Ringgold County IAGenWeb Project

Ringgold County Biographical Sketches

William B. COLE

pp. 254

"William B. COLE, son of William and Elizabeth (Buckingham) Cole, was born in Rock Island, Illinois, November 12, 1855. His father was born in Killarney, Ireland, and in 1840 came to the United States, settling in Massachusetts.

In 1850 he went to California, where he mined till 1853, returning in that year to Massachusetts. The same year they removed to La Salle County, Illinois, and soon after settled at Rock Island.

In 1858 or 1859 he removed with his family to Mercer County, Illinois, and in 1864 went to Idaho, where he was engaged in mining till 1868, when the family came to Ringgold County, Iowa.

The parents are now living in Jefferson Township.

They had a family of three children, of whom our subject is the only one living. Their eldest son, Thomas, died in Idaho, aged twenty-three years, and their son, John, died at the age of four years. William B. Cole, the subject of this sketch, spent his youth in assisting his father on the farm, and received his education in the common schools.

He subsequently read law for a time, and was admitted to the bar in 1880, and practiced his profession for a while before the Justice, Circuit and District courts. He is now devoting his attention to the duties of his farm, on section 16, Jefferson Township, where he has 142 acres of choice land, and is meeting with success in his general farming and stock-raising.

Mr. Cole was united in marriage May 22, 1876, to Miss Viola Bonebrake, a daughter of the late Samuel W. Bonebrake. They are the parents of four children - Ira T., Samuel C., Frederick H. and an infant son."

(Submitted to the Ringgold County IAGenWeb Project by Christy Jay, email: Jaygenie@aol.com)