Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Coonley

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Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs:
Coonley

[This information is from Vol. IV, pp. 1639-1640 of Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, edited by Cuyler Reynolds (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911). It is in the Reference collection of the Schenectady County Public Library at R 929.1 R45. Some of the formatting of the original, especially in lists of descendants, may have been altered slightly for ease of reading.]

The Coonley family of Coxsackie, New York, was originally a Dutchess county family living in the town of Clinton, near the old stone meeting house. The American ancestor and emigrant was John Coonley, born in Germany, who with his young wife came to America in 1760. The family tradition is that the young couple ran away to get married and chose America as the place where they would begin their married life. They had a quick voyage over, but when almost within sight of the shores of America a storm drove their vessel far out to sea and delayed their landing several weeks. They settled in Dutchess county, New York, where John died in 1810. They had sons: Solomon, George, John, David, Samuel and Frederick. John Coonley, the father, is buried in the old stone church graveyard in the town of Clinton.

(II) Jacob, son of John Coonley, the emigrant, was born in Clinton, Dutchess county, New York, July 30, 1763, died March 15, 1818. He continued his residence in Dutchess county, where he married (first) Elizabeth Brill, February 14, 1792. He married (second) Elizabeth Ham. She died June 15, 1827. Children by second wife:

Catherine, born February 19, 1795, married Benjamin Wilbur;
Abigail, February 14, 1797, married Humphrey Mosher and removed to Mills, Bradford county, Pennsylvania;
Elizabeth, born July 28, 1799, married John W. Bedell, and removed to New Baltimore, New York;
Frederick, of further mention.

(III) Frederick, only son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Ham) Coonley, was born in Clinton, Dutchess county, New York, October 31, 1802, died 1892. He remained on the Dutchess county farm with his parents until after his marriage in 1826. He removed to the town of Greenville, Greene county, New York, where he purchased a farm at the south end of the Prevost patent. He brought his farm to a high state of fertility and became one of the prosperous men of the town. He continued his residence there all his after life, and when overtaken by years spent a quiet life amidst its congenial surroundings. He was a man of untiring energy and was highly respected for his many good qualities. He married (first) January 21, 1826, Anna Maria, daughter of Joseph Haight. She died December 28, 1830. He married (second) April 2, 1835, Eliza Griffin, died July 23, 1878. By first marriage he had two sons:

Jacob, born November 1, 1826, married Alvira, daughter of Jonathan Yeomans; children:
1. Adelaide, married John Stevens, and had two daughters Zallah and Hattie;
2. Eliza;
3. Annie.
Platt, of further mention.

By second marriage he had seven children:

Henry, born May, 1836, died 1857.
Theodore, born April 3, 1838, married Augusta Goff, and had a daughter Susan.
Maria, born April 17, 1840, married Pierce Stevens.
Mary E., born April 25, 1842, died 1859.
Dr. Edgar D., born July 12, 1844, married Amelia Durland; children: Frederick, Mary E., Carleton.
Lorenzo, born January 12, 1847, married Sarah A. Smith.
Charles A., born August 29, 1849, married Ella Roe; child,
1. Henry G., born November 28, 1878.

(IV) Platt, second son of Frederick and Anna Maria (Haight) Coonley, was born in Greenville, Greene county, New York, August 28, 1828. He was educated in the public schools of Greenville and a private school at Freehold, Greene county. He remained on the home farm with his father until 1866, when he removed to Coxsackie, where he first conducted a meat market, later added a grocery store, continuing until 1883. In that year he became interested in river transportation, a business he has ever since continued. He became associated with the Reed & Powell Transportation Company, of which he was for several years treasurer and is now president. He was elected president of the Coxsackie National Bank in 1870, an office he now fills. He was elected trustee of the village corporation, 1871-72; supervisor, 1872; sheriff of Greene county, 1873-76, proving a most popular and efficient official. He was appointed postmaster of Coxsackie by President Garfield in 1881, but resigned in 1883. He is a Republican in politics, and a vestryman of Christ Episcopal Church. He married Kate, daughter of James Kent and Eliza Mosher Adams, of Troy, Pennsylvania.

James Kent Adams was born in 1811, died 1895. Eliza (Mosher) Adams was born in Stanfordville, Dutchess county, New York, died in Troy, Pennsylvania, 1886, daughter of Humphrey and Abigail (Coonley) Mosher, the latter a daughter of Jacob and granddaughter of John Coonley, the emigrant from Germany. Humphrey Mosher was a son of David and ———— (Haight) Mosher, who had children: Humphrey, Stephen, Mary and David. The progenitor of the Mosher family of Dutchess county, New York, is David Mosher, who was born in England, came to America prior to the revolution. He had sons:

Jonathan, born 1755, died 1843; married Catherine Green, served in the revolutionary army, and later settled in the town of Coeymans, Albany county;
David, born 1760, settled in Dutchess county, where he married. His son David married ———— Haight, and they are the parents of Humphrey Mosher and grandparents of Eliza Mosher, who married James Kent Adams. Their daughter, Kate Adams, married Platt Coonley, of Coxsackie, New York. They have no issue.

Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs:Coonley

Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs:
Coonley