George Melville Cooper 1885–1962

Catalog ID p.172 · Cite this page: njcoopers.com/p/172/

George Melville Cooper was born on 28 Jun 1885 in Leaf Lake Township, Otter Tail County, Minnesota, USA, probably the son of George Monroe Cooper and Rachel Nancy (Janes) Cooper. He married Pauline Katherine Janisch (1921). He died on 2 Jan 1962 in Big Stone County, Minnesota, USA and was buried at Saint Nicholas Cemetery, Rosholt, Roberts County, South Dakota, USA. Five children are recorded.

Facts

Event	Date	Place / detail	Certainty	Sources
birth	28 Jun 1885	Leaf Lake Township, Otter Tail County, Minnesota, USA	certain	G.158, L.90, B.119
residence	1900	Leaf Lake Twp, Otter Tail Co., Minnesota	certain	D.288
residence	1920	La Mars Twp, Richland Co., ND (lodger)	probable	D.733
residence	May 1921	Fairmount, Richland Co., ND	certain	C.144
residence	1930	Eden, Marshall Co., SD	certain	D.731
residence	1940	White Rock Twp, Roberts Co., SD	certain	D.732
residence	1942	White Rock, Roberts Co., SD	certain	B.119
residence	1950	Becker Twp., Roberts Co., South Dakota - serial 21, Sec. 21 on the County Road; not a farm but a place of three or more acres	certain	D.823
residence	21 Mar 1951	Browns Valley, Traverse Co., Minnesota	probable	B.133
occupation	1930	Laborer, carpentry	certain	D.731
occupation	1940	Carpenter (unemployed)	certain	D.732
occupation	1950	Carpenter (industry 'Carpentering'; class of worker P, private employer)	certain	D.823
death	2 Jan 1962	Big Stone County, Minnesota, USA	certain	G.158
burial		Saint Nicholas Cemetery, Rosholt, Roberts County, South Dakota, USA	certain	G.158

Family

Parents

Father George Monroe Cooper 1830–1913 G.158, D.288
Mother Rachel Nancy (Janes) Cooper 1855–1920 probable G.634, D.288

Spouses

Pauline Katherine (Janisch) Cooper 1889–1945
married 11 May 1921, Fairmount, Richland Co., North Dakota
C.144, G.158

Siblings

Mary L. (Cooper) Hissem 1859–1916 half
Anna M. (Cooper) Walters 1866–1940 half
Laura Elbertine (Cooper) Brill 1876–1937
Belle Florilla (Cooper) Imsande 1878–1960

Children

Clarence F Cooper 1931–1946
Eugene George Cooper 1933–1977
Evelyn Anna (Cooper) Robertson 1923–1992 D.731, D.732, N.61, G.662
Helen Laura (Cooper) Dew 1925–2005 D.731, D.732, J.545, G.663
Lorraine Rachel (Cooper) Kuehn 1927–2000 N.60, G.661

Family tree

Solid lines and outlines: certain. Dashed: probable or weaker. Open the full tree (four generations)

In the documents

Every published document that names George Melville Cooper, in date order, with what that document itself records.

Date	Document	Role	What it records
1855	G.634 cemetery memorial Find a Grave memorial 65182138, 'Rachel Nancy Janes Cooper' (1855-1920), Greenwood Cemetery, New York Mills, Otter Tail County, Minnesota	child as "George Melville Cooper (1885-1962)"
2 Jun 1900	D.288 census population 1900 1900 U.S. census, Leaf Lake Township, Otter Tail Co., Minnesota, supervisor's district 7, ED 178, sheet 1B, lines 51-53 (dwelling 6) and 58-60 (dwelling 8) - NA…	child as "Ile, son, 14"	birth: Jun 1885, Minnesota residence: 1900, Leaf Lake Twp, Otter Tail Co., Minnesota occupation: Farmer
13 Jun 1905	E.18 state census 1905 Minnesota state census, population schedule, Town of Homestead, Otter Tail Co., ED 54, schedule sheet 6 (stamped 470), lines 15-22 — FamilySearch DGS 00452…	listed as "Cooper [I]le"
1913	G.153 find a grave memorial Find a Grave memorial 65182123 - George Cooper, Greenwood Cemetery, New York Mills, Otter Tail County, Minnesota	child as "George Melville Cooper"
18 Dec 1913	J.391 death notice (local column) Wadena Pioneer Journal (Wadena, Minn.), Thursday 18 December 1913, page 6, "New York Mills" column; newspapers.com image 1220853034.	child as "Ile Cooper"
30 Jan 1920	D.733 census population 1920 1920 U.S. census, La Mars Township, Richland Co., North Dakota, SD 1, ED 141, sheet 14A (written 15), line 50 (dwelling 287, family 292) - NARA T625	lodger as "Cooper, George S.[?]"	residence: 1920, La Mars Twp, Richland Co., North Dakota
1921	C.144 marriage license Marriage application, licence and certificate, Richland Co., North Dakota County Court, 11 May 1921 (register page 152), George [I or J]. M. Cooper and Miss Pau…	groom as "George [I or J]. M. Cooper"	marriage: 11 May 1921, Fairmount, Richland Co., North Dakota residence: May 1921, Fairmount, Richland Co., North Dakota
24 Apr 1930	D.731 census population 1930 1930 U.S. census, Eden Village, Marshall Co., South Dakota, ED 46-5, sheet 1B (stamped 7001), lines 82-87 (family 23) - NARA T626	head as "Cooper George"	residence: 1930, Eden, Marshall Co., South Dakota occupation: 1930, Laborer, carpentry
5 Apr 1940	D.732 census population 1940 1940 U.S. census, White Rock Township, Roberts Co., South Dakota, SD 3, ED 55-39, sheet 2B, lines 57-63 (household 32) - NARA T627	head as "Cooper, George"	residence: 1940, White Rock Twp, Roberts Co., South Dakota occupation: 1940, Carpenter, private work (unemployed)

10 further documents not published (they may name living people).

Still unknown, and where we have looked

Searches recorded

ancestry all 2026-10-18 · HIS 1910 CENSUS - THE TWO SOUTH DAKOTA COUNTIES, completing the sweep of every county this family is documented in around 1910. Both...

Searched for: HIS 1910 CENSUS - THE TWO SOUTH DAKOTA COUNTIES, completing the sweep of every county this family is documented in around 1910. Both complete-county Cooper lists in the 1910 census (coll. 7884), surname COOPER alone, no given name, no birth year, 50 per page, the exact token rebuilt onto the id by hand: (a) ROBERTS CO., SOUTH DAKOTA (_roberts-south+dakota-usa_2535) - the county he lived in in 1940, 1942 and 1950 and where he is buried. 11 rows, all read. (b) MARSHALL CO., SOUTH DAKOTA (_marshall-south+dakota-usa_1918, id read from the form's Lived In box, not guessed) - chosen because his future wife Pauline Katherine (Janisch) Cooper Pauline Janisch is enumerated in Buffalo Twp, Marshall Co. in 1910, in the Michael Janisch household, and working from the wife's side is the move that has twice broken open a gap in this sweep. 9 rows, all read.

Result: NULL ON BOTH, AND THE COUNTY SWEEP IS NOW COMPLETE AND NEGATIVE. (a) ROBERTS CO. holds 11 Coopers: the Orson Cooper household at Summit (Orson b. 1863 New York, wife Amily A b. 1867 Minnesota, and children Chester C, Lucy B, Laverne R, Esther J, Alta E and Joe, plus a "Joseph Cooper, 1909, Grandfather" which is plainly an index error on a one-year-old); the already-excluded "George Coopey"; and Frank L Cooper, a seaman on the USS Minnesota. (b) MARSHALL CO. holds 9: the Gervis Cooper family at White (Gervis and Maria A, both b. 1862 New York, with Elisha S, Cora B, Albert J and a nephew Harry B - every one of them New York-born), James H Cooper, 1836, father-in-law at Britton, Ella Marion his daughter, and Sylva J Cooper, a niece b. 1903 Missouri. No George, and no Minnesota-born man of about 25. ⇒ FOUR COUNTIES, 31 COOPERS, AND HE IS IN NONE OF THEM: Otter Tail MN (9, 2026-10-17), Richland ND (2), Roberts SD (11), Marshall SD (9). Those are every county this family is documented in on either side of the gap. He was 25, single, and working somewhere else. ONE THING THE SWEEP DID ESTABLISH, and it narrows what is left: a surname search for COOPER DOES fold in "Coopey" - the Sisseton boarder appears in the Roberts Co. list above. So the particular mangling that would have been the obvious explanation is ruled out for these four counties; a surname mis-indexed far enough to escape the fold is still possible. WHAT IS LEFT: pages 2-5 of the 229-row national George Cooper b. 1885 Minnesota set; the counties of Minnesota and the Dakotas he is NOT documented in; or a record of another kind that places him in the decade - a 1905 or 1915 state census, a homestead entry, or a city directory.

ancestry all 2026-10-18 · HIS 1910 CENSUS, continuing the 2026-10-17 row, which ended "NEXT: the same recipe on Richland Co., N.D." All in the 1910 US Federal...

Searched for: HIS 1910 CENSUS, continuing the 2026-10-17 row, which ended "NEXT: the same recipe on Richland Co., N.D." All in the 1910 US Federal Census (Ancestry coll. 7884). (a) THE COMPLETE RICHLAND CO., NORTH DAKOTA COOPER LIST - surname COOPER, no given name, no birth year, residence=_richland-north+dakota-usa_2512&residence_x=1-0-0_1-0. The place id 2512 was READ OUT OF THE URL after typing "Richland, North Dakota" into the form's own Lived In box and picking "Richland County, North Dakota, USA" - it is not guessable, and two earlier attempts today to do without it failed (see the result). (b) A NATIONAL NAME SEARCH, because a surname-keyed county list cannot reach a mangled surname: given George, surname Cooper, birth=1885_minnesota-usa&birth_x=1-0-0 - 229 ranked rows, page 1 of 5 read, which is where the Minnesota-born men sort.

Result: (a) A COUNTY-COMPLETE NULL, AND A TINY ONE: RICHLAND CO., NORTH DAKOTA HELD EXACTLY TWO COOPERS IN 1910 - Herbert C. (b. 1877 Minnesota), Head, and his wife Olga (b. 1885 Norway), at Abercrombie. He is not among them. ⇒ He was NOT in Richland Co. in April 1910, although he lodged there in 1920 [D.733] and married at Fairmount in that county in 1921. Combined with the 2026-10-17 Otter Tail Co. null (9 Coopers), both counties he is documented in on either side of the gap are now exhausted by place. (b) PRODUCED ONE CANDIDATE THAT LOOKED EXTREMELY STRONG AND IS NOT HIM. Recorded in full so it is never re-opened: "George Coopey", 25, b. 1885 MINNESOTA, Single, BOARDER, farm-labourer "working out", in the Heman Wadldieck household at SISSETON, ROBERTS CO., SOUTH DAKOTA, ED 0374, sheet 4a (coll. 7884 rec. 26926564; T624_1487, FHL film 1375500). WHY IT LOOKED RIGHT: the age is exact, the birth state is exact, he is a single farm labourer boarding out - precisely this man's shape, and he is a lodger again in 1920 - the surname is mis-indexed COOPEY, which is exactly the kind of mangling that would defeat every surname-keyed county list run so far, and Roberts Co., South Dakota is where George Melville Cooper lived in 1940, 1942 and 1950 and where he is buried (Saint Nicholas Cem., Rosholt). WHY IT IS NOT HIM, and the discriminator is the one that always does this work: the index gives Father's Birthplace MINNESOTA and Mother's Birthplace SWITZERLAND. George Melville Cooper's father George Monroe Cooper George Monroe Cooper was born in New Jersey and his mother Rachel Nancy (Janes) Cooper was Rachel Nancy Janes. Both parental columns are wrong. And Ancestry's own suggestion panel resolves this man independently as "George Walter Cooper" - a WWI draft card, a South Dakota 1915 state census, a Find a Grave, Illinois and Arizona death records. A different, well-documented man. NOTED AS THE [D.830] PATTERN AGAIN: five details fitting and none of them unique, with the nativity columns doing the actual work. This time it was caught before anything was written. NEXT: pages 2-5 of the 229-row national set (unread); then the complete-county lists for Roberts and Marshall Cos., South Dakota - his future wife Pauline Katherine (Janisch) Cooper Pauline Janisch is in Buffalo Twp, MARSHALL CO. in 1910, so working from her side is the move that has twice paid off in this sweep. Place ids for those two counties are not yet known and must be read from the form, not guessed.

ancestry all 2026-10-17 · HIS 1910 CENSUS - THE COMPLETE OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA COOPER LIST. 1910 US Federal Census (Ancestry coll. 7884), surname COOPER,...

Searched for: HIS 1910 CENSUS - THE COMPLETE OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA COOPER LIST. 1910 US Federal Census (Ancestry coll. 7884), surname COOPER, NO given name, NO birth year, residence Otter Tail County, Minnesota held EXACT (place id 2268, residence_x=1-0-0_1-0). 9 rows - the entire county - all read.

Result: A COUNTY-COMPLETE NULL, AND AN UNUSUALLY CHEAP ONE: Otter Tail County held only NINE Coopers in 1910, and he is not among them. They are Denton J. (b. 1873 New York) and his wife Ellen at Dent; Joseph (b. 1831 New York) and his wife Maria at Fergus Falls Ward 2; Fred J. (b. 1880 Michigan) and George (b. 1866 New York), both INMATES at Fergus Falls Ward 3; and his own parents. ⇒ He had left Otter Tail County by 1910. He is there in 1900 as a boy of 14 [D.288] and is a lodger at La Mars Twp, Richland Co., North Dakota in 1920 [D.733], so the move happened in that decade; this narrows it to before April 1910. NEXT: the same recipe on Richland Co., N.D. for 1910 - he married at Fairmount in that county in 1921 and was lodging there in 1920, so he may already have been there. Also on the list, and already held: 'George Cooper', 80, FATHER-IN-LAW, and 'Rachel', MOTHER-IN-LAW, at Newton Twp - his parents George Monroe Cooper and Rachel Nancy (Janes) Cooper living in the household of his sister Laura Elbertine (Cooper) Brill Laura (Cooper) Brill and her husband Henry. That is [D.289], which is still [desc only] and is an upgrade candidate.

ancestry all 2026-10-17 · HIS 1950 CENSUS - THE COMPLETE ROBERTS COUNTY, S.D. COOPER LIST. 1950 US Federal Census (Ancestry coll. 62308), surname COOPER, NO given...

Searched for: HIS 1950 CENSUS - THE COMPLETE ROBERTS COUNTY, S.D. COOPER LIST. 1950 US Federal Census (Ancestry coll. 62308), surname COOPER, NO given name, NO birth year, residence Roberts County, South Dakota held EXACT (place id 2535, residence_x=1-0-0_1-0). 18 rows, the whole list, one page.

Result: FOUND -> [D.823], image downloaded and filed. 'Cooper, George M.', 64, WIDOWED, born MINNESOTA, CARPENTER (industry 'Carpentering'), at Becker Twp. Everything agrees: he was a carpenter in 1930 [D.731] and 1940 [D.732]; his wife Pauline Katherine (Janisch) Cooper Pauline died in 1945, so widowed is right; Becker is in Roberts Co., where he was living in 1940 and 1942; and 64 on a sheet started 17 April 1950 fits his birth of 28 June 1885. ANCESTRY'S INDEX HIDES THIS HOUSEHOLD AND WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN FOUND BY NAME-AND-RELATION. It folds him into the PRECEDING household (serial 20, Earl Wyman - whom it also renders 'Etias') and gives his relationship as 'DAUGHTER', which is the word on the line below his, belonging to Evelyn. It records no birthplace for him at all. So the index shows a 64-year-old male 'Daughter' lodging with a farming couple. The plate shows him heading serial 21 in his own right. AND THE HOUSEHOLD IS A FAMILY: his daughter Evelyn Anna (Cooper) Robertson Evelyn (27, b. North Dakota, married), her husband Marion Edward Rollens Marion Edward Rollens (34, b. Oklahoma, a coal miner and the only person on the sheet looking for work), and two grandsons, David Rey (4, b. Nebraska) and Thomas Edward (1, b. Minnesota). The grandsons are non-Cooper-surname children of a female descendant and so fall outside the sweep's scope; they are recorded in [D.823] but have no files.

newspapers com 2026-10-04 · SIGNED IN. (a) "George Cooper" OR "George M. Cooper", all places, 2 Jan - 15 Feb 1962; (b) "George Cooper", Minnesota, same dates (5);...

Searched for: SIGNED IN. (a) "George Cooper" OR "George M. Cooper", all places, 2 Jan - 15 Feb 1962; (b) "George Cooper", Minnesota, same dates (5); (c) "George Cooper" Rosholt (0); (d) Cooper Rosholt unquoted (74, Wisconsin/Spokane noise).

Result: NULL: no Big Stone Co. MN or Roberts Co. SD paper among the hits.

genealogybank 2026-10-04 · SIGNED IN. All-US obituaries, George Cooper, 1 Jan - 31 Mar 1962, keyword Rosholt.

Searched for: SIGNED IN. All-US obituaries, George Cooper, 1 Jan - 31 Mar 1962, keyword Rosholt.

Result: NULL: no results.

findagrave 2026-10-04 · Not re-run; memorial already in [G.158].

Searched for: Not re-run; memorial already in [G.158].

Result: Not run.

familysearch tree 2026-10-04 · Not run this pass.

Searched for: Not run this pass.

Result: Not run.

ancestry all 2026-10-04 · Not run this pass.

Searched for: Not run this pass.

Result: Not run.

familysearch records 2026-10-05 · George Cooper, b. 1884-1886, birthplace Minnesota (too broad; first 30 read); George Cooper, b. 1883-1887, spouse Pauline (all...

Searched for: George Cooper, b. 1884-1886, birthplace Minnesota (too broad; first 30 read); George Cooper, b. 1883-1887, spouse Pauline (all collections); George Cooper, b. 1885, any place Otter Tail Co., Minnesota.

Result: FOUND: 1920 La Mars Twp, Richland Co. ND [D.733] (probable; lodger, 35, single, father Ireland, mother Canada); 1930 Eden, Marshall Co. SD [D.731]; 1940 White Rock Twp, Roberts Co. SD [D.732] - with a SECOND SON EUGENE, 7 Eugene George Cooper; WWII draft card 27 Apr 1942 [B.119] - b. 28 Jun 1885 Leaf Lake, 6'3", 200 lb. INDEX ONLY: 1935 SD state census card, Eden, Marshall Co. (b. 'Leaf Lake Co Minn', married 1921, spouse Pauline Janish; no image link). REJECTED: 1910 Sisseton SD George Cooper, 25, boarder - father b. Minnesota, mother b. Switzerland (does not fit). NULL: 1910 not found; WWI draft card not found under George/Ile Cooper b. 1885; 1921 marriage not indexed; 1950 not found; 1962 MN death certificate not indexed online; probate and land (Big Stone Co. MN, Roberts Co. SD) not online.

ancestry all 2026-10-06 · Ancestry 'U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007' (coll. 60901): George Melville Cooper, birth 1885 +/-1 (name...

Searched for: Ancestry 'U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007' (coll. 60901): George Melville Cooper, birth 1885 +/-1 (name search; up to 12 candidate records opened and filtered on given name and birth year).

Result: PROBABLE (record 6601044): 'George M Cooper', b. 28 Jun 1884, Otter Tail, Minnesota; claim 13 Jul 1949; no parents field. Day and month match this file's 28 Jun; the YEAR is 1884 against this file's 1885 - recorded, not resolved.

Documents

D.823 1950 US Federal Census, Becker Twp., Roberts Co., South Dakota; ED 55-3, sheet 3, lines 12-16 (serial 21, Sec. 21, not a farm but a place of 3+ acres) - the George M. Cooper household, 5 persons; sheet started 17 April 1950, enumerator Leo McDonald; NARA roll 4521.
C.144 Marriage application, licence and certificate, Richland Co., North Dakota County Court, 11 May 1921 (register page 152), George [I or J]. M. Cooper and Miss Pauline C. Janisch, both of Fairmount — via Ancestry collection 61305
G.153 Find a Grave memorial 65182123 - George Cooper, Greenwood Cemetery, New York Mills, Otter Tail County, Minnesota
L.90 Ancestry public tree — George Monroe COOPER (1830-1913) — Tree ID 33965336 / Person ID 18621242437 — names full sibling roster + parents Joseph Ellis Cooper × Elsie/Elcy Stackhouse + spouses (Martha E Stackhouse + Rachel Nancy Janes) + children (Mary L, Sarah, Laura Elbertine, Belle Florilla, George Ile Melvill). 11 timeline sources cited. = the keystone Ancestry-tree corroborating [F.139](../F-Church-Vital/F.139.yaml) PA death certificate primary-source-locking of Joseph Ellis Cooper × Elsie Stackhouse parentage [verbatim]
D.288 1900 U.S. census, Leaf Lake Township, Otter Tail Co., Minnesota, supervisor's district 7, ED 178, sheet 1B, lines 51-53 (dwelling 6) and 58-60 (dwelling 8) - NARA T623
D.289 1910 U.S. census, Newton Township (New York Mills Village), Otter Tail Co., Minnesota, supervisor's district 9, ED 167, sheet 2A, lines 28-36 (dwelling 26, family 27) - NARA T624
J.391 Wadena Pioneer Journal (Wadena, Minn.), Thursday 18 December 1913, page 6, "New York Mills" column; newspapers.com image 1220853034.
E.18 1905 Minnesota state census, population schedule, Town of Homestead, Otter Tail Co., ED 54, schedule sheet 6 (stamped 470), lines 15-22 — FamilySearch DGS 004520296, image 2 of 12
D.733 1920 U.S. census, La Mars Township, Richland Co., North Dakota, SD 1, ED 141, sheet 14A (written 15), line 50 (dwelling 287, family 292) - NARA T625
D.731 1930 U.S. census, Eden Village, Marshall Co., South Dakota, ED 46-5, sheet 1B (stamped 7001), lines 82-87 (family 23) - NARA T626
D.732 1940 U.S. census, White Rock Township, Roberts Co., South Dakota, SD 3, ED 55-39, sheet 2B, lines 57-63 (household 32) - NARA T627
D.852 1950 US Federal Census, Garfield Township, Roberts Co., South Dakota — Enumeration District 55-11, sheet 72, lines 16-18, house NE¼ Sec. 9, dwelling serial 33 — the George Whempner household of three, the third a hired hand.