Great email in stating what we know. I am sure all on the list enjoyed how you
laid it all out for us.
________________________________
From: Michael Cooley <michael_at_newsummer.com>
To: John Cooley Mailing List <undisclosed.recipients_at_johncooley.net>
Sent: Sun, March 17, 2013 3:35:28 PM
Subject: A list of Cooley mysteries--resolved and not!
As a group, we've discovered a lot of new things. Thanks to Gloria
Tanner's finding of the 1859 newspaper notice, we've learned about the
family her and Jim Cooley's John Cooley was born into. Although we don't
have a primary document saying the John and his brother James were sons of
Perrin Cooley Sr, that is certainly highly likely--perhaps probable; there
is certainly no other explanation.
Of course, within the context of this family, there are a number of other
questions that need answered. For example, how many times was John
married? Gloria actually has recorded a clue--her mitochondrial DNA. Birth
dates suggest that her Elizabeth Bailey and John's youngest daughter, Mary
Storey, had different mothers. We've lost track of Mary, but have picked
up the scent of the eldest child, Angeline Cooley Morgan Tollott. She
appears to have had daughter Mary S Morgan who married Joseph H Hill. The
mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant of Mary's will tell us whether
Angeline and Elizabeth were of the same mother.
Another member found an "eligible" descendant of William Matthews Cooley.
The test revealed that he was of the family. The paper trail suggests he
was the eldest son of John Cooley.
We found evidence that John may have been married to Sarah Matthews, but
we have nothing that resembles a primary document.
We have proven that John was NOT of a New York Dutch family!
We have found the "missing" brothers of the Matthias Cooley, who went to
Oregon with his cousins, and the true identity of his mother.
We have traced the descendants of Isaac N Cooley, the son of James
(1772-1821), and probably have an "eligible" tester within our grasp.
We found John's daughter, Hannah Cooley Burnett/Barnet, and have located
at least some of her grandchildren and one great-grandson, Namon Hollomon.
We discovered several years ago the placement of Mathias M Cooley, father
of the infamous Scott Cooley, and determined that he likely had a son
named Perrin Cooley (c1856).
We have discovered genetic "look-a-like" Cooleys in PA--young enough to
have been John's grandsons but possibly a collateral line to him--but
possibly not related at all!. Mary did a great job fleshing out the
descendants of William Henry Cooley.
And we've found more Cooleys implicated in killings!
Shall I count the ways in which we rock?
But there's still a lot of work to do...
The most enduring question, of course, is John himself. We can only guess
that he died in Casey county in 1811, and we can only guess that he was
probably born in England. We have no idea as to who his parents were. But
I feel confident that if Sarah Matthews *was* his wife we will one day
uncover it.
The William Henry Cooley thing is tantalizing. The genealogy may not be
forthcoming but further genetic testing may reveal the likelihood of a
connection. (The similarity, for example, might unravel with a YDNA-111
test.)
We have yet to find descendants of Daniel and Reuben to test. I spoke to a
couple of Reuben descendants a few years ago but could not convince either
of them to test. Perhaps we could entice one of them with some funds. :)
In fact, now that I think about it, the 12 marker test would be good
enough at this point. The $39 special is still in force.
And speaking of Daniel, Shirley Wilcox's John was born in Adair County KY
c1797. That highly suggests he may have been a son of Daniel's. But there
is already another John attributed to him. I've ID'd living John
Cooley/Annis Hardin descendants but have had no luck contacting them. In
the meantime, I have created this tree:
http://ancestraldata.com/ahnentafel/256/lineages/hardin-desc.html
Will it work into *our* tree? Cooley/Hardin DNA tests and a test of a
proven Daniel descendant can answer that question.
DNA can tell us something about Joseph Cooley's first wife. I will again
contact my good friend, a matrilineal descendant of Joseph's daughter
Elizabeth Cooley White, about having her mtDNA tested.
I still have a couple of DNA tests pending: 23andme which, among
everything else, is testing for mutation M417 which is one step downstream
of (a "descendant" of) the confirmed M198 mutation. And ftdna is testing
for mutation L448 ("Young Scandanavian"), which about 2,000 year old. I've
started a page that will track this for all tested Cooleys at
http://ancestraldata.com/ahnentafel/256/lineages/adam-desc.shtml
What else should we have on our list of to-do's?
Sorry for the long email!
-Michael
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Received on Mon Mar 18 2013 - 09:04:24 MDT