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The following text is reproduced from (the report of the) Fifty-First Annual Reunion of the Association of the Graduates of the United States Military Academy, June 14th, 1920.


[image ALT: A head-and-shoulders photograph, three-quarters left, of a man in his thirties: of an intelligent and idealistic appearance, with full wavy hair and a dense beard and moustache. He is James Blakeslee Cole, the subject of this webpage.]

Lieutenant
James B. Cole

 p95  James Blakeslee Cole
No. 2155. Class of 1866.
Died, Nov. 3, 1919, at Marysville, Ohio, aged 75 years.

James B. Cole, the son of Philander B. and Dorothy Bardne (Winter) Cole, was born in Marysville, Ohio, March 17, 1844. His father was born in Columbus, Ohio, and his mother in Union County. His father was one of the ablest members of the Union County Bar for many years and served upon the bench with distinction and honor.

James B. Cole was reared in Marysville and was educated at the public schools and Academy in his home city. He then entered Millnor Hall at Gambier, Ohio, after spending some time as a teacher in the schools of his county. In June, 1862, when eighteen years of age, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point and was graduated with the Class of 1866.

Upon graduation he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, assigned to the 4th Cavalry and sent to the frontier of Texas. The following year he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant and served in the regular army with this rank and on duty in Texas until 1871.

A prominent citizen of Fort McIntosh, Texas, at the time Lieut. Cole served there, and an intimate friend of the latter, in speaking of Cole a few years after, said:

 p96  "He was a fine soldier, tall and spare, a fine rider, genial, jovial, and a general favorite with all, especially with the old Mexican families. He spoke Mexican fluently, which helped; scouted constantly, and was a 'born cavalry­man.' "

In 1871, Cole resigned from the army and returned to his home in Marysville, Ohio, where he took up the study of law with his father who was on the common pleas bench at the time. That winter saw his admission to the Bar, and, upon his father's retirement from the bench, the two formed a partner­ship under the name of P. B. Cole & Son. They continued to practice together until the death of the father in 1892.

Cole was married September 5, 1871, to Mary McAllister, the daughter of Richard Thompson and Martha (Gale) McAllister. To this union were born two daughters, Charlotte and Anna, now Mrs. Jesse S. Troll, of Bokeelia Island, Florida, and Mrs. Howard Kemp of Oak Park, Illinois. The mother of these children died July 19, 1905.

He continued a successful practice of law and kindred pursuits in Marysville until his last illness. Following an eight months' illness of organic heart disease, at no time during which was he confined to his bed, he passed away at his home on November 3, 1919.


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Page updated: 18 Dec 13