John T. Cole, one of the most highly respected citizens of
South Otter township, Macoupin County, owning some of the best farming land
in the township, 200 acres in section 15 and 160 acres in section 22, was
born in August, 1820, in Tennessee. He is a son of William and Susan (Brown)
Cole.
The Cole family is an old and honorable one in Tennessee,
where it has grown and prospered for generations. William Cole was a son of
William Cole, and was born in Sullivan County, Tennessee, where he followed
farming as had his father and grandfather before him. He married Susan
Brown, a member of an equally prominent family of Washington County,
Tennessee.
The venerable subject of this biography attended the
schools in his neighborhood during his boyhood days and grew up on his
father's farm, where he remained until 1850. On November 14, 1845, he
married Elizabeth Baird, who also still survives, through all these years
having been a cheerful, helpful companion. She is a daughter of Thomas and
Jane (Hall) Baird, also natives of Tennessee. With his wife and young
children, Mr. Cole came to Macoupin County in 1850 and located in Barr,
township, where he purchased a farm, upon which he lived for 15 years. In
1865 he disposed of that property and came to his present farm which is
advantageously situated within three and a half miles of the bustling little
village of Nilwood. Mr. Cole, during his years of active life, devoted
himself to general farming, and stock raising, attaining great success,
raising some of the finest crops and the best horses and cattle in the
county. For some years he has delegated the active labor of the farm to
younger hands but still enjoys looking over the fertile lands he so long
cultivated, and in noting the development of the fine stock in which he has
always taken an interest.
Mr. and Mrs. Cole became the parents of 11
children, all of whom but two have been spared to them, and now they are the
center, of a large circle of loving and obedient grandchildren. The family
record is as follows: Jane, who married John Whittaker, and had two
children, Frank and Albert, — her second marriage with John Johnson,
resulted in a daughter, Dora; Samuel, who lives in Carlinville, engaged in
the stock business, married, as his first wife, Julia Olbert and they had
four children, Emma, Cora, Frank and Dollie, — his second marriage was
contracted with Belle Hayes of Carlinville; Thomas, who is a farmer on his
father's land in section 22, married Sarah Ross, and they have these
children,— Harry, Oscar, Charles, Truman, Clyde, Grace, Fred, Blanche, Opal,
Howard and John; Oscar, who farms his father's land in section 15, married
Susie Ross and they have two children, Bernard and Marie; Ruth, who married
Ballard H. Woods, resides on the home farm; Wesley, who farms in section 22,
married Minnie Caynor; Lulu, married, first, W. Conley, and second, R. C.
Adams, and had one child, Lois who is deceased; Everett, who farms in
section 22, married Ida Bates and they have four children, Birdie, Coy, Lola
and Lela; and Ida, who married Frank Huber, a grain dealer of Nilwood. The
two deceased were Emaline and Christina.
Mr. Cole has been a life
long Democrat of the old school. He has lived to see many wonderful changes
in governmental affairs and in his earlier years took an active part in the
campaigns. For a long period he has been a valued member of the Methodist
Church. Time has touched both Mr. and Mrs. Cole with a gentle hand and even
in advanced age they are blessed with health as well as the affection of
kindred and the esteem of the community.
Extracted 2018 May 05 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 81-83.
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