COOLEY, J. G.

by Lee R. Cooley

Entry F82 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Johnson and Elizabeth Cooley 1887 Wedding

  The Life and Times of "J.G." Cooley

The Cooley's have been an integral part of
American history for over 350 years and they
have been a part of the history of Hooker
County, Nebr. since about 1887 (when the
County was "Unorganized territory"). Rob-
ert Cooley (1596- ) & family emigrated from
England to America in 1634. (1) Robert's son
Benjamin located near Springfield, Mass. (2)
Seven generations later "JG" (Johnson
Grimes) Cooley (1860-1944) left his boyhood
farm home near Scotts, Kalamazoo County,
Mich., (about 1880). He came to Lincoln,
Nebr. & worked in (his Uncle's) flour mill for
a few months then worked on Metzger's farm
near Lincoln. About 1886 he worked on the
construction of the CB&Q Railroad from
Ravenna, Nebr. to Whitman, Nebr. When
construction ended for the season he evident-
ly went to the Chadron, Nebr. area &
homesteaded a quarter section on the Mirage
Flats between Chadron & Hay Springs, Nebr.
He married Elizabeth Mann (1863-1930) in
1887.

She had emigrated from Pinchback-Bars,
Lincolnshire, England with her parents at age
7 (in 1870). They probably docked in New
York City, came through the Erie Canal,
down the Ohio River & up the Missouri River
to locate near Ford City, Gentry Co., Mo.
Mann's moved to the Chadron area in 1885
when Elizabeth was 22. She was a school
teacher & had also homesteaded a quarter
section on the Mirage Flats. Times were hard
& cash was short. One fall JG set out with a
wagon load of slaughtered pigs & drove down
into the sandhills selling the pork for cash to
ranchers. Due to successive drouth they dried
out about 1897-98. In the spring JG traded
the two quarter sections for a team of 2 old
horses & a set of chain harness, moved by
wagon to the ranch about 25 miles north of
Ashby, Nebr. with Erwin (1888-1960), John
(1891-1975), Leslie (1893-1954) & Mary
(1896-1969). An entry in Elizabeth's notes
states simply "Rocked Mary to sleep in the
hills under the stars" north of Ashby.

JG was chairman of the election board one
year. It was his job to take the completed
ballots to Valentine, Nebr. He started out on
horseback the morning after election. A new
snowfall had occurred. It was quite deep &
had crusted hard. The horse kept breaking
through the crust. After going a short dis-
tance JG knew the horse was going to tire out
& get footsore quickly, so he took the horse
home & walked to Valentine with the ballots
(80 air miles).

JG's lived there until about 1904, where
Lew (1899-1974), an unnamed baby (B&D
about 1900) and Ray 91902- 1962) were born.
Erwin stayed on the Ashby ranch & the rest
of the family moved to the Mullen, Nebr. area
to secure better schooling for the other
children. At first they rented land & a sod
house north of Mullen (now the Chas. Elliott
ranch). Later they settled on the ranch on the
south prong of the Middle Loup River 4 miles
north of Hecla, Nebr. Cash was short so JG
"located" homesteaders in the Hecla area.
Ranchers (and "squatters" (with free range))
did not like homesteaders coming in because
it depleated their free rangeland. The ranch-
er's agent was attempting to discourage JG
from locating homesteaders. Finally an alter-
cation developed between JG and the man in
the Hecla Store. The man evidently had a
revolver, was threatening JG & shot him in
the shoulder. JG was a strong, husky &
powerful man. In spite of his injured shoulder
he wrestled the man to the floor, was choking
him & had his tongue hanging out before
onlookers pulled JG off. After JG got home
John strapped on a pistol & went to Hecla
looking for the man but fortunately never
found him.

Lee (1908- ) was born at the ranch north
of Hecla. One disaster Lee recalls occurred
Christmas morning in 1913. Lew got up early
on account of Christmas & started a roaring
fire. The log (or sod) house was chinked with
rags & the ceiling rafters were covered with
heavy building paper. One of the rags caught
fire on the hot chimney (stove pipe?). Lew
yanked the rag down to stomp out the fire but
the rag caught at the ceiling & before he could
get it loose fire had spread up the rag to the
ceiling & throughout the house. Although Lee
was only 4 or 5 years old, he remembers being
carried outside in his bed while others were
trying to put out the fire. It was a futile
attempt and the house was destroyed.

(1) Hotten's List of Emigrants to America,
pp 277-279.

(2) The Cooley Genealogy Mortimer E.
Cooley, Tuttle Publishing Co., Rutland, VT.
(Ref. Library of Congress). 1941.