My Genealogy Hound

W. C. COOLEY was born in Montgomery county, Ind., in January, 1837. Mr. Cooley may be ranked among the pioneers of Jasper county, arriving in 1841, at the age of four years. He was married in January, 1860, to Margaret M. Jackson. They have three children, the names of whom are Alice, Isabella, and William. Mrs. Cooley died in May, 1875, having been born, raised, married, and died on the same farm. She was an exemplary member of the Baptist Church. Growing up from a boy to manhood, he can remember some of the early experiences of which the following is an illustration: The swine had to be housed close to the house to keep the wolves from destroying the young. He remembers to have seen five hundred Osage Indians marching single file on their hunting trails from one stream to another, also droves of two hundred deer crossing the country. Mr. Cooley’s father was judge of the first court in Jasper county, and enjoyed a large and prosperous law practice, being known far and near, Judge Cooley was the first at a sick bed and though making no pretensions, he is said to have had the largest number of patients in the county. He was also one of the first teachers in the primitive school-houses. Mrs. Cooley’s father, Mr. Jackson, built the first flour and saw-mills in the county. The farm of Mr. Cooley is producing some fine paying zinc ore, which promises fabulous proportions ere long.