Douglas lived on the Frank and Mary Ann LaTourelle homestead all his life. After his death, his widow, Margaret, continues to live on the farm. Her address is R 2 Box 26, Mapleton, MN 56065. Her phone number is 507/462-3729. The farm is the location of the LaTourelle Cemetery, but Margaret reports that it is overgrown with brush and poison ivy.
91. William Chester (Nick) Cooper-15
According to Ginger's book, "Nick met Meb in Sargent County, North Dakota.
They were married and presented the family with the first grandcild, Lance Errol. All the children were born on the farm in Taylor Township, which is located two miles east of Brampton. Nick farmed and raised livestock. He died in the barber chair in Brampton and Meb died at home. They are both buried in the Brampton Cemetery.
According to Ginger's book, "Ora chose to remain single, working as a legal secretary for forty years. She died in Los Angeles and is buried beside her folks in Brampton.
93. Minnie Myrtle (Min) Cooper-24
According to Ginger's book, "Min followed her brother Charlie to North Dakota in 1894. She kept house for him and soon had the reputation of being the "Belle of the Ball" at every party. When Charlie married Ada, Min took on the job with the cook wagon. In 1902 John Stout ventured west and took a job working on the Cooper ranch. He met Min and their romance blossomed. Charlie soon lost a good cook, but gained a new brother-in-law. Min and JOhn helped improve the land and C.h. gave thema quarter of their own to start farming. They had many happy years together in North Dakota. When Min passed away, it was a cold March day. The roads were impassable and the funeral at the Methodist Church in Cogswell was delayed for two days. She was laid to rest in Old Sargent Cemetery. The children were soon scattered."
"I also remember John Stout, Min was gone and he remarried another North Dakota lady named Mary. They went to the same church in Cogswell as we went to when I was young. It was the church I was confirmed in the Seventh grade.
"John and Mary were very kind to everyone and John liked to tell stories about the "old days," he lived to be in his ninties. It always makes me sad to drive by and see the house they lived in vacant and forlorned looking." - Judy Sheppard Huber.
According to Ginger's book, "Mary Ann arrived the same year Bell exhibited his telephone invention. It was also the Centennial year for America, and Philadelphia was the center of activity.
"Mate was called Matey by her dad and Mate by the rest of the family.
When they settled in Cogswell, she met and married Charlie McGraw, who had arrived in 1893.
"They lived in Cogswell where Charlie worked at the barbering trade. In later years he operated a garage there also. Charlie had a good sense of humor, and often wrote his grandchildren telling wild tales of lions and tigers in North Daktoa. Many afternoons were spent listending to his versions of "Pop- Goes-the Weasel" and "Turkey In the Straw" on his fiddle.
"Mate and Charlie were forntunate to celebrate fifty years of married life together. I can remember Charlie as a happy fellow, who took care of Mate in later years. She was always happy when one came to visit. They are both resting in Old Sargent Cemetery."
According to Ginger's book, "Jessie followed Charlie and Min to North Dakota and was soon teaching school. She often rode her bicycle to the little one room school. the territory was opening up fast but attendance at the school usually depended on the season of the yar, for even the youngest boys were of help to their families during the planting and harvest season.
"Jessie married Joe Sontag in Cogswell. The operated the hotel there for many years, purchasing it from Barney Sylvester Cooper. Joe was a whiz at carpentry and hept everything in good repair. Jess was an excellent cook and homemaker and made it a very comfortable place to stay. She was most good-hearted. When ever anyone was down on their luck and needed a place to sleep, or food to eat, she saw they had it.
"One time the Sontags celebrated the Fourth of July in Newark. It rained, spoiling the planned balloon asent. They started home in the downpour with Les and Lorna trying to sleep in the back of the rented Livery Wagon. By the time they reached home, they were soaked to the bone. Les high-tailed it for Granma Cooper's porch hoping to dry off in front of the kitchen stove. Instead, the screen door stuck and when he pulled on it hard, ti gave way and sent him sprawling into a tub of rain water she had on the porch.
"On another Fourth, Grandad (Barney) decided, after a day of celebrating, to light a sky rocket Les was having trouble igniting. He held it in his had and took his cigar and lit it, sending sheets of fire and sparks all over. It set fire to his mustache and black santee shirt.
"The Sontags lived just across the street from the folks to Les and Lorna saw quite a bit of them. Grandfather had land in back of his house and each spring he would plow it up. He would run the plow and Les would ride of "Maudie" and steer. Once he sent Les to Brampton to fetch tyhe horse, it turned into quite a fiasco! The train ride to Brampton was uneventful, but when he he4aded old Maude hime, she decided he was too heavy on such a hot day and threw him off. Les was too little to climb back on, so thought he could climb on the fence and then the horse's back. Maud was too smart for that! Each time he was ready to throw a leg over, she would move. He finally gave up and walked her home until a ride came along.
"Grandad gave Les the important job of catching rats in the granery. The job looked simple enough., All he had to do was open the trap door and drop them into the nearby cistern. However, after a few trips back to the barn after them, he decided he should drown them first.
"One of the special treats was a trip to Tommy Riggan's Ice Cream Parlor. Grandma would order him a large dip of ice cream and he had a hard time polishingit off! Another time Barney and Jim asked him to go along with them to Vales Gravel Pit to get sand to plaster grandad'shouse. They each had a tieam and wagon and the trail was so steep into the pit, he was terridied he'd fall off the seat.
"Joe was happiest hunting or fishing so when he got the opportunity to work at the Saint Charles Bay Hunting Club in Mills Warf, Texas, he accepted. Les and Lorna didn't like the idea of moving form Cogswell, so Jessie indulged them for a few years and they stayed. When things got a little tougher during the Depression, Les was a little older and he went to Texas also.
"It was the early part of Novemeber, 1935, and already blizzards had blanketed the state, Les caught a ride to Aberdeen with a grocery and fruit salesman, who dropped him off at the bus depot. When he asked the fare to Rockport, it was determined he would have $1.15 left for luxuries like eating and sleeping. It only took a moment in the blowing snow for him to decide to go ahead. His main diet on the trip consisted of cold cinnamon rolls and he smoked a bit of Bull Durham. When the bus pulled into Corpus Christi he still had 39 miles to go. Having used all his capital, he pawned a ring mounting he had, and that bought a hot breakfast and paid his hotel bill, just in time to catch the bus to Mills Warf and Rockport. Joe was sure glad to see him and, of course, got him a job. He tried being a guide, but it wasn't what he excelled in, so he left for a job in the city where he worked almost six years as manager of a hunting club. Keeping track of the many differenet species was interesting, but he soon traveled on. Houston offered an office job with a painting contractor. He worked at this until the draft board started nudging him. He enetered defense work at Browns Shipping Yard, which soon got the best of his lungs. After that he went back to contract painting by himself which he really enjoyed.
"Lorna taught school in Cogswell and when she became ill one time, Les filled in. The two mile walk in blowing snow and bitter cold was only for the bold in spirit. He wouls start the stove going so when the children showed up (one of which was my mother (Ginger's)) he would be all ready for them. At the end of two weeks he was very happy to turn them back over to Lorna.
"Lorna and her mother followed Les to Texas in 1939. There she enjoyed clerking in a local store and took care of her folks. She was taken quite suddenly in Spetember of 1976 and is laid to rest beside her parents in Rockport."
Judy's note: Most of the material for Ginger's book came from Les Sontag including this portion on his parents and himself.
96. Barney Sylvester Cooper "Boney"-49
According to Ginger's book, "Boney always celebrated his birthday on July 31, but according tot he 1880 census, it should have been September 2. He was always colorful and generous to a fault. As a boy he enjoyed the horse races held around Mapleton. One time he went with his dad to sell some horses. One poor old thing was blind in one eye. Grandad proceeded to brag up the good points until Boney could stand it no longer. He nonchalantly noted that if he were buying a horse he would make sure it wasn't blind first. I guess grandad lost the sale." Told by Max Simon, Grant Cooper and Les Sontag.
"Boney was only thirteen when he traveled to Cogswell with the family.
He was a mere 23, when Sylvia, his daughter, came along. Boney didn't do the conventional thing and marry Lizzie, he waited until Sylvia was a year old then he felt it was the right thing to do. However, by that time, Lizzie's feelings were deep and the marriage ended in divorce. Sylvia never knew her dad until his later years and she was with him when he died. Lizzie was only twenty-five when she passed away.
"Boney met and married Freda Falk when he was thirty. They homesteaded in Canada and lived a happy life there until she died of T.B. in 1914. Boney tried to manage as best he could with the two boys, but Vernon was only eighteen months old, so Boney packed up his four year old Lorrell and Vernon and headed home to Dakota. In 1918 death again came to his house when Lorrell was killed at the Charlie Cooper farm trying to ride a cow." - Ruth Cooper
"After the tragedy he busied himself with farming. He married Alice Stephenson in October of 1919 without mentioning he had a young son.
"When the hard time hit the Dakotas they decided to travel to Belvidere, where Alices's family had settled. They lived with her parents until they could be on their own. He started at the Cannery, then moved on to the National Sewing Machine Co. which turned to War production. One time the men decided to band together and demand certain petitions. They all swore to stick together in the matter. The meeting was held and the petitions were denied. Barney walked out as they had decided to do, but no one else followed." - From Max Simon, Grant Cooper, and Les Sontag.
"He kept his sense of humor through the years and was laid to rest in Sunset Memorial Gardens in Rockford, Illinois. Maude's husband Norman, conducted the services."
97. James Albert Cooper "Jim"-23
According to Ginger's book, "Jim was only fifteen years old when Barney and Angeline headed their wagon towards Brampton in 1899. After dropping the boys off with brother, Charlie, they probably joined the wagon train in which Ves was a mule skinner and headed West. Their venture on the Oregon Trail was quite a bit later than when Rod Cloud was menacing it, but none the less, difficult. They family spent two years in Salem, Oregon, and Jim attended seventh and eighth grades there. On one occasion he carved his name high on the Capitol Building. (From Dewey Cooper)
"They headed back to North Dakota and Jim and his future brother-in-law, Sam Stephenson, homesteaded in Bowman, North Dakota. They lived in a typical soddy and used buffalo chips to cook and heat with. He met and fell in love with Anna, the teacher from Straubville. As soon as the requirements were met he sold his interest in the homestead and married Anna.
"He got a job working at the Cooper Store in Brampton and they set up housekeeping there. The days were long and hard as they managed the store and farmed also. They found time to enjoy life with their friends and relaives usually with card games or community dances. Jim served as Judge for all county elections, and was on hand to see Anna cast her first vote.
"Anna's family was from Wisconsin and always wanted Jim and Anna to move there, so just after World War I they did. they bought a farm near her parents and for awhile things moved smoothly. In 1928, without notice, the bottom fell out of the milk industry and Him and Anna lost the farm they had worked so hard for. They decided to travel to Belvidere where Boney said he could get Jim a job, and he did.
"They liked Illinois and Max and Dewey graduated from Belvidere High School. Trouble came in the form of heart disease. Jim was stricken and it forced him to slow down. He was able to light work at the National and eventually they moved in with Maxine and Jim. He was very happy when old friend, Sam, provided a house for them in North Dakota that he had helped settle. They were able to spend a few happy years togethere there before his fatal heart attack.
"Anna traveled back to Illinois and lived out her life there. They are both buried in the Brampton Cemetery."
100. Horace Greely LaTourelle-590
Horace became an attorney and is buried at Alden, Minnesota.