David Cole, Allen Parish Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller Date; July 23, 2013 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Allen Parish Louisiana Archives Biographies Name: David Cole Date: November 16, 1881 Source: A History of Louisiana, v.3, pp. 13-14; 1925 Author: Henry E. Chambers DAVID COLE was the first parish assessor of Allen Parish When it was organized, and has had a prominent part in the business and public life of that section of the state. He is now head of the firm Cole & Minchew, general merchants at Oberlin, and is also a member of the Legislature. He was born in Calcasieu Parish, November 16, 1881, son of Desire and Laura (Cole) Cole. The parents were second cousins. Desire Cole was descended from one of four brothers who came from Virginia to Calcasieu Parish and all of whom were prominent stockmen and planters here. Desire Cole was himself a stockman, raising cattle and sheep, and a planter in Calcasieu Parish and also a merchant at Dry Creek, and had extensive interests in the timber and logging industry. He was born in Louisiana, January 30, 1852, and died November 19, 1919. The record of his paternal ancestry, stated in detail, is as follows: His great-grandfather, Jacob Stampley Cole, was born September 4, 1799, son of James Cole, Sr., and his wife Jemima Curtis. Absalom Cole, Jr., was born May 21, 1819; departed this life December 14, 1857, son of Jacob Stampley Cole. Desire Cole, son of Absalom Cole, Jr., was the father of David Cole. David Cole Was a small boy when his mother died. His early advantages were confined to the common schools, and as a youth he was employed as clerk in a mercantile store. Subsequently he completed a course in the Bowling Green Business College at Bowling Green, Kentucky, following which he and his older brother, Anthony Cole, organized as the firm of Cole Brothers, general merchants, establishing their first store at Singer and later at Reeves. David Cole established and became the first postmaster at Reeves. They were in business there until Allen Parish was created, when, in 1913, David Cole was elected the first parish assessor. He held that office until 1917, since which year he has been senior partner of Cole & Minchew, merchants at Oberlin. He also has a large amount of farm land and is engaged in cotton growing. Mr. Cole, who is unmarried, was elected to represent Allen Parish in the State Legislature in 1924. His public interest has gone out in behalf of good schools and good roads. He is a charter member of the Reeves Lodge of Masons and is a member of the DeRidder Chapter and Council of the Masonic fraternity. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/allen/bios/cole191gbs.txt