My Genealogy Hound

Christopher Cole, a prominent and substantial farmer of Oakland County, Michigan, owning two farms, one of 250 acres in section 9, Orion township, and one of 172 acres in Oxford township, was born in Warren County, New Jersey, July 17, 1836, and is a son of Christopher and Leah (Kinney) Cole, both natives of Warren County, and a grandson of Christopher Cole.

Our subject is the youngest of a family of seven children, the only other survivor being his eldest sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Buckner, who resides with him, aged 84 years. His parents came to Michigan when he was but three months old, the long journey being made by slow stages by carriage from their home to Dunkirk, New York, thence by boat to Detroit. Our subject’s father made his first visit to Michigan in 1836 and purchased the present farm of his son Christopher, in Orion township, prior to bringing his family thither. He was a very capable man, understanding both farming and carpentering, and found plenty of employment for all his faculties. The country was then rough and unsettled, and the nearest neighbor was three miles distant, while wild animals and Indians still roamed through the forests. Pontiac was not much more than a trading post, and it was a long distance to Detroit, without any means of transportation. The village of Orion consisted of a sawmill. On their farm the parents spent the remainder of their lives, and the mother, who was born in 1799, died in 1858, and the father in 1873; aged 82 years.

Our subject was reared on this pioneer farm and easily recalls many of the conditions prevailing at the time. He was given as good educational opportunities as the place and time afforded, and has devoted his life to the developing of his fine farm, in which he has met with unqualified success. He owns one farm in Oakford township and also one in Orion township and is interested in the Bank of Orion and also in the Review Publishing Company.

On August 1, 1871, Mr. Cole was married to Maggie E. Wyker, who was born in Sussex County, New Jersey, and accompanied her parents here in the “forties.” She was a daughter of Alfred Wyker who died when quite young, leaving two sons, — Daniel and David, both of whom perished in the Civil war, one dying in prison and the other on the field, — and two daughters, — Mrs. Cole and Mrs. Susie Hoyt, who lives in Detroit. Mrs. Cole died December 25, 1880, leaving one child, Grace L. Mr. Cole has long been a prominent man in his township, serving as a justice of the peace, supervisor and treasurer. He is a valued member of the Grange. Politically he is a Democrat.

Mr. Cole’s ancestry is German and the family was founded near Scott Mountain, New Jersey, in 1785, by Christian Cole, his great-grandfather. He erected a home near what is now known as Montana, New Jersey, and there reared his family, the name still being well represented in that locality until the present day. Many of its members have settled in different sections, but wherever found will invariably show thrift, intelligence and sterling traits of character.