Cooley, Timothy Mather, 1772-1859

Reverend Timothy Mather Cooley was born in Granville, Massachusetts, in 1772, and was educated privately between the ages of 12 and 15. He began coursework at Yale College in 1788, and graduated in 1792; following his graduation, he spent another year studying religion, and then preached in Salisbury, Connecticut, and Granville, Massachusetts. He was ordained as a Congregational minister in 1796, and led the Granville congregation for most of the rest of his life. He spent several months of the summer and fall of 1803 on a missionary trip to northern New York, and helped the Reverend Peter Fish establish a church at Verona, New York. Cooley married Content Chapman on May 6, 1796. He died in 1859.

From the guide to the Timothy M. Cooley journal, Cooley, Timothy M. journal, 1803, 1876, 1803, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)

Reverend Timothy Mather Cooley, (1772-1859), was the son of Captain William and Sarah (Mather) Cooley. She was descended from Reverend Richard Mather, (1596-1669), the father of Increase Mather and of her ancestor, Timothy Mather. Reverend Timothy Mather Cooley graduated from Yale College in 1792 and studied theology with Reverend Doctor Backus. He was ordained in 1796, the year he married Content Chapman. On June 5, 1803 he embarked on an 18 week missionary tour sponsored by the Hampshire County Missionary Society, from the Susquehanna River to Lake Ontario. He spent most of his career as minister of the First Church of Christ in Granville, Massachusetts.

The following citations were used for the biography of Reverand Cooley : Sprague, William Buell. Sermon preached at East Granville, Massachusetts on Friday, December, 16, 1859, at the funeral of the Rev. Timothy Mather Cooley. Albany: C. Van Benthuysen, 1860 and Cooley, Mortimer. The Cooley Genealogy : the Descendants of Ensign Benjamin Cooley. Rutland, VT : Tuttle Publishing, 1941, contains a portrait of Rev. Timothy Mather Cooley opposite page 574.

From the description of Missionary journal of New York State, 1803. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122314905