the cooleys and the wilders

The following article was written by me (copyright 1999 Nancy Cleaveland, all rights reserved, etc.), and printed in the Summer 1999 Rocky Ridge Review, a member newsletter published by the Laura Ingalls Wilder - Rose Wilder Lane Home Association in Mansfield, Missouri. A companion article - covering the early years of the Cooley family - appeared in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Lore (Volume 25, Number 1, Summer 1999), a member newsletter published by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society, Inc., in De Smet, South Dakota. That article was reprinted by the Society in The Best of the Lore in 2007. Because that booklet it available for purchase from the Society, I will not transcribe it here. See www.discoverlaura.org for information on purchasing The Best of the Lore.

After the Wilders and the Cooleys arrived in Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894, the Cooleys moved into a small farmhouse a few miles north of Mansfield. Before school began they moved to town to run a small two-story white frame hotel and lunchroom on the northeast corner of the square. An 1894 printed advertisement read: "F.M. COOLEY - Restaurant and Lunch Room - Table Supplied with the Best The Market Affords - Also a fine line of Confectionery, Fruits, Cigars & Tobacco."

By January 1896, the Cooleys had given up the hotel business and purchased a house on Commercial Street. Mr. Cooley became a partner with John Rogers in the dray and water business. They hauled goods to and from the depot and peddled water to homes and stores that had no well or pump, using a tank wagon filled with water from the spring south of town. Frank Cooley was also agent for the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, selling mostly kerosene.

The first years in Mansfield were busy ones for both the Cooleys and the Wilders, but there was still time for visiting. In later years, Rose and Paul both wrote of Sunday afternoon visits the Cooleys made to the Wilder farm. Paul and George liked playing in the ravines at Rocky Ridge Farm most of all.

Since there was no Congregational Church in Mansfield, the Cooleys joined the Methodist Church. Until the Methodists built their own building in 1899, services were held at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, west of the George Burney property. The Burneys were well-known and respected in Mansfield; land owned by Mr. Burney and sold as town lots added considerably to the original size of Mansfield. Mr. Burney was agent for the Frisco Railroad, so he and Frank Cooley saw a lot of each other, and their two families became good friends.

In December 1897, Frank Cooley came down with pneumonia. He was only 37 years old, but despite treatment by Dr. F.B. Fuson, he died on December 29th, leaving Emma a widow at age 32. Frank was buried in the Mansfield Cemetery.

The next year, Laura and Almanzo Wilder moved into town, renting the house two doors east of the Cooley home, where Emma, Paul, and George continued to live. Almanzo took over Frank Cooley's jobs, both in the draying business and as agent to the Waters-Pierce Oil Company. With the Wilders living in town, Paul and George were able to spend even more time with Rose after school hours.

Mr. Cooley had been a member of the national fraternal society, the Ancient Order of United Workmen. The A.O.U.W. provided what was known as "fraternal life insurance," a death benefit paid to a member's family. Emma Cooley received at least $1000 from this fund, money that enabled the family to keep their home. For a while, Emma again ran a small confectionery, this time out of the home. She also kept boarders. Paul had a paper route and both he and George worked at odd jobs. Mr. Burney soon asked Paul to work at the depot after school - as a "flunkey" - for a salary of six dollars per month.

Following her husband's death, Emma Cooley showed her talents as a shrewd businesswoman. Calling herself a capitalist, she made loans with the cash she had, and she easily made more money by holding mortgages at 8% per year. When a borrower failed to repay a loan on time, Mrs. Cooley had their property seized by the sheriff. She then typically purchased it at public auction for less than market value and resold it at a profit. Only one person was found to have borrowed money from Emma Cooley, not repaid their loan on time, and not be foreclosed upon. That person was Almanzo Wilder, who didn't repay his loan from Mrs. Cooley until three years after the note was due.

As neighbors in town, the Cooleys and Wilders saw each other often. Emma Cooley and Laura Wilder were members of the Methodist Ladies Aid Society. They were both mentioned in a long poem published about the history of the Methodist Church in Mansfield. It said, in part, that they were two of the original six members of the Ladies Aid and were "very good workers, honest and truly."

Only one social club in Mansfield seems to have had both Emma and Laura as members - the Interesting Hour Club. This group met at a member's home each month, where papers were presented and discussed, followed by refreshments and a social hour. Although they were friends, Emma and Laura did seem to be part of different "social circles." At one point late in life, Laura wrote that the only women left in Mansfield were part of what she called "the old group" and were not much fun to be with.

As part of his job, Paul learned to operate the telegraph key at the Depot. During that time, Mr. Burney's daughter Ethel was also learning telegraphy. A wire ran from the Depot straight to the Burney kitchen several blocks away, and when Paul wasn't busy with other obligations, he and Ethel practiced sending and receiving messages to each other. Mr. Burney served as their tutor. Returning to Mansfield after graduating from high school in Louisiana, Rose Wilder learned the basics of telegraphy from Ethel and Mr. Burney as well. Rose was so enamoured with it that she ordered a telegraph sounder and key from the Montgomery Ward catalog and began her career as a telegraph operator.

In 1900, the entire Mansfield High School consisted of 29 students, including Paul and George Cooley. A ninth grade had been added, but in 1901 it became apparent that Paul and George Cooley, much like Rose Wilder, were capable of going beyond what Mansfield had to offer. All three left the Mansfield school. In September, 1901, after being urged by Mr. Burney to quit school at work for the Railroad full time, Paul Cooley quit school and moved to a rented room at the home of banker Noah J. Craig. Although he was academically gifted and longed to finish high school, discontent over a teacher's departure and the removal of Latin from the curriculum helped Paul to make his decision. Paul must have also felt the need to help his family financially.

George Cooley had decided that he wanted to become a preacher, and discontent over a favorite teacher's departure and the removal of Latin from the curriculum prompted Mrs. Cooley to rent the house in Mansfield, moving with George to Springfield, Missouri, where George entered Drury Academy to prepare for college and continue his Latin. For the next three years, Emma ran a boys' boarding club called Woodland Cottage.

With his mother and brother no longer in Mansfield, Paul decided to leave as well, accepting a job as Railroad Agent in Osceola, Arkansas. After a short time, he moved on to a better-paying position as Agent in Blytheville, Arkansas. He wasn't yet 18 years old so he had to get written permission from his mother in order to draw his monthly salary of $50 in his own name. When George started college, Emma moved to Blytheville to live with Paul, and George joined them during his summer vacations.

George graduated from Drury College in 1907 and began his studies to become a minister at Chicago Theological Seminary the same year. After graduation from Seminary, George entered the Newark Methodist Conference and was assigned to a church in Hope, New Jersey. Emma left Arkansas and moved to New Jersey to keep house for George.

Shortly after Paul had moved to Blytheville, he met Odessa Hollipeter, daughter of the owner of the sawmill and electric company. Paul left the Railroad to become bookkeeper for Mr. Hollipeter, and then he started keeping company with Mr. Hollipeter's daughter. Paul and Odessa were married on Thanksgiving Day, 1909, a marriage that lasted forty-five years and blessed them with two children. Their son William became a Methodist minister; sadly, he lost his life at a young age in an automobile accident. Paul and Odessa's daughter Marian graduated from the University of Tennessee and became a teacher and a librarian. She settled in northeast Arkansas, where she is still living.

George Cooley continued his education, enrolling in Drew University Theological college; he was ordained Deacon in the Methodist Church in 1910, serving at a number of Methodist churches in New Jersey over the next several years. In 1913, he married Ella Reed. In 1917, Ella gave birth to a son, Harold, but not long after his birth, she died in the flu epidemic. Emma Cooley had returned to Arkansas to help Paul and Odessa with their children; now she moved back to New Jersey to live with George and look after baby Harold.

Soon George was assigned to churches in New York; there he met Frances Carr and they were married in 1919. Once again Emma changed households, returning to live with Paul. Emma became active in the Red Cross, serving as the first Red Cross secretary in Blytheville.

George Cooley had five sons: Harold, Frank, Arthur, Ralph, and adopted a nephew, Charles. The boys all grew up in the southern Catskills region where their grandparents had both been born and raised. Three sons followed their father into the Christian ministry, three joined the U.S. Air Force. Only two sons are still living, Frank and Charles.

George always served at least two - and once five - small Methodist congregations at a time. George was also avidly interested in music; as a young boy he had studied the violin. He occasionally composed songs for youth groups, and as a minister, he often led the singing in this congregations with a strong tenor voice. Singing around the piano at home was a frequent evening pastime for the family, with Frances Cooley at the piano.

The Cooelys always kept in touch with friends they had known in Mansfield: the Wilders, the Burneys, neighbor Carrie Rogers (whose house was between the Cooleys and Wilders).Paul and Rose continued to correspond. Ethel Burney became a telegrapher, married a railroad engineer, and moved to Springfield; and Paul and Odessa often visited them there. Paul and Odessa also visited with the Wilders at Rocky Ridge Farm. Emma returned to Mansfield whenever she could, sometimes with Paul and Odessa, sometimes alone.

The Cooley and Burney families especially kept in touch. After the Cooleys had moved away, George Burney - Ethel's father and Paul's mentor - had been elected Mayor of Mansfield, serving from 1911 to 1915. He also continued to serve as Agent for the Frisco Railroad, a position he held for over thirty-five years.

On Valentine's Day in 1924, George Burney and Emma Cooley were married in Paul's home in Blytheville; Mr. Burney had been a widower for several years. George and Emma returned to Mansfield to live in the Burney home, and Emma continued her work with the Red Cross. She also served as the County Probation Officer for Wright County in 1924. Emma was again active in the Methodist Church in Mansfield. She again attended Ladies Aid Society meetings and presented papers at club meetings. One paper Emma presented was on education, and it asked the question: "If a young person could read just one book a month for the next year, what books would you advise him to read?"

Emma's marriage to George Burney was a happy one, but all too brief. Less than three years after they were married, George Burney suffered a stroke as he was walking back to the Depot after mailing a letter. Two friends helped him into a car and rushed toward the Burney home, but George died before they arrived at his home.

Emma Burney lived in Mansfield off and on for the next fifteen years. She sometimes spent the winter with Paul and Odessa, or granddaughter Marian would spend extended periods with her in Mansfield. Sometimes Emma lived in Wisconsin with relatives. In 1943 she moved to an apartment in half of Paul's freestanding garage. Emma always put the needs of her sons and their families before her own and didn't seem to mind playing "musical families" as she moved from family to family over the years. She always said that she wanted to be where she was needed most.

In the early 1950s, George Cooley retired from the ministry and settled near Stevensville, Virginia. Emma died there in 1956 while living with George and Frances; she is buried in the Methodist Church circuit cemetery there.

After the death of his mother, George decided to drive to South Dakota to see where he had been born almost seventy years before. He asked Paul to go with him and Frances, and Paul was happy to do so. Paul wanted Ethel Burney Morris, now a widow, to join them. A widower himself, Paul had asked Ethel to marry him and she was "taking it under advisement." The trip would give them a chance to see if they still got along as well as they had in the old "Mansfield Depot" days.

In De Smet, Paul and George tried to locate the old Cooley farm and the schoolhouse they had attended, but they didn't have any luck finding either (the schoolhouse had been moved and was a private residence). On the ten-day trip in Paul's Studebaker, the two couples logged 3357 miles through nine states. How different this journey was from the one in 1894!

Paul and Ethel were married in 1957 and lived at Paul's home in Blytheville. Paul Cooley had done many things since leaving the Railroad for a career in accounting. Sharp in math skills, he advanced quickly to the position of auditor of the Hollipeter Power Plant. He was also County Auditor for twelve years. His love for the Church was shown in his multiple positions in the United Methodist Church over the years. He served in virtually every position in the Sunday school, was auditor for the church, and then was treasurer for the Conference for more than fifty years. For eight years Paul served as a lay minister for a Methodist Church in Arkansas. He celebrated seventy years as an active member of the Methodist Church and fifty years as a Master Mason.

Paul Cooley had been interested in painting as a teenager but had to abandon the hobby when forced to go to work. After his retirement, he took lessons and painted numerous canvases of scenes he remembered from his travels over the years. He sent two paintings to Rose Wilder Lane and another to Irene Lichty, the first curator of the Laura Ingalls Wilder - Rose Wilder Lane Home & Museum. One of Paul's paintings is typically on display at the Museum, as well as copies of letters and cards he sent to Rose.

In October 1966, Ethel, Paul, and George made their last trip to Mansfield together to attend special services for the dedication of the new (and current) Methodist Church sanctuary. They donated pews in honor and memory of the Cooley and Burney families, and they sat in them during the services, which George participated in as minister. Those pews, identified by brass plaques, are near the back of the church on opposite sides of the aisle.

Rose Wilder Lane telephoned Ethel and Paul Cooley early in 1968 from her home in Harlingen, Texas, inviting them for a visit before she left for a trip overseas. Paul and Ethel were unable to make the trip; Rose died in Connecticut on the eve of her expected departure.

Frances and George Cooley continued to live in Virginia after George's retirement. For a few years they sought the warmer climate of the Gulf coast in Dunedin, Florida, but they returned to Virginia to enter a Methodist retirement home, where George Cooley died in 1973 at age 87. Paul Cooley died in 1981 at age 96.

The publication of On the Way Home introduced generations of readers to Emma and (unnamed in the book) Frank Cooley and their sons Paul and George as "the family that traveled with the Wilders." More recently, Roger MacBride's highly-fictionalized "The Rose Years" series included the family, and questions were asked about the Cooleys' places in the Ingalls and Wilder family histories: "Did it really happen that way?"

Hopefully, some of those questions have now been answered.
- posted by pioneergirl at 5:54 PM