WI BIO - COLE, Samuel

History of Lafayette County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical, 1881, p 
760 (Portrait p 765)

Samuel COLE, retired blacksmith, Town of Gratiot [Lafayette County*, 
Wisconsin], P. O. Gratiot, was born in Lower Canada in 1815; came to [the 
Territory of] Wisconsin in September 1838 [Territory of Wisconsin created 20 
April 1836 from Michigan Territory; state of Wisconsin created 29 May 1848]; 
engaged in blacksmithing. [He opened the first blacksmith shop in the Town 
of Gratiot, which was first generally known as "Wolf's Ford. In the section 
on the history of the Village of Gratiot, page 594 of the same source, it 
states "the second house built there was a frame building, which stood on 
Block 9; who the builders were is not known. The bachelors, David ATWOOD, 
Samuel COLE, and B. W. and E. W. TUTTLE occupied it when they first came. The 
building remained until 1876. A shed which was erected against this house 
was where Messrs. Cole & Atwood opened the first blacksmith shop in the 
town."] He [Samuel COLE] entered forty acres of land and now owns 260 
acres, on which he has made all the improvements, also 160 acres of land in 
Buena Vista County, Iowa.

His [Samuel COLE's] wife, Jane CONNERY [a maiden name?], was born in the Town 
of Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1815; came to America in 1828, and 
settled in Pennsylvania; came to [the Territory of] Wisconsin in 1837; 
married 13 April 1841; and [Samuel and Jane COLE] have four children: (1) 
Mary Jane, born 12 August 1842, now Mrs. CAMPBELL; (2) Sarah A., born 17 
March 1845, now Mrs. COOK, station agent at Gratiot [Lafayette County, 
Wisconsin]; (3) Edwin W. COLE, born 11 July 1849, in business in Gratiot; 
and (4) Emmit J., born 09 March 1851, a farmer near Gratiot.

In politics [Samuel COLE is a] Republican; in religion, liberal; has been 
Justice of the Peace** for thirty years; has been Chairman of the Board of 
Supervisors*** for eight years, and member of the General Assembly for four 
years, and the State Senate four years, and generally interested in public 
improvements. He was one of the three County Commissioners who divided the 
county [Lafayette] into towns in 1848 [on 03 January 1848]; was magistrate 
thirty-five years. [The others commissioners were John RAY, chairman; and 
John ARMSTRONG (from p 489) and these three men also changed the name of the 
Town of Kindle, named after James KINDLE, Sr., to Kendall, "as it would be 
more easily written and spoken, KINDLE being a very uncommon name." (p 624) 
Samuel COLE is listed as a member of the County Board, representing Gratiot, 
for the years 1848, 1849, 1850, 1852, 1855, 1857, and 1860; as a member of 
the Assembly for 1851, 1860, 1864, and 1868; and as State Senator 1861-1862 
and 1865-1866 (pages 489-494). Samuel COLE was also a member of the 
Lafayette County Agricultural Society, which was organized 18 July 1857; he 
is one of three vice presidents listed for that society in 1859, when the 
third fair hosted by that society was held in Darlington on 21-22 September 
of that year. No further mention of Samuel COLE is made in connection with 
that society after 1859. The society practically disbanded in 1862, during 
the Civil War.] When he [Samuel COLE] came to this town [Gratiot] there was 
only one log hut, and a log saw and grist mill. Mr. [Samuel] COLE built the 
first blacksmith shop [in the Town of Gratiot]. The shop, built in 1839, is 
still standing.

Submitter Footnotes

* [Iowa County, Territory of Wisconsin, at first extended to the Mississippi 
River, and was split into and renamed Grant and Lafayette Counties. Grant 
County, Territory of Wisconsin, was cut off from Iowa County in 1839. On 23 
December 1847 the boundaries of what is now known as Lafayette and Iowa 
Counties were legally established [legal document for this is on pp 480-481], 
and thus Lafayette County was actually created from part of what was a much 
larger Iowa County than it was when the boundary between Lafayette and Iowa 
Counties was established. in 1847.]

** [p 591] "Samuel COLE was the first Justice of the Peace in this section 
[village of Gratiot], having been appointed early in the forties [1840's]."

[The name of Samuel COLE appears on the roll of the first grand jury of 
Lafayette County.] "The first grand jury roll [for Lafayette County] was 
drawn in 1847, when the following gentlemen were called upon to make a 
presentment of crime in the district: [lists names by precinct, including 
for] Gratiot Precinct: Samuel COLE, Henry RODOLF, Prairies J. BISHOP, 
William MONROE, and John ARMSTRONG." [p 482] 

*** [Samuel COLE was a member of the County Board of Supervisors, 
representing Gratiot, in 1849.] "On 12 January 1849, at a meeting of the 
County Commissioners, the county was reorganized, when the towns of Benton, 
New Diggings, Argyle, Wayne, Belmont, Kendall, Elk Grove, White Oak Springs, 
Gratiot, Shullsburg, Hamilton, Fayette, and Wiota were duly defined and 
orders issued for the first election of Town Trustees. The Board of County 
Supervisors was organized 04 June 1849, when a meeting of the Chairman of the 
Town Boards was held in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Shullsburg. John 
Z. SAXTON was chosen temporary Chairman, and the Committee on Credentials 
presented the following as qualified to represent these localities [lists 
localities and names of person, and includes] Samuel COLE, Gratiot." [p 483]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly