Cooksville Christmas in Summer Show: Commemoration of the Old Cooksville Opera House

Known as Van Vleck’s Hall, the Cooksville Opera House was located above Van Patten’s and Newkirk’s meat market on the corner of Main (now hwy 138) and Dane Streets. At the time, the second-floor opera house was used by local and traveling performers as one of Cooksville’s social gathering venues, which also included the schoolhouse (now the Cooksville Community Center), the Congregational Church, and the Masonic Lodge above the General Store. Although no pictures of this structure have been found, Cooksville resident Chris Beebe has created an artist’s rendering of what this structure may have looked like in the 1890s.

After a one-year hiatus, the Cooksville Community Center is again presenting its annual One Room School House Christmas in Summer pageant on Saturday, August 11st, 2018 starting at 1:30 pm in the Cooksville Community Center, located at the junction of Church Street and Highway 59 in the village of Cooksville.  The theme for this year’s event is the Cooksville Opera House Extravaganza, commemorating the Opera House, built in 1845 and which burned down December 5, 1893.

The Christmas in Summer event will include performances by two Madison-based vocal ensembles, the Spare Parts Quartet, a women’s barbershop quartet, and Deliberate Vibration, a 5-member a capella group. In addition, there will be a performance by Warren and Cynthia Fremling, Opera Singers from the Chicago Area, as well as some local talent performances from Cooksville, including the Cooksville Opera House Chorus. 

 

 The Spare Parts Quartet was founded in 2016 as an affiliate of the award-winning Yahara River Chorus, a chapter of Sweet Adelines International. The Sweet Adelines organization consists of women vocalists dedicated to performing the tradition of the tight 4-part barbershop harmonies that originated in America in the late 19^th century, and which have roots in both African and American vocal traditions. The Spare Parts Quartet includes JoAnn Bray (lead), Kay Hinck (baritone), Bonnie Senkowski (bass), and Gwen Torkelson (tenor), and performs a variety of music from the 1940s to present day.

 

Deliberate Vibration is a versatile and talented Madison-based men’s a capella band that performs at farmer’s markets, community events, and at local establishments. Their repertoire includes contemporary songs and standards, cleverly arranged for the unaccompanied vocal performance which is one of the most popular forms of choral music today.

Of course, no Opera House celebration would be complete without actual opera! Baritone Warren Fremling is a veteran Chicago-based opera performer and voice instructor and founding member of the Chicago Opera Theater. His wife, Cynthia Fremling is also a professional music instructor and will be joining him in performing opera in its most classical form.

 Sets designed for the show were created by local Evansville and Cooksville artists, Richard Krake and Meri Lau. As this is a Christmas in Summer pageant, there will also be a special guest appearance by Mr. and Mrs. SummerClaus and lots of surprises. The audience should also be advised that they may be asked to sing Christmas carols. This event is free of charge. The Cooksville Community Center is not handicap-accessible. For more information, please contact Jeanne Julseth at (608) 882-0505.

It's FREE!  It's FUN!  It's FULL OF SURPRISES!

The Gilley Family: More Photos of Early Cooksville Settlers

Descendants of the Gilley family recently visited the Village of Cooksville again and shared more stories and photographs of their ancestors. Several Gilley brothers migrated to Wisconsin in the early 1840s and 1850s and settled near Cooksville in the Town of Porter.

The visiting Gilley descendants were Diane G. Scholl of Decorah, Iowa, descended from George Gilley, and Janet Hancock of Hendersonville, North Carolina, descended from John Gilley; both were accompanied by their husbands. The materials they donated are now filed in the Cooksville Archives.

Edward Gilley (1811-1897)

A previous Cooksville News Blog of May 25, 2016, told the story of Edward Gilley (1811-1897) with his vivid description of his new Wisconsin home written in an 1845 letter to his sister in England.

Edward was one of four Gilley brothers, three of whom came from England to settle in Wisconsin.

Edward arrived in the area in 1843, from his home in Northumberland County, England, and settled on 80 acres of land that he immediately purchased and began to farm just east of the newly established Village of Cooksville (1842).  He married in 1854 and purchased more farmland.

The brick Edward Gilley House (built c.1880) still stands on the farm, now owned by the Viney family. 

Edward's brother George Gilley(1819-1888) came with him to begin a new life in the Wisconsin Territory on the land that the U.S. government had begun selling in 1837.

In 1855, a third brother, John Gilley (1817-1856) migrated with his family to Cooksville, but he died the following year. All three brothers and several other family members are buried in the old Cooksville cemetery. A fourth brother, William, remained in England.

Lydia Gilley (1826-1912) , George's wife

l to r: Francis, William, Edwin and Joseph Gilley, sons of George and Lydia

Another son of George and Lydia: Chester Andrus Gilley

One of George's sons, William (1862-1946), married a Stebbins daughter and farmed at the historic Stebbins-Tofsland Octagonal Barn in Porter Township.

Both Edward Gilley and George Gilley, who were active citizens in their communities, have biographical sketches in the Portrait and Biographical Album of Rock County, Wisconsin, published in 1889. (Other Cooksville and Town of Porter residents also have brief biographies in the album.)

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[Thanks again to Diane Gabrielsen Scholl of Iowa, and Janet Hancock of North Carolina, for sharing more Gilley family photographs and stories, which are now part of the Cooksville Archives.]

Christmas In Summer 2018