Jacob. H. Cole Biography


	This biography appears on page 1205 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JACOB H. COLE, a successful and honored member of the bar of Hand 
county, is a native of the Hawkeye state, having been born on a farm 
near the town of Pella, Marion county, Iowa, on the 3d of February, 
1859, and being a son of Aart and Hendrika (DeBooy) Cole, of whose ten 
children seven are living at the present time. The father of the subject 
was one of a colony of fourteen hundred persons who left Holland, their 
native land, as a protest against the attempt of the Holland government 
to establish a state church whose tenets were antagonistic to their 
faith, and of the number seven hundred settled in Michigan, where they 
founded the now flourishing city of Holland and settled up a large 
section of Ottawa county. The remaining seven hundred colonists, among 
whom was the father of the subject—the only one of his family—proceeded 
farther west and located in Marion county, Iowa, establishing a sturdy 
colony and founding the town of Pella, the name being a biblical term, 
meaning a city of refuge. Aart Cole there engaged in farming, becoming 
one of the prominent and influential men of the community, and there he 
married his wife, who was likewise a native of Holland, coming over with 
her parents, all members of said colony; she is also now deceased. 

	Jacob H. Cole acquired his preliminary education in the public 
schools of his native town and later took a course in the local college, 
in which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class 
of 1880, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts and one of the Master 
of Arts three years later. In the fall of 1881 he entered the law 
department of Drake University, in the city of Des Moines, and there 
completed the prescribed technical course and was graduated in 1882, 
being simultaneously admitted to the bar of the state. In the spring of 
the following year he came to South Dakota and took up his residence in 
Miller, where he has ever since been engaged in the practice of his 
profession, being known as an able and skillful trial lawyer and 
discriminating counsellor and retaining a clientage of representative 
order. While he has been an active worker in the ranks of the Republican 
party, to which he gives an unwavering allegiance, he has never sought 
any office, but in the fall of 1902 he was by acclamation made the 
candidate of his party for the office of state's attorney, being elected 
by a gratifying majority and entering upon the discharge of his official 
duties in January, 1903. He is eminently qualified for the office and 
his labors as prosecutor can not fail to redound to the best interests 
of the people through the conservation of justice.