John Cooley (1730s-1811) of Stokes County, NC
Up to fourteen descendants of up to six of John's sons have had their Y-DNA tested. All closely match. With these results, John's genetic "fingerprint" has been established. To date, he appears to be unrelated to any other American Cooley family, with the possible exception of William Henry and James Cooley, found below. However, it cannot yet be discounted that they were grandsons.

Edmond Cooley (1773-1851) and Charlotte Speace
Edmond went to Spartanburg county, SC. It's believed he was born in North Carolina 1773. The tested descendant is an exact 37/37 marker match to the modal for CF01. He could be a previously undocumented son of John's.

James Cooley (1808-c1872) of Jack Co, TX
Like William, below, James was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Ohio and an early date. The DNA for the descendants of the two men are so close that one needs to wonder whether they were brothers.

William H Cooley (1797-1877) and Sophia Susan Havens
The DNA for this line is an exciting development. The tester very closely matches the James Cooley (above), who closely matches the Stokes County, NC clan. One account places William's family in NC. Both William and James were young enough to have been grandsons of John's but we can't place any of John's family in Pennsylvania at that early a date. Is this a collateral line?

William Whitfield (1751-c1835)
This family is an exact 37-marker match to the CF01 Cooleys.

Benjamin Cooley (1615-1684) of Springfield, MA
Benjamin was born in Tring, Herfordshire, England. We now know that his male Cooley descendants will have what I called the Benjamin SNPs, A12022 and A12024.

Daniel Cooley (1688-1762) of Goshen, NY
Advanced Y-DNA testing has shown that Daniel had the three SNPs (A20349, A20350, and A20351) shared with the brothers Abraham and Thaddeus. This presents a lot of questions.

Samuell Coley (1614-) and Anne Prudden
Samuel immigrated from England and his descendants settled in Connecticut. It's very likely like he was of the Tring Cooleys, but there are three important SNP mutations that distinguish his line from Benjamin's, one of which has been confirmed and is known to have been part of Peleg Cooley's Y-DNA signature, FT122534.

Nehemiah Cooley (c1685-1759)
Like Benjamin, Nehemiah was born in Tring, but two generations later. And, like Samuell, his descendant's DNA lack the two "Benjamin" SNP mutations. He remained in England. It's not yet known whether any of his descendants immigrated.

Joseph Cooley (1681-)
A son of Jophep Cooley, Joseph Cooley was a contemporary of Nehemiah's but born about 25 miles away in Brill, Buckinghamshire, England. Although it's not known whether any American immigrants descended from him, his lineage may help us establish the larger picture of the Tring Cooleys.

Jabez Cooley (1730-1808)
At least two descendants of Jabez's closely match the Ensign Benjamin Cooley line. However, his descendants are negative for the SNP, A12022, which defines the Benjamin Cooley descendants. Interestingly, the Jabez descendant is a 37/37 maker match to Thadeus, next entry. The two groups also appear to have roots in Orange County, NY, suggesting that they were indeed closely related. It is presently my suspicion that Jabez was another brother.

Abraham Cooley (c1740-1820) and Sarah Reeder and
Thadeus Cooley (-1814) of Wythe County, Virginia
Abraham lived near John Cooley in Surry county NC for a few years in the 1780s. Because of the close proximity of one another, it has been suspected for generations that they were related. DNA, however, has shown not only that they were not related but that Abraham would have had the same Y-DNA STRs as Ensign Benjamin Cooley of Massachusetts. It's now known that they were of the same subclade as Daniel Cooley (c1688-1762), above.

Corydon Eliphalet Cooley (1836-1917)
Corydon was born in Loudoun County, Virginia. To date, his father is unknown. But it has been proved in recent years that his mother was Harriet O'Neal.

James M Cooley (1830-)
Advanced Y-DNA testing has all but confirmed that James was an undocumented son of Jabez Cooley (1730-1808). They might be another explanation, but the two men were undoubtedly closely related. The tester has the three "Goshen" SNPs, as described above.

Reuben Ransom Cooley (1805-1870+)
A descendant of Reuben's has the Benjamin Y-DNA markers. This all but confirms that Reuben was likely to son of Jabez Cooley (1775-c1814), as found in the Benjamin Cooley lineage. The genetics is there. Hopefully, the genealogical will proof will follow.

Luke Cooley (1782-1850) and Olive Knight

Daniel Cooley (c1770-1845) of Marion County, Ohio
The first mention of Daniel is in an 1821 land patent in Morrow Co., OH. Two testers have the CF02 STRs. Advanced Y-DNA will likely reveal which subclade they belong in.

Claiborne Cooley (c1828-1898)
This line hasn't yet tested but they lived in Jessamine County KY and could be from Thadeus, above.

Hezekiah Cooley (c1802-c1870)
This lineage is a nearly exact match to the CF02 Cooleys. However, the tester has a troubling marker mismatch. It needs to be looked into.

Richard Cooley (1756-1840) of Fayettte County, PA
Daniell's descendants are not a match to John Cooley of Stokes county NC but they remain a part of my larger Pennsylvania research.

Francis Cooley (1767-1842) of Allegheny County, PA
Francis may have gone to Pennsylvania from New York. A descendant is a Y-DNA match to Daniell Cooley of Maryland. The group may blossom into something much larger than had been suspected. Francis is named in Hamil's book, but none of his descendants, nor any other tested "Dutch Cooley" descendant, match the New York Cool family, proving that Hamil's assertions were false.

Robert Cooley (1754-1794) of Luzerne County, PA
Descendants of Robert's match 32 of 32 (34 of 37) markers with the Francis Cooley line. They match 31 of 37 with the Daniell Cooley line. There is a good possibility, I believe, that Francis and Robert were brothers. They were almost certainly closely related.

John Coley and Jane Childs of Worcestershire
This is a Worcestershire family that eventually moved to Glasgow. Determining the origin of the family will go a long the toward determining the origins of the CF04 Cooleys.

Peter Cooley of Fredericksburg
Indentured servant from London to Virginia in 1774.

The terminal SNP marker for this group, R1b-BY38665, tells us that these Cooleys are descended from Clan Colla.

Edward Cooley Sr (-c1787) of Franklin Co, NC
The tester is a descendant of Stephen Cooley (c1780-c1829). Old Internet posts indicate that the progenitor of the family was a John Cooley. However, the guardianship records of Edward Cooley Jr and his sisters Winnie (1787) and Nancy (1795) prove that another Edward Cooley (Sr) was the head of the family.

John C Cooley (c1725-1767) of Halifax Co, NC
John's origins are in dispute. Some say he was born in Virginia, others in Ireland. Others believe he was a descendant of Samuel Coley of Massachusetts/Connecticut, but Y-DNA disproves that. I appears possible he was the father of the aforementioned Edward, Sr.

John W Cooley and Elizabeth Hottel of Fredericksburg, VA
John was an illegitimate child of Catherine Burner. She married John Cooley (CF06).

Abraham Cowley (-1753) of Henrico Co, VA
This line may have immigrated from England to Virginia during the mid 17th century. A DNA test is underway for a descendant of Abraham's presumed grandson Jacob Cooley Sr (1735-1816) m Sarah Jordan.

Gabriel Coley (-1815) and Mrs Sarah Alford

William N Coley (1755-1825) and Rachel Pearson

James Cooley (1758-1834) and Penelope Gargus
James was born in Charles City county VA in 1758. His family went to Halifax county NC and later to Stewart and Humphrey counties TN.

William Coley (-c1848) of Montgomery and Stanley Counties, North Carolina
William Cooley's family is proved by his will. See the notes for him.

Andrew Cooley (1786-1860+) and Catherine Birched
Andrew was born in Chatham County, NC. The couple married in Orange county NC in 1809 and moved to Gray son county VA, later to Kentucky. The results of a descendant's yDNA test (FT DNA kit# 153302) indicate that Andrew was not related to John Cooley of Stokes county NC. However, recent results match him to the Cooley/Gargus line (see below).

Benjamin Cooley/Coley Jr (1794-1841) of Stokes County
Benjamin appears on the 1820 census of Stokes county as Benjamin Cooley. It has long been assumed by some researchers that he was related to John Cooley. The DNA, however, disproves that assertion. More testing and some good genealogy will have to be done to see how these families are related.

Andrew Jackson Coley (1815-1891) m Mary Ann Whatley
Andrew Jackson Coley was born in Georgia.

Washington Coley (1815-c1880) and Margaret Trevillion
The couple is believed to have married in Anson County, NC in 1843.

John Coley (c1830-) of Tennessee
Little is known about this family except that a descendant has the same Y chromosome as the others in the group.

Theodoric Hall Cooley (1831-1904)

John Cooley (1749-1813) and Abigail Lippincott

William Cooley (1753-1817) and Elizabeth Firmin
This is who Elizabeth Firmin really married. They emigrated to Pennsylvania from Maryland by 1803, appearing in Fayette county on the 1810 census. A descendant has tested as R1b1b and is a 37-marker match to John A Cooley, previously thought to have been a son of the fictitious Johannes Cooley. All records contradict and none support the Hamil claim of a New York Dutch descent.

Patrilineal Descendants of John Garrett Cooley (1804-1883)
Both of these families originated in Montgomery County, Maryland. John is believed to have been the son of William Harrison Cooley and Mary Garrett. The family stayed in Montgomery for generations.

Patrilineal Descendants of Thomas T Cooley (1811-1854)
Also of Montgomery County, MD. He is believed to have been the son of Edward Cooley and Elizabeth Talbott. The family emigrated to Seneca County, Ohio. There were three men of the same generation in Montgomery: the aforesaid William Harrison, Edward, and Thomas Cooley who is thought to have gone to Canada. They might well have been brothers.

James Cooley of Pittsylvania Co, VA
Old Pittsylvania county VA sat just north of old Surry county NC, an early home of John Cooley's, but James and John were not of the same family.

William Washington Cooley (1846-1892)
Researchers tend to believe that William was the son of Thomas R Cooley (c1825-1856+) and Priscilla Snow Berry of Roane County, TN. The DNA match makes it likely they were related to, if not descended from, James Cooley of Pittsylvania County.

Daniel Cooley (1765-1826) of Adair County, Kentucky

John Cooley (1797-1880+) and Annis Hardin
John was born in Adair County KY, which in itself would associate him with Daniel Cooley, who was a generation older, of the same county. But we now know that descendants of John and Daniel have the same Y chromosome. Daniel already has a son John attributed to him. At best, John would have been a nephew.

Patrilineal Descendants of Philander Cooley (c1798-1869)
According to the census records, Philander was born in Connecticut about 1798. He lived the majority of his life in Albany County, New York where he served as an alderman.

Patrilineal Descendants of James Cooley (1801-) of Yates County, New York

Joseph Cooley (1801-1887) and Ann Turley
Low-res Y-DNA testing tells us that this lineage is of haplogroup R1b-L48.

Edmund Cooley (c1797-1867) of Greenup County, KY
This appears to be a CF09 Cooley group.

Francis Coley (1757-1840) m Nancy Ward
Francis is said to have been born in Charles City Co 14 Sep 1757, he died 1840 in Henderson Co TN. This may be another CF09 family.

Daniel Cooley (-c1864) and Betsy Spurlock
Daniel went from Virginia to Kentucky at an early date.

Henry Cowley (c1763-1813) and Mary Shannon
This family is said to have had origins in York County, PA.

James Cooley (1760-1840+) of Madison Co KY
James was born in VA in 1760. He served in the Revolution in SC and NC and went to Madison county KY early on, marrying Patience Baker there.

John Cooley (1731-c1788)
John is said to have been born in England, served during the Revolution from Virginia, where he likely died. He had one known child, Captain Peter Cooley, who went to Ohio with his step-father, Col. John Lodwick.

Cowleys of Derbyshire, UK
A descendant of John Hackett (1746-1808) of Derbyshire is nearly an exact match to the Stokes County Cooleys. Was Derbyshire John Cooley's birthplace? Was he a Cowley? DNA might answer those questions.

Duffield Cowleys of Derbyshire