The Cole Family of the Coles Magisterial District

By James Bish

Located at Independent Hill in central Prince William County along Joplin Road between Aden Road and Dumfries Road is the obscure, poorly maintained family burial ground of the once influential Cole family. Among the readable names on the gravestones are Lawrence Cole (b. 1812, d. 1881) and Elizabeth Cole Ashby (b. 1866, d. 1951). Most of the other gravestones are sunken or undecipherable.

Daniel, the earliest known Cole family member to settle in the area, lived in southern Prince William by 1740 with his wife, Constance, and their family. Their son, Daniel Cole, Jr. married a girl named Sarah and settled near Chopawansic Creek during the 1760's. Daniel, Jr. and Sarah raised a family of five, two boys and three girls, before Daniel, Jr. died in 1797, leaving a small inheritance. His two sons, Matthias and Benjamin, received the majority of the estate which amounted to little more than a few cows, calves, and horses. Benjamin farmed between Chopawanisc Creek and what became known as Independent Hill, and Matthias worked nearby as a blacksmith. Both brothers married and settled into a lifestyle much like that of their grandfather sixty years before.

Benjamin married a local girl named Prudence and between 1805 and 1825 they raised a family of six boys and three girls. Benjamin and Prudence's sons became quite well known in the county between 1840 and 1880. Four of the boys, Lawrence, Horace, Samuel, and Benjamin, Jr., remained in the Independent Hill area. Each of the Cole boys fanned, but to supplement their incomes, Lawrence and Horace opened a general store about 1840, while younger brother Benjamin, Jr. operated a blacksmith shop. Cole's store, located very near where Samsky's store stands today, became a familiar landmark in the county through 1870. It seems that

the store and blacksmith shop were vital to many central Prince William County residents. There, area inhabitants probably received news of the impending crisis between the Northern and Southern states, as well as furnishing their farmsteads with needed supplies. In addition, the store most likely served as a social center and a polling place for elections. Its prominence in the area during the Civil War is verified by the fact that it is the only store shown on all known military maps of Prince William County made by both Union and Confederate armies.

After the war, the Cole brothers continued to play a significant role in Prince William County affairs. When Virginia was forced to adopt a new constitution in 1870, it was decided that each county should be divided into townships. Then Governor of Virginia, Gilbert Walker, commissioned four Prince William County men to divide the county into townships. Lawrence Cole headed the committee which included John Weedon, William Thornton, and Crawford Cushing. In April 1870 these men divided the county into six townships: Occoquan, Dumfries, Brentsville, Manassas, Gainesville and Cole's. It appears that Lawrence Cole, while helping to establish the townships, deemed it appropriate to name the township at the county's center after his family, as they played such an important role in the livelihood of the Independent Hill area. Cole's township first appeared on government documents later that summer, when the 1870 U. S. Census was taken. When the county supervisors first met in October of that year, William Lynn served as the first supervisor of Cole's Township. The following spring Lawrence Cole was appointed election registrar and Horace Cole was appointed election judge of Cole's Township. In addition, Lawrence served as overseer of the County Poor Farm during the 1870's. Between 1870 and 1875 county records gradually dropped the apostrophe in Cole's, probably for the sake of expedience. In 1875, when Virginia politicians changed the designation from townships to magisterial districts, the sixth magisterial district of Prince William County was officially recorded COLES, without an apostrophe, as it is known today. By 1890, the four Cole's brothers; Lawrence, Horace, Benjamin, Jr., and Samuel had all died, however descendants of the Cole family continued to operate businesses at Independent Hill into the 20th century. James B. Cole, a grandson of Benjamin Cole, Jr., operated a blacksmith and undertaking business at Independent Hill until his death in 1956. Today descendants of the Cole family living in the area include Blanche Fornestock, Lois Bailey, and Robert Bailey of Manassas, and Mary Lee Turner of Spotsylvania.

Sources: Prince William County Court, Deed, Supervisors Minutes, Will and Marriage Records; Obituary of James B. Cole, The Journal Messenger, January 19, 1956; Obituary of Elizabeth Cole Ashby, The Journal Messenger, March 29, 1951; 1790-1900 Census of Prince William County; Interviews with Lois Bailey, Blanche Fornestock, and Mary Lee Turner; Hotchkiss Confederate Map of Prince William County, 1862; McDowell Federal Maps of Prince William County, 1862 and 1863; Virginia Acts of Assembly, 1874-1875.