Evelyn Rose Cotter

Evelyn Rose Cotter was my maternal grandmother, a wonderful woman that I still miss twenty-two years later. I remember the day I found out she had passed. I took to my bed and was unconsolable for hours. Those moments of grief are so etched in my mind, I don't know that I have grieved as deeply since. I was still a relatively young woman and it was an unexpected death, unlike the death of my father or in-laws. 

Evelyn was born 1 October, 1914. The world was at war and her father Sidney Cotter had secured employment on a property near Condobolin, New South Wales, Australia. [1] She was the third, and eldest daugher of Sidney and Catherine (nee Coffee). Evelyn was named for her Grandmother Rose (Littlewood) and Great Aunt Eveline (Littlewood). With naming patterns in the family, Eveline was possibly Rose's grandmother. My mother was passed down the name Evelyn as her middle name but not liking the name, my mother decided not to give it to me.

Grandma Hardy, as she was known to me, had ten siblings. Her father being an itinerant farm labourer took the family to many properties in the Central West areas of Parkes, Condobolin, Forbes, Lake Cargelligo and Ungarie. Her father was bought up as a Catholic and her mother Church of England. It may have been the refusual of the Catholic church to recognise their mixed religion marriage that lead to the children being christened into a number of different faiths. Evelyn was christened into a church with some controversy and while she christened her own children in the Anglican church, later in life she became involved in a home church which was possibly connected to the church she was christened in. Grandma would tell you the church had no name. My mother tells us it was part of the Cooneyites church or "The Way". I do wonder if that is true though. I went to the church with my grandmother a few times, other than to say I needed to cover my bare arms there was nothing about it that seemed odd. Cooneyite clergy are meant to not have worldly good and they go out "two by two" to minister in the community. I remember the minister Ray Watkins had a lovely home and a shop. I also do not remember he or his family preaching around town. My grandmother did grow her hair which makes me think it was definitely a type of Breathern church. The Cooneyites are meant to denounce other religons and keep to their own kind. The Watkin family were very much part of our community and my Grandmother happily came to family occassions at the local Anglican church, including my Communion. When Evelyn died she was buried in a private plot owned by the Watkin's family. Her mother Catherine was also buried there.

Sources:

[1]  NSW BDM Records, Family stories

[2] Ancestry Records