Finn McCool sculpture on eBay, expires Nov 19

This item is currently listed on eBay and expires in 5 days. It is a metal sculpture of Finn McCool. Starting price is about $17 ($10 plus $7 shipping).

http://cgi.ebay.com/FINN-McCOOL-METAL-SCULPTURE-IRELAND_W0QQitemZ190349105025QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c51b0d781

McCool (McCoole) Burials in Back Creek Quaker Cemetery, Gainesboro Virginia

Last week I visited the Quaker cemetery in Gainesboro, Virginia. It is the historic site of the Back Creek Meetinghouse (more info below), associated with the Hopewell Monthly Meeting. Previously, I had researched the cemetery transcription lists but had not found any McCools. I decided to look myself and here is what I found:

John. M. Coole departed this Life the 8th of the 2nd Month 1815 Aged 69 Years and Four Months.

John M.Coole AG 45 ANd died ON THE 9 day of APRIL 1829

 

ALIVIA. L. M.COOLE died ON THE 10 day OF April 1823

NANCY. M.COOLE dEpARTED This LIF MAY 4 1823

 

Interestingly, these four tombstones were transcribed with the surname “Coole.” I can understand why they were but it is obvious to me that they are McCools/McCooles.

1. John McCool, son of James McCool and Ann Wright, was born in the 8th month of 1745 and died in 1815 (from Quaker and McCool family records). The white tombstone shows the deceased age of 69 years and 4 months on the 8th day of 2nd month 1815. The math is close; the implied birth from the tombstone would be 10th month of 1745.
2. The second John tombstone (Iohn McCoole) shows age 45 at death on 9 day April 1829 (year was hidden underground). Records show John McCool, son of John McCool (above #1) and Eleanor Lewis was born about 1784. Therefore, tombstone info corresponds with family history.
3. Olivia was James’ mother. John had a daughter named Olivia (she was born in the early 1780s and married Jacob Weaver in 1811). Not sure if Alivia L McCoole’s tombstone is this person.
4. I am also not sure about the Nancy tombstone. The previous three were together, so obviously the same family. Nancy’s plot was in the row above the other three and 6 plots to the right. There was a Nancy, daughter of Gabriel McCool (son of James McCool and Ann Wright) and Elizabeth Wright. In records, she is listed as Nancy Ann McCool and married Daniel Wright. She is listed as dying before 1825 which fits the tombstone date of May 4 1823. Why would she have not been listed as Nancy Wright?
5. No other tombstones from the same time frame (before 1830) showed a middle name or initial. If the “Cooles” were the only family to have middle initials put on their tombstones (which I doubt), what is the chance that four members would have the same middle initial (M)?
6. Nor have I seen any other “Coole” records from the McCool era. I do not think there were any Cooles living in Back Creek area.

By the way, I jotted down info from adjacent plots in the McCool row. Looking at the tombstone inscriptions, there is Mary Crumly 45 d. 1813, John Stonbridge 11 d 1805, Mary Stonbridge 62 d. 1805, Alivia McCoole, John McCoole 69, John McCoole 45, Sarah Davis 43 d. 1822. I will have to research if there is any relation between Crumley, Stonbridge, Davis, and McCool. I did not jot down info about plots surrounding Nancy. I will have to re-visit.

Hope this information is useful or at least interesting to the McCool researchers. Leave a comment if you have further details about these McCool (McCoole) ancestors. The John McCool line is not my direct so I have not spent a great deal researching it.

From p. 209 of “Hopewell Friends History” by John Walter Wayland: “Back Creek meeting house, built in 1777, was located near the present village of Gainesboro, Frederick Co., Va. The Friends’ burial ground there has in late years been enlarged into a community cemetery, surrounded with a fine stone wall, and incorporated. Back Creek Meeting was laid down in 1829. There was also a Back Creek meeting in Randolph Co., N. C.”

McCool’s Flooring

Nice article about McCool’s Flooring in Indiana. http://www.floordaily.net/FloorFocus/Best_Practices__January_2009.aspx

The business website is http://www.mccoolsflooring.com or http://www.mccools.com

The McCool Gang on Shutterfly

Nope, I do not know them. Just stumbled upon the site:

http://themccoolgang.shutterfly.com/

Max McCool, Lacrosse videos

Ran across a mention of Max McCool’s videos about lacrosse: http://www.lacrosseplayground.com/post/max-mccool-making-a-rubber-butt-end-for-your-lacrosse-stick/1116

McCool’s Blueberry Farm, Hudson, Florida

Trolling Twitter today, I saw a mention of McCool’s in Hudson, FL. Some quick research uncovered a couple of listings for McCool’s Blueberry Farm:

http://www.gardens.com/go/view/19193/

http://www.florida-agriculture.com/consumers/upick/mccools_upick.htm

Finn McCool’s Football Club

Finn McCool’s Football Club by Stephen Rea is more than a soccer book. Finn McCool’s is a pub in New Orleans. The football (soccer) club is comprised of patrons. The story is about their lives being shaken after hurricane Katrina. Alas, I have not read the book but a friend has a copy (hurry up, Steve). The below information is directly from the Amazon web page for the book. If you are interested in buying a copy, please click here (this is a link to Amazon which gives me a miniscule commission).  Thank you.

Review
“Score 10-nil for Rea and the McCools.” –The Irish American Post

Review
“Rea’s book brings one of the biggest stories of the century down to a touching, emotional, personal level in a solid debut effort.”

Product Description
After jetting around the world, Stephen Rea left Belfast to settle in New Orleans in 2004. Life in the Deep South proved to be startlingly different from that in Northern Ireland, and Rea struggled to find an outlet for his love of soccer. Before long, the Ulsterman stumbled upon Finn McCool’s pub and the wonderfully eccentric, international crowd that gathers there to watch European football games.

Frank “the Tank,” the pot-growing Dutch national; Dave “the Rave” Ashton, a forty-six-year-old physiotherapist from Manchester dubbed “the world’s oldest teenager”; and Benji Haswell, a former political activist from South Africa, are three of the rare and vibrant characters who populated the pub’s stools. Soon Rea, along with this idiosyncratic mix of locals and ex-pat regulars, formed a pub soccer team, joined a league, and started dreaming of victory.

On August 28, 2005, with former pro footballer Scottish Steve “Macca” McAnespie as their coach, members of the team sat in the pub discussing their upcoming match. The next day, Hurricane Katrina enveloped the Gulf Coast, scattering Rea and his teammates around the world in seek of shelter and stability.

This luminous, gripping work follows the author and Finn regulars as they rebuild their lives and their team. With a masterful combination of dry humor and astute profundity, Rea reflects on his adopted city, providing powerful insight into the lives of the foreign-born and minority groups that stayed behind during Katrina due to the little they had to lose. Filled with equally hilarious and sobering anecdotes and no shortage of good soccer stories, Rea seamlessly weaves his experiences alongside his teammates’ harrowing survival stories. A breathtaking and incredible debut celebrating camaraderie, sportsmanship, and survival, “Finn McCool’s Football Club” stands out as a haunting and powerful memoir filled with laughter, loss, astonishment, and of course, soccer.

From the Publisher
“An uplifting account of friendship, football, and overcoming the odds in the face of tragedy. Stephen Rea has scored an impressive winner.”
–Derek Rae, senior UEFA Champions League commentator, ESPN

“Great story about real characters bonded by a passion for football and life.”
–Stephen Nicol, two-time MLS All-Star coach, head coach, New England Revolution

“‘Finn McCool’s Football Club” is a must-read for soccer fans.”
–Tommy Smyth, “The Auld Onion Bag Man,” ESPN commentator

From the Inside Flap
“Stephen Rea uses one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history as the backdrop for a love story–not your average love story either, as it’s also the love of a city, the ties that bind friends, and the passion for a sport. Soccer brings fans from around the globe together and that has never been proven more true than in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Rea’s book brings one of the biggest stories of the century down to a touching, emotional, personal level in a solid debut effort.” –Phil Schoen, GolTV commentator In 2004, Belfast-born Stephen Rea moved to New Orleans, a city where “football” means something entirely different than what it does for the British. After struggling to find a place to watch European soccer games, Rea discovered Finn McCool’s pub and its mixed clientele of good-humored European ex-pats, charismatic New Orleanians, and assorted matchless personalities. Irishmen exchanged jokes with the Scots, and the Dutch, English, and South African sat together swapping stories over murky drinks. Rea the Ulsterman became a regular and before long he was playing on the pub’s motley over-thirty-five fledgling soccer team. Gathered at the bar on August 27, 2005, members of the team were discussing their upcoming match, untroubled by the impending storm and unknowing that their city and team would nearly be obliterated by Hurricane Katrina in a matter of hours. Days later, the lucky among them were scattered across the country; the others struggled to survive as they awaited rescue in New Orleans. With clarity and compassion, Rea examines the disaster as he profiles the experiences of his teammates and their efforts to resurrect the team and pub that had become so central in all of their lives. A gripping and moving memoir about an unusual pub team and a devastating natural disaster, this work is a celebration of ex-pats and pubs, soccer and sportsmanship, and the strength it takes to rebuild a team, a city, and a life.

From the Back Cover
“Stephen Rea’s gripping tale of how he and his New Orleanian band of %ifutbol%r player/friends survived Hurricane Katrina and regrouped is a study in tenacity. . . . Sports lovers, particularly those who dig soccer, can find plenty of action within the pages, as well. This is a book for fans of New Orleans, of the universal ball game, of ex-pats and of pubs. Score 10-nil for Rea and the McCools.” –The Irish American Post “An uplifting account of friendship, football, and overcoming the odds in the face of tragedy. Stephen Rea has scored an impressive winner.” –Derek Rae, senior UEFA Champions League commentator, ESPN “%b%iFinn McCool’s Football Club%r is a must-read for soccer fans. The grit and determination displayed by these lads in the face of disaster is amazing. Their spirit and never-say-die attitude is captivating. When the history of soccer is written in the U.S., I hope the players, management, and fans of the Finn McCool’s club will get proper recognition for the major role they were able to play in promoting ‘the Beautiful Game.’” –Tommy Smyth, “the Auld Onion Bag Man,” ESPN commentator “Great story about real characters bonded by a passion for football and life.” –Stephen Nicol, two-time MLS All-Stars coach and head coach, New England Revolution

Kelly McCool, WNEP-TV, Pennsylvania

Kelly McCool works at WNEP in northeastern PA. Hey, there is a Finn McCool’s in Scranton. Her bio says she is from NJ. Hey, there is a McCool’s Ice Cream there. McCools are everywhere.

http://www.wnep.com/wnep-kellymccool-9406069,0,6922276.story

Finn McCool surf shop in Dingle, Ireland

New shirts available at Finn McCool’s Surf Shop in Dingle, Ireland. Darn, I did not make it that far on my trip to Ireland. If any US person visits there, PLEASE bring me back a shirt.

http://twitpic.com/6nyop

Dan McCool, writer, Des Moines

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/author/dan-mccool/