Jacob Bolter Cooper

Jacob Cooper – middle name Bolter – was born on 17^th September 1839 and baptised at St Mary’s Market Lavington on 20^th October.

There is no surviving 1841 census for Market Lavington. In 1851 Jacob was with his parents, Thomas and Mary, at Mount Pleasant, White Street. Thomas worked as a brick maker

In 1861 Jacob was a boarder at the Meadow (Now Meadow Cottage?). He worked as a farm labourer.

In 1871 Jacob was married but lived alone in the Market Place. He was a market gardener

By 1881 the Cooper family had moved to Parsonage Lane where Jacob was a farmer of 40 acres employing 2 men and 1 boy. He was with his wife, Mary and children James, Alice and Mary. He was in this house and working as a farmer for at least the next twenty years, being there for the 1891 and 1901 censuses.

Jacob, by then a widower, was still in Market Lavington in 1911 but when  he died, in 1923 he lived in Easton Royal, beyond Pewsey but he is buried in Market Lavington churchyard.

In Market Lavington Museum we have several items which relate to Jacob. At the museum we particularly like these wagon boards.

Jacob Cooper wagon board at Market Lavington Museum

Jacob Cooper sign board at Market Lavington Museum

Tags: farming, Market Lavington, Museum, person, wagon