Ruth C. (Cooper) Williams 1893–1989

Catalog ID p.2336 · Cite this page: njcoopers.com/p/2336/

Ruth C. (Cooper) Williams was probably born on 24 Mar 1893 in Oxford, Warren Co., New Jersey, the daughter of Samuel Jones Cooper and Lulu (Beers) Cooper. She married John E. Williams. She died on 7 Sep 1989 in Gracedale, Nazareth R.1, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania and was buried at Riverview Cemetery, Portland, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania. Two children are recorded.

Facts

Event	Date	Place / detail	Certainty	Sources
birth	24 Mar 1893	Oxford, Warren Co., New Jersey	probable	G.641, J.518, D.665
residence	1 Jun 1900	Oxford Twp, Warren Co., New Jersey - her father's household, ED 195 sheet 1A, dwelling 9 / family 9	certain	D.665
residence	1910	Upper Mount Bethel Twp, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania - her father's household, ED 124 sheet 4B, dwelling 90 / family 90	certain	D.666
residence	1 Jan 1920	Upper Mount Bethel Twp, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania - her husband's household, ED 161 sheet 2A, dwelling 29 / family 30	certain	D.863
residence	1 Apr 1930	Upper Mount Bethel Twp, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania - ED 48-93 sheet 5B, dwelling 124 / family 129	certain	D.854
residence	1934	246 Brodhead Ave., East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania	certain	J.517
residence	1951	Lebanon R.D., New Jersey	certain	J.395
residence		formerly 25 Marywood Lane, Williams Township, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania	certain	J.518
religion		St. John's United Church of Christ, Williams Township	certain	J.518
death	7 Sep 1989	Gracedale, Nazareth R.1, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania	certain	G.641, J.518
burial		Riverview Cemetery, Portland, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania	certain	G.641

Family

Parents

Father Samuel Jones Cooper 1869–1951 J.518
Mother Lulu (Beers) Cooper 1869–1958 J.518

Spouses

John E. Williams 1892–1966 J.518, J.517, G.641, F.353

Siblings

Margery (Cooper) Snyder 1895–1984
Elsie (Cooper) Cruver 1897–1951
Lewis Cooper 1899–1985

Children

Charles Lewis Williams 1915–1977 J.518, G.641
John Robert Williams 1916–1963 J.518, G.641, F.353

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 Ruth C. (Cooper) Williams, in date order, with what that document itself records.

Date	Document	Role	What it records
1 Jun 1900	D.665 census population 1900 1900 U.S. census, Oxford Township, Warren Co., New Jersey, ED 195, sheet 1A, lines 36-45 (dwellings 9 and 10) — NARA T623	child as "Ruth"
20 Apr 1910	D.666 census population 1910 1910 U.S. census, Upper Mount Bethel Township (part of), Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, ED 124, sheet 4B, lines 70-75 (dwelling 90, family 90) — NARA T624	child as "Ruth, 17"
1 Jan 1920	D.863 federal census 1920 US Federal Census — Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, ED 161, sheet 2A, lines 32–35 (dwelling 29, family 30): the John E. William…	spouse as "" Ruth"	residence: 1 Jan 1920, Upper Mount Bethel Twp, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania
1 Apr 1930	D.854 federal census 1930 US Federal Census — Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, ED 48-93, sheet 5B, lines 70–74 (dwelling 124 / family 129): the John E. Wi…	spouse as "Ruth"	residence: 1 Apr 1930, Upper Mount Bethel Twp, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania
1 Apr 1950	D.864 federal census 1950 US Federal Census — Clinton, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey, ED 10-9, page 18, lines 24–26 (dwelling 190): a three-person John P. Williams household.	spouse as "RUTH C."

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

Still unknown, and where we have looked

Searches recorded

ancestry all 2026-10-19 · HER 1950 CENSUS. (a) coll. 62308 ?name=Ruth+C_Williams&birth=1893&birth_x=1-0-0&count=50 -- 1,413 ranked, PAGE 1 READ; row 1 is the only...

Searched for: HER 1950 CENSUS. (a) coll. 62308 ?name=Ruth+C_Williams&birth=1893&birth_x=1-0-0&count=50 -- 1,413 ranked, PAGE 1 READ; row 1 is the only one both born in and resident in New Jersey. (b) CONTROL, was she still in Monroe Co., Pa.? ?name=Ruth_Williams&birth=1893&birth_x=1-0-0&residence=_monroe-pennsylvania-usa_2065&residence_x=1-0-0_1-0 -- ZERO rows. (c) CONTROL, is her husband findable on his own? ?name=John+E_Williams&birth=1892&birth_x=1-0-0&name_x=1_1&count=50 (exact given AND surname) -- 29 rows, ALL READ.

Result: A STRONG CANDIDATE, NOT ASSERTED -> [D.864]. Clinton, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey, ED 10-9 page 18, dwelling 190: 'WILLIAMS, JOHN P.' 57 head, 'RUTH C.' 57 wife b. New Jersey, and 'SELTINGER, FRANCES' 77 AUNT. Both ages are EXACT for her (b. 24 Mar 1893) and for John E. Williams (b. 18 May 1892); the county is the one [J.395] puts her in a year later ('Mrs. John E. Williams of Lebanon R.D., N.J.', and Lebanon adjoins Clinton); control (b) shows she had LEFT Monroe Co., Pa., where they were in 1940; control (c) shows no John E. Williams of that age anywhere in the 1950 index has a wife Ruth C. BUT THE PLATE READS 'JOHN P.' The initial was magnified to 6x precisely because everything turned on it: a stem with a closed bowl and nothing on the baseline -- a P, in a clear block hand. John E. Williams is John E. in [D.863], [J.517], [J.395], [J.518] and [G.642]. ⇒ THIS GAP STAYS OPEN. No residence has been written into this file. The plate is downloaded and filed so the columns can be read if it is ever settled. The sample line that carries 'what county and State was he living in a year ago' is line 23 -- one row above the Williams head at line 24.

ancestry all 2026-10-19 · HER 1920 CENSUS. Ancestry coll. 6061, searched on HER married name with the birthplace-bearing fields that distinguish her:...

Searched for: HER 1920 CENSUS. Ancestry coll. 6061, searched on HER married name with the birthplace-bearing fields that distinguish her: ?name=Ruth_Williams&birth=1893&birth_x=1-0-0&residence=_northampton-pennsylvania-usa_2191&residence_x=1-0-0_1-0&count=50 -- 4 rows, ALL READ.

Result: FOUND -> [D.863]. Row 3: Ruth Williams, wife of John E, Upper Mount Bethel, b. abt 1894 New Jersey. The other three are excluded by the birthplace column (Ruth M Williams and Bertha R Williams, both Pennsylvania-born) or by surname (Ruth Zeplin). The whole identification turns on ONE CELL - column 19 reading New Jersey where her husband and sons read Pennsylvania.

ancestry all 2026-10-19 · HER 1930 CENSUS. She is a Williams by 1915, so every search had to be run on the married surname. Two shapes: (a) THE COUNTY GUESS. She...

Searched for: HER 1930 CENSUS. She is a Williams by 1915, so every search had to be run on the married surname. Two shapes: (a) THE COUNTY GUESS. She is at East Stroudsburg, Monroe Co., in 1934 [J.517] and 1940, so Monroe was listed complete: 1930 census (coll. 6224), ?name=_Williams&count=50&residence=_monroe-pennsylvania-usa_2065&residence_x=1-0-0_1-0 — 212 rows, ALL FIVE PAGES READ. (b) THE BIRTHPLACE SEARCH, with NO PLACE FILTER AT ALL: ?name=Ruth_Williams&name_x=1_1&birth=1893_new+jersey-usa&birth_x=1-0-0&count=50 — both name halves exact, bounded on a New Jersey birth, nationwide. 164 rows.

Result: FOUND → [D.854], AND THE COUNTY GUESS WAS THE THING THAT WAS WRONG. (a) IS A CLEAN COMPLETE-COUNTY NULL: in 212 Williams rows across the whole of Monroe County in 1930 there is no John E. Williams of about 1892 with a wife Ruth of about 1893. She was not in Monroe County in April 1930, although she is there in 1934 and 1940. (b) FOUND HER AS THE SECOND ROW ON PAGE 1 — Ruth Williams, spouse John E, Upper Mount Bethel, Northampton, abt 1893, New Jersey, Wife. Her father's own township, and her father Samuel Jones Cooper is in the same enumeration district one sheet earlier at [D.667]. THE LESSON IS CHEAP AND TRANSFERABLE: a residence filter encodes a GUESS; a birthplace filter encodes a FACT. Her 1934 and 1940 addresses made Monroe the obvious county and it cost five pages to exhaust. 'Born in New Jersey' was true of her wherever she was living, and found her in one search. Downloaded (3936×2905), filed under Census/Pennsylvania/Northampton County/, and read on three census_stitch bands with two cells taken to 15× and 10×.

ancestry all 2026-10-19 · NO ENGINE WAS RUN FOR THE 1900 AND 1910 GAPS, AND NONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN. Both plates were already in the catalog: [D.665] (1900 Oxford...

Searched for: NO ENGINE WAS RUN FOR THE 1900 AND 1910 GAPS, AND NONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN. Both plates were already in the catalog: [D.665] (1900 Oxford Twp, Warren Co., N.J.) and [D.666] (1910 Upper Mount Bethel Twp, Northampton Co., Pa.), her father Samuel Jones Cooper's households, read and transcribed line by line. The catalog was asked before the engine, per [[feedback_check_disk_before_external_search]]. Recorded as a search row because the gap report showed both as ‘no search recorded’ and a reader needs to know why they are now closed.

Result: BOTH CLOSED FROM DISK. 1900: aged 7, b. Mar 1893, at school. 1910: aged 17, single. WHY THEY READ AS GAPS — worth stating, because the same shape will recur. The gap report reads STRUCTURED KEYS, not prose. This file's birth: note had quoted [D.665] in words since the file was made, but there was no residence: entry; and on the entry side her subjects: row was a compound Ruth, Margery, Elsie, Lewis carrying no p-number, sitting beside properly linked rows for Elsie and Lewis. ⇒ A fact written in prose on one side and unlinked on the other is invisible to every consumer, and looks exactly like a fact nobody has looked for. IT WAS NOT ONLY HERS. The same compound row hid Margery (Cooper) Snyder Margery in 1900 and 1910, and [D.290] hid her again in 1920; [D.665] also left Eleanor J. Cooper Eleanor J. and Mary Frances S. (Cooper) Sellinger Mary F. S. unlinked in the adjoining Calvin C. Cooper household, the latter in a row whose own text NAMED p.649. Five links added across three entries on 2026-10-19. STILL OPEN AND GENUINELY SO: 1920, 1930 and 1950. She had married John E. Williams John E. Williams by 1915 (son Charles born that year) and is not on her father's 1920 sheet [D.290], so all three must be sought in a WILLIAMS household. Her 1940 is already identified as an index row (East Stroudsburg, Ancestry 2442 rec. 21627264) and still needs its image.

findagrave 2026-10-13 · Find a Grave: Ruth Williams, d. 1989 exact, Pennsylvania.

Searched for: Find a Grave: Ruth Williams, d. 1989 exact, Pennsylvania.

Result: FOUND: memorial 130307067 'Ruth Cooper Williams', Mar 1893 - 7 Sep 1989, Riverview Cemetery, Portland -> [G.641]; panel gives husband John E. (1892-1966) and sons Charles Lewis (1915-1977) and John Robert (1916-1963) -> [G.642]-[G.647], [F.353], [J.521].

familysearch tree 2026-10-13 · FamilySearch tree: Ruth Cooper, b. 1892-1894, d. 1989, spouse surname Williams.

Searched for: FamilySearch tree: Ruth Cooper, b. 1892-1894, d. 1989, spouse surname Williams.

Result: FOUND LRX5-NVK: b. 1893 Oxford, Warren Co., NJ; d. 7 Sep 1989 Allentown; residences 1900 Oxford Twp and 1910 Upper Mount Bethel Twp; parents Samuel Jones Cooper (GZD6-Z12) and Lulu Beer (9MF1-HZ6); spouse John Edward Williams (9C7Y-PBJ); children Charles L (LRX5-VW8) and John Robert (LRX5-KPS); siblings Margery 1895-1984 (LYN3-2WX), Elsie 1897-1951 (GPH6-2K4), Lewis 1899-1985 (LYDP-QT2), Samuel 1900- (GPHG-DV7). Nine sources: censuses 1900-1940, NUMIDENT, Find a Grave index, her 1989 GenealogyBank obituary, and Lewis Cooper's 1985 obituary (already [J.396]). Agrees with the catalog.

ancestry all 2026-10-13 · 1940 census (collection 2442) - John E Williams, keyword Stroudsburg (92,118; first hit read).

Searched for: 1940 census (collection 2442) - John E Williams, keyword Stroudsburg (92,118; first hit read).

Result: John E Williams, 47, b. Pa., lineman, 275 Prospect St., East Stroudsburg, with wife Ruth, 47 (index only, record 21627264 - image not yet downloaded). Its suggested Newspapers.com Obituary Index row 301856366 led to [J.518].

newspapers com 2026-10-13 · Via the Ancestry Newspapers.com Obituary Index row 301856366.

Searched for: Via the Ancestry Newspapers.com Obituary Index row 301856366.

Result: FOUND: Morning Call 8 Sep 1989 p. B12 -> [J.518] (page downloaded).

Documents

D.665 1900 U.S. census, Oxford Township, Warren Co., New Jersey, ED 195, sheet 1A, lines 36-45 (dwellings 9 and 10) — NARA T623
D.666 1910 U.S. census, Upper Mount Bethel Township (part of), Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, ED 124, sheet 4B, lines 70-75 (dwelling 90, family 90) — NARA T624
D.854 1930 US Federal Census — Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, ED 48-93, sheet 5B, lines 70–74 (dwelling 124 / family 129): the John E. Williams household.
D.863 1920 US Federal Census — Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, ED 161, sheet 2A, lines 32–35 (dwelling 29, family 30): the John E. Williams household of four.
D.864 1950 US Federal Census — Clinton, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey, ED 10-9, page 18, lines 24–26 (dwelling 190): a three-person John P. Williams household.