CHILDREN

Their favorite food is fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. All the kids swim in the river.

MATTHEW COOPER - born 1850

GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Good-looking teenager.

Matthew sleeps in the barn.

Sully gives Matthew a whittling knife for Christmas. (Pilot)

Olive gives him a silver-handled pistol. (#0101)

Matthew can swim.

Matthew sends a telegram to Elizabeth Quinn (Mike's mother) when Mike comes down with influenza. (#0102)

Matthew helps build the Hurdy-Gurdy platform with Robert E. Matthew asks Robert E's advice re: girls. Matthew buys all of Ingrid's dance tickets on the opening night of the Hurdy-Gurdy, but he's too afraid to ask her to dance. (#0103)

Matthew watches his father Ethan as a dancing example; dances with Ingrid for the first time. (#0104)

Matthew takes his first shave and first drink. Matthew goes on a vision quest, completes it successfully, gets engaged to Ingrid with Dr. Mike's engagement ring (which she rec'd. from David, her fiance' "killed" in the Civil War; gives to Matthew for Ingrid.) (#0112)

Matthew, Colleen and Brian's noses are very out-of-joint thanks to some orphans Dr. Mike brings home and considers adopting; Matthew confronts Dr. Mike about it. (#0204)

Matthew carries an Indian pouch. (Established #205?)

Matthew chafes at going to Boston, resents Mike for making him go and leave Ingrid, and looks askance at Elizabeth Quinn. He comes around by the end of the trip, tells Elizabeth he was wrong about her. Matthew gets a new suit for Boston. (#0208)

Matthew works off and on at a ranch; quits to work in the mine for an episode, then goes back to ranch. (#0212)

Matthew walks the tightrope in "The Circus." (#0215)

Matthew quits the ranch again to become a gambler when he's taken in by a slick con-man/card hustler who "grooms" him for a high-stakes poker game. Ingrid breaks up with him over this, at least for this episode. Feeling flush after winning a high-stakes poker game, Matthew gives Brian a kaleidoscope as a present. (#0217)

Matthew, catching Hank watering his whiskey, is able to strike a deal with Hank about his little horse, which Matthew wants for Brian. (#0219)

Matthew joins the KKK (briefly) but quickly learns it's not his kind of club. (#0221)

Matthew's initially embarrassed that Mike is running for Mayor, but ends up supporting her. (#0222)

Olive Davis leaves Matthew 200 cattle in her will. Matthew assumes the position of trail boss and rises to the demands of the job when he leads his family, friends and almost 200 cattle back to Colorado Springs. (#0304)

When Mike asks Matthew and Colleen why they hid Brian's bone, Matthew explains that they took the bone because they suspected the alleged "dinosaur" bone, a gift from their ne'er do well father, Ethan, was unauthentic. According to Matthew, "Pa gave me a medal once. Said he won it in Denver for first place in a race. Wasn't 'til I cleaned it up that I saw it had another man's name on it." (#0306)

Matthew suggest to Colleen and Brian that they cook a surprise Thanksgiving supper for Mike and Sully, who're away in Denver. Turns out, the supper he, Brian, Colleen and Cloud Dancing cook ends up feeding Kid Cole and Sister Ruth, as well; Mike and Sully met the now married couple in Denver and brought them home for supper. (#0313)

When he thinks the world's about to end, Matthew, determined not to die a virgin, convinces Ingrid to marry him before Stowe's Comet hits. Fortunately, the Reverend refuses to perform the ceremony. (#0316)

Matthew helps Robert E put together the steam engine for a locomotive, but quits when Robert E, under pressure, treats the two other workers he's hired (Chinese brothers Quong and Lee Chang) harshly. Eventually, Robert E softens, and Matthew, as well as the recuperated Chinese brothers and Sully, help Robert E finish the locomotive engine on deadline. (#0317)

Matthew testifies in Mike and Sully's behalf at the "Cooper Vs. Quinn" custody battle, but, to his annoyance, Ethan twists his testimony around to look perjorative toward Mike. (#0318)

Matthew wins the part of Romeo in Dorothy's production of "Romeo and Juliet." He first refuses, then agrees to wear the bright red boots Ingrid gives her for the production. (#0320)

Matthew gives Belle Starr a shirt; she rewards him by kissing him. (#0321)

Matthew sounds the alarm that Custer's Seventh Calvary has been ordered south of the Arkansas River when he sneaks a peek at a telegram Horace is receiving from the army; Mike, Cloud Dancing and Sully head out to the Washita but are too late to avert the slaughter of the Indians. (#0322)

Matthew accepts the old homestead from Sully, as a gift. (#0326/0327)

Matthew becomes very angry with Ingrid when she accepts a loan from the new "banker" (read "loan shark") Preston Lodge III. His antipathy toward Preston escalates, culminating in an impromptu wrestling match over an ax at the "Kissin' Tree." Matthew loses this bout, becoming wounded in the process (see "Medical, below). Ingrid and Matthew make up in the end. (#0401)

Matthew goes through emotional hell (and a period of resenting his little brother intensely) when his young Swedish fiance', Ingrid, is bitten by Brian's wolf, Pup, contracts rabies, and dies. He forgives Brian and makes a degree of peace with himself by the end of the episode. (#0404)

To escape the pain of Ingrid's death, Matthew gives his cattle to Jon, Ingrid's brother, and goes out of town to run the saloon tent in the mining camp. It seems Matthew's hell-bent on self-destruction, but eventually, the Mike and family help him come to terms with his grief. Eventually, family friend Peter Chow loses some Chinese friends in an explosion, and when he makes Chinese lanterns for them to "help guide their spirits to the other side, Matthew finds some piece in making a lantern to help Ingrid's spirit get across the divide. (#0405)

Matthew is one of the few people to stand up and defend Dorothy's writing about the townsfolk in her book. In fact, he publicly declares, "...I wasn't too happy you wrote about how I gambled... But then I figured it out -- you were showin' how it helped me make somethin' of myself" -- i.e., her book was meant to be inspirational, not dirt-digging. (#0406)

Well-meaning townsfolk (Loren, Horace, Myra and Hank) try to fix Matthew up with various girls to alleviate his grief over the loss of his beloved Ingrid. First, Loren fixes Matthew up with widow Brown's daughter Melanie, who, though pretty, talks a blue streak. Next, Horace and Myra fix him up with their cousin Sophelia Bing ("a Bing cousin for sure -- the resemblance is telling") who doesn't say a word. Finally, Hank sends a girl out to the old homestead barn, where Matthew's working some leather. This girl, Emma, is more to Matthew's liking; unfortunately, she's a prostitute. (to be continued!) (#0413)

Matthew, upset about the rising crime rate in his town, decides to run for sheriff against Hank. Matthew wins, but when he accidentally shoots Horace in the arm (he thought Horace was a prowler) he's deeply shaken. Matthew then decides to make a law decreeing "no guns in Colorado Springs," which the council passes by a narrow margin, but this law is put to the test when Zachary Brett, a hardened criminal, comes to town to spring his little brother, who was shot recently while trying to rob the saloon. To the town's credit, gun-less townsfolk back up the gun-less Matthew when Zachary arrives, and Zachary reholsters his gun, gets back on the train and leaves, forgoing the chance to see his little brother before he goes to trial for robbery. At the end, Robert E gives Matthew a sign that says, "Matthew Cooper, Sheriff" as acknowledgement of his status as sheriff to the town. (#0414)

Matthew, as sheriff, goes on an expedition (consisting of Sully, Preston, Hank, Jake, Robert E, Preston and visiting politician Ezra Leonard) to retrieve Caleb, the kidnapped son of Ezra Leonard, from desperate mountain man Noah McBride. Matthew is kidnapped by Noah McBride, but Sully saves him. (#0418/19)

Matthew, Colorado Springs young sheriff, discovers that serving the law is a hard business and that he doesn't really have much guts for killing when he's called upon to man the gallows which will drop Johnny Reed, a rapist and murderer, to his death. (Matthew ultimately takes up Hank's offer to operate the gallows when it's telegramed to him that the hangman can't make it). Even so, Matthew's mercy toward the doomed criminal is questionable -- for instance, when Johnny Reed, the rapist, is shot in the arm by Ben Hart, (brother of the Rosemary Hart, Johnny's 15-year-old rape victim) Matthew lets Johnny lie in his cell all night, untreated for the shotgun wound, to Mike's vast consternation. Matthew's attitude toward the criminal also drives a wedge between he and Emma, his girl, because she's sympathetic toward the doomed man and he's not. (#0420)

After Emma's beaten up by a customer, Matthew persuades her to leave her life of prostitution, helps her get set up as a seamstress in Loren's General Store, and pronounces the words "I love you" to her for the first time. (#0424)

Matthew mentions marriage to Emma, but Emma tells him that perhaps they should hold off talking about marriage; they don't have to go so fast. (#0427/28)


MEDICAL HISTORY:

Matthew gets typhus from handling blankets the Army "gifts" the Cheyenne with. It's germ warfare -- the Army knew the blankets were infected when they sent them to the Cheyenne. Matthew, Colleen, Brian and Horace are quarantined in the clinic when Horace accidentally touches Matthew and the town discovers Matthew has typhus (he got them from army blankets infected with the virus). Horace helps the Cooper kids escape; sends them to Mike and Sully at the reservation. (#206)

Matthew gets beaten-up and his ribs are broken. (#0217)

Matthew gets knocked out trying to defend Robert E from the KKK. (#0221)

Matthew gets a deep cut in his leg when he tries to wrestle an ax from Preston, who's trying to cut down the "Kissin' Tree," a town monument. (#0401)

Matthew sprains his arm playing in his home team, the Colorado Springers, against the visiting team, the All-Stars. (#0402)

Gash on his chin from the spike-driving contest; it reopens when Matthew's almost blown up setting nitroglycerin to blow up a cliff (for mining) with Peter Chow. (#0405)

 

COLLEEN COOPER - born 1854.

GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Twelve years old in pilot; Pretty, soft-looking blond.

Orders eight yards of red fabric for Christmas dance - dance is snowed out. (Pilot)

Sully gives her a carved hair clip for Christmas. (Pilot)

Olive gives her a silver locket. (#0101)

Colleen is at first resentful of Mike's Hippocratic oath that puts the town before the kids. (#0101)

Colleen can swim.

Mike's mother, Elizabeth Quinn, gives Colleen a silver-handled brush and mirror. (#0102)

Colleen gets her monthly for the first time (age 13) during Elizabeth Quinn's visit. Mike forgot to tell her about menstruation - Mike's mother, "Grandma," had to do it. (#0102)

Feels that boys get to do everything. (#0102)

No one wants to dance with Colleen on the opening night of the Hurdy-Gurdy - so Mike does. (#0103)

Ethan Cooper gives her a fan "from China" (#0104)

Colleen goes through a period of unpopularity, due to her "bookwormishness" and her knowing all the answers in school. Fortunately, the little girls in town think it's really "cool" that Colleen assisted Dr. Mike during Loren's hernia operation and decide Colleen's okay to hang with, after all. After religiously reading a newspaper "weekly" story, she fancies herself in love with Sully. She concocts a plan to have Sully rescue her, but ends up with frostbite, learning that Sully doesn't return her feelings. After talking with Sully, she tearfully gets over her first crush and finds friendship with Horace's nephew, Lewis. (#0106)

Colleen is very upset when one of the orphan girls breaks the silver mirror Grandma Quinn gave her. "It'll never be the same." Her and Brian's noses are very "out-of-joint" thanks to these orphans; they even consider moving in with Matthew and Ingrid until Mike decides that she can't "fix the world" and sends the orphans on their way. (#0204)

Colleen, Matthew, Brian and Horace are quarantined in the clinic when Horace accidentally touches Matthew and the town discovers Matthew has typhus (he got them from army blankets infected with the virus). Horace helps the Cooper kids escape; sends them to Mike and Sully at the reservation. (#0206)

Colleen announces to her cousins in Boston that she plans to go to college, then medical school, before she marries. Colleen loves Boston; a certain part of her wouldn't mind staying there. Colleen gets some new clothes while in Boston. (#0208)

Colleen receives her first kiss from Richard, a new boy at school, then gets branded "easy" from her jealous schoolmates Alice, Missy and Becky. (#0210)

Colleen can ride; we see her on a horse. (#0212)

Colleen cheats on a school test, (she can't remember history dates) but she confesses and forfeits a trip to Washington D.C. Her family applauds her honesty. (#0213)

Colleen overcomes her timidity and walks the tightrope when a rag tag circus comes to town. (#0215)

Colleen suffers something akin to post-combat stress when Dorothy Jenning's son, Tom, breaks into their cabin in the middle of the night looking for morphine and menaces her. (#0218)

Colleen serves as flower girl at Myra's wedding. (#0225)

Colleen is good at Math/Geometry. (#0301)

Colleen's uncomfortable with being more developed than other girls her age, until Mike helps her make peace with her figure by telling her that all girls hate something about their appearance and including a personal anecdote about herself. Colleen talks with Matthew about how far a girl should let a guy go in a relationship, and he offers some sound, but rather humorous "big brother" advice. In the end, Colleen confronts Jarrett, her self-esteem in tact and makes him see her for her, not her body. (#0303)

Colleen declares herself "not much of a rider," and Jesse, the good-looking young ne'er do well cowboy, uses teaching her to ride as a way to worm into her affections. Later, he proposes marriage to her, telling her they'll start a cow ranch in Colorado as soon as she finishes medical school, but his intentions (to steal Matthew's cattle) soon become apparent when Jesse sweet-talks Colleen and then abandons her, to her embarrassment. (#0304)

Olive Davis leaves Colleen money for her education and her gold pocket watch in her will. (#0304)

Colleen is the town's librarian, but the library almost gets shut down when the Reverend finds her reading "Faust" and decides it's inappropriate reading matter for townsfolk. (#0309)

Colleen, Matthew and Brian plan a surprise Thanksgiving supper for Mike and Sully, who are away in Denver. Turns out, the supper the kids and Cloud Dancing cook ends up feeding Kid Cole and Sister Ruth, as well; Mike and Sully met the now married couple in Denver and brought them home for the holiday. (#0313)

Colleen, assisted by Dorothy and Grace, mid-wifes Myra during her very difficult pregnancy culminating in the birth of a beautiful baby girl, Samantha. Mike was up on Pike's Peak, with Sam Lindsey, who died. (#0315)

Colleen decides to stay out all night with her teenage friends the night before Stowe's Comet is supposed to destroy the world; she chickens out. (#0316)

Colleen and Peter Chow make inroads in the flirtation/romance they began in the 3rd season opener. (#0317)

Colleen's learning Latin in school. She wears Mike's, not Lillian's (her step-mother) toga to "Roman Day," a school event. Colleen is very upset when Ethan takes over from Sully at the father/daughter chariot race held at the "Roman Day" school event. Even though Ethan wins in the chariot pull, Colleen leaves in tears, the event spoiled for her. When Ethan wins custody of his children, Colleen and Brian run away and Colleen comes down with pneumonia after falling in the creek. (#0319)

Colleen lends the lucky stone from Ireland Grandma Quinn gave her to best friend Becky in order to bolster Becky's confidence when both girls try out for parts in Dorothy's production of "Romeo and Juliet." To Colleen's dismay, Becky wins the coveted part of Juliet, and Colleen's cast as Samson, a boy. To "comfort" Colleen, Dorothy assigns her as understudy to Becky, and Colleen's gleeful when Becky comes down with laryngitis and Colleen can now play the part. Mike helps Colleen realize she should've been happier when Becky won the part, and when Becky recovers, Colleen graciously hands the part back to Becky and settles for Samson, the boy. (#0320)

Already timid about horses, Colleen becomes still more afraid when she's thrown from Taffy, Brian's little mare. Nevertheless, when Brian's kidnapped by the Younger brothers she manages to mount Belle Starr's spirited palomino, Thunder, and ride out to the bandits lair to rescue him. (#0321)

Colleen is bridesmaid in Mike/Sully wedding. (#0326/0327)

Colleen turns out to be a natural baseball player, but holds back her talents (at least 'til the 4th act) in a baseball game in which her home team, the Colorado Springers, plays a visiting team, the All-Stars. Her reticence to play stems from the fact that her current crush, Jared McAllister, isn't any good and she doesn't want to scare him off. Mike, however, manages to convince Colleen that if her ability adversely affects Jared's opinion of her, he's not worth having. Colleen goes on to score some winning hits for the team. (#402)

Colleen displays a rebellious streak by sneaking out of the house against Mike's express permission to watch some teenagers play "chicken" on their horses. (Mike knew of the "chicken" races because she snooped in Colleen's diary.) In the end, Mike and Colleen both confess they were wrong -- Mike for snooping, and Colleen for sneaking. (#0403)

Colleen's very upset to read about her "romance" with Jesse on the trail (#0303/04) in Dorothy's book -- seems Dr. Mike betrayed this embarassing confidence to Dorothy... Colleen, in fact, is so upset with Dr. Mike that she is reluctant to tell Dr. Mike about something that's disturbing her -- her late menstrual cycle. Finally, when Colleen confesses the truth to her, MIke is able to see that she's done the same thing to Colleen that Dorothy's done to her, and Mike is able to forgive Dorothy, just as Colleen forgives her. (#0406)

Colleen, worried about upcoming college costs, invests her small savings in con-men Randoph Cummings and Curtis Ropers' "home-refrigeration box" scheme. Fortunately, the Reverend and Dr. Mike get the money back from the traveling scam artists by using a bait-and-switch scheme of their own. (#0416)

Colleen's disapproval of Capital Punishment (the hanging of Johnny Reed for raping Rosemary Hart and killing Taylor Logan) sways Mike's own pro-Capital Punishment sentiments; albeit too late for Mike to to try to persuade townsfolk not to hang Johnny Reed for his crimes. Colleen's bewildered by the "eye for an eye" motto -- to her, they're all just doing what he did -- so how does that make it 'even'? (#0420)

Colleen is intially very impressed with Mike's medical school friend Miriam Tillson, especially when 'Dr. Tillson' regales the family with tall tales of her 5 operating theatres, etc. Colleen wants to go to the city to see Miriam's practice, but Mike rather reactively resists the idea -- turns out she's feeling threatened about Colleen's affection. In this episode, we see that Mike feels a bit possessive and jealous of Colleen, as Mike has dreams of practicing medicine side-by-side in Colorado Springs. We also observe that Colleen's feeling a combination of pride, pressure and guilt at Mike's offer -- as we see (though she doesn't verbalize it) that she may have some different plans of her own for her career... (#0422)

Colleen picks "Colorado Seminary College" to attend. Her happiness re: this decision is somewhat dampened by her worries about leaving Mike (who's worn-out by the combination of being in the last stages of her pregnancy and running her practice) alone to cope. Mike reassures Colleen that she'll be fine, and Colleen still plans to go away, but by end of episode, Mike, realizing she can't handle it all, makes the decision that she must bring in a new doctor to help her run her practice. (#0424)

Colleen develops a crush on Andrew Cook, the handsome young doctor (mid-20's) Grandmother Quinn has brought with her from Boston to assist with Mike's delivery. Fortunately for Colleen, it seems the young gentleman returns the crush. (#0427)


MEDICAL HISTORY:

Colleen: Ran away in hopes that Sully would rescue her; contracted frostbite on hands, Mike treats successfully. (#0113)

Colleen suffers something akin to post-combat stress when Dorothy Jenning's son, Tom, breaks into their cabin in the middle of the night and menaces her. (#0218)

Mike pierces Colleen's ears for her new ear bobs. (#0307)

Colleen contracts pneumonia and it's touch-and-go as to whether she'll pull through. Mike treats her with willow bark and quinine. She acquires the pneumonia (in both lungs) when she and Brian, not wanting to leave town after their father and step-mother win the kids in a custody battle, run away and stay out all night. (#0319)

Colleen is late for her period and very upset about it, at least until she finally confides this to Mike, who reassures her that it's nothing to worry about; women are late all the time, sometimes simply because they're upset. (#0406)

Colleen is used and abused (as a step-n'-fetch-it-girl) by visiting physician Dr. Cassidy when Mike must take to her bed due to pregnancy complications.

BRIAN COOPER - born 1859.

GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Eight years-old in the Pilot.

Breaks a candy jar in Loren's store (Brian LOVES candy) - costs Mike $1.50. (Pilot)

Sully is his hero. (Pilot)

Dr. Mike buys him a carved wooden wolf from the General Store - which was carved by Sully for Abigail. (Pilot)

Sully gives Brian a wolf puppy for Christmas. (Pilot)

Olive gives him a silver wolf. (#0101)

Brian comes down with the influenza in "Epidemic." (#0101)

Put a frog with three legs in a jar and buried it. (#0102)

Can swim.

Cheyenne-crazy.

Olive gives him a harmonica in exchange for chores. (#0103)

Ethan Cooper gives Brian a "dinosaur bone" and teaches him baseball. (#0104)

Both Olive and Mike mistakenly think Brian did artwork that was actually done by Zack, Hank's illegitimate, autistic son. Brian eventually 'fesses up that it's not his; Zack goes to art school. (#0116)

Brian has a bit of an inferiority complex: doesn't feel that he's good at anything (this is why he initially takes credit for Zack's drawing (#0116) and why he's motivated to enter a pie-baking contest. He wins the pie-contest. (#0201)

Brian is ring-bearer at Grace and Robert E's wedding. (#0202)

Brian's and Colleen's noses are very "out-of-joint" thanks to nine orphans Mike brings home and considers adopting; they even consider moving in with Matthew and Ingrid until Mike decides that she can't "fix the world" and sends the orphans on their way. (#0204)

Brian, Colleen, Matthew and Horace are quarantined in the clinic when Horace accidentally touches Matthew and the town discovers Matthew has typhus (he got them from army blankets infected with the virus). Horace helps the Cooper kids escape; sends them to Mike and Sully at the reservation. Brian plays the young George Washington in a celebration: "I cannot tell a lie." (#0206)

Dorothy makes Brian a devil's costume for Halloween. He mistakenly gets the impression she's a witch. Dorothy has a heart-to-heart with Brian on Halloween; she tells him his mother, Charlotte, wished on a four-leaf clover she found that she'd have another little boy. That boy turned out to be Brian. Dorothy still has the four-leaf clover, which she shows to Brian. Brian wins 2nd place for his devil's costume. (#0207)

Brian likes the candy stores in Boston, but he's happy to get home to Colorado Springs. He has a special rapport with Grandma Quinn. Brian gets new clothes in Boston, as do the other Cooper kids. (#0208/09)

Brian, along with Loren, plays a clown when a rag-tag circus comes to town. (#0215)

Matthew, after winning big in a high-stakes poker game, gives Brian a kaleidoscope as a present. (#0217)

Brian falls in love with a horse Hank wins in a pokergame and mistreats. When the horse escapes, Brian first hides it in the woods, then, by cleaning spittoons; etc., works off the price of the horse in Hank's saloon. (#0219/0220)

Brian learns about racial prejudice when Robert E shows him the "V" branded on his back. (#0221)

Brian receives a telescope from Grandma Quinn, as well as a book by Jules Verne; "The Man in the Moon." Colleen and he fight over the telescope and it's broken. (#0223)

Brian serves as ring-bearer at Horace and Myra's wedding. (#0224)

Brian learns to ride a velocipede (early bicycle) when Sully teaches him. (#0226)

Brian sometimes has trouble getting to sleep; the family, including Sully (#0227) tell him stories or read to him to help him get to sleep. Sully shows Brian the "secret" cave which Brian later takes Sully to when he's been shot in the back by Cavalry who're guarding the railroad. (#0227) (The Cavalry thinks Sully was helping the Dog Soldiers blowing up the tracks; he was actually trying to stop them.)

Brian, upon reaching puberty, spies on Colleen and her friends with his friend Steven Myers (the girls are the first nude females the boys have seen) as they skinny-dip in the woods. Later, Mike so traumatizes Brian with a lecture about puberty that he runs off into the woods, where he strikes a deal with Loren Bray that he'll teach Loren about baseball, if Loren will instruct him regarding the mysteries of the fairer sex. In the end, thanks to everyone, Brian got an "education." (#0302)

Olive Davis leaves Brian money for his education, as well as her silver tooled saddle in her will. Though he already knows how to use one, Brian, in an attempt to distract Loren from his grief over Olive's death, persuades Loren to give him a sling-shot lesson. Later, when Brian's stung by a scorpion, Loren, who never told his own sister he loved her before she died, makes sure he won't make the same mistake, and tells Brian he loves him. (#0304)

Brian's father, charming, ne'er do well Ethan Cooper, gave Brian what he claimed was a dinosaur bone. Brian treasures it, declaring it the "only thing my pa ever gave me." When a paleontologist arrives in town and Brian intends to sell it to him, however, Matthew and Colleen, concerned that Brian will discover the bone is probably a fraud, hide it from him. Brian's very angry, but Mike explains to him that it just means they cared. In the end, Brian gives the bone to Cloud Dancing to bury, so that the dinosaur's spirit can travel the Hanging Road to the camp in the stars. (#0306)

Brian gets the idea to hold a frog-jumping betting contest after reading Twain's "The Celebrated Frog-Jumping Contest of Calaveras County" -- but, along with his friend Charles, loses big when they overfeed the frogs, making them lazy. (#0309)

Jesse Grant, President Grant's son, shows Brian the secret passageway in the White House; it is while using it that Brian and Jesse overhear the plot to assassinate Grant and tell Sully about it, thereby saving Grant's life. (#0311/12)

Brian, Colleen and Matthew plan a surprise Thanksgiving supper for Mike and Sully, who're away in Denver. Having problems, Brian asks Cloud Dancing for help with the supper. Turns out, the supper the kids and Cloud Dancing cook ends up feeding Kid Cole and Sister Ruth, as well; Mike and Sully met the now married couple in Denver and brought them home for the holiday. (#0313)

Brian gets a new lens to replace the telescope lens that was broken in "Man on the Moon;" with this lens, he sees a small comet hit the earth. He removes the comet, but after a conversation with Cloud Dancing, he thinks he may have hastened the end of the world along by taking it, and he goes out during a terrible storm to put it back where he found it. (#0316)

Brian's learning Latin in school. Brian makes a catapult for "Roman Day," a school event. Brian's upset when he feels the failure of his catapult, (an experiment gone amuck) makes him a laughing-stock in front of the town. His father, Ethan Cooper, won custody of him and Colleen, so Brian and Colleen run away, and Brian ends up helping Colleen stay hidden. (#0318/0319)

Brian writes a school essay entitled "What Is Love?" for Valentine's day. (#0320)

Brian learns to play the flute from his Indian friend, "No Harm Comes to Him." "No Harm" and Brian become fast friends; nah-yoohs, even, which, roughly translated, means "blood brothers." Later, Sully helps Brian deal with his emotions when No Harm is slaughtered, along with his tribe, on the banks of the Washita. (#0322/23)

Brian designs a flying machine -- it doesn't work, but it's close. (#0328)

Brian befriends a young girl, Mary Ann Daggett, who is physically abused and neglected by her guardian, Thomas Daggett. (#325)

Brian's participation in Mike's wedding consists of (with John, ep. #0308) putting together the bridal car in the train for Mike/Sully honeymoon. (#0326/0327)

Brian's wolf, Pup, bites his brother Matthew's girlfriend, Ingrid, and gives her rabies. Brian deals with his own guilt and Matthew's resentment that it was Brian's wolf by trying to hunt the animal down by him self. When the family comes looking for him, he finds the forgiveness he's been seeking from Matthew, as well as rescue from having to put his own Wolf down from Sully, who takes the matter out of both Cooper boys' hands and shoots the wolf himself. (#0404)

Brian, like Matthew, gets some comfort from making Chinese spirit lanters with Peter Chow to help the spirits of the dead (specifically Ingrid's) cross to the other side. (#0405)

Brian's vivid imagination runs amok when Kyle, a 13 year old schoolmate of Brian's, gets his nose out of joint because the Reverend selects a story Brian wrote over his to be printed in Dorothy's "Gazette." Kyle tells Brian a scary Halloween story involving a ghost, Halloween and 10 year old boys, (for details of the story, see KYLE, under "Friends of Colleen's and Brian's). Brian's very frightened, and confides to Loren and Grace, who (humoring his deceit that it's about a friend of his) suggest "his friend" deal with this scare story by making a charm to ward of "Dead Red," but Mike, against Sully's advice, tells him it's useless. Later, Mike (with Sully's help) realizes that it might have been better to allow Brian to keep a talisman of some kind; she rectifies the situation by reading to him from a book about the knights of old, who slayed dragons. Through Mike's inspiration, Brian ends up "vanquishing" his foe ("Dead Red," who's presumably hanging out in the graveyard waiting for him) by discarding his Robin Hood costume and taking his Halloween costume inspiration from King Arthur, whom he dresses as, (along with his trusty sword, Excaliber) and becoming a dragon-slaying knight. For the finale of the episode, he proceeds to the graveyard and declares to the imaginary "Dead Red," "I vanquish you!" as the family proudly looks on, and Kyle glowers in the background. (#0407)

Brian reads to Loren during his convalescence from his stroke; in fact, it seems Brian's love and dedication are one of the things which helps Loren have the will to go on after his aborted suicide attempt. (#0408)

When Horace sticks Brian and Colleen with baby Samantha (Myra's on her expedition to Pike's Peak with Mike, Grace and Dorothy) Colleen, observing how patiently Brian reads to baby Sam, tells him that he'll make a good older brother. To this, he replies, "It's kinda fun readin' to somebody." (for a change) (#0409/10)

Brian, still ten years old, nonetheless grows up a little when Sara, a pretty young eleven-year-old, moves to town. Though Brian even resorts to such things as taking piano lessons with Sara in order to woo her, initially, it looks rocky for the young couple, especially when Brian loses his first fist fight and gets dumped into a horse trough by his competition, an older boy named Kyle. In the end, however, Brian wins out when he goes into the forest to find Sara and Kyle, who have become lost looking for a Christmas tree. Assisting Brian by tracking the children is Brian's new dog, Fifi, a French poodle Mike's mother sent him to replace "Pup," who was put down for rabies. (Brian gives Fifi to Sara for Christmas at the end of the episode.) Happily, in the end, Brian wins not only Sara, but a few other batties as well -- for instance, he persuades Mike to let him change his hair to an older look, and he persuades Mike not to make him wear his Christmas present -- a much loathed burgundy velvet roundabout -- for the "living nativity" Christmas presentation. Throughout, Sully supports Brian in his "coming of age" quest, both by bolstering Brian's confidence and by subtly persuading Mike to loosen up the reins a little. In this episode, Sully gives Brian a beautiful blue Indian necklace, "made for his son," as an early Christmas present. Henceforth, then, we shall see a more mature Brian. NOTE: Brian gets his first kiss from Sara here. (#0412)

Brian (with Sully) teaches Anthony, Robert E and Grace's newly adopted son, how to ride a bicycle. He also reads "Robinson Crusoe" to Anthony when he's sick. (#0413)

Brian writes an article of the train for the Gazette's Founder's Day edition, but Mike, preoccupied with making a christening gown for the new baby, forgets to turn it in the Dorothy in time. Brian is merely sad, not angry, and Mike, chagrinned, apologizes profusely: "I guess my train went a little off the track." Later, Brian echoes these words to Mike when she's angry at the Reverend for almost losing the church to Hank when he can't pay back Hank's loan in time: "Maybe his train went a little off its track." (#0417)

Brian is the designated "man of the house" when Sully and Matthew leave on the expedition to rescue kidnapped son-of-visiting-politician Ezra Leonard's son, Caleb. Brian manifests his man-of-the-house abilities by fixing the front door and serving Mike soggy eggs and hard bisquits when she's bedridden. (#0418/19)

Brian is virtully the only person in town (though Mike eventually comes around) who doesn't shun Isabelle Maynard, a beautiful artist and leprosy victim who visits Colorado Springs. Brian gets painting lessons from Isabelle, and continues the lessons even after her leprosy is revealed. Brian's kindness and understanding is much appreciated by Isabelle, who hasn't seen much kindness or understanding since she acquired her disease. (#0425)

Brian makes Cloud Dancing a little flute to play during his jail confinement. Cloud Dancing is in jail for having confessed to killing a young soldier named Private Reilly, but actually a young Indian named Plenty Horses did it and he takes the rap for him. Brian makes the flute as payyback for a flute which Cloud Dancing made for him. (#0426) Brian offers to become Dorothy's assistant; he tells her she can pay him whenever she's able. (#0427) Brian, relieved not to be the youngest in the household, proudly shows baby Katherine about the place. (#0428)


MEDICAL HISTORY:

Brian runs away and breaks his leg - saved by Dr. Mike, Sully, Wolf and Cheyenne. (Pilot)

Brian contracts influenza. (#0101)

Brian fell from a tree on the left side of his head, loses his sight, then lapses into a coma. Mike performs brain surgery for subcranial-hemorrhage. (#0114)

Brian has marks on the back of his legs when Louise Chambers, the new teacher, switches him. He also begins "acting out" because of the abuse (psychological) (#0224)

Brian, reaching puberty at age 10, spies on Colleen and her friends bathing naked in the woods. (#0302)

Brian is stung by a scorpion while collecting buffalo chips for fuel during the cattle drive. (#0304)

Brian gets a splinter in his finger; Mike, preoccupied with Washita, is unsympathetic. (#0323)

KATHERINE ELIZABETH SULLY

GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Baby Katherine, aka Katie, is born in a turbulent, unorthodox manner: delivered by her father, Byron Sully, who has been injured trying to rescue his Indian friend Cloud Dancing from the Army and whose wife, Michaela Quinn, has gone out into the woods to find him only to find herself in labor once she does (and after treating his injuries). Townsman and Mayor Jake Slicker remarks, once the couple and new baby have found their way to town, that the infant doesn't have much hair, considering her parents. (#0428)