History of our Cooley Family
It seems that an interest in tracing our particular Cooley family began long before I took it up as a challenge in the early 1980's. As a child I remembered hearing my grandmother speak of Cooley's Hotel and my mother told me where it was and that we were related to the family. But of course as often happens, I didn't pay enough attention to stories around me until it was too late and my direct sources were no longer with us!
Mr Clive Cooley (grandson of Thomas Charles) has information suggesting "Our Cooley family originated in County Clare in Ireland (now Eire) where the original name was Mochuille. It was thought the Cooley's moved from Ireland into England during the 18th century and became caught up in the big depression. The name Cooley is now very rare in Ireland. Some of the Cooley clan became Irish Rebels and were transported overseas to USA, Canada and Australia". Clive also located the Coat of Arms for the Cooley family, a copy of which was in the possession of the late Mr Thomas C.T Cooley (Clive's older brother) of Launceston.
Cooley Family in London and Hertfordshire
Thomas Todd Cooley, a common ancestor of many hundreds of Australians by now I would think, was born in Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, England in 1806 and transported to Van Diemens Land in 1824. We take up the story below with an excerpt from a story written by Foster Budworth (husband of Cooley descendant Nancy Budworth).
Excerpt from "The Thomas Todd Cooley Story"
by Foster Budworth, 1994
Thomas Cooley's original Convict Record immediately after his conviction
(CON 23/1) describes him as 5' 7 and 1/2" tall with brown hair and blue eyes. He
had a scar on his left breast and the little finger of his left hand was crippled. In later years there was a story commonly repeated in press and magazine articles that in his hotel he had fought off four bushrangers single-handed with his fists and sustained permanently twisted fingers as a result. In the light of the original description of him, this may have been a legend.
CON 23/1 also says that he was a Farrier and Horseshoer by trade and that his native place was Tadderden, Herts. There is not and never has been such a place - it was in fact Little Gaddesden, Herts, only 2 similar letters different. There were many Cooleys over the years on the Herts/Bucks border in the villages and hamlets of Little Gaddesden, Ivinghoe, Tring, Ivinghoe Aston, Aldbury and Frithsden. Nearly all were blacksmiths.
Cooley's Convict Record from Van Diemens Land (CON 31/6) says that he was once in Newgate Gaol for stealing an umbrella but was acquitted. His father and mother
(John and Sarah Cooley nee Morris)
were said to be resident in East Street, Finsbury Market, father's trade being Master Farrier employing 3 men. (Elsewhere his father is said to be a "farmer" but this surely is a misreading of an "r" and an "i" as an 'MI.) There was but is no longer an East Street in Finsbury Market in the area of Shoreditch, just north of the City of London, though it is not specifically named on any maps of the period. It does appear in some trade directories, though no Cooleys are shown. However there are gaps in the house numbers and it is possible that entries in such directories had to be paid for. It does seem logical that at that time there would be a farrier in a market area.
Before going any further it is necessary to explain that in the International Genealogical Index, which together with Bishops' Transcripts and Parish Records has been the main source of data, Cooley appears under the generic heading of 'Cowley'. Colley and Coley also appear under this heading. Varied spellings of the same name were common in earlier periods and this must be taken into account when researching family history. Cooley was also a surprisingly common name. In the Greater London I.G.I. alone there are no less than 92 pages under the Cowley heading. CON 31/6 says "proper name Cobley'' but this variation has not been seen in any other records.
John & Sarah Cooley (nee Morris)
Thomas Cooley's parents were probably John (Cowley in the I.G.I.) and Sarah nee Morris. As Thomas's first child was named Sarah Morris Cooley this seems a reasonable assumption. John and Sarah were married at St. Mary's Church, Marylebone on 28 May 1799. A daughter, Martha Morris, mother Elizabeth Sarah, was baptised there on 1 April 1803 while Thomas was born on 6 August 1805, presumably at Little Gaddesden if his Convict Record is correct, though there is no trace of his baptism there in the Parish Records.
If John and Sarah were living in London at the time of Thomas's birth (married in Marylebone in 1799 and living in East Street in 1823) it is possible that Sarah was either visiting her parents in Little Gaddesden when he was born or that she went there specifically to have the baby. Alternatively, though if John found a wife in London they may not have moved there permanently until after 1805.
Two baptisms of a Sarah Morris are recorded in the I.G.I. One was on 8 October 1775, parents Thomas and Mary and the other on 9 February 1777, parents William and Elizabeth. Both occurred in Marylebone. She could have been either of these.
Other than Martha Morris no brothers or sisters of Thomas Cooley have been traced with the possible exception of Anstis Caroline Jane. Anstis was a family name, her parents were a John and Sarah and she was baptised in St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, the parish church for Finsbury Market. The date of her baptism, however, was 29 April 1830 when John and Sarah would have been in their mid-50s but it could have been an adult baptism.
The death of a John Cooley aged 70 was registered in the Berkhamstead District (in which Little Gaddesden is located) in June 1845. (Formal registration started in July 1837.) It seems likely that he was Thomas's father who would by then have been retired and may have been a widower.
John Cowley's parents were probably Nehemiah Cooley and Anstiss nee Todd, the source of Thomas Todd Cooley's middle name in later life. They were married in Little Gaddesden on 15 December 1774. He was a blacksmith and his name appears in the Militia Lists of 1778 - 82 as an able-bodied man available for military service. From the date of his burial at Little Gaddesden on 19 December 1830 aged 80 he must have been born in 1750. Strangely he was not baptised until 6 November 1830, only a few weeks before his death. There are no memorial stones to any Cooleys in Little Gaddesden churchyard.
From the date of Anstiss' burial at Little Gaddesden on 21 January 1841 aged 87 she must have been born in 1753. Her name appears as the occupant of one of 3 cottages in Little Gaddesden in the mid-18th Century. These cottages still stand being now converted into one house. At the time of her death she was said to be a resident of Frithsden.
Records of known children of Nehemiah and Anstiss list James, William, Charles Easter and Sarah. They were baptised in 1787, 1790, 1792 and 1795 respectively, Charles at Easter-time. This leaves a large gap of 13 years between the marriage in 1774 and the first known child James in 1787. It seems logical that John Cowley, baptised in 1775 and Sarah Cowley, baptised in 1778, both at Little Gaddesden, should fill part of this gap. Though the Parish Records do not show the names of their parents Little Gaddesden was and still is a small village and the coincidence of the name Todd points to this as a reasonable deduction.
18th Century Cooleys
Pre-dating Nehemiah and Anstiss were two more Nehemiahs who it seems likely, because of the name, were his father and grandfather. The father, if he was such, was born around 1715, being buried aged about 65 on 13 August 1780 when he was recorded as "a pauper of Ivinghoe". He was probably married in the 1740s, certainly to a lady named Sarah, maiden name unknown, who was buried in 1776. This Nehemiah also was baptised only a month before his burial, on 16 July 1780.
Grandfather Nehemiah married Sara Rolfe on 31 May 1711. He was described as "of Tring" when he was buried at Aston Ivinghoe on 22 February 1759 in his 70s. He was thus born around 1685. Sara was buried on 17 October 1748.
If all of these suppositions about the 3 Nehemiahs and John Cowley are correct the Cooley line has now been traced back to the days of the Stuarts, of the Catholic King James 11 (1685), William (of Orange) and Mary (1689) and the rebuilding of London by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of September 1666.
Of the supposed brothers and sisters of John Cowley, James married Margaret Clifton on 11 July 1806 at Little Gaddesden. They had 6 children baptised between 1808 and 1825, Thomas, Martha, Hannah, William, Sarah and George. Thomas died aged 1. Charles Easter married Ann Tomlin on 30 November 1825 and they had a daughter Eliza Ann baptised at Little Gaddesden 12 November 1826. Charles was a clerk at Frithsden, part of the Ashridge Estate, so clearly was an educated man. Sarah was buried at Little Gaddesden on 15 January 1796 a year to the day after her baptism.
The 1841 Census of Frithsden, which is only a few miles from Little Gaddesden, shows James, a Labourer, aged 50. In this, the first census, ages were rounded up or down to the nearest 5 so this was probably the son of Nehemiah, Thomas's brother, now a widower and actually aged 53. Living with him were a Sarah aged 20 and a George aged 15, probably his own two youngest children actually aged 24 and 16 respectively. There was also an Emma, aged 10, who was possibly his grand-daughter actually aged 7, baptised at Bushey on 16 March 1834 with parents William and Elizabeth. A fourth child, Daniel aged 15, cannot be traced. As Anstis was shown to be a resident of Frithsden when she died in 1841 (but before the census) perhaps she, a widow of some 10 years, was living with her son James at the time.
Foster has spent countless hours researching and writing about his wife Nancy's Cooley family, and I thank him for his painstaking work which I have reproduced here with permission.
More information about the Cooley family has been provided by a distant cousin living in Hertfordshire. His name is Brian Lake and he has kindly supplied me with all his family tree files.