Searching is available at https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text. You’ll need to create a FamilySearch account if you don’t already have one.

A large amount of content has been transcribed. See the full list at https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text/collection/list.

I’ve had fun searching. The transcriptions aren’t perfect, but they are enough to access image groups that I wouldn’t have discovered any other way. I’m then happy to explore and make my own transcriptions based on the AI-provided one. Some of the dates allotted to images don’t seem to be very accurate. I’ll report on some of these discoveries in future posts.

In 2015, Bram Hoonhout, then a PhD student working on the 18th century history of Essequibo and Demerara, alerted me to the existence of references to Hendrik, Jan and Nicolaas van Cooten in the letterbooks of Theodore Barrell, a merchant in Demerara.

He was able to supply images, and my transcription is available here. The page image is made available with the permission of the New York Historical Society.

These letters are fascinating. They are dated 1799-1800. The letters revolve around Theodore Barrell’s encouragement of Hendrik Van Cooten to send his sons, Jan (John) and Nicolaas (Nicholas) to England to be educated at Mr. Andrew Rae’s Academy, Islington, London.

According to his baptism record Hendrik was about to turn 50 years old. In the letters, Barrell states describes Hendrik as being of “great worth”, “an opulent cotton planter”, and “universally esteemed one of the most truly respectable characters in [the colony]”.

He is the author of a chart (confirming his map-making expertise). His written English-language skills are at a “schoolboy” level.

Jan and Nicolaas are described as “Mezties” – of mixed European and African heritage. They are 13 and 11 years old. Theodore Barrell is of the opinion that the boys will experience less prejudice in England.

An enslaved woman named Komsy, serving the boys’ mother (presumably Dorothea Nicols) escorts them. She has previously escorted two other of Dorothea’s children to Holland. I presume these to be  Cornelis and Hendrik, although Hendrik senior’s will seems to imply that these two older boys were born out of wedlock (“natural” children), and I had assumed that Dorothea was not their mother.  Komsy is introduced to Plato, implied to be also of African descent. Surprisingly, Komsy arrives in England pregnant, and gives birth in London to a boy.

Hendrik also sends a daughter to England in the care of a Madam Europa to the household of Mrs. Bennett. I’m not sure which of Hendrik’s daughters this might be.

These letters verify the assertion of Ida Gorsuch that John Van Cooten was sent to England to be educated – see John Van Cooten leaves Demerara. I’m still hopeful of finding out where he received his medical education.

One of the exciting datasets for a family history researcher is the GLAM Name Index Search which provides a search against, at present, 253 datatsets containing names.

These datasets include:

As a teenager old family letters about the Van Cooten family in Australia triggered my interest in family history. Letters to my great-grandfather John Hughes Van Cooten contained the following tantalising clues:

• The other was that our great grandfather went to the West Indies on a royal Commission. What that Commission was I do not recollect, and that having fulfilled the mission of his government he received a [grant?] of land that as much as he could bring under proper cultivation became his own. This was termed an “Unlimited grant”.
• He married a Madagascan lady said to be of royal blood (very wealthy) and by her he had a numerous family of sons and daughters (22).
  being highly educated & no fortune he went to the West Indies, under the auspices of the Dutch Government & surveyed the colony & sent home so excellent a chart of the same and the river Demerara that the government gave him #1000 and an unlimited grant of land, i.e. so much frontages & back west he could clear & put under cultiture annually.
• The names of the Estates were “Better Hope, Sheet Anchor, Brides Lust “. I don’t know the date of the year in which my mother and father were married but I believe it was in the November of 1835 or 6.
• You ask your Grandfather’s name? Well!! He was “Jan” or John Van, Van Cooten M.D. – formerly of “Brides Lust” , Demerrara – and eldest son of Mr Henrique Van, Van Cooten by his wife Dorothy of the same address.

I doubted that I would ever be able to find out the truth behind these statements. As an adult working in IT at a University, I spent two years working for the library. I took the opportunity to explore. The book that was key to opening a vast area of research was “Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood.” My ancestor wasn’t listed in the index, but showed up upon a quick flick through the contents! I found it very emotional to discover evidence corroborating the clues in old family letters. The “Notes on Sources” provided invaluable pointers to documentary sources, and has led me to making contact with other researchers in the area. Hendrik had a part to play in the events of 1823. He was an old established plantation owner. The actual name of the plantation was Vryheids Lust. He was a slave owner, but more kindly to his slaves than many other owners. He was sympathetic to the cause of the London Missionary Society. Mentions of Hendrik are here. This is a book where I found that as fascinating as the narrative was, the footnotes and citations were more valuable!

He  was a stalwart of the Forest Street Methodist Church, including being a trustee, chairman of the Bendigo Chamber of Commerce, active in the Bendigo Horticultural Society, and an amateur photographer, including being president of the Bendigo Photographic Society.

An article in Trove entitled, “A PRESENTATION FROM BENDIGO.”, (1901, May 2). The Bendigo Independent (Vic. : 1891 – 1918), p. 2. relates:

This presentation album was sold at Bonhams auction house in May, 2006, for AU$ 1,635, described as follows:

Stereoscopic views: Goldfields: Australia

Six glass views of The Goldfields of Victoria G. M. Bendigo (An English Co.) taken by J. B. Edwards and captioned showing men underground using mining machinery, the views, together with a Holmes type viewer in a fitted velvet lined polished wood presentation box with a plaque ‘Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York. Views of Underground Mining Bendigo at Victoria Australia By J.B. Edwards, Bendigo 7/5/01’.

This item seems to have been purchased by the Sate Library of Victoria – it appears in their catalogue as http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1800111. The images have been digitised and are freely available at https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE1409431&mode=browse. An example appears below. If you are good at crossing your eyes you can view it without needing the viewer. I think that J. B. would have been amazed that his images had gone around the world, returned to Victoria, and then become available to the world! He would have been fascinated with this technology.

In Britain, in August 1833, the Slave Emancipation Act was passed, giving all slaves in the British empire their freedom, albeit after a set period of years. Plantation owners received compensation for the ‘loss of their slaves’ in the form of a government grant set at £20,000,000. The slaves themselves received no recognition of the injustices done them, no reparations, nor apology.

A recent segment on the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Radio National (RN) Late Night Live programme looks at some of the ramifications of slave emancipation – https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/blood-money_-emma-christopher/11924196

An article taking a position on a current compensation movement appears in the Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/29/slavery-abolition-compensation-when-will-britain-face-up-to-its-crimes-against-humanity

University College London hosts a website detailing the compensation money paid to slave owners at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/.

Although Hendrik died in 1825, his estates and family received payments.

Hendrik appears in the database, indicating that he had been the owner of plantations Vryheids Lust and Sheet Anchor in Demerara. The plantations had the following slaves:

299 enslaved persons were registered in 1832 to the heirs of the late Hendrick van Cooten, by John L.C. Playter.

On 19^th Apr 1836 compensation for 286 enslaved of £14638 18s 6d was issued.

An Elizabeth Ann Van Cooten received £36 7s 0d (1 enslaved) and £35 9s 10d (2 enslaved). Elizabeth is possibly Eliza Ann Van Cooten or Elizabeth Van Cooten nee van Tienen.

Nicholas Van Cooten received £287 10s 2d (5 enslaved) and British Guiana £98 9s 11s (2 enslaved). This Nicholas is either Hendrik’s son or Hendrik’s grandson.

The first I would like to mention is the transcription of Guyana colonial newspapers being transcribed by John Wilmer. These are a valuable source of information for an area for which it is extremely difficult to obtain any primary sources.

A great newspaper source for English research is the 19th Century British newspapers from the British Library. I have accessed these online by being eligible for a reader’s card at the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the State Library of Victoria (SLV). I’ll give some examples of specific interesting items in a subsequent item. The NLA also provides access to the 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, however I’ve yet to explore these fully.

Another great resource provided through the NLA and SLV is the Times Digital Archive. I’ve found a number of Van Cooten and Smithers items in this collection.

I’ve found some interesting tidbits already. These include:

• Report of the death of Leonard Van Cooten – we were previously unaware of these circumstances
• Various listings (for example) of John Hughes Van Cooten traveling by sea along the coast of Queensland
• Reference to John Hughes Van Cooten working for Ipswich Woollen Mills
• Reference to John Hughes Van Cooten being involved in a horse-drawn vehicle accident
• Reference to William Neuendorf being involved in a horse fall
• Reference to the premises of Walter Neuendorf being burnt down

Sarah Ann Caroline is obviously the person I had always heard referred to as “Annie”. Doing a search on deaths, I found:

This confirms Annie’s full name, and also gives the names of her parents. Doing a search for births to David Jones and Amelia Williams gives:

Thus “Annie” was born in Queensland along with three other brothers, one who possibly died at birth. Continuing this further, I decided to look for an immigration record for the Jones. These are available online for the years 1848 to 1884 in pdf form.  In the pdf for “Johnston to Jones” I found that an Amelia Jones and a David Jones both arrived aboard the “Silver Eagle” on 7 June 1882. I then consulted the microfilm of the Queensland immigration records held at the State Library of Victoria.The “Silver Eagle” skippered by Captain Bright departed Plymouth 2nd March 1882 and arrived at Maryborough 7th June 1882. On board were:

This shows that the family were quite well established before emigration, and also gives an idea of ages for David and Amelia. I then looked in the British census records and found the family in the 1881 census for Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. The residents of 11 Victoria Place were:

These ages correspond quite well with those given in the immigration record, and the census also indicates that the family were all born in Wales.The final step I took was to look at the electoral records for Queensland. These show Amelia and David living at Macadam St, Maryborough, Queensland during the period 1913 to 1925. Amelia’s occupation is “home duties” and David is a carpenter. No other family members appear at the same address. Amelia and David would have been in their 70s at this time.

Although this family is a “dead end” as far as Van Cooten descendants goes,  it was an interesting exercise to see how much information could be obtained, and gaps filled, in a relatively short space of time using resources readily available on the internet, and State Library of Victoria holdings.

There are a variety of sources of biographical information on medical practitioners in England, but I will focus on those that are relevant to find out more about John Van Cooten.

The Cyndi’s List category for doctors contains some useful links for online resources, but paper resources are still significant. The British Medical Association has an excellent page detailing information sources. Alex Glendinning’s “Was Your Ancestor a Doctor” provides important background and sources. The Royal College of General Practitioners “Tracing Your Medical Ancestors” page is good.

John Van Cooten was in practice from about the early 1800s to about the 1840s possibly on Guernsey for all of this time. I have yet to consult the Medical Directory. This directory commenced publication in 1845, so an unsuccessful search may not mean much. The genealogical collection of the State Library of Victoria holds copies on microfiche for 1848-1869. The GSV Library holds a copy on microfiche for 1847.

I have consulted the University Alumni documents for both Oxford and Cambridge with no result. I need to find publications for other Universities active in the early 1800s.

I have searched W. Munk, Roll of the Royal College of Physicians both in hard copy at the University of Melbourne, and on line without success. Unfortunately Munk covers Fellows only for 1826-1997, and it is probable that John was not a Fellow.

There are a variety of books containing references to Eugene Van Cooten and his work as a missionary in Nigeria e.g. “Abbeokuta, Or Sunrise Within the Tropics”.

There are numerous books about the trial of John Smith, missionary, and Hendrik Van Cooten’s evidence at his trial e.g. “Report of the Proceedings Against the Late Rev. J. Smith, of Demerara”.

There are references to Di Van Cooten’s books on health in Indonesia e.g. “The Village Woman”.

Harold Van Cooten was the defendant in a legal case regarding tenancy, and is occasionally cited e.g. “The Solicitors’ Journal”.

I show up in a number of references to clinical trials involving quality of life assessment e.g. “Effect of Cancer on Quality of Life” .

Two surprising references I found today were a reference to a Lucius Van Cooten of Petersham as a subscriber to “An Easy Introduction To The Mathematics; In Which The Theory And Practice Are Laid Down And Familiarly Explained” published in 1814. I’m not sure who this is. Also in what would seem to be the 1828 edition of “The Royal kalendar, and court and city register for England, Scotland, Ireland, and the colonies” is a reference to “Assistant Master, J. Van Cooten”. This is possibly John Van Cooten. I need to find a way of accessing the text of this book.

I have recently explored their shipping records for Van Cooten voyages. The shipping departure records are indexed.

I found Edwin Van Cooten departing for Canada in 1903, Thomas Van Cooten departing for Canada in 1907, Mrs W. Van Cooten departing for Canada in 1918 accompanied by her children Margaret, Mary and John (this must have been a very sad journey as Edwin was killed in WW1 in 1917), and Miss M.W. Van Cooten departing for a holiday in Gibraltar in 1931.

Arrival records for Canada are available at Library and Archives Canada. These are not indexed by passenger, however they are searchable by ship, arrival port, and date. If you use the information from the British emigration register, you can call up the Canadian immigration register, and gain a few snippets of information!

As Utrecht was the base of much commerce with the Demerara colony, many contracts are contained in this archive relating to families in Utrecht with connections to Demerara. Searching for ‘Demerarij’ and variants results in 62 hits covering the period 13-10-1750 to 15-03-1809. I wish my Nederlands was sufficient to let me make more sense of these. For me, the most significant of these is the the document that links Hendrik Van Cooten of Demerara with his family in Doorn. I have put up a transcript and translation of this document.

A large proportion of notices published in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are mandatory, including Insolvency and Bankruptcy notices. Clicking on Archive>Full Search allows search of archives that cover most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and seem to go back as far as back as 1752.

Searching for British Guiana as of 24-July-2007 brings up 2264 entries, the oldest being from 18-February-1831:

The King has been pleased to appoint Major-General Sir Benjamin D’Urban, K. C. B. to be Governor and Commander in Chief of British Guiana, comprehending the Colonies of Demerary, Essequibo, and Berbice.

Searching for “Van Cooten” and variations brings up 20 entries, many from the Demerara colony in the 1820’s. Searching for “Demerary” results in 1002 gazettes dating back to 27-November-1784.

NOTICE is hereby given to tbe Officers and Seamen who were actually on Board His Majesty’s Sloop Fly, Milham Ponsonby, Esq; Commander, at the Capture of the Cargo of the Brigantine Hope, Hans Pieter Fynboe, Master, from Demerary to Amsterdam, condemned in the Court of Vice Admiralty of Tobago, and sold there, that the Shares of Prize Money due to the said Officers and Seamen shall be paid unto them on Monday the 6th Day of December next, at the French Horn, in Crutched-fryars; and the Shares remaining undemanded will be recalled the First Monday in every Month for Three Years to come.

More research in this resource is needed.