(11) Martha Cooper (my 3rd. great-grandmother) was born in May of 1839 in Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia. She was the daughter of (22) Micajah Cooper and (23) Mary Ann Inglett. Micajah was a yeomen farmer and veteran of the War of 1812.
In the 1850 census, Martha is listed as being 11 years old, in school, and living in Putnam County.
Martha’s father, Micajah, dies sometime between 1850 and 1860.
In the 1860 census, Martha is listed as being 21 years old and living in Putnam County. Her widowed mother is listed as the head of the household. She has a younger brother that is 19 and a younger sister who is 11. There is also a 1 year old female named F. E. Cooper. We will find out, in the next census, that this is Martha’s daughter, Fannie E. Cooper. There is no record or evidence of Martha being married and given that Fanny has the last name of Cooper, we have to assume that she was born out of wedlock or that her father was a cousin of Martha’s.
On 13 Mar 1870, Martha marries John H. Marchman in Putnam County, Georgia. She was 30 and he was 34, a civil war veteran, and farmer.
In the 1870 census, Martha is listed as 31 years old, keeping house, and living in Eatonton, Putnam County, GA. She is living with her husband, John Marchman (34), and daughter, Fanny E. Marchman (12). The census taker got the spelling of Fannie’s name incorrect and assumed she was the daughter of John Marchman. We do not know who Fannie’s father is, but it is not John Marchman, as future evidence will show. Martha is listed as being able to read and write.
In the 1880 census, Martha is listed as being 41 years old, keeping house, and living in Putnam County, GA. She is living with her husband J. H. Marchman (45), her daughter Fanny Cooper (20), granddaughter Mattie Cooper (3), and grandson M. I. Cooper (1). So it looks like Fannie, similar to her mother, has had children out of wedlock or married someone with the same last name. Fannie is listed as single and unemployed for 8 months.
A very strange event takes place at the end of 1884. I found 3 articles about this event, and below is the account from The Macon Telegraph of Macon, Georgia dated 31 Dec 1884:
This is a very odd story, but it at least makes it very clear that Fannie is John Marchman’s stepdaughter. The other two articles give pretty much the same information except they refer to Carrie Shed and William Harris as negroes. So this means that Fannie gave her oldest boy to a servant to take and deliver to a negro man named William Harris. And that the police did not immediately help Marchman, but rather required that he return with proper documentation that the boy was in his care. The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that perhaps the boy was of mixed race and was possibly William Harris’s child. One of the other articles does state that Harris used to live in Putnam County.
I do not believe that this was my great-grandfather, Richard Thomas Cooper, because he would have only been 3 or 4 years old at the time. So, this had to be the M. I. Cooper from the 1880 census.
I do think that we can draw one conclusion from this story and the other info we have on Martha and Fannie. This was probably a dysfunctional family, and it looks like Fannie was either trouble or troubled.
Unfortunately, the 1890 census was destroyed, or perhaps we would have found out more about this incident and family unit.
Sometime before 1892, either John dies, or Martha and John get divorced, because on 21 Oct 1892, Martha marries, Peter Dent. It should be noted that when Martha was growing up, she lived just a few doors down from a family with the last name of Dent. And, in the 1870 and 1880 census, the Marchmans lived literally next door to Peter Dent and his family.
In the 1900 census, Martha is listed as Martha W. Dent (61), married to Peter Dent (74), and living in Harrison, Putnam County, GA. And the census says that she has only ever had 1 child and that that child is still living.
In the 1910 census, Mrs. Martha Dent is 70 years old, a widow, living in Toombs County, Georgia with her grandson, Richard Thomas Cooper’s family. She is listed as having 1 child, that is no longer living. So, Fannie must have died sometime before 1910.
(11) Martha W. Cooper:
- Fannie E. Cooper
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