Name: Greenberry Cooley
Born: 31 Oct 1844
Place: Washington Co., IN
Died: 12 Sep 1899
Place: Putnam Co., MO
Y-Haplo: R1a-YP4491
Married: 26 Apr 1866
The name Greenberry is somewhat mysterious. The fourth colonial governor
of Maryland was Colonel Nicholas
Greenberry (1627-1697), a popular folk hero in his home of Anne Arundel
County, Maryland. The Wrights, from whom Greenberry Cooley descended
through his paternal grandmother, Selah Wright, were from
Maryland and counted at least one Greenberry Wright among their numbers.
(Col Greenberry, by the way, could not have possibly served in the
Revolutionary War, as is often reported on the internet, having lived a
century earlier.) To what extent Greenberry's father, David Cooley, born in
1815, knew this bit of family history is certainly not known. But David's
mother was a Wright and his maternal grandfather, William Wright, died in
1840. David had known him for twenty-five years. Something of the Wright
history might have passed down to him.
Greenberry was known as G. B., a simple contraction of his name. Judging
from several newspaper items, he was well known to the staff of the
Unionville Republican. The last two articles about him come as close to an
obituary as has been found.
Unionville Republican, Wednesday, June 7th, 1899
G. B. Cooley met with a quite serious accident last Monday night, while
starting to leave town. He was on horse back and leading one horse and after
passing the Standard office a few yards, the horse he was leading commenced
to kick, causing the other one to jump backwards, throwing Mr Cooley over
its head. He fell on his cripple[d] leg which is stiff at the knee joint,
partially dislocating the knee joint and tearing loose the ligaments from
the knee pan. Dr Rice was with the crowd who ran to his assistance, and
fixed him up as comfortable as possible. He was placed in a spring wagon
and taken to his home, where the injured limb was properly dressed and he is
now resting as well as possible. — Lucerne Standard.
Unionville Republican, Wednesday, September 13th, 1899
G. B. Cooley, one of Medicine townships oldest settlers and best known
citizens, was reported in a very critical condition yesterday evening and
his recovery was counted an impossibility. He suffered a stroke of
paralysis several days ago, the result it is supposed of injuries received
to a lame leg. Mr Cooley is a man of sterling integrity and splendid
character, and his many friends will learn of his condition with sorrow.
Later. — We learn this morning that he had died last night.
Only a couple dozen pages of the Lucerne Standard, published
between 1890 and 1917, are found at the online archive,
http://putnamcounty.advantage-preservation.com/. If the correct editions
are extant elsewhere, an obituary would certainly be uncovered. Until then,
the following items help round out a degree of biography for Greenberry.
Unionville Republican, Wednesday, March 1st, 1893
G. B. Cooley, who now has a herd of over 300 head of sheep, reports the loss
of over 30 lambs. This is rather hard luck, but he has not lost faith in
the sheep industry by any means. — Lucerne Standard
Unionville Republican, Wednesday, April 11th, 1894
G B Cooley luckily escaped a burn out a week or so ago. On returning home
with his family they discovered the roof of the house afire. It was a windy
day but by strong exertion they conquered the flames/ The fire is supposed
to have been causes by a defective flue.
Unionville Republican, Wednesday, January 29th, 1896
G B Cooley was badly hurt Tuesday evening. A sheep struck his sound leg with
its head and gave it such a sever strain that he must walk with a crutch and
cane as he cannot put that foot to the ground. — Lucerne Standard
Unionville Republican, Wednesday, July 29th, 1896
G B Cooley sold a carload of lambs to Dave Williams who shipped them Sunday
evening.
Unionville Republican, Wednesday, August 4th, 1897
G. B. Cooley of Lucerne was in town Monday shaking hands with his numerous
friends, among which the "Old Reliable" is numbered.
G. B. and Amelia had the following children:
| Joseph William Cooley |
1867-1847 |
He was born in Terre Haute MO, died in Seymour IA.
Married Araminta D Johnson,
1866. |
| Harvey Ervin Cooley |
1870-1951 |
He married Lena Hickman, 1893. |
| Millard Cooley |
1875-1899 |
Note that he died only a couple of months after his
father. |
| David Cooley |
1877-1878 |
One would think that he was named for his
grandfather. |
| Charles Jubal Cooley |
1881-1942 |
He married Grace Scott. |
| Clark Sherman Cooley |
1884-1960 |
He married Edith Lowry in 1911. He had son John and
daughters Zelta and Zella. |
| unnamed son |
1884-1884 |
Sherman's twin. No cause of death is found on the his death record. He's
listed as 7th child. |
| Kletia Cooley |
1872-1958 |
Married DeGraphenreed Patterson McKinley Jr in
1892. |
| Dora Bell Cooley |
1879-1954 |
Married David Wilbur Snyder in 1906. |
Chris Cooley, a descendant of Greenberry's, found this:
Unionville Republic, Wednesday, August 30th 1939
Cooley Picnic
The descendants of Greenberry and Thompson Cooley met at the Cooley Park on
the David Cooley farm August 6th for their eight annual picnic. A bountiful
dinner was served at noon. In the afternoon the time was pleasantly spent
visiting, playing games and entering contests. Bows and arrows made by
David Cooley interested the men and boys greatly. Plans were made for a
bigger and better picnic to be held next year at the same place on the first
Sunday in August.
Those attending from outside the Lucerne and Newtown communities were Mr.
and Mrs. Ira Cooley, Indianola, Ia., Mr. and Mrs. Louis Cooley,
Fairfield, Ia., Mr. and Mrs. Dave Purdy and son, Unionville, Mo., Misses
Rita and Clara Snyder of Rio, Ill.
All original portions ©
1994-2025
Michael Cooley, OrbitInternet.net -
Copyright Notice
/HTTP
Validation
|
