Cooper Family Plot
August 12th, 2005I’m guessing there were at least two dozen Coopers buried in front of Christ Church in Cooperstown.
What really bowled us over were the graves of the 5 children who never lived past two years. One lived for only 17 days. They were all children of Ann Cooper, James Fenimore Cooper’s sister.
There was something about those little gravestones all in a row, each inscribed with some hopeful quotation from the Bible. We tried to imagine the hurt the parents felt when those graves were fresh.
It was strange to think that even that pain is gone now. Those parents and even their friends and relatives who hurt so much have been dead for well over 100 years.
I like to think that maybe they have realized the hope they caused to be engraved on their children’s tombstones and, being permanently filled to overflowing with happiness, are far removed from their earthly griefs.
I later learned that Ann Cooper had 10 children altogether, 5 of whom grew to adulthood.
Ann Cooper herself was the second child in her family to be named Ann, the first Ann having died very young as well.