St Johns County FlArchives Biographies.....COLEE, HAROLD WILFRED October 11, 1894 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Nancy Rayburn Naev@earthlink.net January 21, 2008, 3:15 pm Author: The History of Florida: Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1923, Vol. III pg. 67 COLEE, HAROLD WILFRED, claims adjuster of the Florida East Coast Railway Company, Flagler System, with headquarters at Saint Augustine, is admittedly one of the most enterprising young men of this part of Florida, and one of the valued men of his corporation, with which he has been connected during his entire business career, which commenced at the early age of fifteen years. Mr. COLEE was born in this city, October 11, 1894, a son of GEORGE BARNABUS and MARIA LOUISE (KING) COLEE. His paternal grandfather, JAMES L. COLEE, died at Saint Augustine, January 12, 1911. His father came to this country from France, and JAMES L. COLEE and his brothers were born in Florida, just outside of Saint Augustine. He married at Saint Augustine, MARY IRWIN, and she died January 13, 1905. They had three daughters and six sons born to them. The maternal grandparents were JOHN and MARY KING, who were born in Ireland. He died at the age of sixty-seven years, and she when she was sixty- five. GEORGE B. COLEE was born at Saint Augustine in 1868 and died in this city in 1907. His wife was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in January, 1865. They were married in Saint Augustine Cathedral September 16, 1889. Their family consisted of four daughters and one son, of whom one died in infancy, but the others are still living, and of them all HAROLD WILFRED was the second in order of birth. Growing to manhood in his native city, GEORGE B. COLEE attended its parochial schools, and was engaged in the livery business at Saint Augustine with his father, and was so engaged at the time of his death, when he was but thirty-eight years of age. He was a devout member of the Roman Catholic Church. In politics he was a democrat. JAMES L. COLEE, the paternal grandfather of HAROLD W. COLEE, was a civil engineer by profession, and followed it for a number of years at Saint Augustine. His professional duties brought him into contact with the Seminole Indians, and because of his uprightness and honorable methods, he gained their friendship and was called by them the “Good White Man”. The settlement of Colee in Saint Johns County is named in honor of his brother, GEORGE. For a number of years he was connected with the Florida Coast Canal and Transportation Company, and owned a large amount of property in Saint Johns County, and prior to the war between the states owned several slaves, who after they were freed pleaded for permission to remain with him because of his humane treatment and general consideration of them. JAMES L. COLEE was also a stockholder in the First National Bank, and for several terms served as county commissioner of Saint Johns County. Few men bore a more important part in the public affairs of his day and locality, and he held the confidence of all who knew him, both white and colored. Losing his father at a tender age, HAROLD W. COLEE tried to add to the family income while attending school, and when he was fifteen years old, terminated his schooldays and obtained a clerical position in the offices of the Florida East Coast Railway Company. Later he was transferred to the passenger traffic department as junior clerk. Still later he was made ticket clerk in the same office. An ambitious young man, he studied stenography, and when capable of holding the position was made stenographer in the same department. Still later he became private secretary to the general passenger agent, ticket agent, at Saint Augustine and Key West. Further promotion came to him, for he was successively made stenographer in the accounting department, of the engineering department, and of the freight traffic department; private secretary of the general freight agent; loss and damage investigator in the same office; assistant chief clerk to the vice president, J. P. BECKWITH, and finally was given his present position of claims adjuster. Mr. COLEE has always been active in different movements at Saint Augustine, and is a member and ex-president of the Saint Augustine Baseball Association, and is now serving it as secretary. He is a past deputy grand knight and past lecturer of Saint Augustine Council No. 611, K. of C., is a dictator of Saint Augustine Lodge No. 498, L.O.O.M., and for several years esquire of the B.P.O.E., No. 829. The Saint Augustine Board of Trade has in him one of its most effective members, and he is equally zealous in behalf of the Saint Augustine Country Club, of which he is also a member and an enthusiastic golfer. He is also secretary of the Historic Society of which organization the Hon. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW is president in. Reared a Roman Catholic, he holds to that faith. He is a democrat. On September 26, 1917, Mr. COLEE married ALICE SHELDON GILLESPIE, a native of Roanoke, Virginia, and a graduate nurse from the hospital of the Florida East Coast Railway Company, under Dr. M.W. SEAGEARS. Mr. and Mrs. COLEE have two children: HAROLD W., Junior, and ELIZABETH HAZEL. Mr. COLEE’s history is an intensively interesting one, for it proves that fidelity, ability and industry will yield very gratifying returns, not merely in a material sense, but in the rewards only accorded good citizens and honorable men. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/stjohns/bios/colee71nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/flfiles/ File size: 5.9 Kb