Seguine Cooper, Grandfather of Than Cooper, Father of James M. Cooper

Sometimes there is not much information on a particular ancestor.  Such was the case of Seguine Cooper.   The following history was pieced together from reading about members of his family.  A great amount of information was obtained from reading the history of his daughter, Mary Ophelia.  When my mother died, I found a book she had in her possession called, From Texas to Utah, The Pioneer Story of James Cooper and Hannah Cornog by J. Daniel Marshall.  I was very excited to find and read this history. 

Seguine Cooper was born November 27, 1837 to Hannah Cornog and James Cooper in Spring Creek, Harris County, Texas.  He was James Cooper’s  only child.  His mother, a widow, had seven other children:  She had four surviving “Goaslind” children by her first marriage.  From her second marriage, Hannah had three living “Miller” children.

Spring Creek, Texas is about 20 miles north of Houston.  Seguine’s father was a rancher and farmer who owned hundreds of acres.  They were quite well off financially.  They had city property in Houston, and tracts of land in Harris and Montgomery Counties.

Seguine was in his teens when an Elder James McGaw and other Mormon missionaries were in the area.  Seguine’ father and mother were baptized in 1851.  Other members of the family were baptized the same year. 

By 1853, there was growing opposition to the Mormon Church in Texas.  The Cooper family as well as other LDS families in the area made plans to travel to Utah.  Some of the members wanted to travel across the land, a distance of approximately 2,000 miles and take their cattle with them.  They planned to travel north following a trail where they could feed and water the cattle, until they reached the Mormon Trail.  Seguine's father, James Cooper thought that it would be better to take a steamboat up the Mississippi River.

In the early spring of 1853, the Cooper family gave up all their possessions in Texas, and left for Utah. They traveled across the Gulf of Mexico on board a steamship called the “Louisiana.”  They arrived in New Orleans on April 5, 1853.  From there they went by steamboat, the “L.M. Kennet”  to St. Louis.  The Coopers traveled to Kansas City by way of the Mississippi River.  There they joined the "Moses Dailey Company".  James and Hannah Cooper’s other family members and friends traveled to Utah with the "Preston Thomas Company," driving cattle from Texas to Utah.  The Coopers probably arrived in Utah in September of 1853; some of their family members and friends arrived a year later and others arrived 3 years later.  

The family settled in Ft. Herriman, west of the Jordan River, in the Salt Lake Valley.  They lived in a little log house on a few acres of land.   

He married Christina Elizabeth Goheen, a long time friend of the family, on March 31, 1857. When Johnson’s army threatened them, they moved to Salem, Utah.  The first daughter, Mary Ophelia was born there.  Later they went back to Ft. Herriman.  In 1863, he was called to go east to help a wagon train of Saints move to Utah.  Three children were born to Seguine and Christina while the family was living in Ft. Herriman:  Seguine Goheen in 1858, James Michael (our ancestor) in 1861, and Dorinda Christina*  in 1863. Seguine’s grandmother, Hannah Cornog Cooper, also lived with them since her husband died in 1860.   

In 1866, James’ family was 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.


They left their home in Ft. 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 drove a covered wagon pulled by four oxen while his daughter 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, Christina delivered a baby boy they named Levi.  They waited a few days before continuing their journey.

They continued on traveling south from Beaver to St. George.  Christina looked forward to seeing her mother who lived in Washington, Utah.  She hadn’t seen her mother for eight years.  The children 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.  Two children were born in Panaca:  Eliza Jane in 1868, and Hannah Melissa in 1870.

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 and also with the Indians.  The state line for Nevada had been changed putting Panaca in the State of Nevada rather than Utah.  Nevada wanted the taxes that had been paid to Utah up to that time.  The taxes were high and the settlers were unable to pay.  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 travel from Panaca to Panguitch.

When the family arrived in Panguitch on August 10, 1871, there had been a hard frost the previous day.  His wife and mother saw everything frozen and expressed their doubts about living at that high elevation.  The elevation of Panguitch is 6,700 feet. 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 Seguine 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.   Seguine’s job in the community was that of fisherman.

At this time, the Cooper family consisted of Seguine, his wife and mother, and seven children.  The first year they lived in Panguitch, they lived in the Panguitch Fort located 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 cut in the back walls, large enough to shoot a rifle through.

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 ate 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.


Seguine Cooper's house in Panguitch was located a block west of Main Street.  It later became the location of the J. Scott Haycock home, and eventually the Kirk Moore home.

In 1873, some Panguitch people began to homestead land at Panguitch Lake.  Seguine built a cabin on his homestead at the lake.  The 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.  Sleeping outside on the ground or in a 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. The family consisted of Seguine, his mother, his wife, and ten children. Three children were born in Panguitch:  Amanda Fredonia in 1873, John Harvison in 1876, and Nathan Cooper in 1879.

Photo by A. Bell - Findagrave.com

Seguine Cooper died on September 16, 1899 in Panguitch and is buried in the Panguitch Cemetery.  

 *All of Seguine and Christiana's children are buried in Panguitch except their daughter, Dorinda.  Where she is buried, is unknown. See Dorinda for blog post about her story.

Information taken from book, From Texas to Utah, The Pioneer Story of James Cooper and Hannah Cornog, by J. Daniel Marshall.