I've read about this journal before but I don't think I knew how she was
connected. Thanks!
The bio portion below looks like it might have been lifted out of the
Grayson county history. I have the pertinent part here:
http://ancestraldata.com/Notes/index.cgi?1229801262+/ahnentafel/256/lineages/abraham-desc.html
Boy, I wish we could find a descendant. I asked that a notice about that
be published in the Cooley Communique, but they didn't use it. :(
-Michael
> I found this on the internet this morning and my question was answered who
> he
> was.
>
> By Susan M. Thigpen © 1984-2012
> Issue: October, 1984
> Jack Cooley of Hillsville, Virginia, with the permission of the Cooley
> family
> loaned The Mountain Laurel a copy of one of his ancestors' journal -
> Elizabeth
> Ann Cooley McClure, born July 21, 1825, died March 28, 1848.
> The journal was started February 20, 1842, when Elizabeth was only 17
> years old
> and was kept until her death in March of 1848 of typhoid fever. During
> these
> years, Elizabeth grows into a woman and experiences love, marriage and
> travels
> westward with her new husband to settle in Missouri. It is fascinating
> from two
> stand points: First, it is an accurate description of the day to day lives
> of
> people in Carroll County, Virginia during that time frame. Second, it is a
> picture of the way of thinking of those people - their fears, their joys,
> their
> hopes.
> We will be printing entries from Elizabeth Cooley's Journal in the
> upcoming
> months. For your further enjoyment, this month I will describe a little of
> her
> family background so that you can have a picture of it in your mind as you
> read
> her entries.
> Elizabeth's father Benjamin F. Cooley was born August 3, 1774, the son of
> Abraham Cooley, an English emigrant, and Sarah Reeder of French descent.
> When
> Benjamin was 7 years old, his parents, Abraham and Sara, moved from New
> York to
> Surry County, North Carolina. Five years later, the family moved to
> Grayson
> County, Virginia.
> Benjamin Cooley lived at Coal Creek the remaining 60 years of his life,
> dying
> March 24, 1847, at the age of 72 years. In his middle years he had
> represented
> Grayson County in the state legislature at Richmond for two sessions. In
> 1820
> and subsequent years, he was a member of the court for Grayson County.
> When
> Carroll County was formed from Grayson in 1842, he was a member of the
> first
> court and attended the first session notwithstanding he lived several
> miles from
> the court and was no longer a young man. Although 66 years old he was
> chosen
> high sheriff of the county and posted bond with personal sureties in the
> amount
> of $30,000.00.
> Although he was an office holder and substantial land owner who owned a
> slave or
> two, he was also by gift and training an expert clock maker. His skill as
> an
> artificer in metals and his originality as an inventor of an engine for
> making
> brass wheels for clocks has already received attention of local
> historians.
> Elizabeth's mother was Jane Dickey Cooley, daughter of Matthew Dickey who
> was
> one of the members of the first court in Grayson County which was held in
> Wm.
> Bourne's house May 21, 1793. He was later chosen Commissioner of the
> Revenue for
> the county.
> Benjamin and Jane Cooley had eleven children - Martin, Mary (mother of one
> son,
> "Ika." She died when he was an infant and he was raised in the Benjamin
> Cooley
> household), William, Nancy, Rebecca, Eliza, Amanda, James, Elizabeth, John
> (died
> in infancy), and Julia Ann.
> Along with these names, other names mentioned frequently in the journal
> are:
> Jinsey, a slave girl, the "town" mentioned in the journal was probably Old
> Town
> - the county seat about 1.5 miles west of the present day Galax, Virginia.
> The Cooley home was a two story log structure four rooms in length, with
> an ell
> on the northern side at the western end and a large porch with a small
> room on
> it. It had two stairways which led upstairs, which was divided into rooms.
> It is
> gone now, but the farm still remains in the Cooley family. The old family
> cemetery is still there at the original site.
> In several entries, Elizabeth refers to weaving "jeans." This was a
> material
> used for pants and coats and such. Other materials mentioned were
> linsey-woolsey, a combination of linen and wool and cotton.
> The original Journal is in the state archives in Richmond
--
Second VP, the Cooley Family Association of America
President, the Genealogy Club of Humboldt State University
Administrator, the Eldridge Family DNA Project
Administrator, the Ashenhurst Family DNA Project (in the works)
Administrator, the alt-McDowell DNA Project
Co-Administrator, the Cooley Family DNA Project
Instructor (upcoming this fall), "Genealogy and Family History" at
the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), through HSU
Received on Tue Sep 18 2012 - 13:20:46 MDT