Albemarle County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Coles, Peyton Skipwith 1853 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 22, 2008, 6:47 am Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) PEYTON SKIPWITH COLES DANIEL WEBSTER, in speaking of agriculture, said. "Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization." Prior to this statement by Webster, George Washington had said, "Agriculture is the most ancient, the most honorable and the most useful occupation of man." What Webster and Washington said is true, and yet the American people of our day show a less intelligent appreciation of the importance of agriculture than any other people at any other time have ever shown. The abnormal and unhealthy growth of cities has not only led to a great exodus from the farms to the cities, but has also led to such distorted views that we seem no longer to be correct judges of real values. The planters of Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. the farmers of New England and the Middle States in the first two hundred years of our history gave to this country a multitude of men whose strong qualities as nation builders have never been equaled in history. There was a reason for this. The planters and farmers were conservative in the best sense of that word. Their occupation of necessity made them patient, and so these patient, industrious, thoughtful, conservative men, rich, however, in courage, were the ideal people with which to build a new nation. Our story has to deal with one of these Virginia farmers of to-day, whose ancestors for two hundred years have contributed their share towards making Virginia what it has very properly been called, "The mother of States and Statesmen." Peyton Skipwith Coles was born at Estouteville, Albemarle County. Virginia, September 27, 1853, son of Peyton Skipwith and Julia Isaetta Coles. His father was a farmer, the son of John Coles 3, who was a farmer and who was the son of John Coles 2, who was a farmer and who was the son of John Coles 1, an immigrant from Ireland to Virginia, and who also was a farmer. P. S. Coles, therefore, it might be said, inherited his occupation just as he inherited his name. Mr. Coles was educated by tutors at home, followed by attendance at a school in Middleburg. Loudoun County, which in turn was followed by attendance at the school long maintained by Major Jones in Charlottesville, and finally at the University of Virginia. It may be said in passing that Major Jones was one of the great teachers in his generation. Peyton Skipwith Coles sums up his life work in five words: "A farmer all my life." He has supplemented that farming record with another Coles inheritance, that of serving as vestryman in Christ Church of St. Anne's Parish. This record is somewhat like that of the nation which is said to be happy because it has no history. But there is another side to the story. The man from the outside who will travel through Albemarle County, Virginia, with its grass lands, its great crops of corn and wheat, its orchards unsurpassed in the world, will have awakened in him a respect for the work of these Virginia farmers, who have turned an unbroken wilderness into one of the beauty spots of the earth where, if men do not amass great fortunes, they at least dwell in peace and comfort, and generation by generation add somewhat to the work of those gone before. As General Washington said, farming is the most useful occupation, and our great cities, which are the pride of their indwellers, exist only because the farmer toils through summer's heat and winter's cold that they may have food and drink. Farming, therefore, is the one essential occupaton. There was a time when men managed to exist without banks or factories or commerce, but there has never been a time when they were able to do without farmers. These Virginia farmers are highly cultured men, men who know the refinements of life, who are well-read, a great many of them educated in the liberal arts, proud of their country and their calling. From their ranks have been drawn many of the great statesmen of our country, and it is not too much to say that we could trade off quite a few of the so-called statesmen of to-day for some of these men, and the country be gainer by the transaction. Let us consider for a little space the history of this Virginia family of planters. It goes back to the English conquest of Ireland. When Strongbow overran Ireland at the command of the English king, at that time inducements were offered to Englishmen to settle in the then barbarous country, the idea being, through these Englishmen, to leaven the whole lump and make it an English country. A large number of Englishmen responded to this invitation. A Coles, who received large land grants, settled at Enniscorthy in the County of Leinster, where his descendants live to this day. In 1710 a younger son of this family, whom we know as John Coles 1, incurred in some way the displeasure of his father, and being a hot-headed youth, immediately migrated to Virginia where he built the first dwelling in what is now the city of Richmond, and married Mary, daughter of Isaac Winston, of Hanover County. This John Coles acquired a vast estate, mainly in lands, the major part of which under the prevailing idea of that day went to his eldest son, Walter Coles. One of the younger brothers was John Coles 2, who inherited from his father certain lands, then in Goochland County, which in a later subdivision of counties fell within the boundaries of the new County of Albemarle. John Coles 2 obtained four additional grants amounting to 785 acres, which brought his total estate up to 1830 acres. This estate, long known as Estouteville, named in honor of the Count of that name, who followed William the Conqueror, to England, has long been considered by many as the most beautiful country seat in Virginia. John Coles 2 was born in 1745. He served as a militia colonel during the Revolution, and after the surrender of Burgoyne, was honored with the command of the prisoners confined at Charlottesville. He was a man who possessed the old-fashioned Virginia virtue of hospitality. A lover of good horses, his stable was one of the best in the State. He maintained open house, and long visits were paid him by Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Patrick Henry, Wirt, the Masons, Randolphs, Tazewells and other prominent men of that day. He married Mary E. Tucker, daughter of John and Elizabeth Travis Tucker, and it was their son, John Coles 3, who built the present mansion of Estouteville, which was completed about 1822, replacing the one of a more ancient date. Situated some ten miles southwest of Charlottesville in the famous old Green Mountain section, a country unsurpassed for beauty, the stately mansion fits in with the scenery around it like a part of a finished mosaic. John Coles 2 was a vestryman in St. Anne's Parish in 1772, which position is now held by his great-grandson, nearly 150 years later. The children of John Coles I were: Walter, Sarah, Mary (who married John Payne, and was the mother of Dorothy Payne, who married President Madison), John, and Isaac, who settled in Halifax County. Known as Colonel Isaac, he was a member of the First, Third and Fourth Congresses of the United States. Contemporary with Colonel Isaac of Halifax County was Walter, probably his older brother, who had elected to settle in that part of the State. Two authors differ as to the given name of the wife of John Coles 2. One gives her name as Mary E. Tucker, and one as Rebecca E. Tucker. Their children were Walter, John, Isaac, Tucker, Edward, Rebecca (who married Richard Singleton, of South Carolina), Mary Eliza (who married Robert Carter), Sarah (who married Andrew Stephenson), Elizabeth and Emily (who married John Rutherford). John Coles(2) died in 1808 at the age of sixty-three, and his wife survived until 1826. His son Walter, who was for a time magistrate of the county, resided at Woodville, where he died in 1854, at the age of eighty-two. Walter married Eliza, daughter of Bowler Cocke, and secondly, Sarah, daughter of John Swann. His children were, Walter, Sarah, Elizabeth and Edward. Walter succeeded his father at Woodville. He married Anne E. Carter, and was the father of Dr. Walter Coles, of St. Louis. John(3), son of John(2), married Selina Skipwith, of Mecklenburg. He made his home in Estouteville, where he died in 1848. He left three sons: John, who lived near Warren; Peyton, who married his cousin, Isaetta, and who succeeded his father at Estouteville, where he died in 1887, and Tucker, who resided at Viewmont. Isaac A., son of John(2) was a lawyer, and was for a time President Jefferson's private secretary and a member of the House of Delegates of Virginia. He lived at Enniscorthy, married Mrs. Julia Stricker Rankin, widow of Hon. Christopher Rankin, of Louisiana, and had two children, Isaetta and Stricker. He died in 1841, and his wife in 1876. Tucker, son of John(2), also represented the County in the House of Delegates. He married Helen Skipwith, of Mecklenburg, and died at Tallwood in 1861, leaving no children. Edward Coles, the youngest son of John(2), was in some respects one of the most remarkable men our country has known. He had invincible objections to slavery. After serving as private secretary to President Madison, he sold the plantation on Rockfish River, which had been left him by his father, and in 1818 removed to Illinois, carrying with him all his slaves, settling them by families on farms near Edwardsville, after giving them their freedom. He was appointed by President Monroe first Governor of the Territory of Illinois, and was elected as its second Governor when it became a State, and having successfully defeated those who would have made it a slave State, he removed to Philadelphia in 1832. There he married Sarah L. Roberts, and died in 1868, leaving three children, one of whom, Roberts Coles, came to Virginia, settled in the old home county, was a captain in the Confederate Army, and fell in the battle of Roanoke Island, in 1862. There is a letter extant, written by Edward Coles while Governor of Illinois, which is such a splendid illustration of a true democrat that it is here given verbatim. It was written to one of the leading papers of the State on account of a reference in that paper to the Governor as "His Excellency." Under date of December 10, 1822, written from Vandalia, then the State capital, the Governor said: "Gentlemen: "Our State Constitution gives to the person exercising the functions of the Executive the appellation of Governor, a title which is specific, intelligible, and republican, and amply sufficient to denote the dignity of the office. In your last paper, you have noticed me by the addition of 'His Excellency,' an aristocratic and high-sounding adjunct, which, I am sorry to say, has become too common among us, not only in newspaper annunciations, but in the addressing of letters, and even in familiar discourse. It is a practice disagreeable to my feelings, and inconsistent, as I think, with the dignified simplicity of freemen and with the nature of the vocation of those to whom it is applied. And having made it a rule through life to address no one as his Excellency or the Honorable, or by any such unmeaning title, I trust I shall be pardoned for asking it as a favor of you and my fellow-citizens generally not to apply them to me." Commenting on this letter, one author said: "In the present age of title-worship, this letter of Governor Coles comes as a refreshing breath ringing as it does with sincerity and true republicanism." The wife of John Coles(3), of Estouteville Mansion, was Selina Skipwith, daughter of Sir Peyton Skipwith, of Prestwold. Among the historic names with which the Coles family became connected by marriage appear those of Stricker, Roberts, Cocke, Singleton, Rutherford, Carter, Preston, Pendleton, Bowling, Tucker and Winston. The Coat of Arms of the Coles family, of Enniscorthy, confirmed in 1647, is described as follows: Gules on a chevron between two lions' heads erased or, ten ogresses. Crest: A snake wreathed about a marble pillar proper garnished or. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/albemarle/photos/bios/coles41gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/albemarle/bios/coles41gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 13.3 Kb