WHO WERE ABEL COLLEY'S
(Of Scioto County, OH)
PARENTS?
In my recent round of researching
(I've been working on this family since the late 70s) I've discovered
quite a few people have been listing ABEL COLLEY's Parents as Father:
John Colley Mother: Sarah France. On Ancestry.com there are no less
than 27 family trees stating this. I have asked every researcher I've
run across that lited John and Sarah as parents for their
documentation, or at least their circumstancial arguement. None have
supplied me with any evidence or reasoning.
My personal research points towards ALLEN CORLEY/CAULLEY/COLLEY and his
wife, MARY SINER as ABEL COLLEY's parents. In the remainder of this
site I will argue my case for Abel being the son of Allen and Mary, NOT
the son of John and Sarah.
Allen Finley was born in Virginia and took the surname CORLEY to honor
the man we believe to have been his maternal grandfather.
Allen CAWLEY married Mary Siner in Bedford Co., VA on 12 Dec., 1807
This now shows that the spelling of the name is NOT a constant. In fact I have seen the names spelled 25 differnt way.
Crawley, Corley, Carley, Colley, Colly, Coley, Calley, Cally, Cawley, Cowley, Caulley, Caully, Cauly,
Cauley, Cooley, Cauelley, Caughlley, Crowley, Culley, Colby (misread from Colley), Conley (again,
misread from Cauley), Cassley (another misreading case) Canley, Corlley, and just recently I found
a long lost marriage with the name recorded as Cawlea.
This marriage entry proves that
the names CORLEY and CAULLY are the same.
Allen and Mary left Virginia sometime around 1816-1818 moving on to
eastern Kentucky, residing in Greenup Co. They were found on page 655
of the
1820 census ,
Greenup Co., KY as Allen CALLEY. By December of 1827 they had moved
across the Ohio River to Symmes Township of Lawrence Co. This is
chronicled in an
letter written by John T. Irwin 1n 1899. Note that whomever transcribe the letter misread Colley for Colby (Easy to do with 19th century cursive).
In research notes made by Chester I Miller it is obvious that an Allen,
Joh, Andrew, George and Abel CAWLEY, CAULLEY, CAULEY all lived in
Symmes Township od Lawrence County as is evidenced by this
Chattel Tax List:
1828 Allen Cawley Symmes Township
1829 Allen Cawley Symmes Tshp
1830 Allen Caully Symmes Tshp
1832 Allen Cawley Symmes Tshp
Abraham Cawley Symmes Tshp
1833 Allen Cawley Symmes Tshp
Able Cawley Symmes Tshp
1834 Allen Caulley Symmes Tshp
Able Caulley Symmes Tshp
1835 Allen Caulley Symmes Tshp
Abel Caulley Symmes Tshp
1836 Allen Cawley Symmes Tshp
Abel Cawley Symmes Tshp
1837 Allen Cawley Symmes Tshp
Abel Cawley Symmes Tshp
1838 Allen Cauley Symmes Tshp
Abel Cauley Symmes Tshp
1839 Allen Cawley Symmes Tshp
Abel Cawley Symmes Tshp
John Cawley Symmes Tshp
1840 Allen Cawley Symmes Tshp
Able Cawley Symmes Tshp
John Cawley Symmes Tshp
1841 Allen Caulley Symmes Tshp
Able Caulley Symmes Tshp
John Caulley Symmes Tshp
Geo. W. Caulley Symmes Tshp
In 1980 my wife and I made a trip to Lawrence County and I transcribed the following DEEDS and LAND PATENTS for the Family
Land Patents in Lawrence Co
Allen Cally - 1837 Section 10 Symmes Tshp
Allen Cauley - 1837 10 Symmes Tshp
Allen Cawbey - 1837 Sect 9 Symmes Tshp
Abel Calley - 1837 Sect 10 Symmes Tshp
Abel Canley - 1836 sect 15 Symmes Tshp
John Caulley - 1841 sect 4 Symmes Tshp
John Calley - 1837 sect 3 Symmes Tshp
George W. Cally 1837 sect 10 Symmes Tshp
Andrew J. Corlley 1846
Andrew Canley - 1849 sect 3 Symmes Tshp
and the following deeds
John Caulley to Andrew Bandy 21 Jan 1837 100 acres bk 7 p 437
Abel Corley to Andrew Corley 31 Jan 1848 40 Acres bk 11 pg 207
Abel Caulley to John Powers 6 March 1849 ? bk 12 pg 100
among others
Notice from this
MAP I made that Abel's land patents adjoined Allen's, George's and Andrew's patents.
Now let's look at the different censuses,
Starting with the
1830 Census,Symmes Township, Lawrence County, Ohio we find
Allen COLLAY had the following family members: 2 males age 5-9, 2 males
age 10-14, 1 male age 15-19 (Abel) 1 male age 40-49; 2 females under age
5, 1 female age 10-14 and 1 female age 20-29
On
the 1840 Census, the year after Abel married Catherine Spencer we find
Allen CORLEY and ABRAHAM (Census taker probably asked his name and was
told ABE. The censustaker probably assumed ABRAHAM when it was really
ABEL)
Allen and Abraham were neighbors in Symmes Township, Lawrence Co., Ohio.
(Remember that Abel sold his land in 1848 & 1849)
The
1850 Census of Scioto Co, a county bordering Lawrence Co., show the following family group:
Name: Abel COOLEY
Age: 40
Estimated birth year: abt 1810
Birth Place: Ohio
Gender: Male
Home in 1850 (City,County,State): Union, Scioto, Ohio
Family Number: 59
Abel Cooley 40
C Cooley 35
A Cooley 12
S Cooley 10
J A Cooley 8
S Cooley 6
H Cooley 4
T Cooley 2
The
1860 Census shows Abel & Catherine's son Allen in Union Township, Scioto Co, OH
Name: Alln Cauley
Age in 1860: 24
Birth Year: abt 1836
Birthplace: Ohio
Home in 1860: Union, Scioto, Ohio
Gender: Male
Post Office: Portsmouth
Household Members:
Name Age
Allie Cauley 24
Cath Cauley 24
Mary J Cauley 6/12
The
1870 Census has the household of Abel CAULEY in Rush Township of Scioto Co, OH.
(Ancestry.com had this mis-transcribed as Abel CASSLEY, when it's clearly CAULEY)
Name: Abel Cassley
[Abel Cauley]
Birth Year: abt 1811
Age in 1870: 59
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1870: Rush, Scioto, Ohio
Race: White
Gender: Male
Value of real estate: View image
Post Office: Lucasville
Household Members:
Name Age
Abel Cassley 59
Catharine Cassley 54
Sarah A Cassley 23
James Cassley 18
Washington Cassley 15
William Cassley 13
Polly Cassley 12
Samuel Cooper 9
The 1880 Census has 2 families of interest. The family of
Abel COLLEY, and the family of thier son
Allen COLLEY
Name: Able Colley
Home in 1880: Rush, Scioto, Ohio
Age: 70
Estimated birth year: abt 1810
Birthplace: Virginia
Relation to Head of Household: Self (Head)
Spouse's name: Catherine
Father's birthplace: Virginia
Mother's birthplace: Virginia
Occupation: Farmer
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Gender: Male
View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Able Colley 70
Catherine Colley 63
William Colley 23
Albert Colley 12
Able Colley 2
Name: Allen Colley
Home in 1880: Morgan, Scioto, Ohio
Age: 44
Estimated birth year: abt 1836
Birthplace: Ohio
Relation to Head of Household: Self (Head)
Spouse's name: Mary
Father's birthplace: Virginia
Mother's birthplace: Virginia
Neighbors: View others on page
Occupation: Laborer
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Gender: Male
Household Members:
Name Age
Allen Colley 44
Mary Colley 32
Tempa J. Colley 12
Allen Colley 10
Abel Colley 8
Bazzel Colley 6
Isaiah Colley 4
John Colley 1M
(Notice the children's names; Tempa J., Allen, Abel & John--ALL FAMILY NAMES of ALLEN CORLEY/CAULLEY/COLLEY's family)
Next, let's examine the Civil War papers of ALLEN COLLEY, son of ABEL & Catherine:
Allen's
ENLISTMENT FORM give hisAGE AS 28 and his place of birth as LAWRENCE COUNTY, OHIO
In his
PENSION APPLICATION, allen lists his date & place of birth as June 22, 1835 in Lawrence Co., Ohio
On this form,
Allen names his children,
and on this one his widow
lists all 4 of Allen's wives.
The final document is
ALLEN COLLEY's DEATH CERTIFICATE
which confirms that Allen's parents were Abraham (Abel?) Colley and
Catherine Spencer.
It also confirms his date of birth at 22 June 1835. It gives his place
of birth as Galia Co., Ohio. Actually, his parent's land was 1.5 mils
from the Lawrence/Gallia County line, inside Lawrence Co. The
information was given by his son, Basil which makes 2nd had at best and
given at a time of stress. This can account for some minor factual
errors (Father's name given as Abraham--he probably remembered "Abe" and
gave the more common name from which Abe is derived, and Gallia Co as
his father's birth place in stead of Lawrence Co.)
Next, children named TEMPY or TEMPA. It has long been a tradition for
some form of the name TEMPERANCE to be used for a daughter since the
marriage of James CORLEY and Temperance (Tempy) BROWN in Cumberland Co.
VA in 1779.
AND, let's examine
the will of John Colley,
the man who some falsely say is Abel's father. He died in Wilkes
County, GA on June 10, 1815. He names wife, Sarah, sons France, Spain
and Garbial, and daughters Polly, Louisa, Nancy and Betsy,and grand
daughter Lucinda C. Tindal
BUT NO ABEL!
Finally, I found the following
DEATH RECORD for ABEL COLLEY, Scioto Co., OH on
FamilySearch.org. listing his father as Allen Colley.
I feel if you will look at ALL the data: the variety of spellings that
have been used, the chattel tax list, the land patents, the land sales,
the censuses, the use of family names, the Civil War documents showing
one son was born in Lawrence Co, and that same son's death certificarte,
you can come to no other conclusion than ABEL COLLEY OF SCIOTO COUNTY,
OHIO WAS THE SON OF ALLEN CORLEY/CAULLEY/COLLEY & MARY SINER.
