John Milton Cooper (1812 - abt. 1849)

Born 6 Oct 1812 in Clark County, Indiana, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Minerva Jane (McClintock) Cooper — married 4 Sep 1842 in Pike County, Illinois, USA

Descendants

Died about Sep 1849 at about age 36 in Sutter's Mill, California, USA

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Biography

John Milton Cooper was the son of Isaiah Cooper and Elizabeth Montier. He was born 6 Oct 1812 in Clark County, Indiana.^[1] John came to California with his father during the gold rush.

The Coopers searched for gold on a creek that feeds into the North Branch of the American River west of El Dorado County town of PIlot Hill. It is named for them: Cooper Canyon. Isaiah and his son John died here of 'camp fever', probably typhoid. Son in law Henry Matheny, Rachel's daughter Sarah Jane Layson, and possibly others also died in the fall of 1849.

September 21, 1849

'Johnsons' Crossed River here, 59 ft. wide, a gravel bed 100 yards, road forks. We taken right hand past shanty's, one hospital, several sick, doctor sick. Family in adobe with Liquor shop. Man is Cooper from Pike Co. Ill--to Oregon in l846 and here in June 1849. He don't like Oregon and California. Intends to return to Illinois.

This canyon where the Coopers searched for gold has a creek that feeds into the North Branch of the American River a mile or two west of the El Dorado County hamlet of Pilot Hill. It is named for them: Cooper Canyon. It was here that "camp fever," probably typhoid, claimed the lives of Isaiah, his son John, his son-in-law Henry Matheny, Rachel's daughter Sarah Jane Layson, and perhaps others in the family. All died in the fall of l849.

Those who died in Cooper Canyon were buried at what is now Coloma, California, but then was the site of Capt. John Sutter's sawmill. It had been there that the California gold was first discovered. Visitors will not discover any family tombstones there, probably because anyone who happened to be a stonecutter by trade was not in California to cut stones, but rather to look for gold. The site is now Gold Discovery State Park. There are a museum, a reconstruction of Sutter's mill, and mining exhibits.

John M Cooper was buried in Sutter's Mill Pioneer Cemetery in Coloma, California. ^[2]

Research Notes

There is a discrepancy on the date of birth of John. A writeup by Don Rivara gives his date of birth as 19 April 1820.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Early Oregon Pioneers
2. ↑ Coloma's Cemeteries. A List of Pioneer Burials. Marshall Gold Discovery State Historica Park. Coloma Pioneer Cemetery Committee. Gold Discovery Park Association. 1989. page 2
3. ↑ Genealogy Trails El Dorado Califoronia.

• The Cooper Family History, Don Rivara, 1994, p. 44.