Elvira Cooley 1833-1916

COOLEY, KAY, BUCKNAM, OBRIEN, CROW, BANGHART, RUSSELL, WINCHELL

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 1/31/2021 at 08:19:22

20 January 1916 - Cascade Pioneer

Mrs. Elvira Buckman Cooley, whose lifetime spanned the history of Cascade and vicinity, died Sunday morning at the home of her daughter, Mrs. C. L. Kay, at the age 83 years. Her death was due to the natural decline of old age. Late this fall she had been visited with a weak spell and on recovery was taken to the home of her daughter.

Elvira Bucknam was a daughter of Caleb Bucknam, the founder of the town of Cascade. She was born at Pontiac, Mich., Jan. 8, 1833, and at the age of eight years came to Cascade with her parents, and she was therefore among the very first settlers of this community. It was interesting to hear her recall many of the incidents and affairs of pioneer days in this community. When she came here there were only three log cabins and Indians were plentiful but friendly. She and her sister, the late Mrs. G. G. Banghart, had for their companions and playmates several little Indian girls of the Musquakie tribe. That was over seventy years ago, and there were many primitive ways in the settlement, but it was the age of the great pioneering days of the American nation, enacted all along the great outpost of civilization, where men and women were constantly pressing westward. She saw many changes during her lifetime. She rode behind the ox-teams of the early settlers and lived to recline with ease and comfort in the wonderful automobile of the twentieth century. Her father, the founder of Cascade, owned most of the land embodied in the town west of the river. She saw woodland vanish and the prairies and the hillsides develop by the husbandry of man, and the Indian trails and campfires give way to the highways of steel and to habitations of civilized men and the dominant race.

She was the last of the first settlers and was a type of woman of another age, a survivor of a time of which only a few remember. An age of hardships, measured by the comforts of the present, but a wonderful age of men and women, builders of empire and sentinels of the outposts.

Elvira Buckman was married on September 8, 1848, in this place, to James Cooley, who was also a pioneer settler, who died May 24, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Cooley lived for a while in Fillmore, then at Colesburg, and in the country in this vicinity, but the greater part of their lives was spent in Cascade.

Mrs. Cooley is survived by two sons and three daughters, as follows: Magnus Cooley, of Auburn, Cal.; Edward L. Cooley, of Cascade; Hattie, now Mrs. C. L. Kay, of Farley; Carrie, now Mrs. J. J. O'Brien, of Madison, S.D.; Frank Cooley, of Cascade; and Lois, now Mrs. John Crow, of Madison, S.D.; and also is survived by twenty-seven grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren. One son, A. J. Cooley, preceded her in death. Her sisters were the late Mrs. G. G. Banghart, Mrs. Artemus Russell, and Mrs. Charles Winchell, and her brothers were Jonathan Bucknam, of California. and William Bucknam, of Dubuque county, all of whom preceded her in death, making the last of her father's family.

Mrs. Cooley was a kind and dutiful mother, and faithful wife. She loved her home life, and she had implicit faith in the power of her Saviour to bring her to the life everlasting.

The remains were brought to Cascade Tuesday forenoon and were taken to the Baptist church, and at 2 o'clock services were conducted by the Rev. H. H. King, pastor. Many old friends attended the funeral and looked for the last time upon the features of one of the best known and highly respected woman of the locality.

The pall-bearers were Charles Macomber, J. L. Fober, E. Moore, William Fagan, George W. Craft and J. B. Dominy.

The relatives from abroad who attended the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Kay and Miss Ruth, Farley; Mr. and Mrs. J. J. O'Brien and Mr. and Mrs. John Crowe and son Leslie, of Madison, S.D. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kay, JR. of Farley; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Kay, of Monticello, and Mrs Jennie Dudley, of Manchester.