Henderson Cole
Henderson Cole
March 7, 1826
August 13, 1894
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
1. Biography
In the 1880 census there are three Henderson Coles listed in the Indiana-Kansas area, and all indications are that they are the same person who was moving around along with their son and his work. In the 1880 census of Elkhart, Elkhart County, Indiana Henderson Cole is listed as a 57 year old male with wife Sarah and children. However, there is a Henderson Cole also listed in Elk Falls, Elk County, Kansas census (in two places). In all three places Henderson is listed in his 50s. Two census records (one from Kansas and the one from Indiana) list him as a 57 year old from New York with family. The other record from Kansas (same town and county) lists him as 59 years old. Two of the census records list him as a farmer while the other gives no indication of his occupation. In the records where he is listed with a family, his wife is listed as either “Sarah†or “Sarah A.â€. In both she claims to be 34 years old, but in one she lists herself from Indiana and in the other from Ohio. In one family listing (in Indiana) there are three children: a son Erastus (24 of Illinois), a daughter Minnie B. (21 of Indiana), and a stepson Lemuel R. (13 of Indiana). In the other family listing (in Kansas) only Lemuel is listed (as “son†Lemuel O., 12 of Indiana). There is also a separate listing for Erastus at his place of work in the same township and county. It would appear that both Henderson and Sarah were previously married. Henderson has older children from his first wife while Sarah has her son, Lemuel Owen, from her first marriage (he is 13 at the time so the older children can’t be hers). In one listing Lemuel is “Owen†and a “stepsonâ€. In the other listing, Lemuel is “Lemuel O. (Owen?) Cole†and is recorded as a “sonâ€. It appears this is the same Henderson Cole, moving with his family. Later research indicates that in fact he was moving according to the transfers of his son Erastus. The family moved to Nueces County sometime in the 1890s. This is based on the obituary of Mrs. Cole in the C.C. Caller (Nov. 8, 1890 page 5, col. 1) which states that Mrs. H. Cole died suddenly of heart trouble. The article speaks of a pain in her arm and then her heart (typical of some heart attacks). The article also notes that she had only resided in Corpus Christi for a “few weeks†prior to her death. It reports that she came from Elk Falls, Kansas (see the 1880 census above where Sarah A. and Lemuel O. are listed with Henderson Cole in Elk Falls, Elk County, Kansas page 266A) but adds that she was a native of Illinois (none of the 1880 census records give that as her native state). Since her obit notes that she was interred in our area, she is also probably buried next to Henderson who died four years later (1894) and has an impressive grave marker to indicate clearly he was interred in Old Bay View Cemetery. The daughter of Henderson Cole was Minnie Bell Cole who was born in Elkhart, Indiana on 9 February 1859. She married Morris Melvin Kennedy on 12 July 1884 in Howard, Elks County, Kansas and died on 11 April 1947 in Jamestown, Chautaqua County, New York. Her son, Lynn Henderson Kennedy, was born 19 October 1887 in Liberty, Jackson County, Michigan and died single on 19 July 1956 here in Corpus Christi where he resided at 353 Naples at that time. Lynn had come to this area, probably after his mother’s death (his father died in 1898), to take care of his maternal uncle, E. (Erastus) Barnes Cole. It was E. B. Cole that Henderson Cole was following when he moved out of Indiana into Kansas and later Corpus Christi. Articles in the Corpus Christi Caller report the life of Mr. E. B. Cole who was a pioneer real estate agent in the city. The obit of his wife, Anna R. Cole, note that she was born at Fremont, Ohio on 28 January 1862, the daughter of Colonel and Mrs. Haynes. Her father was a colonel in the Union Army in the Civil War. One of her sisters also lived in the Corpus Christi area—Mrs. Maud Holcomb (C. C. Caller of 4 July 1946). E. B. Cole was born 23 April 1856 in Cook County, Illinois on a 40-acre farm which later became a part of metropolitan Chicago. He grew up in Elkhart, Indiana and was a hotel clerk there from 1872 to 1880, when he moved to Elk Falls, Kansas and bought a hotel (the would explain the multiple census reports of 1880). He later sold that business to buy a sheep ranch, and after removal of the tariff on wool he sold that venture and ran a drug store in Elk Falls until his failing health forced a change in location. He was heading to Colorado when he stopped in Wichita, Kansas and learned of the boom taking place in Corpus Christi. That was in 1890 when he and his wife moved to this city. His father and step-mother later followed. Cole became associated with Col. E. H. Ropes and they opened the Flour Bluff and Hoffman tract which included present day Arcadia Village. When the boom collapsed, E. B. Cole lost much of his savings but he was convinced Corpus Christi was still the place for real estate investments so he remained. Ultimately Cole’s land became the Del Mar subdivision, Six Points, and the Lindale subdivision. Cole Street is named for him, and Clifford Street is named for his only child who died young (Clifford 1892-1901). His name is probably best recognized by its association with Cole Park which is land he donated to the city for recreational purposes. On Mr. Cole’s 83rd birthday anniversary, the city dedicated Cole Park donated by the developer, and honored the man who had helped build the city. E. B. Cole was a charter member of the local WOW camp, the Board of Trade (later the Chamber of Commerce), and the Elks Lodge. His nephew Lynn Henderson Kennedy care for E. B. Cole until this pioneer real estate investor died at 96 years old on 18 June 1951 (C.C. Caller 19 June 1951). Lynn then remained in Corpus Christi until his death, and he was buried back up in Michigan (C.C. Times 20 July 1956). It seems that E. B. Cole probably erected the tombstone in Old Bayview for his father Henderson Cole. It is unclear whether he erected one for Mrs. Henderson Cole who preceded her husband (her obit is in C. C. Caller 8 November 1890), dying shortly after the family moved to Corpus Christi. No stone is extant for her. However, it may be that since she was not his mother, but only his stepmother, E. B. Cole saw to her burial only. Or it may be that Sarah Henderson’s blood son, Lemuel R. Owen later transferred his mother’s body elsewhere.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell
2. News Item
An article from the Caller-Times (Sunday edition) that purportedly quoted an old issue of the April 21, 1893 Caller had the following citation (the April 21, 1893 issue is not found among microfilm copies of the Caller).
“The Caller reports a serious runaway on Chaparral street. Two horses hitched to a hack driven by Mr. H. Cole, father of Mr. E. B. Cole, taking fright at some water works piping lying on the street near the St. James hotel, became unmanageable and started off on a wild rush. Down the street they ran in their mad flight, the driver vainly trying to check them. When they neared the arroya (sic) the hack turned over throwing Mr. Cole violently to the ground, rendering him unconscious for a time. A crowd soon gathered around the injured man, and medical assistance was hastily sent for. Dr. Cutler, arriving on the scene, had the unfortunate man placed on a cot and conveyed to comfortable quarters for a thorough examination, where he found one of the shoulder blades broken, and many bruises all over the body, the injuries finally causing Mr. Cole’s death.â€
Source: Men and Events of Forty Years Ago—April 21, 1893 Corpus Christi Caller quoted in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 26 March 1933, page 5, column 5 (story on Cole).
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell