John F. Cole Biography


	This biography appears on pages 745-746 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				JOHN F. COLE.  

	John F. Cole has been identified with business circles of Onida, 
Sully county, for a number of years and still owns a drug store in that 
town. He is now, however, giving the greater part of his time and 
energy to the discharge of his duties as county treasurer. A native of 
Ashland, Ohio, he was born July 5, 1848. His parents, Samuel and Sarah 
(Ross) Cole, were born in Ohio and Maryland respectively, but in 1848 
they removed to Mahaska county, Iowa, where the father followed 
agricultural pursuits until 1863, when he removed with his family to 
the vicinity of Ottumwa, Wapello county, that state. He died upon his 
farm in that locality in 1879. He was not only an agriculturist but was 
also a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. His widow 
returned to Mahaska county after his demise and passed away at Cedar in 
1898 when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-eight, as she was 
born on the 13th of June, 1810.  

	John F. Cole, who is the seventh in order of birth in a family of 
ten children, attended school in Tabor, Iowa, and was also a student in 
the Central University of Iowa at Pella. When nineteen years of age he 
began working for others and thus secured the money which enabled him 
to complete his education. Upon leaving school he returned to the home 
farm and continued to follow agricultural pursuits in Iowa until 1883. 
During a part of that time, however, he was associated with his brother 
in the conduct of a drug store at Bussey, that state. In 1883 he came 
to South Dakota and located at Clifton, then the county seat of Sully 
county. For three years he concentrated his energies upon farming but 
at the end of that time embarked in the drug business at Clifton, where 
he only remained for a short time, however, as he sold his interest 
there and took up his residence in Onida, where he and his brother 
established a drug store. His brother withdrew from the firm in 1890 
and John F. Cole has since conducted the store alone. He is a 
stockholder in the First State Bank and likewise owns land in South 
Dakota. Aside from the interests already mentioned he owns stock in the 
Union Savings Association in Sioux Falls. In the early days of his 
residence in this state, both while living in Clifton and after his 
removal to Onida, he also engaged in the livery and feed business. He 
is now the incumbent in the office of county treasurer and has proven 
without a doubt his ability to discharge the important duties devolving 
upon him with accuracy and dispatch. He is not only efficient but he is 
also courteous, and his services are proving very satisfactory to the 
people of the county.  

	Mr. Cole was married on the 31st of December, 1874, to Miss Belle 
B. Barritt, who is a native of Ohio and a daughter of Thomas H. and 
Mary (Porter) Barritt, both natives of Kentucky. The father was 
educated for the law but because of failing health turned his attention 
to farming and stock-raising. In 1862 he removed to Wapello county, 
Iowa, and passed the remainder of his life there. To Mr. and Mrs. Cole 
have been born three children. Linnie, whose birth occurred in 1876, 
passed away in 1893. Maud is now the wife of C. R. Garner, the present 
mayor of Onida and a real-estate agent in that city. To their union has 
been born a daughter, Audrey Belle, who is attending school. Mrs. 
Garner is deputy county treasurer. J. Ford was born on the 18th of 
June, 1899, and is at home.  

	Mr. Cole is a stalwart republican and served for fifteen years as 
justice of the peace, making an excellent record in that connection. 
Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in 
which he has held all of the chairs, and for twenty-five years he has 
served in one official capacity or another in that organization. There 
has never been any question either as to his integrity or his ability, 
and Sully county is fortunate in having such a man as custodian of the 
public funds.