Benjamin Cooley

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:

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]