Saturday, April 8, 2017

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks–Week #7–Cornelia Gardenier Cooper–My 7th great grandmother

New Amsterdam pic
New Amsterdam - a small city on Manhatten Island, New Holland, North America    Screenshot from boweryboyshistory.com

I have not been able to trace many of my lines back this far, so this is a lot of fun for me.

Cornelia Gardenier, my 7th great grandmother on my paternal side, was born about Oct 1691 in New Amsterdam (later to be New York).  I have a record of her baptism.

U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989
Name:    Jan Gardenier
Gender:    Male
Spouse: Sara Van Bremen
Child:    Cornelia Gardenier
The image lists the baptism date as 11 Oct 1691.  She would probably have only been a few days old at the time

Baptismal Record from U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989

GARDENIER_Cornelia_baptism_annot

According to various biographical sketches I’ve located, she married Obadiah Cooper, before 1713.  I have not located a record of their marriage, yet.  Obadiah was from Fishkill, Dutchess, Colony of New York.  They are reported to have had 12 children.  I have only located records/mention for 9 of them as follows: William, Obadia, Sara, Elyzabeth, Jacob (my direct ancestor), Abraham, Maria, Cornelis & Cornelis/Cornelius.

Questions that come to mind.
  • How did they meet?
  • Was this Cornelia’s first marriage?  She would have been about 20-22 yrs. old in 1713 or before.  The same question applies to Obadiah who would have been around the same age.  I find no record of a previous marriage, but I always wonder.
  • Who were the other 3 children that I have yet to locate?
  • How many of the children lived to adulthood?
  • What was Cornelia’s cause of death at age 52?
  • What hardships did this family endure? 
From Wikipedia these are some of the historical events that occurred during the lifetime of Cornelia, 1691-1748.  How much did these events affect Cornelia’s life, if at all?
1690s


Rev. George Whitefield, is often credited for beginning and popularizing a new religious movement known as The Great Awakening all over Colonial America

1700–1759

See Timeline of the American Revolution for events starting from 1760.
1700s
1710s
1720s
1730s
1740s
I find the following references to Cornelia & Obadiah and their family:

COOPER_Obadiah & Cornelia nee Gardenier_from First Settlers of Albany_pg 34
Source: Contributions for the Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany, from 1630-1800, by Prof. Jonathan Pearson, copyright 1872, page 34

Cornelia Gardenier Cooper
Cornelia Gardenier was born in October 1691. She was the daughter of Kinderhook millwright Jan Jacobse Gardenier and his wife, Sara Van Bremen. Her paternal grandfather once lived in Beverwyck.
By 1713, she had married garrison soldier Obadiah Cooper and was living in Albany. By 1735, the last nine of her twelve children had been baptized in the Albany Dutch church where both parents were frequent baptism sponsors.
These Coopers lived in a first ward neighborhood that had been settled by former soldiers. There, she raised her large family with less of a family network than most Albany mothers. Her husband, an Albany newcomer, was a tailor who died in 1742.
Dutch church burial records state that Cornelia Cooper was buried in April 1748.
~ ~ ~
Sources: The life of Cornelia Gardenier Cooper has not yet been assigned a CAP biography number. This profile is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.

By Stefan Bielinski, Colonial Albany Social History Project [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany]

Source: http://www.albany.edu/history/eoah/entries/g/gardenier_cooper_cornelia.htm

Land Transaction from Cornelia, wife of Obediah to Jacob A. Gardenier on 16 May 1721
COOPER_Cornelia_1721_New York_Albany County Land Deed_annotated

Source: New York, Albany County Deeds, 1630-1894, Vol 3, Pg 1415, Recorded 1 Mar 1765, Book 7, page 350

Cornelia died 17 Apr 1748 in Albany, New York (or what became that city & state).  She is buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery in Albany, New York.  You can visit her findagrave memorial here #62897818.  There is no headstone photo and I cannot submit a request for one because there is already a request on file.

There is a LOT more to the story of my Cooper/Gardenier line and I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

If you are connected to this family (and there must be many of you out there), please get in touch with me via my contact information here on the blog.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2017   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION


5 comments:

  1. I so want to find one of these early colonial ancestors in my family tree. You make me jealous, Diane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear you Cathy. My husband's colonial ancestors just fell in my lap. Not so, with my lines, especially my paternal line. This has been and continues to be fun. I have a LOT of work to do. You WILL find yours, I'm sure of it.
      Thanks for always reading my posts.

      Delete
  2. I am very interested in connecting regarding my own connection to Obadiah and Cornelia (Gardenier) Cooper! Their son Jacob is believed to be my 6th great grandfather.

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  3. Thank you for your interest. I would be happy to exchange information. Please get in touch with me via email michiganfamilytrails(at)yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.