Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/138

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

died comparatively young. In addition to his Richmond property he owned vast landed estates in different parts of the colony, granted him by the King in con- sideration of services rendered the Crown. He was a colonel of militia and in some old records is also spoken of as major. He was a devoted adherent to the Church of England, and was one of the founders of the famous old St. John's Church, of Richmond, being buried under the chancel of that church. Not many years ago, in the course of some repairs that were being made in the church, there was found under the chancel, among other remains, a brass coffin-plate bearing the name of John Coles. He was church warden from the founding of the church until the day of his death, which occurred in 1747. At that time, the church and state being closely allied, the church wardens controlled civil and mili- tary as well as church affairs, and in con- sulting old records it is found that John Coles wielded considerable influence in both church and secular afifairs. His death in October, 1747. followed the birth of his son, Isaac, by a few months, and in his will he left an immense tract of land in Albemarle coimty, Virginia, to his son, John (2), will- ing to his sons, Walter and Isaac, vast estates on the Staunton, Dan, and Bannister rivers in that portion of Brunswick county, Virginia, which was afterward set off as Halifax county, also bequeathing to them other property. His daughters received good estates, Mary, married Henry Tucker, and has many descendants, and Sarah, who married General George Muter, having no children. John (2) Coles married Rebecca Tucker, and built and resided at "Enniscor- thy," Albemarle county, \^irginia. named after the old home in Ireland whence his father had come. John (2) Coles was the father of Governor Edward Coles, and his descendants have been prominent in many states of the Union, high office and honor coming to many. Mary (Winston') Coles, born in 1721, died in 17^8, married ("second) a Mr. Donald.

Colonel Isaac Coles, son of John (i ) and Mary (Winston) Coles, was born in Rich- mond, Virginia, March 2, 1747, died on his plantation in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, June 3, 1813, and is there buried. He was educated at ^\'illiam and Mary College, Williamsburg. \'irginia, was a 'colonel of

militia during the revolutionary war, and was a member of the Virginia legislature in 1783-84-85-S7. He was a member of the convention which met in Richmond in June, 1788, to ratify the new Federal Constitution, and there voted against its ratification. He was a member of the first United States Congress which met in New York City in 1789 and there "voted against the adoption of the Constitution as it came from the hands of its framers, for he saw the poison under its wings." It is also on record that he voted to "abolish the slave trade," al- though a large land-owner and slave-holder himself, while his brother-in-law, Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, voted to continue it. He held his place in Congress until 1797, ^'ifl while a member of the Philadel- phia Congress he voted "to locate the seat of government on the banks of the Poto- mac." He was twice married, (first) in 1771. to Elizabeth, died in 1781, daughter of AX'illiam Lightfoot. of Charles Citv county. \'irginia. They had three children, only one of whom lived to maturity, Isaac (2). who built and lived at a place called ."^pringwood. near Houston. Halifax coimty. Virginia, and was the grandfather of the late Hon. Paul C. Edmunds and Captain Henrv Edmunds, of Halifax county. Colo- nel Isaac Coles, Sr., married (second'i in Januarv, 1790, Catherine Thompson, a "New York belle and beauty." whom he met while attending the New York Congress. She was a daughter of James and Catherine (Walton) Thompson, of New York, and a descendant of the Beekmans. Her sister, .A.nn, had previously married Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, an old bachelor at the time of his marriasre. Elbridge Gerry was a signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, governor of Massachusetts, mem- ber of Congress, vice-president of the United States at the time of his death in 1814, and was once sent abroad on an im- portant diplomatic mission with Pinckney and Marshall. Catherine Thompson, sec- ond wife of Colonel Isaac Coles, Sr., was born in New York City in 1767, died in Pittsylvania countv, Virginia, in 1848, be- ing buried by the side of her husband. They were the parents of a large family, of one of whom. \\'alter. further mention is made. Colonel Isaac Coles. Sr.. during his political career, lived on the plantation in Halifax countv. \'irginia. inherited from his father,