Andrew Wood Cooley

Notes:

Cooley, Andrew Wood, the first Bishop of the Brighton Ward (Salt Lake Stake), Salt Lake county, Utah, was born May 24, 1837, at Bruce, McComb county, Michigan, the son of Benjamin Cooley and Clarissa Wood. In 1858 (June 1st) he married Dinah Briggs at St. Claire, Michigan. She never came to Utah and had no children. Bro. Cooley migrated to Utah in 1863, where he became a convert to "Mormonism" and was baptitzed in 1864, being the only one of his father's family who joined the Church and also the only one of his father's children who raised a family. In Utah he engaged in farming and stock raising, and in 1866 (Feb. 17th) he married Mary Asenath Huntington, who was born May 31, 1846, in Cambria, Niagara county, New York, and bore her husband seven children, namely, Clarissa M., Andrew W., Benetta B., George W., Harold Ghesa, Chester N., and May Asenath. When the Saints residing on the west side of the Jordan river, immediately west of Salt Lake City, were organized into the Brighton Ward of the Salt Lake Stake, Bro. Cooley was chosen and ordained a Bishop and set apart to preside over said Ward, the ordination taking place Feb. 24, 1867. He held that position until 1877. In 1868 (Feb. 22nd) Bishop Cooley, yielding obedience to the higher law of marriage, was united to Jane Jenkins, who was born June 25, 1844, and who bore her husband eight children, namely, William J., John B., Henry W., Alva L., Melissa J., Fanny Elizabeth, Samuel B., and Ethel C. On the same date (Feb. 22, 1868) Bro. Cooley married Rachel Caroline Coon (daughter of Abraham Coon of Ohio and Elizabeth Yarbrough of Tennessee) who was born March 22, 1848, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and came to Utah with her parents in 1850. She bore her husband nine children, namely, Samuel B., Idabel, Maretta E., Isabel, Lucretia May, Oscar W., Andrew W. junior, Abraham C., and Francis Ann. In 1870 (February 14th) Bro. Cooley married Ann Hazen (daughter of Robert Hazen and Mary Ann Bainbridge of Newcastle, England) who was born Sept. 25, 1854, in England. Her children (eight in number) were Marcus R., John S., Ezra H., Mary A., Martha J., Inez, Arthur D., and Walter A. Bishop Cooley died Oct. 11, 1887, at his home in Brighton. His descendants in 1919 numbered more than 120 souls; they are all members of the Church and all abstainers from the use of intoxicants and tobacco. A number of them are occupying prominent Church and secular positions in the community. Thus Ezra H. Cooley acts as Stake superintendent of Sunday schools in the Hyrum Stake, Utah; Henry W. Cooley is superintendent of the West Jordan (Salt Lake county) Sunday school; Lucretia May is treasurer in the Liberty Stake Relief Society, and many others hold positions in different Wards. Abraham C. has filled a mission to Germany, Ezra H. to Australia and Henry W. to the Central States. Arthur Dyke Cooley is a practising physician at Brigham City, Utah; Abraham C. Cooley is agriculturist, in charge of demonstration of reclamation projects for the U. S. government in sixteen western States, and Lucretia May held the position of deputy county clerk in Salt Lake county for nine years. This large family has been remarkably united, each working for the benefit of the whole, with four of the best mothers that were ever given in marriage to any man. For so-called infraction of the Edmund's law* Bishop Cooley served two terms in the Utah penitentiary, during which he suffered severely from the illness which soon after his release caused his demise.
* The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882, is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882 by president Chester A. Arthur, declaring polygamy a felony in federal territories. The act is named for U.S. Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont. The act called for heavy fines and imprisonment for those guilty of "unlawful cohabitation".

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Benjamin Cooley, of Bruce, died on the 7th of January, 1881. He was born in Vermont August 7, 1811; moved to Michigan in 1832; cleared up a large farm, and died on the farm on which he located nearly half a century ago. - Macomb History

An Old Resident Gone First paragraph same as that from the Macomb History quoted above. Mr. Cooley was one of the foremost and best of farmers for many years, but of late has been in poor health. He was 69 years of age and leaves a wife and two sons to mourn his loss. The younger son Andrew [Wood] is a full-fledged Mormon, having been connected with them for about seventeen years. This son had just returned for his first visit to the paternal roof, telling his dream or vision the he came home and his father died and he saw him duly buried and then returned. The elder son Samuel B. Cooley remains on the old farm and is one of the thrifty farmers of this section. - Obituary from clipping, newspaper and date unknown.
Benjamin Cooley was issued land patent M101_461 on 9 Oct 1835 from the US Detroit Land Office. The document number was 8438. The land description was the SE

Benjamin married Clarissa Wood on 26 Feb 1832 in Cambria Twp, Niagara Co, New York. Clarissa was born on 16 Mar 1814 in Oneida Co, New York; died on 23 Feb 1867 in Romeo, Macomb Co, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Clarissa Wood Cooley The death of Mrs. Cooley deserved more than a passing notice, and as in the case of the late Marcus Wood (brother), should have had it several weeks ago, nothing but a lack of data preventing it. Mrs. Cooley was born March 16, 1814 in Oneida Co, NY. Moved to Niagara [County] NY wither her parents Andrew and Azubah Wood, in her 18th year. She was united in marriage to Benjamin Cooley Feb 26th 1832. In October of the same year, in company with her husband, his father and mother, and three brother, she left Niagara for the purpose of making a him in the then wilderness of Michigan [Territory]. She came with team through Canada arriving at the home of Samuel Cooley, one mile south, and 3/4 miles west of Romeo (on what is now known as the Westbrook farm) about the 23d or 24th of the same month [October 1832]. She moved to the farm [which farm] on which she afterward lived until called away by death Feb 23d 1887. She was 72 years and 11 months old. Her funeral was held Feb 26, that day being the anniversary of her wedding. Those who knew her for so many hears speak in the highest terms of her character as wife, mother, and neighbor. - From a newspaper clipping only; no newspaper or date saved.

Notes:

Because of conflictng death information, I have downgraded Samuel's death years to abt 1843-1846,
From the Cooley Genealogy p. 547: "(Samuel Cooley)...removed to New York State where he lived for a time, and in 1832 removed to Michigan; m. 5 Oct 1797, Pittsford, Polly Dike". From the Macomb county history, p747 "...Samuel and Polly Dike Cooley. The former was bom November 14, 1775, in Pittsford, Vt and died in Bruce, Mich., February 2, 1843; the latter was born in Chittenden, Rutland Co., Vt, August 4, 1781, and died September 10, 1838, in Bruce". Also on p747 from the Macomb history: [Samuel Cooley Sr] came to Michigan in 1832. and first settled in Washington, Macomb County; left Washington in 1840 and settled in Bruce, on 167

(Research):Gravestone vs Macomb County History birth-death dates
Samuel Cooley Sr died 2 Feb 1846 aged 72y2m18d = bd 15 Nov 1773
Poly Dike died 10 Sep 1838 aged 57y1m 6d = bd 4 Aug 1781

Macomb County history in son William Cooley's writeup
Samuel b. 14 Nov 1775 d. 2 Feb 1843 = 67y2m19d
Polly b. 2 Aug 1781 d. 10 Sep 1838 = 57y1m8d
Cooley Genealogy Samuel s Benjamin III and Ruth Beach b. Nov 17, 1775
DAR Miss Lotta Irene Miller 112943 has Samuel Cooley (1775-1843) and Polly Dike (1781-1838)
The greatest discrepancy so far is the 1846 on the gravestone of Samuel.
The sources for most of the trees that have Samuel Cooley d 1843 and Polly Dike are all illigitimate such as (1) Ancestry Family Trees; (2) Family Data Collection - Births, (3) Family Data Collection - Individual Records; (4) Millennium File. They all list 1843 as the death year while the only ligitimate source, a gravestone engraving, has the death year as 1846.
Charlotte County, New York was created on 24 Mar 1772 from the northwestern part of Albany County, Province of New York, that, at the time, claimed much of the land east of Lake Champlain and west of the Green Mountains. It was ceded 15 Jan 1777 to the Republic of Vermont. Note that Rutland became a county in 1781.

Samuel married Polly Dike on 5 Oct 1797 in Pittsford, Rutland Co, Vermont. Polly (daughter of Jonathan Dike and Esther Barnard) was born on 4 Aug 1781 in Chittenden, Charlotte Co, New York; died on 10 Sep 1838 in Bruce, Macomb Co, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From Macomb History [William] is son of Samuel and Polly Dike Cooley. The former was bom November 14, 1775, in Pittsford, Vt and died in Bruce, Mich., February 2, 1843; the latter was born in Chittenden, Rutland Co., Vt, August 4, 1781, and died September 10, 1838, in Bruce.

Gravestone vs Macomb County History birth-death datesSamuel died 2 Feb 1846 aged 72y2m18d - Poly died 10 Sep 1838 aged 57y1m 6d
Macomb County history in William's writeupSamuel b. 14 Nov 1775 d. 2 Feb 1843 Polly d. b. 2 Aug 1781 d. 10 Sep 1838

Notes:

DAR Patriot; Captain Vermont From DAR Lineage Book vol. 30 pp. 343-44 Mrs. Katherine Beach Gray (#29959) b. Pontiac MI; grandaughter of Noah Beach and Eunice Cooley; Gr. Grandaughter of Benjamin Cooley and Ruth Beach. Benjamin Cooley (1747-1810) commanded a company of Vermont militia, 1778. He responded to various alarms under Col. Ebenezer Allen and Col. Gideon Warren. He was born in Greenwich MA and died in Pittsford VT.
Greenwich was originally part of an area known as Narragansett Township Number Four and was settled by land grantees in the 1730s who had served England in the Indian Wars against the Narragansetts. The area became known as "Quabbin Parish" or "Quabbin Plantation" when the Rev. Pelatiah Webster was ordained in 1749. The towne of Greenwich was incorporated per Chapter 37 of the Massachusetts laws on April 20, 1754. It was located along the East and Middle branches of the Swift River.
Greenwich and three other towns were disincorporated on April 28, 1938 as part of the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. Upon disincorporation, portions of the town were annexed to the adjacent towns of Hardwick, New Salem, Petersham, and Ware. It is now largely below water, except for the hilltops of Curtis Hill, Mount Liz, and Mount Pomeroy which are now islands.
Extracts From the Rutland Weekly Herald 1800-1805 by Dawn D. Hance
Monday 20 Sep 1802Thunderstorm Tues last 7 a.m., one of the worst in town [Rutland]. At Pittsford, Col. Cooley's barn struck by lightning and burned.

Benjamin5 married Ruth Beach on 18 Feb 1773 in Pittsford, Charlotte Co, New York. Ruth (daughter of Gershom Beach and Mary Salter) was born about 1756 in Morristown, Morris Co, New Jersey; died on 5 Sep 1825 in Pittsford, Rutland Co, Vermont; was buried about Sep 1825 in Congregational Church Cemetery, Pittsford, Rutland Co, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From the Cooley Genealogy: "[Benjamin Cooley] m. Feb. 1773, Ruth Beach, b Jan 11, 1756, Morristown, N.J., d. Sept 1, 1825; when married, she was visiting her brother, Co. Beach, in Rutland Vt. She probably belonged to the Beach family of Milford and New Haven, Conn. who went with the New Haven Colony to New Jersey in 1666"
Vermont Vital Records microfilm verifies: (1) Ruth Beach's birth place as Morristown New Jersey, (2) Ruth's birth year, 1756 and (3) Ruth Beach was a resident of Rutland, Charlotte Co, New York at the time of her marriage. However, the exact date of her birth has not been sourced. Note that her husband Benjamin was town clerk at the time.
Morris County was created on March 15, 1739, from portions of Hunterdon County. The county was named for the Governor of the Province of New Jersey, Colonel Lewis Morris. In later years Sussex County (on June 8, 1753) and, after the revolution, Warren County (on November 20, 1824, from portions of Sussex County) were carved out of what had been the original area of Morris County under English rule. The county was the site of the winter camp of the Continental Army after the Battles of Trenton and Princeton during the winter of 1777, as well as another winter camp at Jockey Hollow during an extremely cold winter of 1779-80 which occurred during the Little Ice Age.

Notes:

Married:
Cooley Genealogy: [Benjamin Cooley] m. Feb. 1773, Ruth Beach, b Jan 11, 1756, Morristown, N.J., d. Sept 1, 1825; when married, she was visiting her brother, Col. Beach, in Rutland Vt.
Vermont Vital Records: Place of residence [when married], Rutland

Notes:

Cooley Genealogy p547: [#309 Samuel Cooley] m. Oct 5, 1797, Pittsford, Polly Dike, da. Jonathan and Esther (Barnard), who had settled in Pittsford in 1781, and who came there from Coventry, Conn. They lived in Pittsford for three years, then removed to Chittenden, Vt.

Jonathan married Esther BarnardProbably Vermont. Esther and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Cooley Genealogy p547: [#309 Samuel Cooley] m. Oct 5, 1797, Pittsford, Polly Dike, da. Jonathan and Esther (Barnard), who had settled in Pittsford in 1781, and who came there from Coventry, Conn. They lived in Pittsford for three years, then removed to Chittenden, Vt.