Hi All My gt-grandmother was baptised Rosina COOPER at Hawkesbury on 30th October 1853, the youngest daughter of Thomas COOPER (1812 - 1854) and Elizabeth nee TAVENDER (1815 - 1891). Rosina moved to London in the 1870s, where she married Daniel KEMP, a postman. She died in September 1889, shortly after the birth of her third child. Thomas COOPER was the son of Joseph COOPER (c 1756 - 1833) and Mary THOMPSON (1777 - 1872). Joseph and Mary appear to have had 8 children. Mary (1805), Harriet (1806), Joseph (1808) and Thomas (1812) seem to have been illegitimate, since Mary was the subject of a £100 bastardy bond, and the other three were baptised with the comment "reputed father Joseph COOPER". Later children - John (1814), William (1817), James (1821) and Ann (1829) were baptised as the children of Joseph and Mary COOPER, but I have not yet found a marriage for Joseph and Mary. I have also not been able to establish why Joseph and Mary did not marry before about 1812. Was Joseph married to someone else? Or were they related in some way which prohibited their marriage? Mary Thompson's mother was Ann Cooper, so it is possible they were uncle and niece. The Thompsons, Coopers and Tavenders intermarried with various other Hawkesbury families. After the death of her husband, Elizabeth Cooper married Charles TOGHILL and had two more children. In the 1841 census, Thomas Cooper is listed as a coal haulier. Does anyone know what this means? Did he take coal to Hawkesbury, or was he involved in the transport of coal from local mines to other places. Where were the nearest coal mines to Hawkesbury, It must have been a hard pull up the road from Hawkesbury church to Hawkesbury Upton. Any help with information on these families would be much appreciated. Bob Lawrence. *************************************************** R.P. & A.L. Lawrence The Hazels, Sheepwood Road, Bristol BS10 7BS, U.K. Phone: 0117 950 4314 **************************************************