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D. S. Cooley
Born October 28, 1827 |
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For the past ten years the village of Onslow has claimed D. S. Cooley as one of its most honored and respected retired citizens. The rest which he now enjoys is well merited for throughout a long period he was busily engaged in farming and still owns a valuable property of two hundred and thirty-two acres in Wyoming township, Jones county. Mr. Cooley was born in Licking county, Ohio, October 28, 1827, a son of Clark and Mary (Sinkey) Cooley. The father was born in the state of New York, while the mother claimed Pennsylvania as the place of her birth. They removed to Licking county at a very early day and the father there purchased a tract of timber land. He at once made a small clearing sufficient to erect a log cabin and after getting his family settled in this crude dwelling he gave his time to clearing the remainder of the land, which in due time he placed under cultivation and reaped good harvests. He made his home in Licking county until the fall of 1841, when attracted by the opportunities offered farther west, he made his way to Jackson county, Iowa, and there entered a claim, which be improved and cultivated until his death. His family numbered twelve children but only two are now living-our subject and one daughter.
D. S. Cooley early became familiar with pioneer life. He was reared in Licking county to the age of fourteen years and while there assisted his father in the arduous task of developing and improving his farm. The family then removed to Jackson county, Iowa, and there, too, the son shared in the hardships incident to making a home in a new country. The advantages he enjoyed were few; In the summer months he had to assist in the farm work and in the winter seasons pursued his studies in one of the old-time log schoolhouses, in which the methods of instruction were quite as primitive as the structure. He remained under the parental roof until he attained his majority, when he entered a tract of land in Jackson county, which he developed and improved, making his home thereon for a decade. In the spring of 1860 he traded that land for a farm of two hundred and thirty-two acres in Wyoming township, Jones county. Removing to that place he there made his home for thirty-nine years and during this period saw much arduous labor. At that time the farm machinery was crude as compared to that used at the present time and to cultivate a farm of that acreage meant much hard labor. However, Mr. Cooley was equal to the task and as the years passed he prospered, each year gathering rich crops as a reward for his work. In 1899, believing that he was comfortably situated in life and that he might spend the remainder of his days in rest, he took tip his abode in Onslow, where he has since made his home. He occupies here a comfortable residence and is surrounded by a host of warm friends. He still retains possession of his farm property and this supplies him with all the comforts of life.
On the 22d of September, 1850, Mr. Cooley was married to Miss Katherine Hogle, who was born in Licking county, Ohio, January 11, 1832, a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Baker) Hogle, the former born in New York and the latter in Maryland. They reared a family of four children. Both the parents are now deceased, the father passing away in Licking county, while the mother died at the home of her daughter in Jones county. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cooley have been born seven children, three sons and four daughters, as follows: Smith, now a resident of Lyon county, Kansas; Geneva, the wife of Samuel Paul, a resident of Onslow; Oscar, of Oakland, California; Elizabeth, the wife of J. F. Cohoon, of Cedar Falls, Iowa; Louie Bell, the wife of 0. E. Tabor, of Jackson county, this state; Josephine, deceased; and R. D., a resident of Wyoming township, Jones county.
Mr. Cooley has always given his political support to the men and measures of democracy but has never been active in the work of the party or in public affairs, the only public office he ever filled being that of school treasurer. Both he and his wife are consistent and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Cooley is regarded as one of the worthy pioneers of Jones county, who, though in a quiet way, has exerted immeasurable influence upon the community in which he has so long made his home, and now in the evening of his days he is enabled to enjoy, with his wife, the accumulations of the passing years.
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 102. |
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© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
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