In 1934 Jerry and Dolly Cooper lost a baby. According to information supplied by Rabbi Silberhaft, Jeremiah (Jerry) was a lawyer and the son of Jacob and Bertha Leah Cooper of Aberdeen in the Eastern Cape. The Cooper family came to South Africa from Radviliskis. His mother's family, the Wolperts, were from Kalvarija in Lithuania. He married Rudolphine (Dolly), daughter of Julius & Henrietta Eisenhammer of Maquassi (Makwassie), in 1929. Henrietta Eisenhammer (nee Gabbe) was the daughter of Abraham Gabbe of Pudimoe and the niece of Daniel Gabbe (also a local resident). The Gabbe family hailed from Courland. Julius Eisenhammer was an Austrian Jew. He was a farmer and passed away in Wolmaransstad Hospital in 1942.

 

Jerry was listed as an attorney in Bloemhof [Cape Times SA Directory 1934 p1415] and was a partner with A Gabbe (I presume Abraham) and J Novick in the farm Blesbokfontein in the Bloemhof district in 1930. Jerry Cooper was elected vice-chair of the Far West Transvaal Zionist Society in 1935. Dolly was on the committee. [Zionist Record 8/3/1935 p 29]. The family moved to Pretoria in the late 1930's and then to Nigel in the late 1940's. The couple had a daughter, Beryl, who was born in 1936.