Jessie Van Cooten 1913

Jessie Miriam Van Cooten was born in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, on 30 December 1890. She was the youngest daughter of John Hughes Van Cooten and Elizabeth (nee Berry).

John Hughes Van Cooten arrived in Brisbane aboard the “Indus” on 20 December 1874 at the age of 19. He worked for a short while as a shop assistant. He married Elizabeth Berry on 22 July 1880 at her father William Berry’s residence in Ipswich.

By the time of Jessie’s birth, John was working as a traveler for the Ipswich Woolen Mills. This work took him up and down the Queensland coast by ship. The family was living at 3 or 4 Park St, Ipswich, and was active in the Ipswich Central Congregational Church.

Jessie was musical from a young age. A report of the Congregation Sunday School anniversary in 1897¹ notes the almost seven year old Jessie as contributing a solo part to the item “A Little Christian Pilgrim.”

Jessie attended West Ipswich Primary School, and received a prize for “tables” in class II in 1898². This would have been a sad time for the family, as Jessie’s four-year-old brother Leonard died suddenly of sun stroke after attending an Ipswich Congregational Church picnic.³

The family moved from Ipswich to Maryborough at the end of 1899. John Hughes entered into a partnership with Fenwick White to carry on business at the Adelaide Street, Maryborough, premises of White Bros. I don’t know how this arrangement was established, but it must have been a more settled life.

Birthday book entry

The family was actively involved in the Maryborough Congregational Church in Alice Street, and also in the temperance movement. Jessie received Sunday School prizes, and performed at Sunday School and church functions⁵. Jessie’s birthday book entry for 3 March 1905 indicates that she contracted polio.

John Hughes Van Cooten seems to have been managing White Bros. store in Biggenden in 1901⁶, but the partnership dissolved in 1904⁷. He seemed to have a short-lived involvement in a boot-making enterprise in 1905⁸, and then became Maryborough agent for the General Accident Assurance Corporation Limited⁹. By October 1906 he has purchased the business of Mr. H. J. Stoodley in North Ipswich, and the family return there to live.¹⁰

Jessie resumes her involvement with the Congregational Church, this time the North Ipswich Congregational Church in Downs St, presumably not far from where the family store and house were. She is active in the Christian Endeavour¹¹, sang at Sunday School Anniversary concerts¹², and was organist at Sunday School Anniversary services¹³ and weddings¹⁴.

“The Pines”, Maryborough

By May 1912, the family was on the move back to Maryborough. John Hughes Van Cooten once more entered into partnership with Mr. F. White, in the general store business at Howard. The family lived at “The Pines”, corner of Howard and Tooley Streets, Maryborough. This property had been purchased in late 1899 coinciding with the first venture to Maryborough. Jessie reconnects with the Maryborough Congregational Church, but also sings at the Fort Street Baptist Church¹⁵, and is active in the Maryborough Sunday School Union¹⁶ and Congregational Church Sunday School¹⁷.

In 1922 Jessie is noted as being a performer at a concert arranged by Madame Camille Cornwell¹⁸. When exploring old family documents handed down over the past years, we discovered a note pad of Jessie’s, full of cuttings and poems, but also a journal of her singing lessons with Madame Cornwell. My mother, Merle, has transcribed these notes, and they make fascination reading.

My father, Graham, recalls that Jessie had an office on the verandah of “The Pines”, and used to do the books for the Van Cooten and Sons in Howard, and also his own father’s business in Maryborough in the 1930s. She would slowly walk the 800m to the shop in North Street (corner of North and Tooley), sometimes aided by her sister, Maggie, or one of Graham’s parents

In later life, as care needs grew, “The Pines” was sold and Jessie moved into a home in Brisbane run by the Assemblies of God, named “Beth Eden”. It was a lovely gracious old property on the banks of the Brisbane River. She initially had a hostel room, but then the time came when she needed to move to nursing care. She passed away in 1972.

1. Central Congregational Sunday-School. (1897, November 9). Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 – 1908), p. 6. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125039411
2. WEST IPSWICH (GIRLS’). (1898, December 17). Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 – 1908), p. 5. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123595628
3. DEATH FROM SUNSTROKE. (1898, November 15). Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 – 1908), p. 4. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123594322
5. GENERAL NEWS. (1905, October 11). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 2. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148672374[.efn_note]. Jessie attended Maryborough Central Girls’ School, winning prizes for attendance, and also for exercise⁴BREAK UP OF STATE SCHOOLS. (1902, December 13). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 2. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148179029
6. Advertising (1901, October 3). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 3. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148164262
7. Advertising (1904, September 10). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 3. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148492941
8. Advertising (1905, January 11). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 – 1947), p. 10 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174356702
9. No title (1906, February 24). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 2. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148452279
10. Advertising (1906, October 27). Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 – 1908), p. 1. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article124384870
11. CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR SOCIETY. (1909, January 15). Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld. : 1909 – 1954), p. 4 (DAILY). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article111618226
12. IPSWICH AND WEST MORETON (1910, October 31). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933), p. 5. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19670704
13. Anniversary Services. (1911, October 30). Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld. : 1909 – 1954), p. 5 (DAILY). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112050138
14. Orange Blossoms. (1911, November 7). Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld. : 1909 – 1954), p. 6 (DAILY). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112043650
15. BAPTIST CHURCH, (1913, October 6). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 5. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150573029
16. GENERAL NEWS. (1915, October 4). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 6. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150950107
17. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. (1919, October 24). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 4. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152597877
18. CONCERT AND ENTERTAINMENT. (1922, September 1). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 8. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151745050