross and many others. > The Rev. J. Bickford laid the foundation stone. They had no organ > in those days; his mother used to raise the tune, and the first > hymn ever sung in this church went to the tune “Simeon”. He was > sorry that in compiling the new [1904, Methodist] hymn book they > left that out; but the authors must have felt ashamed of the > omission, for they put it in the appendix. Those were the days of > Matthew Burnett (he opened the church) and California Taylor. In > those days the young men, as they followed the plough, sang, “For > the Lion of Judah shall break every chain,” and other familiar hymns. Many thanks to all Marion

Marion , Could it be that the births were at the home of family living in Modewarre? depends on what age the child was when registered or if the mother or father registered the births. If it was the father he could have had business in Modewarre and registered them while he was out, possible had another paddock in Modewarre. Just Thoughts Margaret

Descendants of John Peake Foster Generation No. 1 1. JOHN PEAKE2 FOSTER (JOHN1) was born 1824, and died 1882 in Age 58 Geelong. He married ELIZABETH ARNOLD, daughter of WILLIAM ARNOLD and HANNA TUCKER. She was born 1826 in Kent, and died 1901 in age 75 Geelong. More About JOHN PEAKE FOSTER: Burial: November 01, 1882, Highton Cemetery Met 2 195 Death cert: 11953 Headstone: Highton Cemetery More About ELIZABETH ARNOLD: Burial: September 04, 1901, Highton Cemetery Met 2 194 Death cert: 9776 Children of JOHN FOSTER and ELIZABETH ARNOLD are: i. ELLEN3 FOSTER, b. 1852, Geelong; d. 1923, Geelong; m. CALVERT. More About ELLEN FOSTER: Baptism: Christ Church Geelong 342 Birth Cert: 23059 Death cert: 10550 Headstone: Highton Cemetery ii. EMILY FOSTER, b. 1854, Barrabool. More About EMILY FOSTER: Birth Cert: 4464 iii. ISABEL FOSTER, b. 1855, Geelong. More About ISABEL FOSTER: Birth Cert: 7749 iv. BLANCHE FOSTER, b. 1857, Geelong. More About BLANCHE FOSTER: Birth Cert: 10927 v. ELISA FOSTER, b. 1862, Barrabool; d. 1865. More About ELISA FOSTER: Birth Cert: 20703 Burial: Highton Cemetery Met 2 194 vi. ALICE FOSTER, b. 1868, Highton; d. 1953, Geelong West; m. JOHN ROY FOSTER DIETRICH; d. 1897, Highton Cemetery Met 2 195. More About ALICE FOSTER: Birth Cert: 23539 Burial: Highton Cemetery Met 2 195 Death cert: 20862 Headstone: Highton Cemetery vii. ELLA FOSTER, b. 1856, Geelong; d. 1922, Geelong. More About ELLA FOSTER: Birth Cert: 8953 Burial: November 23, 1922, Highton Cemetery Met 1 158 Death cert: 13130 Occupation: Nurse at Craig's Private Hospital 2. viii. WALTER FOSTER, b. 1860, Barrabool; d. 1890. Generation No. 2 2. WALTER3 FOSTER (JOHN PEAKE2, JOHN1) was born 1860 in Barrabool, and died 1890. He married MARY ANN HOWARTH 1886 in Canterbury N.S.W., daughter of HENRY RAMSBOTTOM and AMELIA RAMSBOTTOM. She was born 1864 in Rochdale Lancashire, and died 1944 in Age 80. More About WALTER FOSTER: Birth Cert: 20230 Burial: August 17, 1890, Highton Cemetery Met 2 197 Death cert: 11960 Headstone: Highton Cemetery More About MARY ANN HOWARTH: Address (Facts Pg): 415 Yarra Street Geelong Burial: May 23, 1944, Highton Cemetery Met 2 197 Death cert: 18506 More About WALTER FOSTER and MARY HOWARTH: Marriage: 1886, Canterbury N.S.W. Marriage Registration: Mary Ann Ramsbottom Howarth Children of WALTER FOSTER and MARY HOWARTH are: i. ELIZABETH ALICE4 FOSTER, b. August 01, 1887, Queensland. Notes for ELIZABETH ALICE FOSTER: The Birth regisration give mother as - Mary Ann Ramsbottom Howarth More About ELIZABETH ALICE FOSTER: Birth Cert: 1887/B039347 ii. ELLA AMELIA FOSTER, b. 1889, Geelong.

Hi, I have just sent Marion a list, off list, relating to this connection. Hannah Cooper nee Bird did die in Benalla in 1903 whilst her husband died earlier in 1883 at Highton. The first son of this marriage was also John Cooper b1855 but died aged 4 days. James John, Charles, Joseph and a sister Caraol married surname Trewin, all died in Benalla anad were children of John and Hannah Cooper nee Bird. Another daughter died in Ballarat. I wonder if the Hall in Benalla is a memeorial to both of the deceased John Coopers? (PS My grandparents (mother's parents) lived in Benall aduring WW2 operating a bakery in the main street!!!) Robyn from Wodonga ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Willett" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 9:03 PM Subject: Re: [GEELONG] COOPER of Highton - & Modewarre? > Hello Marion, > I realise this may be a little late and may not be of interest, and is away > from Geelong, but there is a John Cooper Hall attached to the now Uniting > Church in Benalla. > Did your John COOPER by any chance belong to the Benalla area at any time? > Could they be the same person? > If so, and you can supply some further details we maybe able to help. > Cheers, > Bill Willett > Secretary, > Benalla & District Family History Group. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Marion Stainsby" <[email protected]> > To: "GEELONG List" <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 8:55 PM > Subject: [GEELONG] COOPER of Highton - & Modewarre? > > > > Is there some very kind person out there who has access to the Digger > > Index, and could tell me anything of the family of a John COOPER? > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > For on-line indexes and information on Geelong and District > http://www.zades.com.au > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message