This book "Nelson C Cooley and His Family" details the life of Nelson C Cooley, my paternal great grandfather. Nelson C Cooley (NC) was the son of Nelson Sr and the grandson of William Cooley of Mississippi. NC was born in Clark County Mississippi in January 1849. NC married Mary Ann (Mollie) Phillips in 1867 in MS. Mary Ann was born in Subuta Miss, in November of 1848. NC was a farmer, a slave owner, and worked many acres in MS. The Civil War started in 1861 and was over by 1865. The area around NC and Mollie's MS home was destroyed by the war effort and he lost most of his slave labor so they moved, to where Mollie's parents were in Sabine Parish Louisiana, around Belmont, La. Jessie Phillips was Mollie's father, born (1817) in Alabama just as the Alabama Territory was created from the larger, Mississippi Territory. He married Margaret Ann Sullivan in 1846. They moved to MS around 1848 and finally to Sabine Parish in LA by 1865. It is believed that Jessie received a Spanish Land Grant around Belmont LA.
About the Author: Jimmy Earl Cooley was and employee of NASA/GSFC as a Space Scientists/Engineer developing space flight mass spectrometer instruments that measured Planetary Atmospheric gas composition plus overseeing the development of satellites spacecraft to measure incoming gamma rays into the earth's atmosphere. Spectrometer measurements were made of the Venus and Jupiter atmospheres and gamma rays incoming from the universe to the earth. He retired in 1992. Since then he has done extensive genealogy paper research and DNA studies on his family resulting in two eBooks; "Little Berry Cooley" and "A collection of Short Stories." The author spent 30 years at NASA and used his background, experience and training tools gained to interpret his thought into short stories and books on his family. He tackled the births, deaths, and marriages of family members much like the research discipline, analysis, and interpretation of recorded data from instrument flight data from earth and distant planets. The author's books and short stories reflect a lot of his early life adventures and upbringing in the deep south of the USA. After retirement from NASA, the author moved to Louisiana with his wife to Beauregard Parish, Louisiana where they purchased forty acres of land and become farmers. We raise vegetables, flowers, muscadine grapes, blueberries, peaches, and are beekeepers. My genealogy research and DNA studies have traced our family back to John Cooley who fought in the Revolutionary War from South Carolina. The DNA studies also traced the Cooley family to the "Clan Colla" in Ireland around 300 AD (Family Tree DNA). He is a volunteer with the LSU Master Gardener Program and a former volunteer with the Univ. of Maryland Master Gardener Program. He enjoys photographing the plants and wildlife around their farm and hopes, once again, to get his darkroom in operation. His personal achievements include: College Degree in EE and physics, employee of NASA/GSFC, volunteer fireman, private pilot, photographer, genealogy and DNA studies, Amateur Radio Operator (KA3BIO), Master Gardener, author, farmer, artist, and beekeeper. His wife enjoys the outdoors, growing flowers, visiting friends, eating Cajun food, and is an avid quilter, having won ribbons at the local Beauregard Parish Fair. She is a loyal, loving wife and special companion and friend and takes loving care of our health and well-being as we move into our senior years. He enjoys working with his tractor.