Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/144

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

February 24, 1898. 5. Charles Watkins, born September 12. igoi. 6. William Dabbs (3), born October 17, 1906. All born in Clarksville, Virginia.

Mr. Blanks has a genuine love of the soil and finds one of his favorite recreations in supervising the farms he owns, varying this pleasure by frequent hunting trips. Out- of-doors appeals to him, but of all his recre- ations these are the two most enjoyed.

James Edward Cole, an eminent and dis- tmguished attorney of Norfolk, \^irginia, descends m direct line from Colonel Wil- liam Cole, of Warwick county, afterwards Prince George county, who was burgess from that county in 1718, sheriff in 1726-27, .'Mid member of the board of visitors to Wil- liam and Mary College in 172S. He died in 1728, leaving a will that is mentioned in the \'irginia law reports. He left a widow, Mary, and a son, William (2), there being i;o record of any other sons.

William (2) Cole, son of Colonel William ( I ) and Mary Cole, married and left a son, \\'illiam (3), of whom further, and two daughters, Mary, who married (first) a Mr. West, and (second) Ferdinand Leigh, and Jane, who married (first) Colonel Nathaniel Claiborne, of ".Sweet Hall," King William county, Virginia, (second) Stephen Bing- liam, (third) Colonel Francis West.

William (3) Cole, son of William (2) Cole, married, February 7. 1778, Ann Ever- ard, daughter of Thomas Everard, who also had a daughter Martha. Papers are in pos- session of the family showing that a suit in chancery was instituted between \\'illiam (4). son of William (3) and Ann ( Everard 1 Cole (then deceased) and the heirs of Martha (Everard) Hall, wife of a Dr. Hall, the subject of the suit being the partition of a legacy of five thousand pounds left by John Everard. of Liverpool, England, in his will to his nieces, Ann Cole and Martha Hall, the question involved being whether William (4) Cole, as the only living child of Ann (Everard) Cole, should take his mother's share of the legacy or share "per capita" with the several children of Martha (Everard) Hall. Children of William (3) and Ann (Everard) Cole: John Everard, born March 12, 1781, died June 25, 1781 ; Ann Everard, born May 3, 1782, died July 23, 1796: Mary, born November 9, 1787,

died September 8, 1793; William (4), of whom further ; Martha Hall, born December 22, 1794, died July 28, 1795.

William (4) Cole, son of William (3) and Ann (Everard) Cole, was born January 2, 1792, died November 4, 1823. He was the only child of his parents to arrive at years of maturity. He married, February 26, 1818. Elizabeth Poythress Cocke, daughter of Captain James Cocke, of "Bon Accord," descendant of an illustrious early Virginia family. Children: i. William (5), born December 6, 1818. died December 12, i860; married Clara Herbert Peter, daughter of John and Martha Ann Henly (Cocke) Peter; children: Ann Elizabeth, born May 22, 1850, married J. W. Ashton, and now re- sides in Portsmouth, Virginia ; Clara Her- bert, born July 20, 1853, died in youth; Wil- liam (6), born January 5, 1856, died in youth ; Alartha Everard, born December 23, 1857. married John C. Ashton, and now re- sides in Portsmouth, Virginia. 2. John, of further mention.

John Cole, second son of William (4) and Elizabeth Poythress (Cocke) Cole, was born at Clermont, Prince George county, Virginia, the country seat of his parents, December 14. 1820, died at Mill View, Greenesville county, Virginia, ^Kugust 13, 1889. He was educated under private tutors and at the University of Virginia. He began business life in Petersburg, where he held a leading position among the busi- ness men of that city, and was interested in many prominent business enterprises in Southern Virginia, North Carolina, Missis- sippi and Tennessee. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, a man of marked personality and most highly es- teemed in the social life of his city. He married, December 7, 1843, Richetta Peter. Children: I. William Herbert, born De- cember II, i8.;|6: married Emma, daughter ot Dr. George Mason, of Greenesville county, Virginia. 2. John Peter, born July 29, 1850, died October 17, 1864. 3. Margaret Buchanan, born October 15, 1852; married (first) James Dunlap, (second) Walter J. Tarratt. 4. Richetta Peter, married Charles H. Warwick, of Brunswick county, later of Petersburg, Virginia. 5. Thomas Everard, born in November, 1862 : married Lucy T., daughter of Charles L. Cocke, of Sussex county, Virginia. 6. James Edward, of fur-