Cole, Charles Melville

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 6011
• Military Service: Bef 1866; Civil War
• Biography: 1911; History of Outagamie County, Wisconsin Page 1017

Notes:

Biography:
CHARLES M. COLE, deceased, who was for many years a government inspector in the lumber districts of the Fox River valley, was born at Smithville, New York, March 10, 1841, and died December 6, 1908. He was a son of Milo and Marilla (Tousley) Cole, natives of Connecticut, the former of English and the latter of Scotch stock. The Cole family is one of the old ones of New England, the name formerly being spelled Cowles, and Charles M. Cole's greatgrandfather was an officer in the Continental army during the Revolutionary War, and was buried at Smithville, New York. Milo Cole was one of the early settlers of Shiocton, and was the namer of that city and of Bovina township. He was a lawyer by profession and was engaged in the lumber business, was sent to the legislature during the early '60s, and moved to Appleton in 1863, where he was elected clerk of the court. He continued to live in Appleton until his death in 1877. Charles M. Cole was the only child of his parents, and he obtained his early education in the public schools of Hortonville, later going to Lawrence University until 1862, at which time he enlisted for service in the Union army, with Company I, Thirtysecond Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served with distinction in that company until the close of the war, being mustered out as sergeant of his company. Returning to Appleton he engaged in the lumber business with his father, and in 1871 entered the government service, continuing therein until his death as inspector and superintendent of improvements on the Fox River. On May 27, 1869, Mr. Cole was married to Sophie Nicoulin, daughter of Francois and Pauline (Parret) Nicoulin, natives of France, came to Wisconsin in 1852 and settled in Dodge county, where Mr. Nicoulin died in 1857. November 28, 1860, she married (second) in Dodge county, Francois Bernard, a native of Beaune, France, who came to Appleton in 1853. Francois Bernard was born January 4, 1821, a cabinetmaker by trade and the first of his craft to settle in Appleton and also the first to open a furniture store. He disposed of his furniture business in 1865, was then in the grocery trade until 1869, and from the latter date until 1904 operated a billiard room in Appleton. Mr. Bernard was twice married, first to Asphasia Steffens, by whom he became the father of one daughter, Mrs. Anna S. Goff, of Tacoma, Washington. To his (second) marriage with Mrs. Nicoulin, there was also one daughter born, Minnie Bernard, of Appleton. Mr. Bernard died December 24, 1909. He made the moulds for the bricks used in building Lawrence University and the pigeon-holes for the first post office in Appleton. Mrs. Bernard died in Appleton, June 15, 1911. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cole: Charles Melville, born April 4, 1879, a graduate of the Appleton High school and the State University at Madison, and a mechanical engineer, now superintendent of the gas works at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, married June 27, 1906, Leila Carroll Moore, of Kansas City, Missouri; and Laura, born in 1883, a beautiful, talented girl, who died May 8, 1909. The mother came to America with her parents in 1835. They settled in Massachusetts, where she married Francois Nicoulin, November 10, 1843. The father came to Massachusetts from France in 1834.