A strong case for Benjamin Cooley's origins was made in an unpublished paper by Eleanore L. Cooley Rue, "Did Benjamin Cooley's sister Phebe Marry Richard Sikes of Springfield, Massachusetts, Proving Both Born Tring, Hertford, ENgland?" (October 2000), with the following points:
The Benjamin Cooley of Tring had a sister, Phebe Cooley of the right age to be the Phebe who marries Richard Sikes
Benjamin Cooley made reference in his will to his COUSIN SIKES ("cousin" being used at that time to refer to any close, but not sibling orparent relationship).
Sikes moved into the Springfield house owned by Benjamin Cooley before Sikes bought it from Cooley.
The long, close relationship (of Sikes and Cooleys), continued through descendants.
Benjamin Cooley of Springfield was a weaver, and weaving was a primary trade in Tring.
Benjamin Cooley of Springfield stated his age as 52 in a 1669 deposition, placing his birth about 1617; a Benjamin Cooley was baptized in Tringin 1616.
There is no evidence of either Benjamin or Phebe in Tring or anywhere nearby in England after their baptisms.
Life in New England
We do not know when Cooley crossed the Atlantic or where he settled initially. We do know that he was in Springfield, MA by the 16 Sept 1643 birth of his daughter, Bethiah.
Springfield was designed from the start to be an industrial, self-supporting community and its founders sought to attract builders, carpenters, brick masons, tailors and weavers most often secured from England as indentured servants (to Pynchon), only those who could contribute something ofvalue were admitted to the community.
Ample evidence exists that Cooley was skilled with both flax and wool. He took on an apprentice in 1650 to teach linen weaving and his estate's inventory included a lot of weaving materials, including two looms.
With the group arriving about 1643 came also George Colton who during the subsequent forty years was the inseparable companion of Benjamin Cooley. In 1649 they took the oath of fidelity together. [Many more instances of evidence that they were closely aligned…] Such a combination of circumstances could hardly have been merely coincidences. [It is from this close friendship that some researchers believe that Benjamin Cooley's wife was a sister to George Colton, but no documentation exists to support this.]
The second record of Cooley in Springfield was February 8, 1643/44 when he was called for jury duty. On September 23, 1645, a reference to fences indicates that he was then established on his property and that he was then the most southerly lot occupant, his later neighbors on the south notthen having arrived. From then on the records are replete with references to his public services. In1667, with Deacon Samuel Chapin and George Colton, he was in charge of the first local "Community Chest" for the distribution of "four or fivepounds to help a little against the want of some families." He not only had the confidence of the community but he seems to have endeared himself to all classes.
The first recorded mentions of a house in the long-meadow owned by Benjamin Cooley:
[August 27, 1660] Thomas Gilbert hath liberty granted him for building and dwelling on his land which he hath bought of Benjamin Cooley at theLongmeadow Gate.
[December 31, 1660] George Colton desiring liberty to build on his land at the Long meadow, had liberty granted him for erecting a building ordwelling place there.
[March 13, 1660/61] granted to Benjamin Cooley, thirty acres on the east side of the swamp over against his house at the long meadow which land liesbetween two dingles and to run from the brow of the hill backward into the woods eastward till thirty acres be made up.
At a General Court held in Boston, 28th May, 1679--In answer to the petition of Benjamin Cooley, ensigne to the Foot Company at Springfield, humblydesiring the favor of this Court, to lay down his place, being aged ("62 or thereabouts") and deaf,--the Court grants his request. …
Legacy
August 17, 1684, Benjamin Cooley died at the age of sixty-seven. Six days later died Sarah, his wife, the mother of his eight children.
[Eleanor Cooley Rue suggests that both Benjamin and Sarah died from a contagious illness.]
At his death he owned 524 acres. He had houses and barns to meet his own needs and those of his eldest sons.
The inventory of Cooley's estate, taken after his death in 1684, includes:
Two looms, slayds (weavers' reeds) and warping bars
Serge, kersy, say, penistone and linen cloth
Cotton wool and sheep's wool
Crop of flax
Linsey-woolsey, yarns, spinning wheels, tube (dye vats)
There was also a stock of finished cloths alone priced at about $1000 in present day values.
As were all their contemporaries, Benjamin Cooley and his wife were interred in the ancient "burying place" by the riverside in Springfield, west ofthe church that he had helped to build. No stones marked their graves for no lasting stone was then to be had in the community. In the following century it was found feasible to bring from Middletown, Conn., a hard brownstone suitable for grave markers, but locally the seventeenth century knew them not. There remains a stone that marked the grave of Mary Holyoke who died in 1657, but the workmanship suggests that the stone is actually of a much later date. The elaborate brownstone monument that marked the Pynchon lot is known to be but a scant hundred years old, the monument itself being so dated.
There Benjamin and Sarah rested until the coming of the railroad. In 1849, to make room for the tracks, the remains of 2404 bodies and 517 markerswere removed to the Springfield Cemetery on the hill that had been opened in 1841. Dr. Joseph C. Pynchon, who then had charge of the removal of thePynchon bodies, said thirty-six years later:
...The few remains were gathered, which soon crumbled to dust on exposure to the air, and with the surrounding earth, deposited in the new cemetery.
Nothing is known of the Cooley bodies, which in common with many others undoubtedly had wholly disintegrated, leaving not a trace. Such a conditionindicates that the bodies were then not buried clothed, as today, otherwise some evidence might have remained. Pilfered shoe-buckles and buttons arefrequently found in Indian graves as old as those, though it is of course true that the place of interment chosen by the natives would have been ina soil having far greater preservative qualities than the damp soil by the river bank. Clothing was then far too valuable to have been disposed ofin such a way. … The absolute lack of identifying articles in the graves of the old cemetery indicates that the bodies were laid to rest, wrapped ina winding-sheet or shroud.
Death seems to have come suddenly to Benjamin Cooley for though he attempted to make a will, he did not live to complete it. However, it was carriedfar enough to indicate some of his wishes, and with a sense of justice worthy of such a father and with a consideration for the needs of each otherthe heirs divided the estate and carried on.
Sources
“Early Springfield & Longmeadow History, with special reference to Benjamin Cooley, Pioneer, chapter IV” (by Harry Andrew Wright; see www.usgennet.org/usa/ma/county/hampden/hist/hist.html). Wright references his sources very well.
Biography
This biography is a rough draft. It was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import and needs to be edited.
WikiTree profile Cooley-537 created through the import of Barcomb Allen.ged on Jun 21, 2011 by Steven Barcomb. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Steven and others.
Source: S0000 Title: Import from Barmast10b.GED Author: Steven Henry Barcomb Data Changed: Date: 1 APR 2008 Time: 20:19:15
Nobody has recorded any memories here yet.
Login to add your own note.
Comments
For public comments, here are the options:
Public Bulletin Board: You need to be a logged-incommunity member to post bulletin board comments for the family. (Best for comments about Benjamin Cooley directed to WikiTree users watching this profile. Limit of 10 per day.)
Public Q&A: These will appear here and in the Genealogist-to-Genealogist Q&A Forum. (Best for questions about Benjamin Cooley directed to our genealogy community.)
Private Messages: You can also contact the Profile Managers privately:
Daniel Jacobsen and Steven Barcomb. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
Public Bulletin Board
There are no bulletin board comments yet.
Search
For your convenience here's a Google search form. If you find more info please add it to WikiTree so that this is a more complete, better organized resource for future Cooleys and historians.
