People Australia

Emily Cogan, née Summerton (1855-1933) Labor supporter

Birth: 18 May 1855 at Gawler, South Australia, daughter of Frederick Summerton (c.1831-1877), an illiterate farmer and blacksmith born in Northamptonshire, England, and London-born Emma Jane, née Tyzack (1832-1914). Marriage: 8 April 1874 at Bible Christian Church, Watervale, SA, to William Cogan (1854-1924), a farmer and later a carter. They had five daughters and five sons. Death: 12 April 1933 at North Broken Hill, NSW. Religion: buried in Methodist cemetery. 

• Cogan was a pioneer of the Broken Hill district, arriving at Silverton with her young family in a horse-drawn teamster’s wagon about 1888. The family soon moved to Broken Hill where her husband took part in the 1892 strike and they reared a large family.
• Her hospitality to labour movement activists and their families was widely acknowledged. The family resided for more than 20 years on the corner of Bagot and Beryl Streets, North Broken Hill.
• Cause of death cancer of the biliary passages.
• Emily, William and their children were active in Broken Hill Labour politics. Her daughter Emily (Daisy) Cogan (1880-1906) married Patrick Austin (Paddy) Lamb, miner and political activist, and another daughter Alice Cecilia married William Edward Dickson; her daughter Hannah (1889-1949) married Irish-born, Cornelius Francis Brosnan (c.1861-1926) a pipe fitter and active member of the Federated Enginedrivers and Firemen’s Association and for fourteen years chief health officer of the city council. 

Sources
Barrier Daily Truth, 13 April 1933 [p.3] – some details in the obituary are inaccurate.