Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Cole, Thomas W. May 10, 1845 - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 9, 2025, 4:16 pm

Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

THOMAS W. COLE, 
resident of Mountain City since 1867, and the superintendent of the Altoona
Gas Company, is the eldest son and child of James and Caroline (Jones) Cole,
and was born at St. Michael's, Talbot county, Maryland, May 10, 1845.  The
Cole family is of English and Scotch lineage, and James Cole was born on,
January 20, 1816, at Aberdeen, Maryland, where he died January 15, 1892, when
lacking but five days of having completed his seventy-sixth year.  His
grandfather Cole was an old resident and a well-to-do farmer of Harford
county, Maryland, and died at Aberdeen, that State.  James Cole was the
eldest of a family of eleven children, and learned the trade of carpenter,
which he followed for many years.  He was an industrious man, and a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church.  He was twice married.  His first wife was
Caroline Jones, who died at St. Michael's in 1859, leaving a family of eleven
children.  Mr. Cole, in 1866 married for his second wife Hannah Osborn.  Mr.
Cole's first wife, Caroline (Jones) Cole was a daughter of Major Jones, an
American officer, who served with distinction in the revolution and the war
of 1812, and died at St. Michael's.  He was a native of lower Maryland, and
reared a family of seven children, all of whom are dead except Capt. Thomas
Jones, who is a ship owner and has been engaged for many years in the
carrying trade between Charleston, South Carolina, and Liverpool, England.     
   Thomas W. Cole was reared in his native State, received his education
in the public schools of St. Michael's, and learned the trade of machinist in
the Washington navy yard.  Leaving Washington city, in 1867, he came to
Altoona, where he was employed in the machine shops of the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company until 1874, when he was transferred to the draughting room,
under the personal charge of J. B. Collins, the mechanical engineer of the
company, and served there for seven years.  At the end of that time, in 1880,
he resigned his position to become superintendent and general manager of the
Altoona Gas Company, in which capacity he served continuously and
successfully ever since.
   In 1872 Mr. Cole wedded Frances E., daughter of Charles Fisher, of
Blair county.  To their union have been born seven children, five sons and
two daughters:  Annetta, who died in 1883, aged ten years; Frank, Edgar,
William, Hildah, James and Fred.
   Thomas W. Cole is a democrat in politics, and served for three
consecutive terms -- from 1882 to 1891 -- as a member of the city school
board.  He is a member and deacon of the First Evangelical Lutheran church of
Altoona, and a member and past officer of White Cross Lodge, No. 354, Knights
if Pythias.  He is also a member and past officer of the Masonic fraternity,
in which he has attained high rank, being a member of Logan Lodge, No. 490,
Free and Accepted Masons; Mountain Chapter, No. 189, Royal Arch Masons;
Mountain Council, No. 9, Royal and Select Masters; Mountain Commandery, No.
10, Knights Templar; and Syria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine, of Pittsburg.  Mr. Cole, aside from the many duties of his
present responsible position, has given some time and thought to the material
development of his city, and has served as one of the directors of the
Fidelity Building & Loan association of Altoona, ever since its organization,
in 1884.  The business men of Altoona are conspicuous for their enterprise and
ability, and in their ranks Thomas W. Cole occupies an honorable and well
deserved position.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Sharon McCartney Russell jerusse@erols.com

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