Notes for George T Cooley (1848-1931) m Elizabeth R Hutchins
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Submitted by michael_95073
Noted added Fri Oct 31 00:41:47 2008
The Biographical Record of Jasper County, Missouri, by Malcolm G. McGregor, 1901.
GEORGE T. COOLEY.
Among the prominent and successful business citizens of Joplin, Missouri, is George T. Cooley, who is vice-president of the American Concentrator Company, of Joplin. which has a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The other prominent men associated with him as officers are: G. H. Elmore, president; and G. B. Young, secretary and treasurer.
The birth of Mr. Cooley was in Casey county, Kentucky, on May 31, 1848, and he was a son of Thomas H. and Letitia (Anderson) Cooley, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and was a contractor and builder. The grandfather was John Cooley, who was a native of England. The mother of our subject was Letitia Anderson, who was born in Kentucky, where she grew to womanhood, her father and mother having been natives of Ireland and Germany, respectively. Four children were born to the parents of our subject, and he is the youngest of the family.
When George T. Cooley was seven years old the family removed to Springfield, Illinois, and he was reared and educated in the city made famous as the home and last resting place of Abraham Lincoln. An uncle of our subject, by the name of Jacob Willis, had long been acquainted with the Lincoln family, and came to Illinois from Kentucky in the company of the man who later became so illustrious. Later they were associated together in business operations, and Mr. Lincoln split the rails on the farm of Mr. Willis. At the time of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the office of president of the United States our subject was still a resident of Springfield. After receiving a liberal education in the public schools George T. Cooley learned telegraphy and followed the business for a time, but his best talents lay in another direction, and soon he was assisting his father in contracting and building. Finally he entered the employ of the Union Iron Works, of Decatur, Illinois, and was made superintendent in the building of many plants both at Springfield and other points, remaining with them for six years as superintendent of construction. He later constructed flour mills at Mansfield, Pana, Taylorville, in Illinois, and at Wichita, Kansas, continuing in this line for four years.
Mr. Cooley then located on a farm near Kennedy, in De Witt county, Illinois, and there followed farming for three years, then sold, and in 1872 removed to Missouri and located near Twin Grove on the fine property he now occupies, which consists of three hundred and twenty acres, all of which are under cultivation. About one year after he came to Jasper county he took an active part in the construction and rebuilding of a mill in Oronogo, and has erected over two hundred mills in Missouri and Kansas.
George T. Cooley is a man of many talents and business interests. He is the patentee of the Cooley self-concentrating jig, and is also the patentee of the New Century drop-motion jig, both of these being valuable and necessary machines used in concentrating ores. He is the vice-president of the American Concentrating Company, which manufactures these and other mine machinery, and he is also the manager of the great shops, being an expert in mining. As a cool, careful man of business Mr. Cooley has no equal. % He has done much toward the development of the mineral resources of this section, and it was principally through his efforts that the great American Concentrating Company was formed. The greater part of the ore that is mined in southwestern Missouri, in Kansas, and also in Arkansas, is dressed by Mr. Cooley's methods.
The marriage of Mr. Cooley was to Miss Lizzie Hutchins, who was a daughter of Charles E. and Harriet (Farris) Hutchins, and she was born near Kennedy, De Witt county, Illinois. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cooley, as follows: Jessie E., the wife of Frank Brawic, of Oronogo; Archer F., formerly a member of the Fifth Missouri Regiment in the Spanish-American war; George E., in the factory; Julian A., now attending college; Charles F., Sidney E., Dickson R. and John.
Mr. Cooley is a prominent man in Jasper county, well known and highly esteemed. He is a member of the Masonic order, is a "Shriner" and a thirty- second-degree Mason, and also belongs to the A. O. U. W., of Oronogo.
Submitted by michael_95073
Noted added Wed Dec 3 20:38:21 2008
1900 > MISSOURI > JASPER > TWIN GROVES TWP
Series: T623 Roll: 867 Page: 245
Submitted by michael_95073
Noted added Wed Dec 3 21:03:09 2008
1910 > MISSOURI > JASPER > 2-WD JOPLIN
Series: T624 Roll: 790 Page: 51
Submitted by michael_95073
Noted added Wed Dec 3 21:11:58 2008
The 1910 census states that George and Elizabeth had been married 32 years. All eight children are siad to be still living. Four of them are living in the household: Charles, Earl, Dickson and John. The three sons living out of the household, then, would be Julian, Archibald and George. Julian and George are probably found in their own households in the same county.
Submitted by michael_95073
Noted added Sat Jan 10 01:21:46 2009
A History of Jasper County, Missouri, and Its People, by Joel Thomas Livingston
pp 886-888.
GEORGE T. COOLEY.--Possessing much native mechanical talent and ability and great inventive ingenuity. George T. Cooley has long been prominently identified with the promotion of the industrial interests of Jasper county, and as head of the Cooley Manufacturing Company he is one of the foremost business men of Joplin. He also deserves further distinction from the fact that he has built over three hundred concentrating mills in Jasper county. He was born May 31, 1848, in Casey county, Kentucky, which was also the birthplace of his father, Thomas Hutching Cooley.
John Cooley, his paternal grandfather, immigrated from England in early colonial days and, having settled in one of the New England states, took an active part in the Revolutionary war, being press master for the army. For his services during the struggle of the colonists for independence he received from the government a concession of three thousand acres of land in Casey county, Kentucky, his grant including the land upon which Daniel Boone had previously built his log cabin. As Kentucky was then becoming rapidly settled, Boone, who loved hunting and solitude, crossed over into Missouri, locating in the forests near the present site of Booneville.
Thomas Hutching Cooley was born in Casey county, Kentucky, in 1816, and there grew to man's estate. Subsequently moving with his family to Springfield, Illinois, he was for a few years employed at the cabinet maker's trade, afterward being engaged at the undertaking business at Springfield. He spent his last years, however, in Kenney, Illinois, passing away in 1886. He married Letitia J. Anderson, who was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and their marriage was solemnized in Casey county. She belonged to a family of note, and was a sister of Sam Anderson, who owns Andersonville prison, in which so many Union soldiers were confined during the Civil war, and also many acres of land. She survived her husband many years, dying in 1904, in Oronogo, Missouri.
George T. Cooley spent his boyhood in Kentucky, where he made his first acquaintance with books, attending school three months in his native county. The family then moving to Illinois, he continued his studies in the public schools, subsequently graduating from the State Normal School. He then entered Wesleyan University, which he attended three years, leaving the institution before graduation. Mr. Cooley then served an apprenticeship at the joiner's trade, which he afterward followed as a journeyman for a short time. Perceiving the need of an expert mechanical stair builder in the community, he formed a partnership with Dan Harkness, of Springfield, Illinois, and there built up a substantial business, being pioneers in that line of industry. Five years later Mr. Harkness died, and Mr. Cooley, not wishing to longer conduct the business, sold out to Messrs. Hampton and Hueston, and in the ensuing five years was employed at the Union Iron Works at Decatur, Illinois, as a millwright.
Again embarking in business on his own account, Mr. Cooley made a specialty of building grain elevators, being employed in different parts of the country, among other plants which he erected having been the famous "Schellenbacher Mills" at Wichita, Kansas. Coming to Missouri in 1878, he purchased a half section of land in Twin Grove township and leased it for farming purposes. After the wrecking of Oronogo. Missouri, by a cyclone, Mr. Cooley assumed charge of a force of men employed to rebuild the town and when the work was completed he erected for Stolz & Rising, in the mining district, a zinc site mill of the concentrator type, using 2 by 4 studding in its construction, instead of boards. The experiment proved so successful that Mr. Cooley took out patents and made a specialty of building concentrator jigs, called Cooley's self-contained jigs, filling contracts in various parts of the United States. In 1900 he invented a coal washing jig, the patent of which is being universally used in all the large coal mines of the United States, and subsequently he incorporated the American Concentrator Company, which holds fifteen of his patents. In 1908 Mr. Cooley sold his interest in that company to F. S. Butcher, and in 1909, established the Cooley Manufacturing Company, which has since carried on an extensive and profitable business, manufacturing concentrator tables and doing general machine work. At 410-12 Penn avenue he is now erecting the finest garage in Joplin, which will be completed by the first of the year. The building is fifty by one hundred and twenty feet, two-stories high, constructed of steel and pressed brick. This will be known as the Cooley Garage, and Mr. Cooley and his seven sons will occupy the same.
Mr. Cooley married, November 16, 1876, in Kenney. Illinois, Elizabeth R. Hutchin, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Hutchin, prominent farming people in Illinois. Eight children have brightened the wedded pathway of Mr. and Mrs. Cooley, namely: Archie Francis, born in Kenney, Illinois; Mrs. Jessie L. Broadwich, of Oronogo. Missouri ; George Elmore, born in Kenney, Illinois, is in business with his father, being an expert machinist; Julian Arthur, born in Kenney and now considered one of the most skilful machinists in the state, is foreman in the Webb City Garage at Webb City; Charles Thomas, born in Jasper county, Missouri, is associated with his father; Sidney Earl, born August 26, 1889, at Twin Grove, Missouri, is a graduate of the Joplin high school and is now attending Columbia University; Dixon Ray, born in Oronogo, Missouri, in 1892, is also with his father; and John Norman, born in Oronogo, Missouri, in 1894, is a pupil in the Joplin Central school.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Cooley votes for the best man and best measures regardless of party prejudices. Fraternally he belongs to lodge No. 471, A. F. & A. M. Religiously he favors the faith of his parents, which is the Methodist Episcopal church. His wife, however, is a Christian Scientist.
Submitted by michael_95073
Note added Mon Apr 25 21:50:21 2016
He appears with his son, George E Cooley, on the 1830 Miami, FL census.
