Elizabeth Avery was born in New York State, probably in Cortlandt, one of 6 known children born to Thomas Nash Avery and Eliza J. Carrroll. Two of her siblings died young - Thomas and George Avery. (Her obituary records her name as Elizabeth A., but other records show her middle name was Nash.)
She came to Matawan with her parents as a young child and on Jul 24, 1896 married Dr. Herbert Sutherland Cooley a prominent physician who had a practice in Keyport. Dr. Cooley was born in Pawling, Dutchess Co, New York He attended Peekskill Military Academy and studied law at Columbia College, NY before he decided to enter the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia. Before his graduation, he married Elizabeth. He built a combination house & office on Front Street on the banks of the Raritan Bay where he practiced medicine for over 50 years.
Elizabeth and Dr. Cooley would become parents to two known children --
Elizabeth died in 1912 at age 37 from "acute indigestion" which today is known a coronary thrombosis. Her obituary appeared in the Dec 9, 1912 edition of the New York Times, and this was reported in the Dec 11, 1912 edition of the Red Bank Register:
NEWS FROM KEYPORT MRS. ELIZABETH A COOLEY DIES SUDDENLY OF ACUTE INDIGESTION SHE WAS TAKEN ILL WHILE USHERING AT A LECTURE AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH Mrs. Elizabeth A. Cooley, wife of Dr. H. S. Cooley of this place, died Friday morning of acute indigestion age 37 years. Mrs. Cooley was taken ill Thursday... and never regained consciousness...Dr. Cooley was on a gunning trip with Dr. W. T. Walling of this place at Oxford, NC when his wife died and did not arrive here until Saturday night. Besides her husband, Mrs. Cooley is survived by two daughters, Catherine and Carol. She also leaves a brother, J. D. Avery, of Cliffwood, two sisters, Mrs. Charles Carman of Matawan and Mrs. F. Daine of Peekskill NY. She was a member of Calvary Church. Funeral held from her late home.
Dr. Herbert S. Cooley never remarried and raised their two girls on his own. He died in Bronxville, NY in 1954 while visiting his daughter Catherine and was buried here in Rose Hill.
Rose Hill Cemetery Matawan, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA Memorial ID 193355201
This week's connection theme is Saints. Eliza is 16 degrees from Marguerite D'Youville, 27 degrees from Birgitta Birgersdotter, 19 degrees from Marguerite Bourgeois, 16 degrees from Katherine Drexel, 26 degrees from Philippine Duchesne, 21 degrees from Isaac Jogues, 22 degrees from Mary MacKillop, 39 degrees from Zélie Martin, 25 degrees from John Newman, 25 degrees from Lorcán Ua Tuathail, 17 degrees from Elizabeth Ann Seton and 30 degrees from Edith Stein on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.