Dear Members of the Connecticut River Valley Mailing List, I have received one reply so far, to my query about what happened to Thomas COOPER's land after his death in 1675. Here is the response, sent by researcher Charlotte Killian, who read the posting on the COOPER Surname Mailing List: "Randal, according to Pope in his book, ~Pioneers of Massachusetts~, Thomas COOPER's land was allowed to his widow Sarah until their son John, born 19 (3) 1659, was 21 years of age. "The book also listed other children: Timothy, born 26(2) 1644; Thomas, born 3 (5) 1646; Elizabeth, born 23 (12) 1648; Mary, born 15 (8) 1651; John, born 12 (2) 1654; Rebecca, born 15 (3) 1657; and John, born 19 (3) 1659. This was found on page 117. I do hope this is of some help." Now that we have established that Thomas COOPER's widow Sarah was allowed to keep the land until her son John COOPER reached the age of twenty-one (called "attaining one's majority"), it is now my object to trace the ownership of this tract of land from 1680 on. John COOPER would have turned twenty-one in 1680, BUT I have found in the LDS Ancestral File that John COOPER died 19 Sep 1677, at Newark, New Jersey. If this information is correct, John COOPER died at the young age of eighteen years. The purpose of this investigation is to see if Jacob COOPER and his son Judah Paddock COOPER lived on Thomas COOPER's land when they moved to Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut from Westfield, Massachusetts, about 1821. Jacob (Isaac) COOPER and Judah Paddock COOPER were descendants of Thomas COOPER. If we succeed in identifying the various owners of Thomas COOPER's land from 1680 on, we might be able to locate Judah Paddock COOPER's Connecticut River Valley farm in the 1820's. Please note that Judah Paddock COOPER did not buy any land in Suffield, Connecticut, yet he lived and farmed in Suffield from about 1821 until his death in 1862, a period of forty-one years. If I find Judah Paddock COOPER's residence, then I will also have found his son William COOPER's boyhood home, assuming that William COOPER lived in his parents' house. Thank you for any suggestions or information on these topics! Randal W. Cooper