James Michael Cooper - Father of Nathaniel Cooper

James Michael Cooper was born on July 4, 1861 at Fort Herriman, Utah located at the southeast end of the Salt Lake Valley.  His parents were Seguine Cooper and Christiana E. Goheen.  In 1863, his father was called to go east to help a wagon train of Saints move to Utah.  This left his wife with three children ages five, three and James, who was one at the time.  His mother was also expecting a fourth child in October.  James' grandmother, Hannah Cornog Cooper, also lived with them since her husband had died in 1860.  Going east to help the converts meant leaving the farm and the home to be run by his wife, children and aging mother.

In 1866, James' family were called to settle the St. George area.  Many families who had come from the Southern States were called south to the "Cotton Mission" because they knew how to raise cotton.  The Cooper family was originally called to settle the "Muddy Mission" beyond St. George, near present day Las Vegas, Nevada.  James' sister Mary was eight, Seguine Jr., age six, James was four, and Dorinda age 2.

They left their home in Fort Herriman taking only their family and what supplies they could haul in two wagons.  The wagons pulled by six oxen, were loaded with their belongings, seed for planting, and enough food to last a whole year.

The Coopers traveled with several other families who were also called south.  Seguine, James' father, drove a covered wagon pulled by four oxen while James' big sister Mary, drove the lighter wagon pulled by two oxen.  Mary drove this second wagon because her mother was expecting their fifth child any day.

When they reached the settlement of Beaver in November 1866, James' mother delivered the baby.  They waited a few days before continuing their journey.

They continued on traveling south from Beaver to St. George.  James' mother looked forward to seeing her mother who lived in Washington, Utah.  She hadn't seen her mother for eight years.  James and his brothers and sister had never met their grandmother, Dorinda Moody Goheen Slade.  The family stayed there for a few days before moving on.

The Cooper family traveled to St. George and found out that their call to the "Muddy Mission" was changed.  They were now to travel about a week's journey to the north until they reached a new Mormon settlement of Panaca which was located about 90 miles west of Cedar City, Utah.

Panaca was originally settled by Mormon families six months before Nevada became a state.  Soon there were miners in the area.  There were some problems between the miners and the Mormons.  There was also trouble with the Indians.  After living in the Panaca area for five years, the Cooper family left to settle one of the communities in Southern Utah.

In 1871, Seguine Cooper left his family in Panaca and drove his wagon to the Panguitch Valley arriving in April.  He made preparations for his family to move there.  He then returned to Panaca to move his family, his livestock and what possessions he could fit into a wagon.  It took about a week to go from Panaca to Panguitch.

When the family arrived in Panguitch on August 10, 1871, there had been a hard frost the previous day.  James' mother and grandmother saw everything frozen and expressed their doubts about living at that high elevation.  They also thought that since Panguitch was on the north side of the mountains, it would be colder.  The women were concerned about the area being too cold to raise good crops, but James' father told them to look at the range available for livestock.  There were lakes and streams for fishing and much wildlife in the area.  He convinced them to settle in Panguitch.  The elevation of Panguitch is 6,700 feet.

At this time, the Cooper family consisted of Seguine and Christiana, and seven children.  James was ten years old.

The first year they lived in Panguitch, they lived in the Panguitch Fort on the corner where the high school now stands.  The fort and stockade were made of long posts set closely together.  The houses built inside the fort faced the center, and each house had holes, large enough to shoot a rifle through, cut in the back walls.

In the spring of 1872, the Cooper family, now totaling ten people, moved out of the fort and into a little log house several blocks away.  The house had only one large room, a board floor, no rugs, and no ceiling.  It was cold in the winter, so the fire was kept burning day and night for months.  Apples and potatoes not taken back to the cellar at night were frozen so hard the next morning that they couldn't be used until they were thawed by the fire.

Their meals consisted mainly of meat, potatoes, molasses, dried peaches, and milk.  In the summertime they often at wild dandelion greens and pig weed greens with their meals.  During the winter of 1877-78, the people in Panguitch had a hard time feeding their families.  They lived on such foods as wild wheat, barley, potatoes, squash, onions, corn, and beans.  Dried corn, ground and boiled before serving, was called hominy.

Clothes were also scarce during the winter.  Most of their clothing was worn out, so pants for the children were made from flour sacks and other sacks.  The lack of food and clothing made life tough.

In 1873, some Panguitch people began to homestead land at Panguitch Lake.  James' father built a cabin on his homestead at the lake.  The Seguine Cooper cabin was near the east shore of the lake at the foot of what is now known as "Cooper Peak," although it is labeled as "Cooper Knoll" on today's Forest Service map.  The cabin stood in a more level area, now usually covered with water, which is south of where the Lake View Resort now stands.  In the early days, very few people tried to live at the lake year round.  It was extremely cold at night with temperatures often reaching about 35 degrees below zero.  Snow drifts could reach up to eight feet deep.  It would have been interesting to know if the family all slept in that little one room cabin at the same time.  There was Seguine Cooper, his mother, his wife, and ten children.  Sleeping outside on the ground or in the wagon was then very common, even in town.  This wasn't sleeping out for recreation as much as it was a lack of room indoors, and it wasn't limited to the summer season.

Not much is known about James' personal life.  The 1880 Census shows that he was 18 years old, lived at home and was employed as a laborer.  He married Mary Henrie, daughter of polygamist James Henrie and Christena Rasmine Schow Henrie, on September 4, 1889 in Panguitch.  He was 28 at the time.  Their first baby boy, James Ephraim Cooper was born on June 2, 1890 and died on June 14, 1891.  Their second child, Nathaniel, was born on July 2, 1892.  Three more children were born to James and Mary:  Joseph Traverse on June 1, 1895, Christina (Ena) on February 21, 1899, and Jed E. Cooper on April 18, 1903.

The 1900 Census shows that James was a farmer on shares and that they rented their home.  James died of pneumonia on December 21, 1905.  His death certificate shows that he had been sick for 3 days.  James was buried in the Panguitch Cemetery.  Until 1936, pneumonia was the #1 cause of death in the United States.  What a sad Christmas that must have been that year for the Cooper family.  Than was 13, Trav was 10, Christina was 6, and Jed was 2 1/2.  Mary was left with four small children.  She herself had very poor eyesight since childhood, and was sickly.

Her oldest son, Than, quit school at age 13.  He had some uncles who herded sheep and so he went to work with them to provide for the family.  Soon Than's brother Trav joined him.  Than continued to provide for his mother, brothers and sister until they graduated from school and married.  Mary then lived with her son Jed.  She died in 1954, in Panguitch and is buried in the Panguitch Cemetery next to her husband.

Picture by Sherril Henrie - Findagrave.com

Much of the information for this history was taken from the book: From Texas to Utah - The Pioneer Story of James Cooper and Hannah Cornog by J. Daniel Marshall