Sutter-Yuba County Biographies

VERDENAL W. COOLEY

Transcribed by: Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
By close application and unremitting industry, V. W. Cooley, of Yuba City, has 
gained an enviable place among the prosperous and representative orchardists of 
the Lincoln district of Sutter County, where he has developed forty acres to 
cling peaches and Thompson Seedless grapes.  He was born in San Francisco on 
February 12, 1879, a son of Francis M. Cooley, who first saw the light in New 
York.  In 1861, Francis M. Cooley offered his services to the Federal 
government, and outfitted his own company, which came to be known as Company M, 
11th New York Infantry.  He served with his company as captain; and upon his 
honorable discharge, he was made a brevet-colonel.  At Natchez, Miss., in July, 
1869, he was married to Mrs. Alice (James) Kingsbury. The following year he 
brought his bride out to California, by way of Panama; and having established a 
residence at Oakland, he followed his profession as expert accountant in San 
Francisco for some time, and also eventually became a successful contractor.  An 
influential Republican, he was a member of the California legislature, from the 
fifty-fourth district, and was notable for his progressiveness in his activity 
there.  He made several trips back to the East, thus keeping in close touch with 
the heart-throbs of the nation.  He was a Mason, and a member of the Loyal 
Legion; and when he died at San Francisco in 1890, he was widely mourned.  Mrs. 
Cooley was born at Bristol, England, on December 31, 1840, the daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. David H. James.  She accompanied her parents to America, when she was 
yet a child, and with them settled in Cincinnati, in which city she married 
Horace Kingsbury.  Her father was a physician, and her mother an artist.  
Choosing the stage as a profession, she made her debut in the early sixties; and 
after winning popularity in such a play as �Telula, the Child of Savannah,� she 
achieved special fame in the role of �Fanchon, the Cricket.�  She toured the 
country as a Shakespearean actress, and in 1860 appeared in San Francisco at 
Maguire�s Theater on Washington Street, when John McCullough was her leading 
man, playing Romeo to her Juliet, and Hamlet to her Ophelia.  Old Californians 
remember her well as the �Elfin Star,� and many still recall how the sparkling, 
petted actress took San Francisco by storm.  In 1868, being a widow, she 
determined to go to Italy, to study sculpturing; but the next year, she was 
married.  She was considered one of the most beautiful women on the American 
stage, as well as one of the most talented; and she was a woman of rare grace 
and charm, making Captain Cooley envied among bridegrooms.  She played leading 
lady for Booth & Barrett, and also for Keene.  At the age of forty-five, she 
retired from the stage; and becoming a writer, she devoted herself to poetry, 
and was soon known as an author of ability, her reputation being associated 
especially with such published books as �Asaph,� and �Ho, for Elf-Land.�  She 
was an intimate friend of Ina Coolbrith, the California poetress.  She died at 
Alameda, on November 3, 1910.
            Verdenal W. Cooley is next to the youngest of eight children, and 
was reared and educated in Oakland and Alameda.  His first work for pay was as 
an office boy with the Pacific Rural Press.  In 1896, he enlisted in the United 
States Navy at Mare Island, entering as apprentice seaman on the U.S.S. 
Independence; and later he was transferred to the U.S.S. Petrel, where he 
remained for two and a half years, on which account it fell to his lot to be 
signalman in the Battle of Manila Bay.  He was then transferred to the U.S.S. 
Oregon as gunner�s mate, of the third class.  He had many thrilling experiences 
during his four years� cruise in the Orient, at one time being shipwrecked in 
the China Sea.  Mr. Cooley returned to San Francisco on the U.S.S. Solace, and 
on February 28, 1901, received his honorable discharge.  While in the service, 
Verdenal Cooley had the satisfaction of seeing published in the Alameda Daily 
Argus his very vivid description of the Battle of Manila, as he witnessed it, 
while signaling, from the warship�s bridge, having had the advantage , as one of 
the crew of the little Petrel, of getting closer to the enemy and seeing more of 
the fighting than did anyone else on another vessel.  He said in part:
            �The Spaniards were expecting us, but did not discover us until some 
flame from the McCulloch�s smokestack showed where we were; that was at a 
lighthouse, just outside the harbor.  They fired a rocket, which we think was a 
signal to a battery at the entrance.  As we only had a second stern-light 
showing on each ship, there was very little to see, and the men on the lookout 
did not discover us until we were safe from any torpedoes, though they fired six 
torpedoes and three shots at this ship, for she happened to be the one in line 
with the battery and torpedo station.  We were all standing at the guns with 
ammunition alongside when � whiz! comes a shell through the rigging, passing 
beyond us and exploding!  The second time they fired, the Raleigh and Concord 
gave them one for luck.  The flash of the third shot was just seen when the 
Boston, which was watching so as to get the range, let drive an eight-inch.  One 
of the shots disabled two guns and killed thirty men, a very remarkable shot.
            �We steamed very slowly, calculating to come within range of the 
Spanish ships and forts at dawn.  The navy yard, fort and batteries are situated 
at Cavite, a little distance from the City of Manila.  At 5 a.m., Sunday, we 
gave the finishing touches to �clearing ship for action,� and then sounded 
�general quarters.�  We broke our battle-flags at once, and about 5:20 a.m. the 
first shot was fired.  We would not return the fire until we got within about 
2500 yards.  The Spanish fleet formed a line extending from the water-battery to 
the upper battery.  There were three fine cruisers and five of the most modern 
gunboats in the line, one torpedo boat, and one torpedo launch; also several 
gunboats behind the fort, which fired on us.  We had three batteries, one fort 
and fifteen ships playing on us.
            �The torpedo launch started right out after us, but only got a short 
way before a shot struck her amidships, and she was run on the beach to keep her 
from sinking.  The torpedo boat also started out, but she is now among the 
missing, for all our attention was paid first to getting these craft out of the 
way.  I was on the bridge, and saw most of the action.  A shot came near ending 
our career; it struck about six feet ahead of our bow, and exploded, sending up 
a regular waterspout and denting our sides considerably.  I was nervous at 
first, as shots came flying over our heads, but soon got used to it. Some came 
with low moan, others with a shriek or whistle, and the secondary battery with a 
sharp ping.
            �The Spaniards all shot high, which was lucky for us.  We withdrew 
about 8 a.m. for our breakfast, and the Spaniards telegraphed to Madrid that the 
American fleet was defeated, and had withdrawn to bury their dead.  Our 
breakfast was very light, as no fires were lit.  The heat was very oppressive, 
but was alleviated by the call of �All hands splice the main brace!�  During 
breakfast, the Reina Cristina, Don Antonio Ulloa, and the Castilla, which we had 
left almost a wreck, burst into flames, some of our shells having exploded and 
set the woodwork on fire.  They were not properly cleared of woodwork. The same 
thing would have happened to us had we been struck, for our captain would not do 
away with any of the fancy work, which is intended for display.
            �The gunboats withdrew up the river, and the crews deserted them to 
help the fort, which was manned by about 17,500 soldiers.  All our ships were 
hit in various places, but none seriously.  One shot traveled all over the 
Baltimore, knocked a gun, which was trained forward, aft, and ended by dropping 
on deck.  The crew have the shell as a curio.  The Baltimore was given the honor 
of leading the attack in the afternoon against the fort.  She ran right up 
within about 400 yards, when a mine exploded right in front of her.  She came to 
a standstill, and gave the fort broadside after broadside. There was nothing to 
be seen but dust.  We, the Petrel, were ordered by the flagship to go in and 
destroy the ships.  We had to pass a place where the mines were supposed to be 
laid, but we went right in and got within a couple of hundred yards of the fort 
on the side by the river and pumped six-inch shells right into them. We summoned 
them to haul down their flag, which they did, and hauled up the white flag.  We 
then sent a boat in and burned eight fine gunboats.  I was in one of the boats, 
and took a few curios, which I will send home at the earliest convenience.
            �We also took possession of all the tugs, steam launches, boats, 
etc.  The Spaniards in the cruisers fought very bravely, but were poor marksmen. 
 Out of 1800 sailors, only about 400 can be found uninjured.  The ships were 
burning all night, and looked terribly beautiful as, every now and then, a 
magazine would explode, and shells burst in the air.  Eleven men-of-war and one 
transport were burning at one time.  The only ship saved was the Manila, from 
which I obtained this paper; she was loaded with coal�. No one was hurt on our 
side during the fight, and we are ready for another.  I hope that we are ordered 
to Spain.�
            After his discharge Verdenal W. Cooley spent two years with the 
Frank Cooley Theatrical Company, touring the Coast.  He then came to Sutter 
County, in 1903, and entered the employ of L. A. Walton, rancher southwest of 
Yuba City.  The next winter he took a commercial course in a business college in 
San Francisco.
            In Sutter County, on November 8, 1905, Verdenal W. Cooley and Miss 
Charlotte Estelle Littlejohn were united in marriage.  She was born near 
Harkey�s Corners, Sutter County, a daughter of James and Helen D. (Butler) 
Littlejohn, natives of Ohio and pioneers of Sutter County, where James 
Littlejohn became a large landowner and successful farmer.  Their sketch appears 
on another page of this work.  Mrs. Cooley was educated in the public schools of 
Sutter County and at Marysville High School.  She is a cultured and refined 
woman, and of great assistance to her husband.  Mr. and Mrs. Cooley have four 
children:  Alice, a senior in Sutter Union High School, and Dorothy, Verdenal 
and Earl.  The two last-named are twins.  After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. 
Cooley took up farming in this vicinity, and set out and developed a fine 
vineyard and orchard.  Mr. Cooley is a member of the California Peach and Fig 
Growers� Association and of the Barry Farm Center of the Sutter County Farm 
Bureau.  He is greatly interested in the cause of education and renders valuable 
services as member and secretary of the board of trustees of Yuba City Union 
High School; the district has recently completed a $250,000 high school building 
in Yuba City.  Mr. Cooley is a member of the Woodmen, and is a trustee of 
Bishop-Langenbach Post, No. 948, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Commander of the 
military order of Cooties.  For his services in the Spanish-American War he 
received the Dewey Congressional medal, Philippine War medal, and 
Spanish-American War medal.  He is a director in the Yuba-Sutter Young Men�s 
Christian Association.  Mrs. Cooley is a charter member of the Bogue Wednesday 
Club and is an ex-president of the Lincoln Parent-Teachers Association.  During 
the World War Mr. and Mrs. Cooley were both active in the various Liberty Bond 
and allied war drives.  They are members of the American Red Cross.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p  731-733