George W. Cole

The name of COLE is to be found in many sections of the United States, some of the early bearers of it having come from England, others from Germany, where the name was spelled KOHL. This form became anglicized in the course of time. George W. COLE is a builder and contractor of Morris county, New Jersey.

Stephen COLE, his father, was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, and died in Morris county, in the same state, at the age of eighty-seven years. He married Phoebe CHAMBERLAIN, born in Morris county, and died there at the age of eighty-seven years. They had three daughters and eleven sons, all of whom grew to maturity with the exception of one boy, who died when three years old.

George W. COLE was born in Sussex county, in 1846, and was a very young child when his parents removed to Morris county, so that practically his entire life has been spent there. He was educated in the public schools of Morris county, and assisted his father on the homestead farm until he had attained the age of eighteen years. He then went to Newark, New Jersey, where he learned the carpenter’s trade, and spent a short time in this occupation in Boonton. In 1875 he opened a shop in Boonton, continued this for a time, and was also for a time in the stair building business in Newark. He opened a shop in Parsippany, which he has continued up to the present time. His specialty is general contract work and stair building. He erected the Denville Hotel and other large buildings in Boonton. He is a Democrat politically, and attends the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. COLE married Ella, daughter of Jacob ROMINE, and a descendent of a family settled in the country on the adjoining homestead prior to the Revolution. They have had children: Augusta, Married Gilbert FALKNER, of Newark; Edward, in the hardware business in Boonton; George Raymond; Sadie M., married Garfield LESLER; Bertha, deceased; Robert.

Transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003)