Coakleys

Coakley Facts:

• The Coakleys’ fought in every war in the US including the Civil War
  • In the Civil War there were Coakleys’ fighting for both sides
• A Coakley from Massachusetts gave his life at Gettysburg and is buried in the MA graveyard at the battlefield
• William Francis Coakley LCDR Navy was killed in action in Vietnam
• Cornelius Coakley was a founder of St Rose church in Chelsea, a church that backed up to Carey St, where Daniel Coakley lived
• A hero and Firefighter Steven Coakley gave his life at 9-11 in the World Trade Center
• There was an English trader named Coakley who apparently engaged in the slave trade
  • There is an entire branch of the Coakley Family that is African American
  • Dexter Coakley who used to play for the Dallas Cowboys was part of this “branch”
  • As was author Wendy Coakley Thompson?
  • There is a Coakley Island in the Virgin Islands that is predominately African American
  • The Coakley name is a very common name in the Bahamas, and African American
    • There is a Coakley town in the Bahamas
• There is a Coakley Middle School in Norwood MA is named after Dr Phillip Coakley
  • There is also a Coakley Middle School in Harlingen, TX
• There is a Coakley Hollow Fen Natural Area in Lake of the Ozarks State Park in MO
• There are Coakley’s Pubs in the following locations:
  • Macroom, Ireland
  • Coakleys Restaurant and Pub in Cumberland, PA
  • Coakleys Pub Havre De Grace, MD
• Martha Coakley is Middlesex County, MA District Attorney
• The Coakley Landfill in NH is an EPA Superfund site
• Other Notable Coakleys:
  • Author Jay Coakley who writes on sports.
  • Tom Coakley, an editor at the Boston Globe
  • Bishop Paul Coakley of Salinas Diocese in Kansas
  • History Author Robert W. Coakley
  • MLB Pitcher Andy Coakley
  • Sculptor Chris Coakley
  • John J Coakley a LTC in the US Army, US Army Ranger, Military Intelligence Officer, and father of five (my dad)
    
  • Leo J Coakley a New Jersey State Trooper and author of Jersey Trooper (my uncle)
    
  • David Coakley the Irish actor
    
  • David Coakley the creator of this Website and entrepreneur extraordinaire in Northern Virginia

There are over 2000 Coakleys’ in the World today spread throughout the continents. The Coakley Family would appear to be Irish coming from Western Cork (Enchigeelagh), but most certainly is English. (Of course back then all the Irish were English.)

The furthest back we trace our Ancestry in this immediate Family is to Dan Coakley (Ned the Colonel) who we have pictures of next to a peat bog house holding a pitchfork. He was married to Mary Hanley, and the reportedly had 4 children: Michael, Dennis, Honora and Daniel. There is no further information on the other children other than vague references in letters.

Daniel Coakley the son, was born in Dec. 1852 in County Cork and died in May 1942 in Chelea, MA. He married Catherine Butler, (1861-1943) (the Butler family is reported to be of some wealth and notoriety) and they had 9 children: Molly, Killy, Ethel, Daniel, Nelly, Julia, William, Catherine and Annie. William died while in the Army in 1918.

Daniel Coakley was born in County Cork in 1883 and died in Lowell in Feb 1960. He married Catherine Lannon, (July 1891-April 1967). (She was the first of her siblings born in the US. All her older siblings were born in Liverpool, England) They had 7 or 8 children: Mary, Helen, Catherine, Rita, Daniel, Joseph, Evelyn and reportedly a William.
( The Lannon [John & Anne {Lackey}] family from Kilkenny spent much of their early lives in Liverpool England where the family name evolved to Lennon)