Memories
William Darby Cooper - son of Jesse Cooper and Rebecca Elizabeth Darby
04/16/2018William Darby Cooper was at least six feet tall and weighed about 200 pounds.
---------------------
WILLIAM DARBY COOPER
William Darby Cooper was born on March 10, 1828 In South Carolina. He was sixteen when he heard the Gospel and was baptized on Sept. 2, 1844 by Alonzo LeBarren. He was the only member in his family to join the Church. William married Lydia Rochester in 1846 and moved west with the Saints arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in Sept. 1855. Here he entered into Plural marriage by marrying Lydia’s sister, Mary Hannah Rochester. These are the thoughts Jesse Cooper, William’s father, shared about William’s membership in the Church and in particular about the Churches doctrine of plural marriage . . .(written to William in 1866) "Dear Son. . . I received your letter dated 23rd of April and was glad that you had peace and plenty. I wish that I could say the same. I got a letter some time ago, in that you wanted me to come to you. My time of traveling so great a distance is past on account of my age and infirmity. I am not able to undertake it. I am not able to work in the plantation, and if I was stout and hearty, I would hate to come on account of your wife system, for I cannot believe it to be right, no not if every man, and woman, and child was to preach it. I believe it never was the will of God from Adam to this day, nor never will be. There is one thing, if we were to do everything the ancients did, we would be guilty of every crime that could be named,almost." "These are honestly my sentiments. I feel that it is time for me to be plain, for I know that my time is short in this world. . . "I want no argument at all with you. I am sorry that you ever got in the belief you have, for the United States will put your system down before five years. Wesley Lee and Jane Harris wrote you this spring about it. Write both of them, and I have written more letters than you have ever got, you don’t get half of them. . ." "I wish you well and would rejoice to see you, but feel that I shall not in this life.’’11 This is a powerful letter written by a concerned father. I’m grateful for a faithful son, William Darby Cooper, who was able to go against his father’s wishes by doing what he felt was right.
(Reference: http://www.hawsedc.com/tom/biogskg.htm)
Short History of Mormon Poligamy
04/16/2018The history of Mormon polygamy (specifically polygyny) began with Joseph Smith, Jr., who stated he received a revelation on July 17, 1831 that "plural marriage" should be practiced by some Mormon men who were specifically commanded to do so. In 1852 Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS Church publicly acknowledged the practice of plural marriage through a sermon he gave.
Controversy followed when polygamy became a social cause, writers began to publish works condemning polygamy. The key plank of the Republican Party's 1856 platform was "to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery".
In 1862, Congress issued the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act which clarified that the practice of polygamy was illegal in all US territories.
The LDS Church believed that their religiously-based practice of plural marriage was protected by the United States Constitution, however, the unanimous 1878 Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. United States declared that polygamy was not protected by the Constitution, based on the long standing legal principle that "laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices.
Increasingly harsh anti-polygamy legislation in the US led some Mormons to emigrate to Canada and Mexico. In 1890, LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff issued a public declaration (the Manifesto) announcing that the LDS Church had discontinued new plural marriages. Anti-Mormon sentiment waned, as did opposition to statehood for Utah.
The Smoot Hearings in 1904, which documented that the LDS Church was still practicing polygamy spurred the LDS Church to issue a Second Manifesto again claiming that it had ceased performing new plural marriages.
By 1910 the LDS Church excommunicated those who entered into, or performed, new plural marriages. Even so, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.
Ed Cox originally shared this on 25 Aug 2013
William Darby Cooper-written by Tena Louise Anderson Weber (4th gr grandaughter)
04/16/2018William Darby Cooper was the 2nd child and 1st son of Jesse Cooper and Rebecca Darby born 10 March 1828 at Marion, Union County, South Carolina. He was baptized at the age of 16 into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte-day Saints by Alonzo LeBarron on 2 September 1844 in Union District, South Carolina.
He married Lydia Rochester, the daughter of Asbury Rochester and Sarah Lee on 13 October 1846. She was born in Union county, S. Carolina on 23 July 1828. She and her sister, Mary Hannah, (born on 25 July 1825) were baptized by Samuel M Murphy on 3 Aug 1851.
William Darby Cooper life history
04/16/2018William Darby Cooper
William Darby Cooper was the second child and first son of Jesse Cooper and Rebecca Darby born 10 March 1828 at Marion, Union County, South Carolina. He was baptized at the age of sixteen into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, by Alonzo LeBarron, on September 1844 in Union District, South Carolina.
He married Lydia Rochester, the daughter of Asbury Rochester and Sarah Less, on 13 October 1846. She was born in Union County, South Carolina on 23 July 1828. She and her sister, Mary Hannah Lee (born 25 July 1825) were baptized by Samuel M. Murphy on 3 August 1851.
On 16 December 1846 William, Lydia, Mary Hannah, along with his father and his family moved to Cobb County, Georgia where he took up farming as a trade.
William and his family did not stay here very long as the spirit of gathering with the Saints in the West took their firm hold on them. In March 1855 they sold their holdings for wagons and oxen and with Mary Hannah set their faces toward the setting sun and commenced the long and tedious journey to Utah. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in September of the same year and settled in Hollidayburg.
One of the beliefs of the Latter-day Saints at that time was the plurality of wives or Polygamy. As Lydia was agreeable he married Mary Hannah in Salt Lake City on 29 August 1856.
Those early days were trying times for the saints and it required understanding faith in their leaders as well as in God for them to endure the persecutions that was heaped upon them by their enemies and the hardships that naturally came to a pioneering people.
One of these unnecessary hardships occurred when false reports were sent to the President saying that the Mormons had risen up in rebellion against the Federal Government and that a state of war existed. In response to this Colonel Johnson and two thousand men were sent to put down this rebellion Some of the men were sent to intercept this army and harass and hinder it before it could enter the valley. William was one of these and it was at this time he contracted typhoid fever.
President Brigham Young, remembering the injustices the saints had suffered in Missouri, Illinois and elsewhere had the people prepare to set fire to their homes, fields and orchards, rather than leave it for those who were driving them out. He said ‘we are loyal to the Constitution, we love it, we are not rebelling - but we will not again be massacred without resistance.’
The Church finally decided that the saints should leave their homes and go to Utah Valley, some forty miles to the south. On 6 April 1858, men with team and wagons loaded with women and children and household goods, moved to Provo and the surrounding towns. In Provo William provided a dugout for his family and while living there under the most trying of circumstances Lydia gave birth to a son William Rochester Rubin Copper on 11 May 1858.
When the war clouds drifted away and the saints could go back to their homes, William returned to Hollidayburg where he remained until he was called to the Dixie country in the fall of 1859. He settled in Washington, Washington County, Utah and took up a farm that since has been known as’ Cooper Bottoms.’
William Darby Cooper was a cooper by trade as well as by name. He was also a carpenter and made barrels and tubs and helped the settlers build their homes besides working on his own farm. He made combs from mahogany that grew on the nearby hills. He was a musician of ability and as musical instruments were hard to obtain he made his own violin, dulcimer and other stringed instruments. He was chorister for the religious gatherings, Superintendent of the Washington Ward Sunday School and was the Justice of the Peace.
One cold December night, a runner came and told him that the water wheel at the Cotton Factory had broken and that he was needed to repair it. In doing so he contracted pneumonia and died 4 December 1867.
William and Lydia had nine children; Diego Mendis, Martha Ann Mildred, Francis Louisa, Laura Columbia, Lucy Rebecca, William Rochester Rubin, Joseph Parley, Lydia Ellen and Harriet Alice.
Those who were acquainted with William Darby Cooper said he was a man of honor, and a religious and God fearing man.
His wife Lydia spent her remaining years in Washington, dying 9 Jan 1902
William Darby Cooper, written by Frances Cooper Cameron
04/16/2018My father, William Darby Cooper, son of Jesse Cooper and Rebecca Darby, and grandson of Stacey Cooper and Elizabeth Townsend, was born in Union County, South Carolina, March, 10 1828. He head the Gospel and was baptized into the Church September 2, 1844, by Alonzo Labbaron. Mother's uncle, William Lee was baptized the same day, but no other relatives that I know of.
My mother, Lydia Rochester, daugher of Azberry Rochester and Sarah Lee, was born in Pickins County, South Carolina, July 23 1828. they were married in Union County South Carolina, Oct 13, 1846. They moved into Pauling county Georgia, and newly stettled country, and took up a farm.
Mary Hannah Rochester was born July 25, 1825, in Pickings County, South Carolina. She and Mother were baptized August 3, 1851, by Samuel M Murphy.
Five children were born to Father and Mother in Georgia. They are; Diego Mindes, July 18 1847; Martha Anne, March 9, 1849; Frances Louisa, October 5, 1850; Laura Columbia, November 7, 1852; Lucy Rebecca, January 10, 1855.
In March, 1855, they left a good farm and a comfortable home and came to Utah, arriving here in September the same year. They steeled in Holladay. It was the year of the grasshopper famin and we suffered for the want of food. Tather was a carpenter by trade and found plenty of work. He took anything for pay. Goerge A Smith sealed Father and Morher if his office August 29, 1856. He too Aunt Hannah as a plural wife the same day. The following children were born to Mother and Father in Utah: William Darby, Jr. May 11, 1858 in Holladay; Joseph Parley, May 19, 1860, in Washington; Lydia Ellen May 12 1863, in Washington; Harriet Alice, February 28, 1866 in Washington. Five children were born to Fathers and Aunt Hannah, They are Azberry Rueben, September 14, 1857, at Holladay; James Monroe Rollins September 1, 1858 at Holladay; Sarah Hannah October 2, 1860, at Washington; Mary Anne, January 14, 1863, at Washington; Elizabeth Jane, October 15, 1864, at Washington.
In 1857 he was called to echo Canyon to help keep Johnson's Army from entering Salt Lake City, and was brought home very sick with typhoid.
In 1859 we were called to help settle Washington County. There we suffered many hardships for the lack of clothes and food. Father was never called out to fight Indians, but he was stationed as a home guard. He was the only carpenter in Washington, and he was also a cooper by trade. He made barrels, tubs etc. for the people. He was ordained a seventy by Joseph Young, brother of Brigham Young, in 1856. He was appointed superintendent and chorister of the Sunday Schools in 1860, in Washington and he also served for one or two terms a Justice of the Peace in Washington.
In 1863 he took Mother and Aunt Hannah to Salt Lake City and they went through the Endowment House.
In 1866 he received a letter from his father which said they would never meet again in this world and this would be the last letter father would ever get from him. The next march Grandfather died and his death affected Father very much. He shed many tears. On the fourth of the following December Father died. He left two wives, ten children and two grandchildren. One grandchild was born the day father died, and he lived just ling enough to name it William after himself.
Father was a strict observer of the Word of Wisdom in every respect. Eight of his grandsons, two great grandsons and one great granddaughter have filled honorable missions.
Information on William Darby Cooper from The Red Hills of November (Larson)
04/16/2018William Darby Cooper followed the trade his name implies; he made barrels, tubs, and he also worked as a carpenter. He made combs of the native mahogany, and being a musician of some ability, he made his own violin and dulcimer and other stringed instruments, because musical instruments were so hard to obtain. (p. 170)
A word about the first auxiliary organizations of the ward is perhaps in order. According to the Manuscript History of St. George Stake, the first Sunday School in Washington was organized on April 26, 1863, and held in the little meetinghouse. Elder Robert F. Goold was Superintendent, with Elders William D. Cooper and Iames Russell as Assistants, and Oliver Harmon, Secretary. Edwin Ford and Oscar Tyler later served as Assistants to Superintendent Goold. (p.243)
MUSICIANS A good fiddler or accordion player was an asset to the community. Among those who played the fiddle during pioneer times were William Darby Cooper, Ioe Cooper, Myron Chidester,9 Iohn F. Chidester, Iohn M. Adair, Billy Gott, the Cook boys, the Richeys, Nephi Stewart,” Peter Marker, and Iack Kirby. (p.282)
Excerpt from: The Red Hills of November: A Pioneer Biography of Utah’s Cotton Town; v.02
By Andrew Karl Larson
Memorial / Obituary / Personal History
04/16/2018Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel
1847–1868
Company Unknown (1855)
William Darby Cooper
Age at Departure: 26
Head of Household
Lydia Ellen Rochester Cooper (Age: 26)
Mendis Diego Cooper (Age: 7)
Martha Ann Mildred Cooper (Age: 5)
Frances Louisa Cooper (Age: 4)
Columbia Laura Cooper (Age: 2)
Rebecca Lucy Cooper (Age: Infant)
Evidence that he came in 1855 is confirmed in information found in Church financial records.
William Darby Cooper - son of Jesse Cooper and Rebecca Elizabeth Darby
01/11/2025William Darby Cooper was at least six feet tall and weighed about 200 pounds.
---------------------
WILLIAM DARBY COOPER
William Darby Cooper was born on March 10, 1828 In South Carolina. He was sixteen when he heard the Gospel and was baptized on Sept. 2, 1844 by Alonzo LeBarren. He was the only member in his family to join the Church. William married Lydia Rochester in 1846 and moved west with the Saints arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in Sept. 1855. Here he entered into Plural marriage by marrying Lydia’s sister, Mary Hannah Rochester. These are the thoughts Jesse Cooper, William’s father, shared about William’s membership in the Church and in particular about the Churches doctrine of plural marriage . . .(written to William in 1866) "Dear Son. . . I received your letter dated 23rd of April and was glad that you had peace and plenty. I wish that I could say the same. I got a letter some time ago, in that you wanted me to come to you. My time of traveling so great a distance is past on account of my age and infirmity. I am not able to undertake it. I am not able to work in the plantation, and if I was stout and hearty, I would hate to come on account of your wife system, for I cannot believe it to be right, no not if every man, and woman, and child was to preach it. I believe it never was the will of God from Adam to this day, nor never will be. There is one thing, if we were to do everything the ancients did, we would be guilty of every crime that could be named,almost." "These are honestly my sentiments. I feel that it is time for me to be plain, for I know that my time is short in this world. . . "I want no argument at all with you. I am sorry that you ever got in the belief you have, for the United States will put your system down before five years. Wesley Lee and Jane Harris wrote you this spring about it. Write both of them, and I have written more letters than you have ever got, you don’t get half of them. . ." "I wish you well and would rejoice to see you, but feel that I shall not in this life.’’11 This is a powerful letter written by a concerned father. I’m grateful for a faithful son, William Darby Cooper, who was able to go against his father’s wishes by doing what he felt was right.
(Reference: http://www.hawsedc.com/tom/biogskg.htm)
Short History of Mormon Poligamy
01/11/2025The history of Mormon polygamy (specifically polygyny) began with Joseph Smith, Jr., who stated he received a revelation on July 17, 1831 that "plural marriage" should be practiced by some Mormon men who were specifically commanded to do so. In 1852 Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS Church publicly acknowledged the practice of plural marriage through a sermon he gave.
Controversy followed when polygamy became a social cause, writers began to publish works condemning polygamy. The key plank of the Republican Party's 1856 platform was "to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery".
In 1862, Congress issued the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act which clarified that the practice of polygamy was illegal in all US territories.
The LDS Church believed that their religiously-based practice of plural marriage was protected by the United States Constitution, however, the unanimous 1878 Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. United States declared that polygamy was not protected by the Constitution, based on the long standing legal principle that "laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices.
Increasingly harsh anti-polygamy legislation in the US led some Mormons to emigrate to Canada and Mexico. In 1890, LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff issued a public declaration (the Manifesto) announcing that the LDS Church had discontinued new plural marriages. Anti-Mormon sentiment waned, as did opposition to statehood for Utah.
The Smoot Hearings in 1904, which documented that the LDS Church was still practicing polygamy spurred the LDS Church to issue a Second Manifesto again claiming that it had ceased performing new plural marriages.
By 1910 the LDS Church excommunicated those who entered into, or performed, new plural marriages. Even so, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.
Ed Cox originally shared this on 25 Aug 2013
William Darby Cooper-written by Tena Louise Anderson Weber (4th gr grandaughter)
01/11/2025William Darby Cooper was the 2nd child and 1st son of Jesse Cooper and Rebecca Darby born 10 March 1828 at Marion, Union County, South Carolina. He was baptized at the age of 16 into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte-day Saints by Alonzo LeBarron on 2 September 1844 in Union District, South Carolina.
He married Lydia Rochester, the daughter of Asbury Rochester and Sarah Lee on 13 October 1846. She was born in Union county, S. Carolina on 23 July 1828. She and her sister, Mary Hannah, (born on 25 July 1825) were baptized by Samuel M Murphy on 3 Aug 1851.
William Darby Cooper life history
01/11/2025William Darby Cooper
William Darby Cooper was the second child and first son of Jesse Cooper and Rebecca Darby born 10 March 1828 at Marion, Union County, South Carolina. He was baptized at the age of sixteen into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, by Alonzo LeBarron, on September 1844 in Union District, South Carolina.
He married Lydia Rochester, the daughter of Asbury Rochester and Sarah Less, on 13 October 1846. She was born in Union County, South Carolina on 23 July 1828. She and her sister, Mary Hannah Lee (born 25 July 1825) were baptized by Samuel M. Murphy on 3 August 1851.
On 16 December 1846 William, Lydia, Mary Hannah, along with his father and his family moved to Cobb County, Georgia where he took up farming as a trade.
William and his family did not stay here very long as the spirit of gathering with the Saints in the West took their firm hold on them. In March 1855 they sold their holdings for wagons and oxen and with Mary Hannah set their faces toward the setting sun and commenced the long and tedious journey to Utah. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in September of the same year and settled in Hollidayburg.
One of the beliefs of the Latter-day Saints at that time was the plurality of wives or Polygamy. As Lydia was agreeable he married Mary Hannah in Salt Lake City on 29 August 1856.
Those early days were trying times for the saints and it required understanding faith in their leaders as well as in God for them to endure the persecutions that was heaped upon them by their enemies and the hardships that naturally came to a pioneering people.
One of these unnecessary hardships occurred when false reports were sent to the President saying that the Mormons had risen up in rebellion against the Federal Government and that a state of war existed. In response to this Colonel Johnson and two thousand men were sent to put down this rebellion Some of the men were sent to intercept this army and harass and hinder it before it could enter the valley. William was one of these and it was at this time he contracted typhoid fever.
President Brigham Young, remembering the injustices the saints had suffered in Missouri, Illinois and elsewhere had the people prepare to set fire to their homes, fields and orchards, rather than leave it for those who were driving them out. He said ‘we are loyal to the Constitution, we love it, we are not rebelling - but we will not again be massacred without resistance.’
The Church finally decided that the saints should leave their homes and go to Utah Valley, some forty miles to the south. On 6 April 1858, men with team and wagons loaded with women and children and household goods, moved to Provo and the surrounding towns. In Provo William provided a dugout for his family and while living there under the most trying of circumstances Lydia gave birth to a son William Rochester Rubin Copper on 11 May 1858.
When the war clouds drifted away and the saints could go back to their homes, William returned to Hollidayburg where he remained until he was called to the Dixie country in the fall of 1859. He settled in Washington, Washington County, Utah and took up a farm that since has been known as’ Cooper Bottoms.’
William Darby Cooper was a cooper by trade as well as by name. He was also a carpenter and made barrels and tubs and helped the settlers build their homes besides working on his own farm. He made combs from mahogany that grew on the nearby hills. He was a musician of ability and as musical instruments were hard to obtain he made his own violin, dulcimer and other stringed instruments. He was chorister for the religious gatherings, Superintendent of the Washington Ward Sunday School and was the Justice of the Peace.
One cold December night, a runner came and told him that the water wheel at the Cotton Factory had broken and that he was needed to repair it. In doing so he contracted pneumonia and died 4 December 1867.
William and Lydia had nine children; Diego Mendis, Martha Ann Mildred, Francis Louisa, Laura Columbia, Lucy Rebecca, William Rochester Rubin, Joseph Parley, Lydia Ellen and Harriet Alice.
Those who were acquainted with William Darby Cooper said he was a man of honor, and a religious and God fearing man.
His wife Lydia spent her remaining years in Washington, dying 9 Jan 1902
William Darby Cooper, written by Frances Cooper Cameron
01/11/2025My father, William Darby Cooper, son of Jesse Cooper and Rebecca Darby, and grandson of Stacey Cooper and Elizabeth Townsend, was born in Union County, South Carolina, March, 10 1828. He head the Gospel and was baptized into the Church September 2, 1844, by Alonzo Labbaron. Mother's uncle, William Lee was baptized the same day, but no other relatives that I know of.
My mother, Lydia Rochester, daugher of Azberry Rochester and Sarah Lee, was born in Pickins County, South Carolina, July 23 1828. they were married in Union County South Carolina, Oct 13, 1846. They moved into Pauling county Georgia, and newly stettled country, and took up a farm.
Mary Hannah Rochester was born July 25, 1825, in Pickings County, South Carolina. She and Mother were baptized August 3, 1851, by Samuel M Murphy.
Five children were born to Father and Mother in Georgia. They are; Diego Mindes, July 18 1847; Martha Anne, March 9, 1849; Frances Louisa, October 5, 1850; Laura Columbia, November 7, 1852; Lucy Rebecca, January 10, 1855.
In March, 1855, they left a good farm and a comfortable home and came to Utah, arriving here in September the same year. They steeled in Holladay. It was the year of the grasshopper famin and we suffered for the want of food. Tather was a carpenter by trade and found plenty of work. He took anything for pay. Goerge A Smith sealed Father and Morher if his office August 29, 1856. He too Aunt Hannah as a plural wife the same day. The following children were born to Mother and Father in Utah: William Darby, Jr. May 11, 1858 in Holladay; Joseph Parley, May 19, 1860, in Washington; Lydia Ellen May 12 1863, in Washington; Harriet Alice, February 28, 1866 in Washington. Five children were born to Fathers and Aunt Hannah, They are Azberry Rueben, September 14, 1857, at Holladay; James Monroe Rollins September 1, 1858 at Holladay; Sarah Hannah October 2, 1860, at Washington; Mary Anne, January 14, 1863, at Washington; Elizabeth Jane, October 15, 1864, at Washington.
In 1857 he was called to echo Canyon to help keep Johnson's Army from entering Salt Lake City, and was brought home very sick with typhoid.
In 1859 we were called to help settle Washington County. There we suffered many hardships for the lack of clothes and food. Father was never called out to fight Indians, but he was stationed as a home guard. He was the only carpenter in Washington, and he was also a cooper by trade. He made barrels, tubs etc. for the people. He was ordained a seventy by Joseph Young, brother of Brigham Young, in 1856. He was appointed superintendent and chorister of the Sunday Schools in 1860, in Washington and he also served for one or two terms a Justice of the Peace in Washington.
In 1863 he took Mother and Aunt Hannah to Salt Lake City and they went through the Endowment House.
In 1866 he received a letter from his father which said they would never meet again in this world and this would be the last letter father would ever get from him. The next march Grandfather died and his death affected Father very much. He shed many tears. On the fourth of the following December Father died. He left two wives, ten children and two grandchildren. One grandchild was born the day father died, and he lived just ling enough to name it William after himself.
Father was a strict observer of the Word of Wisdom in every respect. Eight of his grandsons, two great grandsons and one great granddaughter have filled honorable missions.
Information on William Darby Cooper from The Red Hills of November: A Pioneer Biography of Utah's Cotton Town, vol 2 (Andrew Carl Larson)
01/11/2025William Darby Cooper followed the trade his name implies; he made barrels, tubs, and he also worked as a carpenter. He made combs of the native mahogany, and being a musician of some ability, he made his own violin and dulcimer and other stringed instruments, because musical instruments were so hard to obtain. (p. 170)
A word about the first auxiliary organizations of the ward is perhaps in order. According to the Manuscript History of St. George Stake, the first Sunday School in Washington was organized on April 26, 1863, and held in the little meetinghouse. Elder Robert F. Goold was Superintendent, with Elders William D. Cooper and Iames Russell as Assistants, and Oliver Harmon, Secretary. Edwin Ford and Oscar Tyler later served as Assistants to Superintendent Goold. (p.243)
MUSICIANS A good fiddler or accordion player was an asset to the community. Among those who played the fiddle during pioneer times were William Darby Cooper, Ioe Cooper, Myron Chidester,9 Iohn F. Chidester, Iohn M. Adair, Billy Gott, the Cook boys, the Richeys, Nephi Stewart,” Peter Marker, and Iack Kirby. (p.282)
Excerpt from: The Red Hills of November: A Pioneer Biography of Utah’s Cotton Town; v.02
By Andrew Karl Larson
https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/default?search=%22william%20darby%20cooper%22&sort=_score&perpage=10&page=1&fulltext=1&&offset=
Memorial / Obituary / Personal History
01/11/2025Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel
1847–1868
Company Unknown (1855)
William Darby Cooper
Age at Departure: 26
Head of Household
Lydia Ellen Rochester Cooper (Age: 26)
Mendis Diego Cooper (Age: 7)
Martha Ann Mildred Cooper (Age: 5)
Frances Louisa Cooper (Age: 4)
Columbia Laura Cooper (Age: 2)
Rebecca Lucy Cooper (Age: Infant)
Evidence that he came in 1855 is confirmed in information found in Church financial records.