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George W. Cole

Born Dec 3, 1840 Died Sep 28, 1914

Red Church Cemetery, Tivoli; Columnar marker in Section A, Plot 101, near the south entrance of the cemetery, two rows east of the cemetery’s north-south road. Southeast of the Otis marker and in from the Archie M. HALL marker

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Farm Laborer and Union Veteran

The son of Jacob Cole, George W. Cole was born on Dec 3, 1840, but by age nine, he and Emeline Cole, who we infer was his younger sister, were living in the household of John and Jane Brown of Red Hook. Before George was 20, he worked as a farm laborer at the William Feller household in Clermont in 1860. 

George enlisted as a private into Co. D 32nd New York Volunteer Infantry from Barrytown, New York, in September 1861, and was discharged along with his company on May 9, 1863. In 1875, George was working as a farmer at the Philip and Susannah Feller household in Red Hook.

George married Luella Boice (b. March 18, 1855) around 1876 following the death of her father Philip in 1872. The newlyweds were living in Luella’s mother Margaret Boice’s household in Red Hook, and George was working as a farm laborer. George and Luella had ten known children.

Other than his service in the Civil War, George spent most of his life working as a laborer in the Red Hook and Tivoli area. He appears in a photograph taken in 1908 of nine members of the Grand Army of the Republic post of Poughkeepsie who were attending the funeral of fellow Civil War veteran William Ostrander. An accompanying article describes George as “employed on the Redmond estate near the village [of Tivoli],” which is the site of Callendar House. His youngest son George D. Cole owned and operated a restaurant in Tivoli in 1908, and in turn he later served in World War I in the infantry—just as his father had. 

Luella predeceased George on October 19, 1906. After George was widowed, he lived in the Town of Red Hook with seven of his children. George died September 28, 1914.

Sources

  • U.S. Census. 1850, 1880

  • New York State Census. 1875

  • Findagrave.com

    • Cole’s 10 children: Dora M. Cole Dedrick (1878-1927), Jacob P. Cole (b. 1880), Alvin Cole (1882-1961), Jane E. Cole (1884-1921), Georgina Cole Rifenburgh (1885-1950), Florence Cole (b.1889), Annie M. Cole Curnan (1892-1982), Carrie Cole (b. 1896), George D. Cole (1897-1951), and Lula Cole (1902-1903).

  • “When Taps Were Sounded for a GAR Comrade in Tivoli.” Poughkeepsie Journal. Sun., Jan. 15, 1950, page 1C. accessed 24 April 2024. Newspapers.com.