Eliza (Marles) Cossins (1884 - 1950)

Born 6 Jun 1884 in Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia [uncertain]

Ancestors

Died 2 Feb 1950 at age 65 in Red Deer, Red Deer County, Alberta, Canada

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Biography

Bio researched and written by Susan Stopford. First publ. on Wikitree on 19 November 2022. Last updated here on 20 November 2022. ©2022 Susan Stopford

This profile is a work in progress. If you would like to contribute or have any additional information, please leave a Comment below or send me a Private Message. Thanks, Susan.

Early Years in New South Wales

Eliza (Marles) Cossins was born in the Colony of New South Wales (1788-1900)

Eliza Marles was born on 6 June 1884 in the Colony of New South Wales Australia. She was the second daughter and one of twelve children of James Marles and Catharine Ann Marles (born Davis). Her birth was registered at Bellingen River.^[1]

Her two elder siblings were born in Maclean but four years prior to her birth, on 2 Sep 1880, her father applied for 100 acres (portion 4) in the Parish of Coffs and the family moved south to what is now known as Coffs Harbour.

"In Coffs Harbour, her father established a store in Moonee Street, near the current Coffs Coast Hotel, operating a weekly delivery service for more rural settlers. He took advantage of the founding of the Beacon gold mine at Coramba in the early 1880s, opening a store there, then repeating this tactic at Woolgoolga, opened another store for that population in Feb 1898. Two months later he sold his store at Beacon Mine, then his store at Woolgoolga in July the following year. In February 1905 he built a large addition to his Coffs Harbour store, however he was making plans to relocate and his commercial interests were purchased by John Moorehead."^[2]

A further eight children were born in or near Bellingen or Bellinger River. The family remained in Coffs Harbour until 1906.

Migration

Eliza (Marles) Cossins migrated from Australia to Canada.

In 1906, her father relocated the family to the western Canadian province of Alberta to take up farming. Her father and maternal uncle, John Davis (1879-1957), departed Sydney for Vancouver in early September 1905 on the steamer Miowera to secure property ahead of the arrival of Emma's mother, Catherine, and the children.^[3][4]

Her mother Catherine and the children, including Eliza ("Miss Marles, 22 years"), left New South Wales on 9 Apr 1906 onboard the steamship Maheno which arrived in Vancouver 21 days later and joined her father and uncle.^[5] One brother, Thomas, travelled ahead of his father in 1904.^[6]

Life In Canada

The Marles family settled near Red Deer where her parents took up farming. Her father wrote a long letter which was published in a newspaper in Australia in 1906 which includes a detailed account of his journey to Canada, search for property and initial impressions of their new home. The full letter can be viewed here.

Extract from a letter written by James Marles which was published in the Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1889 - 1915), 3 March 1906. ^[4]

...The time from Sydney to Vancouver was 24 days. Vancouver is the principal city commercially of British Columbia and the largest. It has a population of nearly 31,000. I stayed only until the next morning, so am not in a position to describe the many interesting places I have read of in and about Vancouver, but in passing may say that all I saw and heard indicated great prosperity and rapid growth. It is quite possible that we may finally settle in British Columbia. My next start was for Calgary, Alberta, by train 642 miles. On this trip we crossed the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, and thoroughly enjoyed the grand varied scenery which great writers have confessed themselves unable to do anything approaching justice to, when attempting to describe what they saw. That part of Alberta west of Calgary and east of Banff, adjacent to the railway line, has been described as good agricultural land. This I cannot agree with. I class it a fair cattle run, this being the first of the prairie country I saw. I feared that all I had heard on road of Alberta might be equally misleading. We found Calgary very cool. It is a nice little city with 9000 or 10,000 of a population. It is a great ranching centre. The railway repairing shops are there, and quite a number of wholesale houses distribute from this centre. A spur line runs north from it to Edmonton, nearly 200 miles distant. It was along this line that I purposed to look for land before I left Australia, and so after 21 hours in Calgary started north. My first stop was at Red Deer, 90 miles from Calgary, a town of 1100 to 1300 inhabitants and growing fast. It has a dairy factory, elevator, and flour mills in course of construction. I omitted to state that on getting two or three miles out of Calgary I was very pleased to notice the very great improvement in the country. Homesteads, stacks of grain and hay, while herds of sleek horses and cattle dotted the prairie as far as the eye could reach, and the railway cuttings exposed the deep black soil which has the reputation of being very productive. From a sporting point of view it is very hard to beat, lots of ducks on the sloughs and watercourses, and chickens on the prairie. This class of country was the rule as far as we could judge from the train. I might mention that there are quite a number of stopping places and townships varying in size from a few houses to nearly the importance of Red Deer. I found the farming country around Red Deer very good, and prices of improved places seemed to me low, from £2 to £4 per acre, according generally to the distance from town. I was quite satisfied to settle in this district. But decided to see some of the unsettled parts before buying, so I joined a party of homeseekers, as they are called here, going east to Island and Gough Lakes. A new spur line of railway is being constructed to tap this country. It was a seven day trip, and I am obliged to say it was the trip of my life. Of course we had two or three wet-rag fellows, who declared they were cold at night, sleeping on mother earth, when we did not pull up at a hay-stack, but I felt no inconvenience. As for game, such as prairie chickens, ducks, and rabbits, we could shoot all and more than we required without going more than a short distance from the vehicles we rode in. The prairie chicken excels, in my opinion, any poultry or game I ever tasted. We saw some good country, and great herds of cattle, fat and well-bred. The leading breeds are Short- horns, but Herefords and Polled Angus are in plenty. Although the winter at times is severe, not one of these range cattle are provided with shelter. Stacks of wild hay they are fed, only in severe weather. I purchased 320 acres of improved land 12 miles south-east of Red Deer. We are near to a school ; the Methodists hold service one mile away, and the Presbyterian Church is two miles away. The neighbours are high-class settlers, and from the house I live in, which is on a rise, over 40 homesteads can be seen. One man near here had a paddock of full wheat of over 50 bushels to the acre ; about 55 acres oats 40 to 70 bushels to the acre, with potatoes, turnips, and carrots, reaching in some years to over 600 bushels per acre. There are troubles here the same as elsewhere ; unseasonable frosts and hailstorms. The winter is long, and at times very cold. I may be able to give you an idea later on, but it has not been bad yet. The old hands say still it was 22 below zero last Sunday. It is now 43. We took posses sion of the farm on the 18th October. The ground did not freeze until the 28th November, which was unusually late, and enabled me to get over 50 acres ploughed. I am ahead of the old hands in that respect. The old-timer here dates back 10 to 11 years.

In 1906, the Marles family including Eliza were recorded as living in Strathcona, Alberta,^[7] and at Red Deer, Alberta in 1911.^[8]

Marriage
Eliza married William Ernest Cossins at some point prior to the 1911 Census,^[9] possibly on 18 Jan 1911.^{[citation needed]} Census records show William Cossins was an Englishman, born in England. The couple settled at Red Deer where they had three children. William's brother Fred Cossins was living with them in 1911, 1916 and 1926.^[9][10][11]

Children:

• Constance Cossins (1912–aft. 1950), later Mrs. Orville Snider, living at Red Deer
• Lancelot Cossins (1918–2001)
• Frank Cossins (1922–Deceased)

They farmed for many years until Bill's eyesight failed. The farm was then rented until their son Lancelot was old enough to take over.^[12]

Death
Eliza Cossins died on 3 February 1950 in Red Deer, at the age of 65.^[13] She was survived by her husband, three children, three sisters and four brothers.

Mrs. W. E. Cossins Dies Thursday

Mrs. William Ernest (Eliza) Cossins, a resident of the Willowdale district since 1906, died on Thursday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Orville Snider, Red Deer. Mrs. Cossins was born in South Wales [sic] on June 6, 1884, and settled in the Willowdale district directly after coming to Canada.

She leaves her husband; one daughter, Mrs. Orville Snider, Red Deer; two sons, Lancelot and Frank, both of Red Deer; three sisters, Mrs. A. Hoskins and Mrs. E Coram, both of Red Deer, and Mrs. D. Duperier of Portland, Ore.; four brothers, William and Jack at Madden, James at Calgary, and Fred at Vancouver; and one grandchild.

Funeral services were conducted by Rev. A. Suitters at the Brown & Johnson chapel on Monday at 2 p.m. Internment took place in th Red Deer Cemetery. Palbearers were Bert Smith, S Kendrew, Hugh Hodgkinson and W Olsen. Flowers were sent by the Willowdale Ladies Aid. ^[14]

Sources

1. ↑ Birth Registration (index):' NSW Government. Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Birth Index (Births search page : accessed 2 Sep 2022), Index entry for MARLS ELIZA ; Father's given name(s): JAMES; Mother's given name(s): CATHERINE; District: BELLINGEN RIVER; Registration Number: 23819/1884. [Event Date=6 Jun 1884]
2. ↑ Webpage-James Marles' in Coffs Harbour: News Of The Area - Modern Media - & FILEWOOD, K., 2021. News of the area. News Of The Area. Available at: https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/times-gone-by-the-journeys-of-james-marles-71047 [Accessed September 2, 2022].
3. ↑ Miowera Passenger List (1905): "Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2QS1-GDK : 23 February 2021), James Marles, Sep 1905; citing Immigration, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, T-515, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Newspaper (Letter from James Marles): 1906 'COFF'S HARBOUR TO CANADA.', Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1889 - 1915), 3 March, p. 10. , viewed 07 Sep 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61455428
5. ↑ Maheno Passenger List (1906): "Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2Q3M-9H2 : 23 February 2021), C Marles, Apr 1906; citing Immigration, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, T-515, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.Passenger List Image
6. ↑ 1904 'Echoes.', The Raleigh Sun (Bellingen, NSW : 1898 - 1918), 1 April, p. 5. , viewed 11 Sep 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127561472
7. ↑ 1906 Canada Census: "Canada, Northwest Provinces Census, 1906", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHVX-1FC : 17 March 2022), Eliza Marles in entry for James Marles, 1906.
   • Note: This record wrongly shows the Catherine Marles and the Marles children were born in "Austria" rather than Australia.
8. ↑ 1911 Canada Census (Marles): "Recensement du Canada de 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9P-L61Y : 16 March 2018), James Marles, 1911; citing Census, Red Deer Sub-Districts 80-128, Alberta, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 2,417,656.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} 1911 Census: "Recensement du Canada de 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9P-LXC9 : 16 March 2018), Eliza Cossins in entry for William E Cossins, 1911; citing Census, Red Deer Sub-Districts 80-128, Alberta, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 2,417,656.
10. ↑ 1916 Canada Census: "Canada, Prairie Provinces Census, 1916", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KM5P-PHR : 10 August 2022), Eliza Cossins in entry for William Ernest Cossins, 1916.
11. ↑ 1926 Census: "Canada, Prairie Provinces Census, 1926," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPL2-G2KH : 24 September 2020), Eliza Cousins in household of William Cousins, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada; citing Census, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa.
12. ↑ Marsh, A , Shepherd, S and others 1988, 'James Davis & Rachel Shannoch', in Davis family & descendants : 140 years in Australia, 1848-1988, compiled by Ann Marsh. Privately published by A. Marsh Grafton, N.S.W. ISBN:0731642880. Notes: Available for viewing in NSW Library Reading Rooms. https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/22647114. See pages: 134.
    • Note: This book is largely unsourced and contains a number of errors.
13. ↑ Burial: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/127470679/eliza-cossins: accessed 20 November 2022), memorial page for Eliza Marles Cossins (6 Jun 1884–2 Feb 1950), Find a Grave Memorial ID 127470679, citing Red Deer Cemetery, Red Deer, Red Deer Census Division, Alberta, Canada; Maintained by Deb (contributor 48155269). [Headstone image available]
14. ↑ Obituary: 1950 Red Deer Advocate. Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. 08 Feb 1950, Wed; page 1