My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH COLE, Jr., retired farmer, Sec. 33; P.O. Darke; was born in Washington Township, Darke Co., Dec. 29, 1823; at the age of 17, he began teaching school in the first schoolhouse erected in Washington Township, and followed teaching most of the time until he was 30 years old; he built and managed a saw-mill about three years; he went into merchandising in Coletown and followed it four years; he since has followed dealing in live-stock and farming; he has never been a political aspirant; he is now Secretary of the Darke County Pioneer Society, His father, Samuel Cole, was born in Sussex Co., N. J., July 3, 1787, and married Mary Elston, of the same county, in 1812; she was born Nov. 27, 1792; his father, Samuel Cole, was born on the Hudson River, near New York City, Nov. 5, 1751. He first married Janey Davis; she was born July 2, 1755; his second wife was Anna Rider; she was born Oct. 25, 1760; his father was David Cole, a descendant of the Coles who were among the first settlers of New York City or New Amsterdam; Samuel Cole, the father of the subject of this sketch, moved to Washington Township in March, 1817; his father came the next year and died here Jan. 8, 1829; Samuel, father of Joseph, the subject of this sketch, died in Greenville Township, this county, Feb. 21, 1866; he was a farmer but taught the first school in Washington Township; he was the first Justice of the Peace, and was Township Clerk in 1823; his widow Mary, died Aug. 10,1831; they had eight children, viz.: William, born July 25, 1813, in New Jersey, died April 3, 1836; Asa, born July 26, 1815, in New Jersey, died May 29, 1857; Jane, born April 20, 1817; the first white child born in Washington Township; she married Leonard Wintermute, and now resides in Greenville Township; Betsey, born March 23, 1819, died Feb. 6, 1872; she married George Elston, deceased; Samuel, born April 5, 1821; Joseph, Dec. 29, 1823; Polley,___ 18, 1826, died Sept. 25. 1831, and Henry, June 20, 1829; he is a Christian minister and resides in Kansas. Joseph, the subject of this sketch, married Sarah Ann Shively April 6, 1850; she is the daughter of Daniel Shively, and was born May 14, 1831; they have had seven children, viz.: Arthur born Jan. 18, 1851, died March 16, 1852; Wallace S., born April 6, 1853; Flora A., born March 26, 1855; she married B. F. Chenoweth; William H., born Dec. 16, 1859; Mary C., born April 23, 1862; Charlie W., born Oct. 12, 1866, and Benjamin F., Nov. 12, 1874.