Thomas COLE
Biography/Obituary

The Chicago Republican of November 27, 1827, had the following regarding Thomas Cole:

His days were industriously spent in the pursuits of agriculture. He was exemplary in his morals and just in his dealings. The wear of time had so enfeebled his nerves, that he was confined to his bed nine days before his death: and we may with propriety quote the words of the poet as applicable:

"Of no distemper, of no blast he died'
But fell like Autumn fruit that mellowed long;
E'en wondered at, because falls no sooner.
Fate seemed to wind him up for four score years,
Yet freshly ran he on, twelve winters more,
Till like a clock worn out with beating time
The wheels of weary life at last stood still."

Surely a grand old man, a patriarch of the Biblical type. Oxford still has Coles living there, and memorial fountain in the park was presented to the city by one of the family, in memory of Calvin and Fayette (Balcom) Cole.

Thomas Cole married Miriam Kinne in 1757. One of their ten children was Samuel, who was the father of Calvin Cole, who was the father's grandfather. The main branches of the family in this country were descended from the other son, Amos, and Samuel. Amos married Lucy Clark Burnham in 1816 in his 57th years: she was his fourth wife. He died in Sherburne, N.Y. in 1852 in the 93rd year. One of the descendents of Amos was the well-known musician, Rossitter Cleason Cole, of Chicago, who was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Thomas' father John and his family settled in Reneboth, now Secunk, Rhode Island. The son married first, a sister of the great man, Benjamin Franklin. She died, and he then married Miss Mary Bowen. One of their six children was Thomas, who was born in Sterling, Connecticut, on August 25, 1735, and it is from Thomas that our line is descended.

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