Written by Sandy Kinter, from Waterford Genealogical Society E-Newsletter Volume 11 Number 7
Solon Cooley
Ovanda Bonker
The 1870 census page 601, Township of Waterford, Oakland County, Michigan records Solon Cooley, age 40, carpenter, born in New York, his wife, Avanda, age 35, born in New York, and then four children. The Cooley’s are the next family on the page, after the family of James Stephens. Solon Cooley is not on the 1872 plat map of Waterford village. There is no figure entered in the column for value of real estate, so the Cooley family must
have been renters.
Solon Cooley was born about 1830, in New York, (1) the son of John S. Cooley and Lovina McLouth. (1)(2) He married Emeline Ovanda Bonker, 6 July 1851, in Oakland County, Michigan. (3) Solon and Ovanda are recorded in the 1860 census on page 195, White Lake Township, Oakland County, Michigan. In 1870 the family is in Waterford, but by 1880 they have returned to White Lake Township, page 453A, White Lake Township, Oakland County. Solon Cooley died 27 April 1881, Oakland County, Michigan. (4) He is supposedly buried in Oxbow Lakeside Cemetery. (5)
John S. Cooley was born about 1795, in New Hampshire. (1) He married Lovina McLouth, 22 December 1816, in Cheshire, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. (2) John served in the War of 1812. His wife Lovina applied for a widow’s pension in April 1878. (2) John S. Cooley, of Wayne County, New York, received his first land grant, dated 14 August 1837, located in Fenton Township, Genesee County, Michigan. His next land grant, dated 21 August 1837, was located in White Lake Township, Oakland County, Michigan. This land is located on the northwest corner of present day Union Lake and Cooley Lake Roads. The land contained the eastern half of Cooley Lake.
The 1850 census, page 160, White Lake Township, has John S. Cooley, age 65, farmer, born in New Hampshire, wife, Lovina, age 50, born in Massachusetts, and son Solon. The next family listed is Sloan Cooley, also a son of John S. and Lovina. (2) In 1860, John S. and Lovina are recorded on the same page as Solon, page 195, White Lake Township. John S. Cooley died 31 May 1861 (2) and is buried in the Oxbow Lakeside Cemetery, White Lake, Michigan. (5) No death record was found for Lovina (McLouth) Cooley and she does not appear in the 1880 census.
Ovanda Bonker, wife of Solon Cooley, was born, according to her death certificate, in 1834, in New York. (7) She was the daughter of William Bonker and Amanda Bunyea, both of New York. (7) Ovanda died 16 July 1910, in Almer Township, Tuscola County, Michigan. (7) She is buried in the Indian Fields Township Cemetery, Tuscola County, Michigan. (8) Ovanda may have moved to Tuscola County, Michigan as early as 1882, for daughter, Eliza (9) married her first cousin, Harlow Craw, (10) 8 April 1882, in Tuscola County. (3) In the 1900 census, Ovanda Cooley is residing with the widowed Harlow Craw, page 235B, Caro Village, Indianfields Township, Tuscola County, Michigan. She is reported to be Harlow’s mother, but Ovanda was his mother-in-law and also his aunt, for Harlow’s mother was Millicent Bonker, Ovanda’s sister. (10)
William Bonker and his wife, Amanda Bunyea are reported in the 1850 census, page 161, White Lake Township, Oakland County, Michigan. William is age 48, cooper, born in New York, wife Amanda, age 39, born in New York. In the 1860 census, the Bonker family is found on page 249, Springfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan. Sometime after the 1860 census William moved to Tuscola County, Michigan. He died in Tuscola County, 7 May 1867, and is buried in the Almer Township Cemetery. (10) Amanda (Bunyea) Bonker died 26 March 1889. (10) She is also buried in the Almer Township Cemetery. (10)
Sources
- 1850 Census, page 160, White Lake Township, Oakland County, Michigan
- War of1812 Pension Files, John S. Cooley, fold3, www.fold3.com
- Michigan, Marriages, 1822-1995, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org
- Pioneer Collections, Volume V, “Oakland County Memorial Report”, Pioneer Society of
the State of Michigan, W.S. George & Co., Lansing, Michigan, 1884, page 487,
Internet Archive, www.archive.org - Oxbow Lakeside Cemetery, White Lake, Michigan, Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com
- Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, www.glorecords.blm.gov
- Death Certificate, Ovanda Cooley, Seeking Michigan, www.seekingmichigan.org
- Indian Fields Township Cemetery, Tuscola County, Michigan, Find A Grave,
www.findagrave.com - 1870 Census, page 601, Township of Waterford, Oakland County, Michigan
- Almer Township Cemetery, Tuscola County, Michigan, Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com