Person Page 1,824

Reuben Smith was born on 15 December 1785 in West Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts.

Quartus Smith was born on 4 May 1788 in West Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts.

Sarah Smith was born on 14 April 1801 in West Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts.

Albert Gallatin Fellows was born on 5 September 1798 in Luzerne, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. He died on 2 March 1880 at age 81 in Saint George, Washington County, Utah.

He married Sally Marie Hanford 5 Sep 1826 in Rutland, VT.

Phebe Louisa Fellows was born on 5 January 1801 in Huntington, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. She died on 26 April 1866 at age 65 in Huntington Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

She married Timothy Weston Hunt February 1825.

Festus A. Fellows was born in 1802 in Huntington, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. He died on 3 March 1854 at age ~52.

He married Harriet Stow.

Hiram Fellows was born in 1804 in Huntington, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. He died on 24 January 1854 at age ~50.

He married Sara Hungington 13 Feb 1833.

Emma Maria Fellows was born on 28 June 1807 in Onondaga, Onondaga County, New York.

James Harlow Fellows was born on 14 April 1809 in Onondaga, Onondaga County, New York. He died on 27 April 1884 at age 75.

He married Josephine Knight 8 May 1833.

Roxa Climens Fellows was born on 10 May 1811 in Onondaga, Onondaga County, New York. She died in July 1863 at age 52.

She married John Shaw 1 Feb 1837.

Cynthia Fellows was born on 25 December 1813 in Onondaga, Onondaga County, New York. She died in December 1870 at age ~57 in Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois.

Harriet Fellows was born on 14 April 1809 in Onondaga, Onondaga County, New York.

Philip Smith was born on 1 May 1689 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.

David Smith was born on 23 April 1691 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.

Sarah Eggleston was born on 20 April 1683 in East Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut. Jonathon Bliss and she were married on 7 March 1702.

Ebenezer Bliss and Mary Gaylord were married.

Henry Chapin was born on 19 March 1679 in Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts. He and Esther Bliss were married. He died on 15 September 1754 at age 75 in Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts.

Henry Chapin was born in 1631.

Bethia Cooley was born in 1643.

BENJAMIN COOLEY settled in the Springfield, Massachusetts area by about 1643. With the group arriving about 1643 came also George Colton who during the subsequent forty years was the inseparable companion of Benjamin Cooley. In 1649 they took the oath of fidelity together. That same year they were jointly fined for keeping cattle under improper conditions. In 1656, Colton and Cooley, with three others, were appointed to dispose of the lands at Woronoco. In 1657, Richard Fellows petitioned the General Court for two hundred acres of land in the present town of Palmer and prayed that it be laid out by George Colton and Benjamin Cooley. For years these two men dominated affairs at Longmeadow. It is believed that Benjamin and George were related and that Benjamin had married George's sister Sarah.

Benjamin helped to build the first church in Springfield. Benjamin Cooley was chosen 19 times, and served 18 times, as a Selectman of Springfield, between 1646 and 1680. This was during the time of "witchcraft" hearings, and Benjamin was in attendance at more than one of these, testifying against his neighbors. On March 4, 1650/51, there died at Springfield, Joshua Parsons, infant son of Hugh Parsons and his wife, Mary Lewis. The available evidence indicates that the child succumbed to croup or some similar ailment, but the father was accused of witchcraft in connection with the death. Benjamin Cooley testified in court that when Parsons spoke to him to go to the burial of his child, he cannot remember any sorrow that Parsons showed, for he came to him taking a pipe of tobacco. Goody Cooley testified that this was at the first time the child was taken. There was some speeches used that it might be bewitched, for those that are now bewitched have often times something rise up into their throats that doth stop their breath and it seems by George Colton's testimony that the child was strangely taken. In fact, as Ensign, Benjamin Cooley was often required by the court to "watch" citizens accused of witchcraft and was asked to report on any strange behavior, such as with Hugh Parsons who was accused of witchcraft and "removed" to Boston.

Beginning in year 1656, Benjamin began to acquire lots of land in Long Meadow, Massachusetts, an area of Springfield. He completed a home there in 1660. Indians lived nearby and very close to the homes built by settlers. The settlers were granted rights to build ponds on their land, provided that the draining of swamp land did not impede the Indians' ability to gather cranberries. All of these grants were in the long-meadow and all were made with the proviso that "the Indians be not wronged in their pease," referring of course to cranberries, the sasachiminesh that they had reserved in the deed of 1636. Evidently these grantees were acquiring cranberry bogs and it would seem that in the language of the day, a bog was a pond. Soon after and during King Philip's War, practically all of the natives deserted this valley. During the night of October 4, 1675, long after the settlers were asleep, a moccasin-footed messenger sped through the hamlet of Longmeadow. The Indian Totoe, of Windsor, impelled by "the great respect and many kindnesses he had received and for the love he bore" to the English, was making his way to Springfield with a warning of impending danger. Incited by King Philip's successes, Wequogan, the Hadley sachem, had the night before led by a winding path, with noiseless stealth, four score of his Indian warriors into the palisaded village that the English had built for their dusky neighbors on the reservation on Long Hill. There they joined the score of local Indians. Hidden by the stockade, the leader postponed for a day the sack of Springfield for his scouts to retrieve from Hartford the hostages that the Springfield people had incarcerated there, and during the journey the native scouts had revealed their secret to Totoe, a Windsor Indian, a protege of the Wolcott family there. The messenger, bearing the secret, hurried on. Thus forewarned, three substantial houses in Springfield town were garrisoned and in them the settlers found asylum. One of these was at the lower end of the town, the home of Jonathan Burt, that had been built by Hugh Parsons. Further up the street, the house of the widow Margaret Bliss was chosen. Still further north was the impregnable home of John Pynchon, built about 1662, the first brick house in the Connecticut Valley, later known as the "Old Fort." At one of these three garrisoned houses, Ensign Benjamin Cooley would have been on duty while, by virtue of his office, Quartermaster George Colton would have been with the Troopers at the Hadley headquarters. Throughout those endless hours the Longmeadow settlers watched the smoke of the burning town in utter helplessness. The winter passed in a state of siege. With the coming of the spring, Longmeadow folk gradually ventured out again. With the death of King Philip, in August 1676, life in the valley became quite normal, though it was another seventy-five years before rumors of impending danger entirely ceased.

In August of 1676, Ensign Cooley was added to the committee for the meeting house affairs. Then came the year 1679. Benjamin Cooley was growing old. Though in years he was but sixty-two, he had led an active and strenuous life and men aged early in those days. At a General Court held in Boston, 28th May, 1679: "In answer to the petition of Benjamin Cooley, ensigne to the Foot Company at Springfield, humbly desiring the favor of this Court, to lay down his place, being aged and deaf" the Court grants his request. And when another meet person is presented, they will not be wanting to approve thereof. A new Ensign to the Foot Company at Springfield was designated in May of 1681, and Benjamin Cooley was finally able to retire. August 17, 1684, Benjamin Cooley died at the age of sixty-seven. Six days later died Sarah, his wife, the mother of his eight children. Five sons and three daughters they had brought to maturity.

During his forty years in Springfield, Benjamin Cooley acquired a competence far beyond the average, while yet retaining the good will of his fellows. At his coming he acquired forty acres of mediocre land. At his death he owned 524 acres of the choicest. He had houses and barns to meet his own needs and those of his eldest sons. Of livestock, gear and equipment and the merchandise of his trade he had a sufficiency. The debts he owed, amounting to œ9-16s-6d were more than offset by the œ15-15s-2d due to him. The inventory of his estate totaled over 1241 pounds sterling, having a present-day value of perhaps $60,000.29. As were all their contemporaries, Benjamin Cooley and his wife were interred in the ancient "burying place" by the riverside in Springfield, west of the church that he had helped to build. No stones marked their graves for no lasting stone was then to be had in the community. There Benjamin and Sarah rested until the coming of the railroad. In 1849, to make room for the tracks, the remains of 2404 bodies and 517 markers were removed to the Springfield Cemetery on the hill that had been opened in 1841. The original house built by Benjamin Cooley in Springfield, Mass., about 1644, has of course long since disappeared. Not even a sketch survives. This house was located on the site of the present 537 Main Street in Springfield, between Broad and Marble streets. On the site of the barn on the west side of Main Street (No. 534) stood Thomas Goldthwait's pottery in 1766. A white frame house now stands on this barnsite. After Benjamin Cooley removed permanently to the Long-meadow, he sold this original Springfield home to Richard Sikes, in 1667/8, and both house and barn were burned by the Indians in the sack of the town on October 5, 1675.

The name Cooley is probably a corruption of Cowley. The ancestors of the Duke of Wellington wrote their name indifferently Celley, Cowley, and Cooley. The Cooleys evidently became a separate family very early. (Sources for the above include: 1) King's Handbook of Springfield, page 224, 2) Mass. Colony Records, Vol. V, page 236, 3) Burt, Vol. II, page 120, and, 4) The Cooley Genealogy)
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More About Ensign Benjamin Cooley:
Name 2: Benjamin Coley
Burial: Bet. August 18, 1684 - 1849, moved to Springfield Cemetery on the hill
Lived In 1: Bet. 1642 - 1643, Springfield, Massachusetts891
Lived In 2: Bet. 1657 - 1658, in the Long Meadow near the Great River891
Occupation 1: Bet. 1657 - 1681, Ensign of the Foot Company at Springfield, Massachusetts892
Occupation 2: Bet. 1650 - 1680, Weaver of Linen893
Occupation 3: 1664, Member of Board of Selectman, Long Meadow
Will: September 30, 1684, presented to Springfield Court893

Notes for Sarah Savage Colton:
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SARAH COLTON was married to Benjamin Cooley. August 17, 1684, Benjamin Cooley died at the age of sixty-seven. Six days later died Sarah, his wife, the mother of his eight children. Five sons and three daughters they had brought to maturity. As one recalls the terrific infant mortality of those days, he realizes what an unusual type of mother Sarah Cooley must have been to have carried her entire brood safely through the dangerous period.
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More About Sarah Savage Colton:
Name 2: Sarah Colton
Burial: Bet. August 24, 1684 - 1849, moved to Springfield Cemetery on the hill.