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HON. ORSAMUS COLE; he was born in Cazenovia, Madison Co., N.Y., Aug. 23, 1819; is a son of Hymeneus and Sarah (SALISBURY) COLE; he graduated from Union College in 1843; after a thorough preparation for the practice of law, he came to Chicago, spent a few months there, then located at Potosi, Grant Co., Wis., in 1845; he was for several years engaged in successful practice with the late William R. BIDDLECOME. In 1847 he was elected as one of the Representatives of Grant Co., to the Constitutional Convention; he was a member of the Committee on Executive, Legislative and Administrative Provisions, and was one of the most faithful and hard-working members; in 1848, he was Whig candidate for Congress in the Second Congressional District, which then comprised the entire western half of the State; after an exciting contest, he was elected, and took a prominent part as a member of the Thirty-first Congress; in 1851, he again entered vigorously upon the practice of his profession in Potosi; in 1855, he was first elected Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, re-elected in 1861-67-73, for terms of six years each, and in 1879, re-elected for a term of ten years from January 1880, and in November, 1880 was apponted Chief Justice to fill the un-expired term made vacant by the death of Chief Justice RYAN. In June 1848, he was married to Miss Julia A. HOUGHTON; there is but one living child of this union, Sidney H. COLE, who is now a member of the firm of WEST & Co., dealers in books and stationery in Milwaukee; Mrs. COLE died Dec. 17, 1874; Judge COLE was married to his present wife, Mrs. Roberta C. GARNHART, Jan. 1, 1879. Transcribed and contributed to this site by Carol
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