William Cooley

William Cooley (1783–1863) was one of the first American settlers, and a regional leader, in what is now known as Broward County in the state of Florida. His family was killed by Seminoles in 1836, during the Second Seminole War. The attack, known as the "New River Massacre", caused immediate abandonment of the area by whites.

Cooley was born in Maryland, but little else is known about his life prior to 1813, when he arrived in East Florida, a province of Spanish Florida, as part of a military expedition. He established himself as a farmer in the northern part of the province before moving south, where he traded with local Indians and continued to farm. During the period in which the region was transferred from Spanish to U.S. governance, he sided with natives in a land dispute against a merchant who had received a large grant from the King of Spain and was evicting the Indians from their lands. Unhappy with the actions of the Spanish, he moved to the New River area in 1826 to get as far as possible from the Spanish influence. moved to Tampa in 1837, and had a short stint working for the U.S. Army as a guide and courier. He moved to the Homosassa River area in 1840, where he became the first postmaster and was a Hernando County candidate for the Florida House of Representatives. Returning to Tampa in 1847, he was one of the first city councilors, serving before he died in 1863. little else is known about him prior to 1813. Cooley has been referred to as William Cooley Jr., William Coolie, William Colee and William Cooly. other sources say he was a lieutenant in the Georgia Militia, fighting under Colonel Samuel Alexander from Georgia. Cooley acquired property in Girt's Landing on the St. Marys River, Later, he went to the west bank of the St. Johns River, settling in an area south of modern Jacksonville. began settlement of a claim in the Alachua territory, which had been granted to him by King Ferdinand VII of Spain. Cooley negotiated with Don Fernando on behalf of the displaced Indians but was unsuccessful. sold her business interests to Richard Fitzpatrick. After Fitzpatrick's arrival, the settlement of approximately prospered with the introduction of a plantation regimen based on black slavery. Richard Fitzpatrick, by that time the owner of a successful plantation with coconut and lime trees, plantains, and sugarcane, pressed for the appointment of Cooley as Justice of the Peace in 1831, making Cooley responsible for adjudicating disputes of persons and property, punishment of minor offenders by fines and whippings, and oversight of the activities of wreckers. Serious offenders were jailed in Key West. By that time, Cooley owned a schooner and took trips not only to take prisoners but to trade coontie, sugarcane, and tropical fruit with Cape Florida, Indian Key, Key West and Havana.

Attack

Six days later, Cooley led a large expedition to free the Gil Blas, a ship that had beached the previous year. The scale of the operation required all of the settlement's able men. On the next day, January 4, 1836, the Indians attacked the settlement.

The tutor's son heard the screams by the river and came back to retrieve his mother and two younger sisters. He managed to escape, going south by boat to the Cape Florida Lighthouse. Along the way, he warned the people at Arch Creek and Miami River of the attack, prompting them to flee as well.

When Cooley arrived at Indian Key, he was informed that Indians had attempted to acquire arms and munition but had been repelled by the garrison in the island's fort. Meanwhile, more than from nearby sought refuge in the fort. Cannons were salvaged from the Gil Blas; Difficult sea conditions and fear of imminent attacks terrorized the islanders. Cooley asked for construction of forts at New River and Cape Sable, but news soon came from the Miami River reporting the total destruction of all white property, stalling all new initiatives. Arriving at Key West on January 16, 1836, aboard the steamboat Champion, he was appointed temporary lighthouse keeper, staying until April of that year. Cooley was living near the Homosassa River, where the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 allowed the distribution of land grants. His leadership enabled him to get not only his own permit but permits for . A lengthy correspondence with the United States General Land Office was eventually concluded satisfactorily for him and the other settlers. In 1843, he was a candidate for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives for the newly created Hernando County, but he lost to James Gibbons. Two years later, he became the first postmaster in Homosassa He sold his land grant to Senator David Levy Yulee sequentially between 1846 and 1847 and moved back to Tampa.

From 1848 to 1860, Cooley acquired several properties in the Tampa region, and was a Captain of the "Silver Grays"—a militia for the home defense of Tampa in the 1850s. He owned a general store in the city, eventually sold to a member of the Tampa Masonic Lodge. He was nominated Port Warden of Tampa in 1853. By 1855, Cooley had become a leader in local politics; he was the chairman at a meeting of the Democratic Party in Tampa, with members enrolled, on August 4, 1855. He was brought in as an alternate councilman for two months in the first Tampa council, served a full-year term beginning in February 1857, and returned in 1861 for another full term.

Death and legacy Cooley died in 1863 in Hillsborough County, Florida. His will was written in 1862 but recorded only after Cooley's death, filed by Francis Matthews, who identified himself as his son-in-law. In the document, Cooley is referred to as William Cooly. Cooley left his estate to friends, charities, a woman called Fanny Anne listed as his daughter (wife of Francis Matthews), and three grandsons and four granddaughters, but there is no evidence that they were his blood relatives. Colee Hammock Park in Fort Lauderdale is located near the site of his old home in the New River Settlement.