Here's another interesting item from Arthur Kiergan's letters:
--quote--
...my grandfather was born Oct. 8, 1793 and my grandmother White was born
July 26, 1796....This grandfather as I stated was murdered. He did run the
saltworks at Burton's Station at one time and may have been taken there
for burrial [sic] but I dont [sic] think so....It is not reasonable that
dying in the north edge of Randolph Co his body would be taken away from
the home graveyard to Burton some forty miles away when none of that
family lived at Burton...
--endquote--
He describes the Teeter graveyard where, he presumes, his grandparents
were buried.
> Here is the source for Dorothy Cooley's marriage to Joel Smith and it was
> in Clay County not Platte. Sorry about that.
>
> Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002; Records for Clay County, page 79
> (Database on Ancestry.com)
> The marriage is indexed as Joel Smith to Dorothy Hooley. However, even
> with a very faded copy you can read it as "Cooley". The marriage took
> place on 12 Feb 1843 and was recorded on 1 Nov 1843.
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "ancestr2_at_host187.hostmonster.com"
> <ancestr2_at_host187.hostmonster.com>
> To: John Cooley Mailing List <undisclosed.recipients_at_johncooley.net>
> Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 11:48 PM
> Subject: Cornelius and Dorothy Cooley redux
>
>
> I hope this hasn't been beaten into the ground, but I think it's worth
> a close look.
>
> The evidence that Dorothy married her cousin, Cornelius, is as follows:
>
> A published bio of Mathias Cooley in "Portrait & Biographical Records, of
> Willamette Valley Pioneers By Chapman, Chicago, 1904" says that his
> parents
> was Cornelius Cooley and Dolly White. (I have a copy I received from Sandy
> Stanton in 2007.) There were four sons. For reasons we can only guess
> about,
> Mathias was placed in the care of a family named Wilson after Cornelius
> died. Until recently, the brothers were not known to us.
>
> The 1840 census backs this up, with my guesses following...
>
> p 332 Cornelius Cooley, Fishing River Township
> 21001-00001
> 2 males 0-4 John William Cooley (c1838-c1850)
> Mathias Cooley (1837-1915)
> 1 male 5-9 Joseph Cooley (c1835-1863)
> 1 male 20-29 Cornelius Cooley (1814-1843), son of James
> 1 female 20-29 wf and cousin Dorothy Cooley
>
> The fourth son, evidently, had not yet been born.
>
> We know that Cornelius died in about 1843 because his indictment for
> betting
> (you might expect that from a son of James's!) was dismissed due to his
> death. (From info received from Rick Ernest in 2008.)
>
> Somewhere, Sandy Stanton pointed out this marriage: "Dorothy Cooley
> married
> Joel Smith 12 Feb 1843 Platte County, Missouri," which is found in Dale
> Walker's letters. And I see in Arthur Kiergan's letters that *he* was
> informed of that fact by Mildred Tallant.
>
> Arthur Kiergan was born in 1848. He names his three half-brothers, Joseph
> W
> Cooley (c1835-1863), John William Cooley (c1838-c1850), and Michael. Last
> year, Mary Cooley, found the Kiergan family on the
> 1850 census:
>
> Brunswick, Chariton Co., MO
> 12 Nov 1850, pg 227 B
> Family 498 (numbers VERY faded):
> Benjamin Vergin, 30, male, farmer, Ten
> Dorothy Vergin, 35, female, MO, cannot read or write
> Joseph Vergin, 15, male, MO
> John Vergin, 12, male, MO
> Arthur Vergin, 3, male, MO
>
> No wonder it had never been found!
>
> It's interesting that Arthur said nothing about Mathias and (apparently)
> visa versa. But it's not surprising. Arthur wasn't born until several
> years
> after Mathias left for Oregon. His mother died when he was three.
> Obviously,
> he never talked about this to his mother, and the three half brothers he
> knew died when he was still quite young. Evidently, he just didn't know
> about Mathias. That's doubly interesting considering that Mathias and
> Arthur were the only two brothers to have survived, the others having died
> young.
>
> (Incidentally, Arthur wrote that Michael died fighting in Utah. I think we
> commented briefly on it. Has anyone learned more?)
>
> Now, was Dolly a Cooley or a White? Arthur Kiergan clearly states it:
>
> --quote--
> My mother's name was Dorothy Cooley. Her father (my grandfather) was John
> Cooley and her mother (my grandmother) was Elizabeth White.
> --endquote--
>
> He then describes his mother's siblings and writes that his mother died 7
> May 1851. He also says that her first husband was a brother of Benjamin
> Cooley, who he knew well. He didn't know the name of the first husband but
> guessed it to have been John William Cooley. (Ah! That's where that comes
> from!)
>
> Here's Dennis's Mildred Tallant archive:
>
> http://www.eskimo.com/~day/cooley/docs/
>
> I've still not given a lot of these letters the close readings they
> deserve. One day I'll sit down and transcribe Arthur's letters.
>
> If I've missed anything, please, please clue me in.
>
> -Michael
>
> --
> <a href="http://newsummer.com/distlist">distlist 0.9</a>
> See http://ancestraldata.com/listarchive/johncooleylist/ for list
> information.
--
Second VP, the Cooley Family Association of America
Administrator, the Akins DNA Project
Administrator, the Ashenhurst DNA Project
Administrator, the Bishop DNA Project
Administrator, the Eldridge DNA Project
Administrator, the alt-McDowell DNA Project
Co-Administrator, the Cooley DNA Project
Co-Administrator, the McDougall DNA Project
Instructor "Genealogy and Family History," the Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute (OLLI)
B.A. Humboldt State University, History
Received on Sun Sep 15 2013 - 14:34:59 MDT