THOMAS COLE. In the career of this
gentleman we find that of a man whose course in life has been
such as to commend him in a marked manner to the esteem and
confidence of his fellow men. Upright in his dealings, generous
and public spirited, he has exerted a wholesome influence in the
community in which he has resided, having been foremost in
furthering the welfare of that community in every way that
becomes a good citizen. In pioneer days he came to Delaware
county and established himself as a merchant
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becomes a good citizen. In pioneer days he came to
Delaware county and established himself as a merchant in
what is now Colesburg, where he was engaged in business
for almost forty years, being one of the first merchants
in the county in point of time, as he was also ever
afterwards in point of commercial importance. His has been
the well-rounded career of the man of business,
uninterrupted by political distractions, unembarrassed by
questionable speculations, unmarred by failures. His
life-history possesses a special interest and value for a
work like this, and we take pleasure in giving it the
space here allotted to it.
Mr. Cole is a native of England, having been born near the
town of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, on the eleventh of June,
1825. His parents, Robert and Mary A. Cole, were natives
of the same locality, and were descendants of two ancient
and respectable families of that vicinity. When the
subject of this notice was only a lad, that is in 1832,
his parents immigrated to the United States, settling in
Oswego, Tioga county, N. Y., where they spent the
remainder of their lives, the mother dying there in 1858,
aged fifty-nine, and the father in 1876, aged eighty-four.
The father was a farmer and passed his entire life engaged
in agricultural pursuits. Although never becoming wealthy
he, nevertheless, accumulated a competency and his
declining years were spent in ease. He was a man of fair
intelligence and, although his earlier educational
advantages were not of the best, he managed, |
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by industrious
reading and well directed efforts in private, to amass a
valuable fund of information on a variety of subjects, and this
information he was able to make an intelligent use of and did
so, not the least of the uses to which he put it being that of
supervising and directing the studies of his own children.
Although having but little taste for politics, he, nevertheless,
possessed a comprehensive knowledge of the theory and workings
of the American government, and always had an opinion of his own
on questions of national and state politics. In earlier years he
affiliated with the Whigs, casting his political fortunes after
the dissolution of that party with the republicans, with whom he
remained unshaken in political bonds till the day of his death.
He and his excellent wife were both members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, and gave a generous support to the service of
their church as well as to the general cause of Christianity. In
this spirit, and actuated by such impulses, Robert and Mary A.
Cole reared their family of children, six of whom reached
maturity and themselves became the heads of families. They had
three who died young. The six who became grown were: James,
Harriet, Thomas, Abram, Robert and Mary A. Three of these came
to Iowa: James, Thomas and Robert. The former two were among the
first settlers of Delaware county, James having died in this
county some years ago, being still pleasantly remembered by many
of the old citizens of the county, whom he served in early days
as one of their first county surveyors. He was also engaged for
many years with our subject, Thomas, in the mercantile business
at Colesburg, which place was named in honor of them. Robert
resides at Easterville, Emmet county, this state, engaged in
farming and the brokerage business. Harriet and Abram reside in
Tioga county, N. Y., the former being the widow of William C.
Talcott, and the latter, a farmer, residing on the old home
place. The youngest child, Mary A., became the wife of Eugene
Hammond, of Tioga county, but is now deceased.
Thomas Cole was reared on his father's farm in
Tioga county, N. Y. His youth was marked by nothing of special
significance. He performed his share of the labors on the farm,
and enjoyed the usual school advantages for his years. He
finished his educational training in the Oneida Conference
seminary, located at Cazenovia, N. Y., after which he taught for
a time in the public schools of Tioga county. In May, 1847, soon
after attaining his majority, he came to Iowa and located at
what is now Colesburg, Delaware county. He remained there about
a year, when he returned to New York, married, and came again to
Iowa, taking up his residence at Colesburg. He had previously
determined to engage in the mercantile business at that place,
and at once opened an establishment there. His first store
building was a modest frame structure, 18 by 30 feet, and thrown
together in the hurried way of putting up buildings in those
days. It was filled with staple goods, just such as were in
demand by the plain country folk of the vicinity. These goods
cost no little, however, to get them to the point where they
were to be sold, as they had to be hauled by wagons from
Chicago, through what was almost a wilderness country and over a
distance of several hundred miles. Later, the stock was
replenished by installments purchased at Dubuque, but
transported, as was the original, by wagons across the country.
There were many hindrances attending the mercantile business as
it was conducted in those clays, but there was also this very
gratifying help to the business, that one could make money at
it. Trade was good, money was plentiful, people would buy, and
those who had not the money to pay at the time of purchase were
honest enough to pay when they promised to. Mr. Cole prospered.
He began in a few years to invest his surplus funds in lands. He
has been a land-dealer of more or less extensive interests
since. He now owns farms in Delaware, Clayton, Buena Vista and
Dickinson counties, this state. He continued to sell goods at
Colesburg from the time he settled there in 1849 till 1888. He
lost his store and the larger part of his goods by a fire at the
latter date, at which time he relinquished the mercantile
business, and, moving shortly afterwards to Manchester, resided
there about a year, engaged in no active business pursuits. In
November, 1889, however, he went to Greeley, in Elk township,
and not far from the scenes of his former business activities,
and started the Bank of Greeley, which he has conducted since.
Mr. Cole is one of those men who move noiselessly along their
appointed way, living easily and prosperously and accomplishing
much good in a quiet way that the world knows not of. Whatever
movement has been set on foot to advance the interests of the
community where he has resided, has always commanded his
thoughtful consideration, and his wise and conservative counsel
has borne the best of fruit in whatever he has interested
himself. No appeal to his liberality or public spirit has ever
been made in vain, and when occasion has demanded, he has
labored with willing hands for what he has deemed to be for the
good of the people among whom he has lived. What the influence
of his example as a quiet, industrious, conservative man of
business has been, it is not possible to estimate. The fact,
however, that his influence has always been extended in the
right direction is to his credit, if we may believe the
unanimous testimony of those who have known him longest and most
intimately.
We may say, without fear of reproach, that his life has been
productive of much more good than that of the average man; that
it, in fact, carries with it a wholesome lesson, one that may be
studied with interest and emulated with profit.
Mr. Cole's domestic relations, until his household was darkened
by the grim spectra, whom we all so much dread, were of the most
felicitous nature. He married, as we have noted, in 1849, the
nuptial event taking place in the flowery month of May and on
the first day of the month. His wife was a native of England,
but was reared in Oswego, Tioga county, N. Y., the same place in
which he was brought up. She belonged to one of the respectable
families of that place, Hannah, her Christian name, she being a
daughter of George and Ann Wilson, both of whom were born and
reared in Yorkshire, England, coming to the United States about
1833. They moved West in 1849 and settled in Hustisford, Dodge
county, Wis., where they both died. Mr. Cole had the great
misfortune to lose his wife, January 3, 1887. She left surviving
her only one child, Ella L., now the wife of Dr. J. J. Lindsay,
of Manchester; two, Minnie and Matie, preceded her to the
unknown land, both dying in infancy. July 31, 1889, Mr. Cole
married again, taking as his second wife Miss H. Gertrude
Graves, who is a native of Oswego, Tioga county, N. Y.
We have here given an outline of Mr. Cole's life. If it be true,
as is often said, that a man's acts are the most intelligible
expression of his principles, it may be worth mentioning in this
connection, in addition to those sturdy maxims of honesty,
industry and upright dealings by which Mr. Cole has shaped his
course, he also held fixed views respecting all those cardinal
points affecting the welfare of society and he has given a
practical meaning to his views by connecting himself with the
adjunct organization designed to promulgate these views and thus
benefit mankind at large. He has been a member of the Methodist
church for many years, a liberal contributor to the support of
church organizations and a zealous worker in matters of
religion. In politics he is a republican, having been in early
life a Whig. He cast his first presidential vote for General
Taylor in 1848 and supported the Whigs as long as there was a
party organization of that name. He has been a republican since
that great war party came into existence. |
