Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Charles D. Cole
PMSS Visitor
CHARLES D. COLE Visitor
TAGS: Charles D. Cole, Charles Cole, poets, authors, Mary Rogers, Cole family, Pope-Cawood Lumber and Supply Company, Harlan KY, Sue Bennett College, newspaper publishing, banking, investors, WWI, Clover Fork Coal Company, real estate, Freemasons, Joe T. Vowell
Charles D. Cole was a poet and author from Harlan, Kentucky. He visited Pine Mountain Settlement School and was a friend of Mary Rogers, a worker at the School. Mary illustrated Cole’s book My Land – My People (1967).
CHARLES D. COLE: His Many Occupations
The roots of the Cole family are deep in Eastern Kentucky. In William Elsey Connelley and Ellis Merton Coulter’s biographical sketch of the Cole family, History of Kentucky, Charles D. Cole is described as, by 1922, the secretary and treasurer of Pope-Cawood Lumber and Supply Company. He also served as a member of the Harlan City Council and election commissioner of Harlan County. For many years he was the Director of the Harlan State Bank. These are but a few of the tasks that Charles D. Cole set his mind to.
Originally from Laurel County, Charles D. Cole was born on February 6, 1887. His father, Perry V. Cole and grandfather Jerome Cole settled in Kentucky in the early 1800s. For a time Owsley County and Jackson County were home to the expanding Cole family. Following the death of Jerome Cole in Jackson County, the Perry V. Cole family took up residence in Laurel County where Perry farmed and taught school. His son, Charles D., attended public school and later Sue Bennett Memorial School (soon Sue Bennett College) in nearby London, Kentucky. After graduation from Sue Bennett, Charles showed considerable restlessness and innovation in locating jobs that suited his imaginative and inquiring mind.
Upon graduation, he bought the Mountain Advocate, a newspaper in nearby Barbourville, and took on the role of editor. He then moved to banking, serving as the assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Barbourville until 1913. His next move was to Harlan County which was at the center of the coal industry of the day. There, he joined a multitude of other investors in the coal boom that exploded with the beginning of WWI. By 1917, he had divested of many of his coal interests, retaining only those at Clover Fork in Harlan County. From coal operator he shifted his career again, this time to real estate where he prospered.
With his accumulated wealth, Cole invested in a lumber and supply company that became well-known in the area. He was appointed as the Secretary and Treasurer of the large operation. As the Secretary and Treasurer of the Pope-Cawood Lumber and Supply Company, a position he held for many years, he prospered and flourished politically and socially. He soon became the Director of the Harlan State Bank and purchased additional businesses, particularly a confectionery store on Central Street in Harlan.
By the time of the 1940 census of Harlan County, Charles D. Cole, now 53 years old, was well entrenched in Harlan County business, real estate, politics and society. Like many of his family and his neighbors, Charles was a staunch Republican and a member of the Christian Church. During the War Between the States, his family had served on the Union side and the strong ties to that demographic continued to build Cole’s circle of support.
Like many members of the business community in the early years of Harlan County, Cole was a Freemason and member of Harlan No. 879, F. ad A.; Chapter No. R.A.M. He was also associated with the K.T. [Korsair Shriner Temple] of the Duffield Commandery No. 42 NS, the Kosair Temple of Harlan, and the Kosair Temple, A.A.O.N.M. of Louisville, KY.
CHARLES D. COLE: Marriage and Family
On December 24, 1913, just out of college, Charles married Miss Adah Tinsley Stephens at Barbourville. The couple had two children, the oldest a son named Charles Marvin Cole and a younger girl named Irene [Doris Irene?].
For his family he built a well-appointed home on Cumberland Avenue in Harlan, described in Coulter and Connelley’s biographical sketch as “… a very attractive home, a feature of it being the use of cobblestones in the outside chimney, porch pillars and for a wall surrounding the premises.”
CHARLES D. COLE: Visitor At Pine Mountain
When Charles D. Cole met Burton and Mary Rogers at Pine Mountain, he was well up in years [approximately 80 years old). However, he found an appreciative friend in Mary Rogers who was well-known for her interest in publication and writing and was also a fine illustrator. He commissioned Mary to be the illustrator of a book of his poems entitled, My Land – My People (1967).
Within the collections at Pine Mountain is a framed poem written by Charles D. Cole titled “The Deserted House.” The poem, which became a favorite of Pine Mountain was framed to be exhibited at the School sometime in the late 1960s. The poem was illustrated by Joe Vowell, another Harlan county resident. The illustration and the poem hung for many years in Laurel House at Pine Mountain. Now sun-faded and aged, the work as been removed to the Library archive where it can be repaired and restored.
IMAGE(S) TO BE INSERTED
The following note detailing the poem and the illustration is attached to the back of the frame. It reads:
NOTE FROM THE DESK OF CHARLES D. COLE, PRESIDENT
Story of “The Deserted House” written by Chas. D. Cole
The illustration was drawn by Joe T. Vowell. This occurred in 1920. Joe was a young lad. He lived in the Sunshine section of the city of Harlan. He was a natural born artist. His father was Mine Foreman at the Wallins Creek Coal Company in Sunshine.
Joe was very ambicious [sic]. He ran away from home and rode freight trains to Atlanta where he thought he could get a job as a cartoonist. He was picked up in the railway yard and put in jail. He sent me a telegram that he needed twenty five dollars… I sent it to him by Western Union, which helped him get to Harlan.
To show his appreciation for what I had done for him he did the illustration for “The Deserted House”… I had a plate made of the drawing and have given away more than 200 copies. Joe said he made the drawing partly from observation, and partly from imagination.
This is the story of “The Haunted House.”
Chas. D. Cole
A biographical sketch of Charles D. Cole is included in William Elsey Connelley and Ellis Merton Coulter, History of Kentucky, Vol. V, p. 501. (1922) and additional notes on the family may be found in the Louisville Courier Journal 1987 [?]
| Title | Charles D. Cole |
| Alt. Title | Charles Cole |
| Identifier | https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=51882 |
| Creator | Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. |
| Alt. Creator | Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ; |
| Subject Keyword | Charles D. Cole, Charles Cole, poets, authors, Mary Rogers, Cole family, Pope-Cawood Lumber and Supply Company, Harlan KY, Sue Bennett College, newspaper publishing, banking, investors, WWI, Clover Fork Coal Company, real estate, Freemasons, Joe T. Vowell |
| Subject LCSH | Cole, Charles D, — 1887 – 19xx.
Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History. |
| Date | 2019-07-03 hw |
| Publisher | Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. |
| Contributor | n/a |
| Type | Collections ; text ; image ; |
| Format | Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet. |
| Source | Series 09: BIOGRAPHY |
| Language | English |
| Relation | Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: BIOGRAPHY. |
| Coverage Temporal | early 1880s – ? |
| Coverage Spatial | Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Laurel County, KY ; Owsley County, KY ; Jackson County, KY ; London, KY ; |
| Rights | Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. |
| Donor | n/a |
| Description | Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of Charles D. Cole ; clippings, photographs, books by or about Charles D. Cole ; |
| Acquisition | n/d |
| Citation | “[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. |
| Processed By | Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ; |
| Last Updated | 2022-04-07 aae ; |
| Bibliography | Cole, Charles D. Cumberland Gap and Other Poems. Harlan? Ky., 1960. Print.
Cole, Charles D. My Land – My People. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, 1967. Print. Connelley, William E, and E M. Coulter. History of Kentucky: [volume Iii]. , 2015. Print. |
See Also MARY ROGERS Staff – Biography
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