Cooley family in Fairfield Connecticut

I have not finished my information on Samuel Coley and his wife Ann Prudden.  I assume at this point that their wills were written in Milford Connecticut and that both died in that community.  I descend from son, Peter Coley who others tell me married Sarah Hide.  I do not yet know why Peter moved to Fairfield.  Perhaps the best lots to settle on were all taken in Milford.  Or perhaps Sarah's family lived in Fairfield.

But I do know that Peter was baptised 25 April 1641 in Milford according to the records of the First church of Milford.  According to the book Early Families of Milford Connecticut that I viewed on Ancestry in Feb 2020,  he renewed his covenant at Fairfield Church 2 Jun 1695.  His wife, Mary was baptized 28 Nov 1703 in the Fairfield Church.  So it is likely that Peter moved his family to Fairfield before 1695.  He seems to have died before 6 May 1713 as brother Peter and son, Daniel are chosen adminstrators of his estate.  I take this to mean that he had no will.  In the list of those who receive distribution there is only one female who does not have last name Coley.  I take this to indicate that Peter died relatively young before all of his daughters had been married.

Today I am reading Families of Old Milford Connecticut compiled by Susan Woodruff Abbott.  In the forward the compiler says:




It was an interesting coincidence that this past month I was reading some of these books and manuscripts in preparation for this trip.  At the same time I was browsing through old genealogy magazines.  In one of the issues of NEGHS magazine there was an article about the history of genealogical research.  The author of the article made a point to mention that Donald Lines Jacobus was an excellent researcher and genealogist of the 20th century.  Which made me feel more comfortable about accepting much of this research without consulting all of the old documents myself.  Although I may do just that in the future.

Another source to look at is The History of Fairfield, Fairfield Connecticut from the settlement of the town in 1639 until 1818 by Elizabeth Hubbell (Godfrey) Schenck

https://archive.org/details/historyoffairfie02sche/page/32/mode/2up

So why did Peter Cooley/Coley move to Fairfield County?  That is the next mystery to solve.