Sarah (UNKNOWN) Cooley (abt. 1620 - 1684)

Born about 1620 in England [uncertain]

Wife of Benjamin Cooley — married about 1642 in Springfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 23 Aug 1684 at about age 64 in Longmeadow, Springfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Jillaine Smith [send private message], Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], John Putnam [send private message], and Steven Barcomb [send private message]

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:

1. 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:
   1. While Benjamin and George were very close, their lines did not intermarry for many generations.
   2. 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]
2. Others^{[citation needed]} have suggested TREMAINE and SAVAGE as possible surnames (including husband Thomas Savage, with no valid source.
3. 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]
   1. 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:
      1. Phoebe was the sister of Benjamin Cooley, this is the conclusion that Eleanor Cooley Rue put forward above
      2. Benjamin's wife Sarah (surname also unknown) was the sister of Richard Sikes
      3. Phoebe Sikes and Sarah Cooley were sisters.
   2. 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

1. ↑ 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.
2. ↑ Art Sikes, "Who is Sarah wife of Benjamin Cooley and Phebe wife of Richard Sikes?" RootsWeb Cooley Message board, 17 Apr 2007; link
3. ↑ 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.

See also:

• John Alden of Ashfield, Mass., and Chautauqua County, New York. His Alden ancestors and his descendants. Comp. by Frank Wesley Alden, Delaware, Ohio. Published 1909 by Printed for private circulation
• Longmeadow Families - New England Historical and Genealogical Register
• Genealogy of Early Settlers of Trenton and Ewing "Old Hunterdon County" New Jersey

• Find A Grave: Memorial #57503198