1890 Buchanan and Delaware Counties History pgs. 568-573
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 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, 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 testimonv 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 spectre, 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.
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