My Genealogy Hound

Uriah Cole, farmer and stock raiser, and the oldest living settler in Bird Township, was born in Middle Tennessee, Humphreys County, in 1825, and was the fifth in a family of ten born to James and Martha (York) Cole, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. The father, when a boy, emigrated to Tennessee, thence to Kentucky, when it had very few settlers, living sixty miles from a mill, and then back to Tennessee, and, in 1847, to Jackson County, Ark., locating in what is now Bird Township, on the place where our subject now resides, and having to cut a road from Jacksonport to their claim, where plenty of game abounded. The father died in 1855, at the age of eighty-four years, his excellent wife following in 1864. The subject of this sketch was reared to frontier farm life, receiving his education in the district schools of Tennessee and the subscription schools of Arkansas. He and his brother, Jackson, remained at home, clearing the farm, and in 1849 Uriah married Martha Wann, a native of Alabama, and settled on the farm on which he now resides, which contains 240 acres, 190 under cultivation, thirty-five of which are yearly planted to cotton. Mr. Cole also raises considerable stock. In 1861 he enlisted in Capt. Bateman’s company, Dobbins’ regiment of cavalry, and participated in the battles of Helena, Little Rock, Marks’ Mills, Jenkins’ Ferry. At the close of the war, in 1865, he was paroled at Jacksonport, when he returned to the farm. Though a Democrat, Mr. Cole is not an office-seeker, and not very active in politics. Mrs. Cole died in 1879, leaving six children: William Jason, married, residing in Bird Township; Amanda, now Mrs. Gibson, of Bird Township; Mary Elizabeth, now Mrs. Grooms, of Bird Township; Uriah A., single; Henry, single; and Harriet, now Mrs. Brightwell — the last two being twins. In 1882 Mr. Cole married Martha Deaton, a native of Alabama. Mr. Cole has seen the full growth of Jackson County — has camped out and killed bears where the town of Tuckerman is now situated. During the war Mr. Cole lost everything, and what he now has, has been made since that time by economy and industry, and by taking an interest in everything for the good of the county.