Robert Berton Cooley

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Bert

Notes:

Robert Berton Cooley (Bert) and his twin brother, Herbert Merton (Mert), were born 15 Oct 1875 to Robert Reed Cooley (1840-1917) and Stella Alfresine Owen (1850-1920) in McGregor, Iowa "right on the banks of the Mississippi River" as my Grandpa Bert Cooley told me.
The twins grew up in the McGregor area. Some time before 1894[i] the Robert Reed Cooley family consisting of Dad, Mom, Bert, and Mert came to Pierce County, Nebraska, where they settled in Plainview.
Some time before 1896[ii] Samuel Jasper Miller and his wife Mary Ellen Nickerson and his eight children moved from Iowa to Plainview. Amongst the children was Carrie Louella Miller b. 27 May 1883 in Beaman, Iowa, future wife of Robert Berton Cooley.
Bert and Carrie Louella (Lou) were wed 3 Jan 1903 in Plainview. Later in that same year, their first child, Orville Dale was born. Two other children, Carlyle Berton (b. 1905) and Leo (b. 1907), were born in Plainview but did not survive childhood.
At some point before 1906[iii] Mert acquired the Crofton Journal newspaper at Crofton, Knox County, Nebraska. Meanwhile, Bert and his wife, Carrie Louella Miller, had moved to McLean Nebraska where both taught school.
Ronald Delos Cooley was born to Herbert Merton and Elizabeth Holliday in Crofton 28 Jan 1906 and their second child, Merton Beth Cooley, was born 7 Dec 1907. Unfortunately, their mother, Elizabeth Holliday, died shortly after Beth was born. Because of the tragic loss of their mother, Ronald went to live with his grandparents, RR Cooley and Stella Owen in Plainview, Nebraska, and Beth went to live with his uncle RB Cooley in McLean, Nebraska.
In 1910 the Robert Reed Cooley family consisting of RR, Stella, Glenn, and grandchild Ronald Delos, and the Robert Berton Cooley family consisting of RB, wife CL Miller, first child Dale, and nephew Merton Beth, migrated to Kit Carson County Colorado. The RR Cooleys purchased a relinquishment just at the west edge of Flagler and the RB Cooleys purchased 158 acres about four miles west and five miles north of Flagler.
At the same time, the Samuel Jasper Miller family also migrated to Colorado but they landed in Washington County. All of the Miller children, with the exception of eldest son Odes Bert (Carrie Louella, wife of RB Cooley migrated with the Cooleys) came to Colorado and all filed on homesteads in the Anton area of Washington County.
The RB Cooley family "...was on a homestead nine miles northwest of Flagler and we had three years to prove up the claim," said his nephew, Beth Cooley. Bert began in Colorado as a teacher, earning $40 per month at the Huntley school about seven miles due north of Flagler while Lou taught at the Van Patten school at $35 per month. In the summer of 1910 when school was out he joined his Grandpa SJ Miller's threshing crew to run the engine. Since the crops near Flagler had failed in 1910, Grandpa Miller had decided to head north where the crops fared better that year. One day Bert was working about 30 miles north of Flagler near Otis Colo., when he observed the town didn't have a newspaper. That fall Bert began planning for a newspaper in Otis.
"The big reason [for starting a newspaper] was that almost all of the settlers were homesteading, and the law required that anyone who "proved up" on a homestead had to make a publication in a newspaper in the area. These publications were published for a period of six weeks and the homesteader had to pay a publication fee of $5.[iv]
Bert was fortunate enough to find an empty, one and a half story building on the main street (Washington Avenue). It was located on the east side of the street just south of the yard part of the Akron-Otis Lumber Company. The front part was used as a printing office with a rear part partitioned off as a bedroom. At the back of the building was a sort of lean-to about 15 feet square. This was the kitchen and dining area. In order to get to the two bedrooms upstairs, it was necessary to go outside, climb a flight of steps and then walk on two two-by-eight planks laid across the semi-flat roof of the lean-to to get into the upstairs apartment. [Our biggest] concern was water for domestic use. There was no municipal water system and those who lived in town had cisterns which were kept full by a man named Fred Bowen who owned a wooden tank on a wagon. It had a hand pump on it and he would deliver you a supply of water for 50 cents."
"Dad started in the newspaper business from scratch," remembered his son, Coyne Cooley. "He started the Independent on a $250 loan [from his brother-in-law, Odes Bert Miller of Iowa]...that was in 1911, and I was born the next year. We had quarters above the newspaper office, so that's what you call being born into the business." He bought some used equipment and "hired a bum printer to start the paper in Otis just to print legals", said Beth. The first edition (v1#1) of the Otis Independent was published on 5 Jan 1911.[v]
When the Independent was started there were less than 100 people living in Otis. The newspaper consisted of four pages, the front and back was "home print"; that is, the type was set in the shop and printed there. The two inside pages were called "patent" which were supplied by the Western Newspaper Union (out of business by 1982).
During the early years of the newspaper in Otis, the RB Cooley Flagler property was occupied by Lou, Dale, and Beth during the winter months, putting in the time necessary to prove up. Lou taught school, Dale went with her, and Beth was "farmed out" to a neighbor lady (in today's parlance, sent to childcare). Lou and Dale traveled in an open buggy drawn by a single mare who sometimes engaged in the capricious practice known as "balking". That is, a situation where the horse refuses to move when asked to do so. It is very exasperating."
They proved up the [Flagler] claim in March of 1913 and moved to Otis for good.
Tragically, a year later in 1914 Mert was drowned in an automobile accident on the Yankton (SD) pontoon bridge. With the untimely death of his twin brother Bert, sold the OI and he and the family left Otis and moved to Crofton, Nebraska where they continued the operation of Mert's newspaper, the Crofton Journal.
As time went on in that northeast corner of Nebraska near the Missouri River, Bert began to have problems with severe allergies (hay fever). With the climate adversely affecting him he disposed of the Crofton newspaper in 1916 and the family returned to Otis arriving on Election Day, Nov 14, 1916. Bert bought the Independent back and resumed operation of the paper he had founded. Those were the only two years the Cooleys were not involved in a Colorado paper.
"In 1917 we built our new house in Otis and we took the high school principal as a roomer. He was 22 year of age and just out of the University of Denver."[vi] Dale speculates that the principal probably influenced his choice of university as DU from which he graduated.
At some point after their return from Nebraska, the newspaper office was moved "to a make-shift shop adjoining William Whiterhurst's store [on the north]. This had been used as a place to grind and mix feed." At this new location Bert bought a typesetting machine that "was better than doing it by hand, but not much". But a clothing store located in the old grocery store adjoining the Independent office on the south caught fire and was destroyed (no date given). "The Independent was saved by the fact that the north wall of the store [and south wall of the office] was of solid concrete and the fire failed to penetrate."
Not long after that, the chance arose to get a building that had been built out as a drugstore for Justin Hay on the east side of the street across from "the hotel". Shortly, the shop was moved there, the third location for the Otis Independent since RB Cooley started the newspaper.
With the assistance of his wife and sons, he continued to operate the Otis newspaper until 1928 when they traded the paper to J.S. "Stat" Tohill for the Monte Vista Tribune. Tohill came to Otis to operate the Independent but shortly, he sold the newspaper to John W. Graves in 1929. Graves operated it until his death, Feb 22, 1982, and was closely associated with the Cooleys for over 50 years.
Meantime, in Monte Vista, Bert assumed operation of the Tribune but a few months later a better opportunity arose in Akron Colo., county seat of Washington County, whose economy was bustling in the prosperity of the pre-depression years. R.B. sold the Monte Vista Tribune and came to Akron in February of 1929 with his wife Lou, three sons, Dale, Coyne, and Bob, and two nephews, Ronald and Beth.
Akron was a little railroad town and farming community of only a few more than 1200 residents yet it boasted two newspapers, the Akron News and the Akron Reporter. Bert purchased both newspapers which were quickly consolidated resulting in the single newspaper, the Akron News-Reporter the first edition of which was published March 7, 1929. It reported details of a coroner's inquest into death of an Akron man and his son in a train accident, a fire at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Akron, and carried a front page picture of the inauguration of President Calvin Coolidge and Vice President Charles G. Dawes.
Since having five sons working on a small weekly newspaper was overkill, in 1937 Bert purchased the Eastern Colorado Leader in Limon and Dale and Ronald were sent down there to assume operation of the newspaper. Soon they acquired the Genoa Sentinel, the two papers were consolidated, and the Limon Leader was born.
Youngest son, Bob exited the Akron News-Reporter in 1943, went to his wife Eleanor Newcomb's hometown, Mountain Home Idaho, where he started the Mountain Home News. Soon Bob began to feel the ill-effects of arthritis so he moved down to the drier climate of Arizona where he eventually became a Professor of Journalism at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in 1976.
R.B. and Lou owned the Akron News-Reporter until 1955 when they retired and turned the operation over to Coyne and Beth who formed a partnership shortly thereafter.
In 1972 the Limon Leader was sold and Dale and Ronald went into retirement. When the Akron News-Reporter was sold in 1979 it marked the end of the Cooley family newspaper dynasty "since none of the children was interested in getting into the business", Coyne said. That was mostly true until Jim, son of Ronald, took over the Oxford (Nebraska) News and is still publishing the newspaper in 2013.
After a brief illness, Robert Berton Cooley died in the Washington County Hospital in Akron, Colo. On 12 Dec 1962. He was buried in the Otis Cemetery.
His wife, Carrie Louella Miller died in the Nursing Wing on the south side of Washington County Hospital 10 Aug 1973 and she also was buried in the Otis Cemetery.
------------------------------------------------------i Their fourth child, Glenn Syren Cooley, was born in Plainview 14 Jul 1894. ii His youngest child, Letta May Miller was born in Plainview 18 Mar 1896. iii Mert's first child, Ronald Delos Cooley was born in Crofton 28 Jan 1906 when Mert had control of the Crofton Journal. iv "Otis, the People, the Places, and the Newspaper" by Dale Cooley, The Otis Independent, vol 70 no 14 v *From some later edition numbers (e.g. vol 30, no 51 dated 18 Dec 1941) I have determined that v1#1 of the OI lay in the range Dec 25, 1910 to Jan 5, 1911. Since most accounts say the OI began publication in 1911 I will summarily establish 5 Jan 1911 (a Thursday) as the date of the first edition, v1#1.
vi Dale

(Medical):I attended the deceased from November 11, 1962 to December 12, 1962 and last saw him alive on December 12, 1962. Death occurred at 5:25 A.M. on the date stated above. Attendant: Park D. Keller, MD, Akron, Colo. Dec. 13, 1962

Robert married Carrie Louella Miller on 3 Jan 1903 in Plainview, Pierce Co, Nebraska. Carrie (daughter of Samuel Jasper Miller and Mary Ellen Nickerson) was born on 27 May 1883 in Beaman, Grundy Co, Iowa; died on 10 Aug 1973 in Akron, Washington Co, Colorado; was buried on 13 Aug 1973 in Otis Cemetery, Washington Co, Colorado. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Education: Colorado; University of Denver
• Name: Dale

Notes:

Orville Dale Cooley was born April 5, 1903 in a small house in Plainview, Nebraska. He started school at McLean, Nebraska primarily because his father, Robert Berton, had a job teaching there. It was the year Halley's Comet was visible (1910) and he went outside each evening to see it. He recalls his mother (Carrie Louella Miller) telling him he would see it again "...but I would be an old man when I did. I did see the comet return in 1986 but I didn't feel nearly as old as my mother said I would!" He went to Colorado with his parents March 1, 1910. They had taken a homestead nine miles northwest of Flagler. They had tried to farm but the weather was bad 1910-1911 so both parents were employed as rural teachers in schools north of Flagler. R.B. taught at the Huntley School and Lou taught at the Patten School. In 1911 Dale's father (R.B. or "Bert") started a newspaper in Otis, Colorado, "The Otis Independent". In 1914 with the untimely death of his father's twin brother, Herbert Merton ("Mert") who ran a newspaper in Crofton, Nebraska, Bert sold the Otis Independent and the family moved to Crofton to continue the running Mert's business. Bert eventually could not tolerate the climate in eastern Nebraska, having severe allergies, so in November 1916 the family repurchased the Otis Independent and once again took up residence in that tiny Washington County town. Dale was employed in his father's newspaper but business "was something less than sensational" so, as eldest child in the family, he worked other jobs around the town. He was a cream tester, a soda jerk in more than one drug store, a harvester (pitching wheat to a threshing machine), and a railroad extra on a gang consisting of two Native Americans, 71 Mexican nationals and an Italian boss. Later he got a job in a clothing store where he "something of the cleaning and pressing business, aside from waiting on trade." With the help of a Methodist minister Dale obtained a scholarship to the University of Denver and started school in the fall semester of 1923. While still attending DU he married Mildred Skinner whose father, L.E. Skinner, operated a general merchandise store in Otis. They had gone to school together but Dale says they were not childhood sweethearts. They were married for almost 68 years. Dale and Mildred had two children, Robert Leonard, born 25 Jan 1933 in Otis, Colorado, and Jill Irene, born 17 Jul 1935 in Akron, Colorado. Dale and his cousin Ronald D. Cooley owned and operated The Limon Leader from 15 Feb 1937 through 1 Jun 1972. Dale was very active in state press affairs. He was a member of the board of directors of the Colorado Press Association for several terms and then served as vice president in 1960 and president of the organization in 1961. Also, he was a life member of the Denver Press Club. He was active in Republican politics serving as county chairman for two terms and as a precinct committeeman and delegate to state conventions numerous times. He was one of the founders of the Lincoln County Colorado Historical Society serving as a co-editor of a county history, "Where the Wagons Rolled". Dale was a member of the AF and AM Masonic Lincoln Lodge #146 in Limon, Colo; a 50-year member of Kappa Sigma social fraternity; a member of Sigma Delta Chi professional journalist fraternity. He was a member of the Limon board of education for two terms during which time it was instrumental in acquiring 15 acres of land upon which school buildings and athletic facilities now stand. Dale was active in the organization of the Limon Chamber of Commerce in 1946 and he was a member of the Limon Town Board for two terms.
On August 5, 1989 Dale and Mildred moved to Riverside, California to be near their son and daughter and other family members who had preceded them to the area.
Dale died 12 May 1994 and his body was returned to Limon to be intered at the Pershing Memorial Cemetery with Masonic graveside services.

Education:
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism,

Orville married Alice Mildred Skinner on 11 Jul 1926 in Otis, Washington Co, Colorado. Alice (daughter of Leonard E Skinner and Ethel Campbell Powell) was born on 26 Mar 1905 in Clarence, Shelby Co, Missouri; died on 28 Oct 1996 in Riverside, Riverside Co, California; was buried on 1 Nov 1996 in Pershing Memorial Cemetery, Limon, Lincoln Co, Colorado. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Lyle

Notes:

There are no official documents for this child. Most of this data came from an interview the author had with his Grandma Lou Miller in 1968. She had a Miller-Cooley Bible with genealogical data but the present location of this Bible is unknown. I also had an interview with Orville Dale Cooley in 1993. Dale wrote extensively about the history of this Cooley family and said the greatest loss in his life was the death of his younger brother, Lyle.

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

Notes:

There are no official documents for Leo, same as Lyle. Most of this data came from an interview the author had with his Grandma Lou Miller in 1968. She had a Miller-Cooley Bible with genealogical data but the present location of this Bible is unknown. She was reluctant to talk about Leo as about Gwen. I also had an interview with Orville Dale Cooley in 1993. Dale wrote extensively about the history of this Cooley family but knew very little about Leo. Apparently he lived 14 days. There is no burial information about Leo but it stands to reason if both Lyle and Gwen (stillbirth) had gravestones there should be one for Leo somewhere in Antelope County.

(Research):Royal is a village in Antelope County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 63 at the 2010 census. Established in 1890, the history of Royal began at Hering's Mill, located four and one-half miles north of the present town site. In the beginning and for a number of years thereafter, the community was known as Savage. The community was renamed after Royal Thayer, who helped establish the post office.

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

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Coyne

Notes:

Clifford Coyne Cooley was literally born into the newspaper business

(Medical):Other significant conditions: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and generalized arteriosclerosis. Physician: Richard H. Tedrick, D.O., 501 Main, Akron, Colorado 80720 Signed 7 Dec 1979

Buried:
Akron Cemetery, CO
Akron Cemetery is a Cemetery in Washington County, Colorado. It has an elevation of 1,430 meters, or 4,692 feet.

Degrees Minutes Seconds:
Latitude: 40-09'39'' N
Longitude: 103-13'48'' W

Decimal Degrees:
Latitude: 40.1608333
Longitude: -103.23

Clifford married Margaret May Sears on 21 Jun 1936 in Akron, Washington Co, Colorado. Margaret (daughter of Nelson Evans Sears and Edna Maude Barnhouse) was born on 23 May 1912 in Akron, Washington Co, Colorado; died on 18 Jan 1987 in Akron, Washington Co, Colorado; was buried on 21 Jan 1987 in Akron Cemetery, Washington Co, Colorado. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Bob

Notes:

Robert Miller Cooley was born 20 Sep 1914 in Otis, Washington County, Colorado to Robert Berton Cooley and Carrie Louella Miller. He attended Otis Grade School and Akron High School graduating in 1933.
He entered the University of Colorado (CU) in Boulder beginning in the fall of 1933 and received his baccalaureate degree in June 1937 in journalism.
He met Eleanor Newcomb at CU in 1935 and upon his graduation they were married 1 July 1937 in Melba, Idaho. Shortly after their marriage they returned to Colorado where he began work with the family-owned newspaper in Akron. They lived for one year in an apartment in his parent's home in Akron until mid 1938 whereupon they moved to a house on Railroad Avenue and present-day Date Street (one block east of state highway 63).
Later they bought the Crutchfield house on present-day Custer Street directly west of his brother, Coyne Cooley. In 1943 he joined the war effort but after a brief stint in the United States Army, he was discharged for health reasons and, upon his return home he was requested to take the position of Chief of the Rationing Board in Greeley, Colorado. They rented out the Custer Street home to Nelson and Maude Sears (the parents of Coyne's wife, Margaret Sears Cooley) and moved to Greeley, Colo.
After a short stay in Greeley they moved to Limon, Colo. to help his brother, Dale, publish the Limon Leader. They were there until June 1945 when they moved to Nampa, Idaho. In January 1946 they bought the Mountain Home News in Mountain Home, Idaho.
Because of his worsening arthritic condition (earlier mis-diagnosed as lead poisoning from being around hot-lead Linotype machines) he elected to move to the drier climate of Arizona in 1953. They resided in Tempe in rented quarters from November 1953 to September 1954 while they had a new home built in west Phoenix on Mulberry Drive. During this time he taught journalism and English at Glendale School District while attending Arizona State University where he obtained a Masters Degree in Journalism.
In July of 1963 the family moved to Reedley in the central valley of California where Robert became Director of Public Information at Reedley College. Just a year later in July of 1964 they moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he accepted the position of Chairman of the Journalism Department and Director of Public Information at Northern Arizona University.
He retired in 1976 and moved back to Idaho with his wife, Eleanor, where they settled in the relatively new Indian Lake subdivision just south of Boise.
He was a member of Sigma Delta Chi, a society of professional journalists; Phi Delta Kappa, an education fraternity; Kappa Delta Pi, an honorary education fraternity; Kappa Sigma, a social fraternity. While in Mountain Home, Idaho, he was a member of Masonic Lodge #30, A.F. & A.M.
Robert Miller died of a stroke 4 Nov 1992 in Rawlins Wyoming on his way to the funeral of his cousin Merton Beth Cooley (both raised as brothers) who had died on 3 Nov 1992 in Sterling Colorado. One's death close to the death of a sibling or close relative is called the bereavement effect. This effect had already occurred in this family in 1979-1980 when cousins-raised-as-brothers Clifford Coyne Cooley and Ronald Delos Cooley died just 37 days apart, Coyne 5 Dec 1979, Ron 11 Jan 1980.

Robert married Eleanor Newcomb on 28 Jun 1937 in Melba, Canyon Co, Idaho. Eleanor (daughter of Lewis Elmer Newcomb and Helen Alice Prisk) was born on 30 Nov 1915 in Melba, Canyon Co, Idaho; died on 13 Jul 2008 in Canon City, Fremont Co, Colorado; was buried on 18 Jul 2008 in Cloverdale Memorial Park, Boise, Ada Co, Idaho. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _STAT: Never Married

Notes:

The gravestone of this child reads as follows
Daughter of
R.B. & C.L Cooley
Jan 23, 1921
A baby girl was born to Mr. and Mrs. R.B. Cooley, Sunday, January 23, 1921. The little body was laid to rest in the Otis Cemetery the same afternoon, a prayer being offered by Rev. J.S. Dapp at the home and a short service at the cemetery.

Birth:
Stillborn

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

Robert married Nancy Adair Nolan on 13 Feb 1954. Nancy was born on 20 Sep 1934 in Greeley, Weld Co, Colorado; died on 16 Nov 1999 in Denver, Denver Co, Colorado. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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

Notes:

Family/Spouse: David Bruce Johnson. David was born on 20 Feb 1937 in Patoka, Gibson Co, Indiana; died on 20 Dec 2015 in Palm Desert, Riverside Co, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Joseph Roger Gump. Joseph was born on 31 May 1929 in Denver, Denver Co, Colorado; died on 22 Aug 1987 in Englewood, Jefferson Co, Colorado; was buried about Aug 1987 in Fairmount Cem, Denver Co, Colorado. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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

Other Events and Attributes:

• Divorced: 20 Nov 1978, Washington County, Colorado; Colorado Divorce Index 1851-1985

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

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