Sarah (UNKNOWN) Cooley migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm
Disputed Origins
While no definitive source for Sarah's maiden name has yet been found, several theories have been put forward:
Some researchers believe she may be the sister of Benjamin's close friend George Colton, but there is no documentation of this. Circumstantial evidence includes:
While Benjamin and George were very close, their lines did not intermarry for many generations.
There was a Sarah Collen who joined the Dorchester church in 1640, a month after Phebe Cooley Sikes, sister of Benjamin. Note the closeness in spelling between COLLEN and COLTON. She therefore could have been still single at this time.[1]
Others[citation needed] have suggested TREMAINE and SAVAGE as possible surnames (including husband Thomas Savage, with no valid source.
In a 17 April 2007 posting to the Cooley RootsWeb message board, Art Sikes suggested she might be sister of Richard Sikes' wife Phebe and the two of them Desboroughs of Roxbury, Massachusetts:[2]
Benjamin Cooley's 1684 will described some land given to his sons which lyeth betwist Anthony Dorchester and my cousin Sikes land there. Richard Sikes was dead by this time but his sons were living in Springfield. If Richard Sikes and Benjamin Cooley were cousins, then three possibilities exist:
Phoebe was the sister of Benjamin Cooley, this is the conclusion that Eleanor Cooley Rue put forward above
Benjamin's wife Sarah (surname also unknown) was the sister of Richard Sikes
Phoebe Sikes and Sarah Cooley were sisters.
In 2005, a researcher published new information about a Desborough family of Roxbury, Massachusetts. This family included two daughters-- Sarah and Phebe-- for whom no further information had been found once having arrived in New England.[3] "Phebe was baptized in Saffron Walden, Essex, England on 2 April 1615 and Sarah was baptized 8 May 1617. Roxbury and Dorchester are adjoining towns what is now Boston and Richard surely had some connections/contacts in Roxbury because that is where William Pynchon lived before moving and forming Springfield and later [presumably?] asked Richard Sikes and Benjamin Cooley to join him there."
Biography
Whoever she was, she married Benjamin Cooley.
She died 23 August 1684 in Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts.
Sources
↑ Eleanore L. Cooley Rue, "Did Benjamin Cooley's sister Phebe Marry Richard Sikes of Springfield, Massachusetts, Proving Both Born Tring, Hertford, England?" (October 2000), unpublished manuscript; copy in possession of Jillaine Smith.
↑ Art Sikes, "Who is Sarah wife of Benjamin Cooley and Phebe wife of Richard Sikes?" RootsWeb Cooley Message board, 17 Apr 2007; link
↑ William W. Fiske, "The English Origin of Phebe (Perry) Desborough, wife of Walter Desborough of Roxbury, Massachusetts," The American Genealogist, 80 (2005) pages 261-263.
From the current "Disputed Origins" section, "[Other researchers] have suggested TREMAINE and SAVAGE as possible surnames (including husband Thomas Savage, with no valid source"
Like most WikiTree Pre-1700 projects, the Puritan Great Migration project bases its genealogical connections on identifiable reliable sources. See Puritan Great Migration Project Reliable Sources.
I am not able to access the link you provided, but unless the family group sheets to which the link refers based the information on reliable sources, then those might be worth further research, but alone would not support a change to her unknown surname.
Are you aware of any research that provided historical records and analysis to support her last name at birth? --Gene
I am looking. Supposedly she married Benjamin Cooley in 1642, but I am unable to find this in the records available to me online. This would probably give her maiden name.
The first known documentation of Sarah, wife of Benjamin Cooley, was the birth record of their first born child's birth record (Bethia Cooley), from 1643 in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Sarah's maiden name is still unknown, her parent's names are unknown, her birth date and birthplace are also unknown since no primary or secondary records or documentation has been discovered to prove otherwise. The birth
year and birthplace that are given for Sarah Should Be Removed, as it was taken from Sarah's memorial page on findagrave.com, which is full of undocumented, unsourced, unproven hypothetical theories. I messaged the creator of Sarah's findagrave.com memorial page (last year), and asked where did they find the documentation that shows Sarah being born in 1620 in England, there's been no reply back since no documentation exists.
Findagrave has nothing to do with her birth data. (Edited to add: and I see her memorial there has removed all birth data.)
Her birth year here is an estimate based on an estimated marriage year and on the birth year of their oldest known child, and the average age at marriage for women of her era. The birth place is also very generic-- England -- the most common birth country of her generation, of her contemporaries who settled in Massachusetts at that time. I have marked it uncertain.
It serves no one to leave to either field empty. That would hinder search efforts and open the door for duplicates to be created. (Aside: this is also why the theoretical maiden names are listed in the Other Last Name field.)
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[Do you know Sarah's family name?] | C > Cooley > Sarah (UNKNOWN) Cooley
Close inspection of the source says it was compiled primarily from family group sheets.
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From the current "Disputed Origins" section, "[Other researchers] have suggested TREMAINE and SAVAGE as possible surnames (including husband Thomas Savage, with no valid source"
Like most WikiTree Pre-1700 projects, the Puritan Great Migration project bases its genealogical connections on identifiable reliable sources. See Puritan Great Migration Project Reliable Sources.
I am not able to access the link you provided, but unless the family group sheets to which the link refers based the information on reliable sources, then those might be worth further research, but alone would not support a change to her unknown surname.
Are you aware of any research that provided historical records and analysis to support her last name at birth? --Gene
edited by GeneJ X
Another alternative was Colton. https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/16837470?cid=mem_copy This map lists Samuel, John, Thomas, and George Colton, as well as Benjamin Cooley. I do not see a source for the map?
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ma/county/hampden/hist/hist2.html Gives a census for Longmeadow in 1645, and some info on Cooley.
edited by Cindy (Brown) Croxton
year and birthplace that are given for Sarah Should Be Removed, as it was taken from Sarah's memorial page on findagrave.com, which is full of undocumented, unsourced, unproven hypothetical theories. I messaged the creator of Sarah's findagrave.com memorial page (last year), and asked where did they find the documentation that shows Sarah being born in 1620 in England, there's been no reply back since no documentation exists.
Her birth year here is an estimate based on an estimated marriage year and on the birth year of their oldest known child, and the average age at marriage for women of her era. The birth place is also very generic-- England -- the most common birth country of her generation, of her contemporaries who settled in Massachusetts at that time. I have marked it uncertain.
It serves no one to leave to either field empty. That would hinder search efforts and open the door for duplicates to be created. (Aside: this is also why the theoretical maiden names are listed in the Other Last Name field.)
edited by Jillaine Smith