Alma May (Cooper) Colle 1907–1951

Catalog ID p.2292 · Cite this page: njcoopers.com/p/2292/

Alma May (Cooper) Colle was born on 22 Feb 1907 in Kansas, the daughter of Charles Franklin Cooper and Catherine Jeanette (Wiley) Cooper. She probably married Lester W. Colle (1926). She died on 7 Aug 1951 in Hutchinson, Reno Co., Kansas and was buried at Sterling Cemetery, Sterling, Rice Co., Kansas - plot 811 F. One child is recorded.

Facts

Event	Date	Place / detail	Certainty	Sources
birth	22 Feb 1907	Kansas	certain	G.607
residence	1910	Salt Creek Twp, Reno Co., Kansas	certain	D.769
residence	1 Mar 1915	Salt Creek Twp, Reno Co., Kansas	certain	E.32
residence	1 Jan 1920	Cheney St, Nickerson, Reno Co., Kansas	certain	D.815
residence	1925	Nickerson, Reno Co., Kansas	certain	N.68
residence	12 Apr 1930	Wilson Twp, Rice Co., Kansas	certain	D.772
residence	1951	Nickerson, Kansas (from February 1951; before that the Midland community north of Nickerson)	certain	J.448
religion		member of the Midland Evangelical Reformed church	certain	J.448
death	7 Aug 1951	Hutchinson, Reno Co., Kansas	certain	G.607, J.448
burial		Sterling Cemetery, Sterling, Rice Co., Kansas - plot 811 F	certain	G.607

Family

Parents

Father Charles Franklin Cooper 1861–1938 D.769, D.772
Mother Catherine Jeanette (Wiley) Cooper 1867–1908 D.769

Spouses

Lester W. Colle probable
married between Nov 1926 and Feb 1927
D.772, G.607

Siblings

Ernest F Cooper 1887–1978
Charles Levitt Cooper 1890–1982
Ward Walcott Cooper 1892–1986
Elden Cooper 1896–1981
Freddie Cooper 1900–1918
Ivan L. Cooper 1903–1981
Helen Maurine (Cooper) Redding 1914–2005 half

Children

Living J.448

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 Alma May (Cooper) Colle, in date order, with what that document itself records.

Date	Document	Role	What it records
7 May 1910	D.769 census population 1910 1910 U.S. census, Salt Creek Township, Reno Co., Kansas, E.D. 155, sheet 7A, lines 10-18	child as "Alma, 3"	residence: 1910, Salt Creek Twp, Reno Co., Kansas
1920	D.815 federal census 1920 US Federal Census - Nickerson, Reno Co., Kansas, ED 189, sheet 4A, lines 49-50 (Charlotte A. Cooper household, dwelling 107, family 108, Cheney St)	granddaughter as "—, Alma"	residence: 1 Jan 1920, Cheney St, Nickerson, Reno Co., Kansas
12 Apr 1930	D.772 census population 1930 1930 U.S. census, Wilson Township, Rice Co., Kansas, E.D. 80-28, sheet 1A, lines 13-16	spouse as "Alma M, wife, 23"	residence: 12 Apr 1930, Wilson Twp, Rice Co., Kansas

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

Still unknown, and where we have looked

Searches recorded

ancestry all 2026-10-19 · HER MARRIAGE TO Lester W. Colle LESTER W. COLLE, which stood at ‘no date or place recorded’. [D.772] brackets it tightly — ages at first...

Searched for: HER MARRIAGE TO Lester W. Colle LESTER W. COLLE, which stood at ‘no date or place recorded’. [D.772] brackets it tightly — ages at first marriage 19 and 20 against birth dates of 22 Feb 1907 and 21 Nov 1906 ⇒ Nov 1926 – Feb 1927 — so the searches were aimed at that window, and Colle is a rare surname, which should have made it easy: (a) 'U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index' (coll. 62116), ?name=_Colle&count=50 — 423,197 rows: the engine fuzzes Colle into Del Colle, Colles and Coile, so an unbounded surname search in this collection is not a search at all. Re-run as ?name=Lester_Colle&name_x=1_1 (both halves exact): ZERO. (b) All collections, ?name=Alma_Cooper&name_x=1_1&marriage=1927_kansas-usa&marriage_x=0-2-0&count=50 — exact name, marriage in Kansas, 1925-1929: 12 rows, all read. (c) newspapers.com, signed in: “Colle” “Alma Cooper” 1926-1928, no place filter — 1 match, a Montreal page.

Result: NULL FROM EVERY ANGLE, AND (b) IS THE ONE THAT MATTERS. Of twelve Alma Cooper marriages indexed anywhere for Kansas 1925-29, the only genuinely Kansan row is ‘Alice Alma Cooper, 7 Feb 1927, Troy, Kans.’ — Doniphan County, 250 miles from Reno, and an Ancestry tree on the same result page identifies her as Alice Alma Cooper of Marysville who married Dale Van Valkenburgh. Not her. The rest are New York, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio and Australia. THIS IS A COVERAGE ANSWER, NOT A NULL ABOUT HER — the distinction this catalog recorded twice earlier today. Kansas marriage returns are county-held and Ancestry's Kansas marriage coverage effectively stops long before 1926; a search cannot find what is not filmed. WHAT WAS GAINED ANYWAY: the marriages: key now carries BET NOV 1926 AND FEB 1927, derived from [D.772]'s two age-at-first-marriage cells, where it previously had no date at all. NEXT: the Reno County clerk (Hutchinson) or the Kansas State Historical Society, which holds the county marriage records on microfilm.

ancestry all 2026-10-17 · HER 1920 CENSUS - the gap. 1920 US Federal Census (coll. 6061), name Alma_Cooper, birth=1907_kansas-usa (birth state exact), NO...

Searched for: HER 1920 CENSUS - the gap. 1920 US Federal Census (coll. 6061), name Alma_Cooper, birth=1907_kansas-usa (birth state exact), NO residence filter, 50 per page. 300 rows in 6 pages; she is the FIRST ROW. CONTRAST WITH THE 2026-10-16 ATTEMPT recorded on Charles Franklin Cooper, which searched the GIVEN NAME ALONE with no surname and got 89,217 ranked rows of which page 1 was read. Keeping the surname and bounding on the birth STATE is what made the set finite. (link)

Result: FOUND -> [D.815]. 'Alma Cooper, 12, granddaughter, Nickerson, Reno, Kansas, Cheney St, ED 189 sheet 4A line 50'. The household is her widowed maternal grandmother Charlottie Ann (Carlile) Cooper Charlotte A. Cooper, 76, b. England, and herself - two people. Her mother's birthplace on her own line is MISSOURI, which is Catherine Jeanette (Wiley) Cooper Nettie's. Image downloaded and filed.

familysearch tree 2026-10-10 · Profile KVW5-BY6 Alma May Cooper, seen as a child of KV75-JZL.

Searched for: Profile KVW5-BY6 Alma May Cooper, seen as a child of KV75-JZL.

Result: 1907-1951; spouse Lester William Colle (1905-2000). No children on the profile. Leads only.

findagrave 2026-10-10 · Find a Grave: Colle, Alma, any dates, any location.

Searched for: Find a Grave: Colle, Alma, any dates, any location.

Result: Memorial 105692563, Sterling Cemetery -> [G.607].

familysearch records 2026-10-10 · Alma Colle, b. 1906-1908; Lester Colle, b. 1905-1907, residence Kansas; children of Lester and Alma Colle.

Searched for: Alma Colle, b. 1906-1908; Lester Colle, b. 1905-1907, residence Kansas; children of Lester and Alma Colle.

Result: 1930 census [D.772]; 1940 census index, Wilson Twp: Lester and 'Elma M' Colle only (image not downloaded); no child found.

ancestry all 2026-10-10 · Not run separately; her memorial's Ancestry links list the 1930, 1940 and 1950 censuses and a Kansas state census.

Searched for: Not run separately; her memorial's Ancestry links list the 1930, 1940 and 1950 censuses and a Kansas state census.

Result: Open.

newspapers com 2026-10-10 · SIGNED IN. Colle, Kansas, 7-20 Aug 1951 (9 matches).

Searched for: SIGNED IN. Colle, Kansas, 7-20 Aug 1951 (9 matches).

Result: Hutchinson News 9 Aug 1951 p. 16 -> [J.448]; the 8 Aug p. 12 and 9 Aug p. 30 hits not downloaded.

genealogybank 2026-10-10 · Not run.

Searched for: Not run.

Result: Open.

Documents

D.769 1910 U.S. census, Salt Creek Township, Reno Co., Kansas, E.D. 155, sheet 7A, lines 10-18
E.32 1915 Kansas state census, Population Schedule 1, Salt Creek Township, Reno Co., page 4 (left-hand page), lines 1-12
D.772 1930 U.S. census, Wilson Township, Rice Co., Kansas, E.D. 80-28, sheet 1A, lines 13-16
D.815 1920 US Federal Census - Nickerson, Reno Co., Kansas, ED 189, sheet 4A, lines 49-50 (Charlotte A. Cooper household, dwelling 107, family 108, Cheney St)