[Index]
Thomas SOPER (1801 - 1877)
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Charles SOPER (1843 - 1920)
Noble SOPER (1843 - 1923)
William SOPER (1845 - 1922)
Jane SOPER (1847 - 1925)
Margaret Mary SOPER (1849 - 1934)
Edward SOPER (1850 - 1898)
Martha Matilda SOPER (1852 - 1922)
Letitia S W SOPER (1856 - 1931)
Thomas SOPER (1801 - 1877)

+

Martha NOBLE (1820 - 1890)
William SOPER (1775 - ) Abraham SOPAR (1734 - )



Mary THORNING (1740 - )



Jane HARRIET (1779 - )












b. 1801 at Exeter, Devon, England
m. 12 Dec 1841 Martha NOBLE (1820 - 1890) at Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia
d. 06 Jan 1877 at Cambewarra, New South Wales, Australia aged 76
Parents:
William SOPER (1775 - )
Jane HARRIET (1779 - )
Children (8):
Charles SOPER (1843 - 1920)
Noble SOPER (1843 - 1923)
William SOPER (1845 - 1922)
Jane SOPER (1847 - 1925)
Margaret Mary SOPER (1849 - 1934)
Edward SOPER (1850 - 1898)
Martha Matilda SOPER (1852 - 1922)
Letitia S W SOPER (1856 - 1931)
Grandchildren (33):
Edward Thomas SOPER ( - 1959), Charles Henry SOPER (1888 - 1965), John J N SOPER (1889 - ), William P SOPER (1893 - 1929), Jane SOPER (1878 - ), Thomas Noble SOPER (1879 - 1965), Syrena Emily SOPER (1880 - 1946), Wilhelmina Margaret C SOPER (1882 - 1955), Beatrice Kate SOPER (1883 - 1956), William Lewry SOPER (1884 - 1969), Daniel Henry SOPER (1885 - ), Daniel Edward SOPER (1886 - 1962), Matilda SOPER (1888 - 1956), Mary A SOPER (1889 - ), George Leslie SOPER (1891 - 1961), Charles S SOPER (1892 - ), Letitia Sophia SOPER (1894 - 1965), Ruby Muriel Florence SOPER (1896 - 1970), John Wesley SOPER (1897 - 1950), Robert John NETHERY (1875 - 1947), Thomas Noble Soper NETHERY (1877 - 1948), Frances Letitia NETHERY (1879 - 1949), Mabel Jane NETHERY (1880 - 1880), Martha Violet NETHERY (1880 - 1968), William Charles NETHERY (1882 - 1951), Edward Samuel NETHERY (1884 - 1935), Walter Vincent NETHERY (1885 - 1968), Christopher NETHERY (1887 - 1964), Sidney Harmon NETHERY (1889 - 1913), Thomas Mathew SOPER (1885 - 1949), Elvira Julia Matha SOPER (1888 - 1969), Wilhelmina Margaret Annie SOPER (1892 - 1977), Annie SOPER (1878 - )
Events in Thomas SOPER (1801 - 1877)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
1801 Thomas SOPER was born Exeter, Devon, England 18
12 Dec 1841 40 Married Martha NOBLE (aged 21) Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia Note 1 18
1843 42 Birth of son Charles SOPER New South Wales, Australia V18431230 27A/1843
1843 42 Birth of son Noble SOPER New South Wales, Australia V18431832 28/1843
03 Jan 1845 44 Birth of son William SOPER New South Wales, Australia V18451801 30A/1845
1847 46 Birth of daughter Jane SOPER New South Wales, Australia V18472384 33A/1847
12 Apr 1849 48 Birth of daughter Margaret Mary SOPER New South Wales, Australia V1849435 35/1849
1850 49 Birth of son Edward SOPER New South Wales, Australia V18501848 38A/1850
06 Dec 1852 51 Birth of daughter Martha Matilda SOPER Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia V18523976 39A/1852
09 Oct 1856 55 Birth of daughter Letitia S W SOPER Cambewarra, New South Wales, Australia
06 Jan 1877 76 Thomas SOPER died Cambewarra, New South Wales, Australia 18
Note 1: Coolangatta, NSW - V184114375 74B/1841 - SOPPER
Personal Notes:
Thomas SOPER
Thomas Soper is understood to have been born at Exeter in Devonshire, England in about 1801.
He arrived into NSWales on 17 August 1820 aboard the "Earl St. Vincent" as convicted to seven years, it is said, for stealing something to the value of one shilling and sixpence - 1819 to 1826. Along with Will King, Bill Lewis and Tom Funnell he went to work for Captain Richard Brooks at what we now call Kangaroo Valley - under the authority of foreman William Neale. He became quite an established part of the history of the Cambewarra area from 1825 onwards.
In 1828 Thomas was working for John Cowell just north of Kiama, but later took up his own lease at
"Bundanon" in the upper reaches of the Shoalhaven valley.
In 1841 he met Martha Noble who had arrived that year from Ireland. Martha was the neice of Dr Kenneth McKenzie who had already settled near Thomas's property. They were married at the Coolangatta Homestead on the northern headland of the Shoalhaven River in December 1841 by the Presbyterian Minister C. Atchison, "Minister of Illawarra". The witnesses were the brothers of Alexander Berry of North Sydney: David and John Berry. The certificate does not give much detail. A bit later, ships were built at Coolangatta from the pentiful supply of timber nearby. One such ship was called Coolangatta and was wrecked on the Queensland coast - the remaining hulk gave the location in South Queensland the same name.
In the upper reaches of the Shoalhaven they had their first children: Charles, Noble, William, Jane and Margaret.
In February 1852 a great flood washed their house away. Three of the sons, all poor swimmers, were put on a table with a mattress tied to it in the hope of being saved. Hearing nothing of their fate, Tom and Martha left for Sydney and had a passage to London booked. In Sydney, Thomas visited the
Berry/Wollstonecraft store and heard talk about the flood including the discovery of the sons - none the worse for their experience. The family returned to Greenwich Point where they were re-united with their sons.
In March 1852 they settled near Cambewarra on a property at the foot of the Mountain they called "Cedar Grove" - purchased 29 March 1853 - below the Cambewarra Mountain. They had to start again clearing the land and planting crops. There Martha gave birth to three more children: Edward, "Matilda" and Letitia.
Their son Noble selected land adjoining his parents property and Noble's son, Charles, in turn purchased nearby land with Tom and a daughter purchased land with her husband.
The Soper's finished up owning quite a bit of land on the Cambewarra side of the Mountain.
Tom died at Camberwarra in 1877 aged 76. Tom and Martha were buried on the property, "Cedar Grove", under a large white magnolia.
Source References:
18. Type: E-mail Message, Abbr: e-mails general pool, Title: e-mails general pool
- Reference = Bruce McLennan 13 Jan 2010 (Marriage)
- Reference = Ancestry message elizm175 16 Aug 2013 (Name, Notes)
- Notes: Thomas Mathew Soper DOD 19 Sept 1949 & Jane Dean Soper daughter Elvira Enid SOPER (1909-1962) DOD 1 May 1962 Enid Soper 52 yrs. Her Mother Jane Soper DOD 22 Dec 1963 almost 18 months after her daughter death.
Edward & Kate other Daughters (1) Elvira Julia Martha Soper DOD 28 Oct 1969 and Married Davies they had 3 children (3 Girls)
(2) Wilhelmina (Mina) Soper DOD 13 Jan 1977 at Bomaderry NSW Never Married but it is believed she had a daughter living in SA now.
- Reference = Bruce McLennan 13 Jan 2010 (Birth)
- Reference = Bruce McLennan 13 Jan 2010 (Death)

This public tree has about 60,100 people. Every person in the tree is related by birth or marriage to at least one other person in the tree - no strays. The people in the tree come mainly from four projects.
  1. My family tree. The original project begun about 1998. ID numbers less than about 6,000
  2. Canberra and Queanbeyan Pioneers. The next 30,000 begun about 2004. Sourced almost entirely from HAGSOC's excellent 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan'. The project began when I decided to add siblings, spouses and parents for a relation with an entry in the Register. 12 years work.
  3. Wagga Pioneers. I moved to Wagga and thought I would extend the Queanbeyan project by adding people from Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society's 'Pioneers of Wagga Wagga and District'. About 10,300 people added over about a year.
  4. Tumut Valley Pioneers. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, I decided to extend the above projects by adding pioneers of the Tumut Valley. Initial sources were Snowden's 'Pioneers of the Tumut Valley' and 'Relict of ... Lives of Pioneering Women of Tumut and District'. Excellent references published by Tumut Family History Group. I've also added material from newspapers of the time - especially, death records, obituaries and weddings from 'Tumut and Adelong Times'. This project is in its early stage and might take a few years. I plan to extend to the upper Monaro (Adaminaby, Kiandra, Cooma, Jindabyne).
I upload new information to this website about every 3 months. My motivation for these projects is to provide public information for people seeking to trace ancestors and what became of them. Much of the information I provide can be difficult to find.
If you find errors - anything incorrect (dates, places, wrong parents, wrong children), and you have evidence, I would love to fix them. Or, if you have information that would extend my projects, do not hestiate to contact me on the email link below. I do not publish information on living people - which means I'm not much interested in people born after about 1920, and I usually distrust material from before about 1770 without extremely good sources.
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