Edmund William Cole

Colonel Edmund William Cole (July 19, 1827 – May 25, 1899) was an American Confederate veteran and businessman. He was the president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, and the founder of the American National Bank.

Edmund William Cole
BornJuly 19, 1827
Giles County, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedMay 25, 1899(1899-05-25) (aged 71)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationBusinessman
Spouse(s)Louisa McGavock
Anna Russell
Military career
Allegiance Confederate States of America (1861–1865)
Service/branchConfederate States Army
Years of service1861–1865
RankColonel (CSA)

Early life

Edmund William Cole was born on July 19, 1827, in Giles County, Tennessee.[1] He grew up on a farm.[2]

Career

Cole moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1845, where he worked as a store clerk and later as a bookkeeper in the post office.[2] In 1857, he was appointed as the superintendent of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad by its founder, Vernon K. Stevenson.[2]

During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, Cole served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army.[1] General Samuel Jones described Cole as "active and zealous" during the war.[1]

Cole was appointed as the president of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad in 1868.[2] Cole acquired four more lines and renamed it the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway in 1873.[2] According to historian Jesse C. Burt, Jr., "His grandiose scheme for uniting disparate pieces of rail properties into a solid and well-managed enterprise was probably the first large rail consolidation to be attempted in the South."[3] When August Belmont purchased it from Stevenson in 1880, Cole resigned,[2] and he was succeeded as president by James D. Porter.[3]

Cole co-founded the American National Bank in 1883.[1][4] He also invested in real estate in Downtown Nashville and coal mines in Sheffield, Alabama.[1] He was also an investor in the Sheffield Hotel, where he banned the sale of whisky.[5]

Philanthropy
The Anna Russell Cole Auditorium.

In 1885, Cole founded the Randall Cole School, and he hired Dr W. C. Kilvington as superintendent.[6] In 1887, Cole donated it to the state of Tennessee, and it was renamed the Tennessee Industrial School.[6] In 1894, it moved into the Anna Russell Cole Auditorium, named for Cole's second wife.[6]

Cole served as the treasurer of the board of trust of Vanderbilt University.[7] In 1892, he donated $5,000 to endow the annual Cole Lecture, "for the defense and advocacy of the Christian religion."[7]

Cole made a donation to the Bruce family shortly after the Lynching of Ephraim Grizzard in 1892.[8]

Personal life, death and legacy

Cole was married twice.[1] His first wife, Louisa McGavock, died in 1869; her funeral ceremony was conducted by reverends John Berry McFerrin and Robert A. Young.[9] They lived at 182 Church Street.[9] His second wife, Anna Russell, was a native of Augusta, Georgia whose father had served as the first Democratic mayor of Augusta after the Civil War.[10][11] Their wedding, conducted by Bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, was attended by Confederate veterans Bushrod Johnson and Edmund Kirby Smith.[1] The Coles first resided at Terrace Place, a three-story townhouse on Church Street in Nashville, until they moved into Colemere, a mansion designed for them by Confederate veteran and architect William Crawford Smith.[12] They had a son, Whitefoord Russell Cole, who became a prominent businessman.[1] Cole was a member of the Democratic Party, and he attended the McKendree United Methodist Church.[1]

Cole died of heart disease on May 25, 1899 at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City.[2][13] His funeral was held at the McKendree United Methodist Church in Nashville.[14] After his death, his widow hired sculptor George Julian Zolnay to design his bust; it was installed in Kirkland Hall, the administration building of Vanderbilt University.[1] When Kirkland Hall burned down in 1905, it was replaced with a marble bust alongside his widow's portrait by Willie Betty Newman.[15]

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References
  1. Burt, Jesse C., Jr. (June 1954). "Anna Russell Cole: A Study of a Grande Dame". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 13 (2): 127–155. JSTOR 42621182.
  2. Burns, Frank (1989). Jones, Robert B. (ed.). Tennessee County History Series: Davidson County. Memphis, Tennessee: Memphis State University Press. pp. 58–59. OCLC 644728584 – via The Internet Archive.
  3. Burt, Jesse C., Jr. (June 1950). "Four Decades of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, 1873-1916". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 9 (2): 99–130. JSTOR 42621038.
  4. "The New National Bank". The Tennessean. July 5, 1883. p. 4. Retrieved September 18, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Praise for Col. E. W. Cole". The Tennessean. January 11, 1899. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  6. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form: Anna Russell Cole Auditorium". National Park Service. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  7. "Cole Lectures". Divinity School. Vanderbilt University. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  8. "Vengeance. Eph Grizzard Has Followed His Brother Henry. Taken from the Jail and Hanged Off the Bridge. The Mob Reopens Operations in Broad Daylight. And They Meet Practically No Resistance. Excitement Rules for Awhile and a Calm Follows. Details of the Awful Doings Yesterday. Further Notes from Friday Night--Chas. Rear and Guthrie Are Not Dead--No Further Trouble Expected". The Daily American. Nashville, Tennessee. May 1, 1892. Retrieved June 5, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "DIED". Nashville Union and American. July 28, 1869. p. 4. Retrieved September 20, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "MAGNIFICENT MONUMENT TO SOUTHERN POETS ERECTED IN AUGUSTA, GA., BY MRS E.W. COLE, AS IT STANDS TODAY". The Tennessean. May 11, 1913. p. 27. Retrieved September 20, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "MONUMENT TO SOUTH'S POETS ERECTED BY MRS E. W. COLE". The Tennessean. April 13, 1913. p. 19. Retrieved September 20, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Zepp, George (2009). Hidden History of Nashville. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. p. 71. ISBN 9781625843067.
  13. "E. W. COLE'S DEATH DEEPLY MOURNED. Remains Will Leave New York City For Nashville This Afternoon. Funeral Sunday Morning. Services Will Take Place At McKendree Church--Many Telegrams of Condolence for Mrs Cole". The Tennessean. May 26, 1899. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Funeral of Col. E. W. Cole". The Tennessean. May 27, 1899. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Vanderbilt Collection - Kirkland Hall: Anna Virginia Russell (Mrs. E.W.) Cole 1846 - 1926". Tennessee Portrait Project. National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
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