!

From: Michael Cooley <michael_at_newsummer.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 23:12:24 -0800

I'm sure that everyone by now understands that our Cooley Y-DNA is
Norse-Scottish. Some of you will remember the legend passed down through a
line from John's son Edward that our Cooleys were Jacobites and that the
older males were executed and the children transported to the colonies.
Apparently, a piece of tartan was passed down through the line but was
buried with its last inheritor in the 1970s.

My great-aunt had written that there were three brothers who came to the
colonies from England. She thought it was Edward and two brothers but we
know that's not possible. She had no knowledge of John.

Both families, above, lived near one another in Missouri. The stories may
have come from the same source.

Some of you will also remember my research on Reuben Ransom Cooley who
lived in the same county in Indiana as my John. We now know from DNA that
Reuben was of the Benjamin clan. But a letter in 1946 stated that 8
brothers and 3 sisters immigrated to NC from Birmingham, England and that
one died in New Orleans during the War of 1812.

Eight boys and 3 girls sounds very much like John's family, and we know
that John's son Cornelius died of illness in N.O. just following the end
of the war. Certainly, no descendants of Benjamin's could be described
that way. I believe that the two Cooley families, who by 1946 had lived
near one another for more than a hundred years, had come to believe they
were related and that our story was inherited by the descendants of
Reuben.

A descendant of John II wrote in a Missouri county history that John
immigrated from England.

Now we have another story.

I recently heard from a descendant of Edmond Cooley. We know that a
descendant of his has exact matching DNA which leads us to believe that he
was another son. (I still maintain that Edmond *could* have been Rice.)
This man, who lives in Texas, provided this:

--quote--
My grandfather told me it was passed down to him that we were forced to
leave Ireland as criminals. We settled in Carolinas.
--endquote--

These stories considered along with the fact that at least two John
Cooleys were transported at the pleasure of the king gives a very strong
hint of criminality to our heritage. Perhaps indentureship.

Somewhere, there's a shared kernel of truth to all of these stories. We
need to keep finding descendants. Someone out there might indeed possess
the key!

-Michael
Received on Sat Dec 20 2014 - 01:12:25 CST