Sally King & Fred Cooper: Siblings Do Time For Highway Robbery

Sally King was born Bertha Sally Cooper born about 1907 possibly Kentucky but most records say Oregon.

Fred Cooper was Born 29 June 1908 in Oregon.

Their parents were Edward Washington Cooper & Bertha Elizabeth Hatfield.

Their story starts in California:



Inmate #49246 San Quentin Prison
Rec: 5 Nov 1930
Crime: Robbery 2nd degree
Term: 1-Life









Fred Cooper:




Inmate: #49247 San Quentin Prison
Rec: 5 Nov 1930
Crime: Robbery 1st Degree
Term: 5-Life







There was a third person with them 18 year old Hugh Hamilton.




Sally and Fred's were divorced at this time, their mother Bertha was in County Jail for prohibition and her children were trying to come up with money for her bail, they even asked their father for help but he refused.

Here's a newspaper article:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34394813/the_coos_bay_times/?xid=637&_ga=2.257535115.1841343919.1563730405-249075594.1550496037






Sally's father signed papers for her to get married at age 15 to Joseph Copeland on 14 Oct 1922 in Douglas, OR. They had a daughter named Lelia Martha Copeland born 31 Mar 1923 in Portland.

This is a photo posted on Ancestry by dlshuma in 2012. This photo is Edward Cooper & Marth Hatfield with their granddaughter Lelia. This photo was miss labeled on Ancestry, a family member left a comment that this is the couple that actually adopted her.



Lelia was put up for adoption by her grandmother Bertha.




Sally married again on 25 Jan 1927 in Vancouver, WA to Thomas Everett Hill.




Here is a photo of Sally from 1932 that a Scott Baker posted in 2012.





She was breathtaking, a family member told this story.

As I share stories with you about my Grandma Cooper, I hope that it will bring comfort to you, as it has to me already. I can only imagine how you both must be feeling. Ever since I found Sally’s picture from my brother, David, I have been overwhelmed by her beauty. This is a good thing for both families. Love is such a powerful emotion. Sally was an Aunt I never got to know, but this event happened a long time ago and I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. I was with Uncle Fred and Grandma and Docia and Anna and my mother, Elizabeth. We were on a beach in Charleston , near N. Bend , Oregon . Uncle Fred and a couple of other young men were cooking crab in a pot. I was playing in the sand and there were a lot of happy young women around me. Suddenly, everybody stopped what they were doing and they turned and this beautiful woman walked up and they all rushed up to her, laughing and talking ... and I believe that this was Sally. The time was before WW2 and this is the last time I remember seeing Sally.

My Grandma and Uncle Fred helped raise me for a time. I was born in N. Bend , Oregon in 1933. My biological father was Chet Vining. He was a musician and his family were cranberry farmers and prominent in the community. My mother was only 17 and she met Chet at a jam session. Elizabeth loved dancing and singing. My parents were both very young and I turned out to be a child with a single mother. When I was about 2 to 3 years old, a man by the name of John Nelson was in town. He was a surveyor and a timber cruiser for Southern Pacific Railroad and my mother and John met. A year later, they were married and moved to Yreka , California . John had been gassed in the trenches during WW 1 in France . When he came home, he began drinking periodically and he did not know how to deal with me, so my grandmother and Uncle Fred, at the request of my mother, took me back to Coos Bay . John was a very fine man and he mellowed out as he began to have children of his own, which are my brothers and sisters. In 1942, with my mother at his side, as they were traveling to a Veteran’s Hospital in San Francisco from Yreka; he passed away from pneumonia and complications. Eventually, we were all united and lived a good life, for which I am extremely grateful.

My Grandma Cooper was born in Pikesville , Kentucky and grew up in Kentucky and West Virginia , on the Tug River . She met Edward Washington Cooper and they were married and had 2 little girls, with the names of Mabel and Docia. I’m not sure of the year, but they all boarded a train and headed west and wound up near Chehalis , Washington . Grandpa Ed worked in a coal mine near there. Shortly after that, they moved south to the Rogue Valley and that’s where the rest of the children were born.


This story was by Eugene “Hank” Nelsen. 


Sally died 9 April 1975 in Josephine County, OR, her brother may have never married, I didn't find any solid records. He died 19 June 1991 in Hood River County, OR and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

I made them a tree on Ancestry, there are several trees for them, 2 have her mugshots, none have his. Mine has both, which will show up as a hint to other trees in time. 

This story started with Sally's mugshot, then after reading the newspaper article it led me to her brother and her mother and the rest just unfolded before my eyes. It's sad that Sally didn't see her mother again, I think maybe she was heartbroken that her mother gave her child up for adoption. I have a feeling that was the underlying difficulties, but I also feel things were probably not too good once Sally got pregnant at a young age and had to get married. 

I hope Sally found peace in her life and an abundant of happiness. She never had anymore children. Although Bertha her mother missed her and longed for her until her death, I would be she had regrets as well.

Sally's daughter died as Norma Jean Bureau-McDaniel in 1989. I wonder if she ever saw her mother again?

As far as Sally's Last name of King, that's a mystery yet to be solved. Might have just been an alias.



Comments

  1. Bertha Coooper is my great grandma.
    Thank you for posting this.
    Correction needed for the picture. The picture of the couple holding my grandma is her adopted parents, not her grandparents.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for reaching I will make correction.

    ReplyDelete

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