John Silas Cole - Humboldt County, California - 1900

[hawk64]

I am fairly sure it's him. There is a letter from the 1860s in the Sydney City Archives that he wrote regarding his father's will. He stated that any correspondence could be forwarded to him in San Francisco.

Also I think I have just found Harriet's birth (surname was spelled incorrectly). She was born in London in 1830. So she isn't Irish and nor were the parents. Harriet's mother's name was Mary Ann.

Very interesting. Talk to you soon and once again, many thanks

[Lisa in California]

You're welcome; I wish I could have been of more help, though.

I am not very familiar with Northern California records.  Should you need any help with John's time in San Francisco during the 1860s, please do ask.  I am much more familiar with documents from that area.   

[Lisa in California]

I thought I would type some of what I have noticed, to see if it makes sense or provides any clues

California Death Index
J S Cole, born c1827 - your John?
Death:  25 September 1907, Humboldt

1907 Eureka Directory
John S. Cole, McFarlan avenue, No. 1433 - your John?

1900 Eureka Census
John S Cole, born April 1829, married 40 years, born England as were parents, immigrated 1862, naturalized
Mary Cole, wife, born November 1837, married 40 years, no children, born Ireland as were parents
Harrison Street address
   Harrison Avenue is two blocks away from McFarlan Avenue - they run the same direction.

1896 Humboldt Voter Registration
John Silas Cole, Farmer, age 70, 5'8", dark complexion, hazel eyes, white hair, born England, naturalized April 7, 1873, Humboldt Co.

1888 Humboldt Voter Registration
John Silas Cole, Farmer, age 60, born England, naturalized (same info as above).  Local residence:  Bay

1880 Arcata, Humboldt Co Census
John S. Cole, age 50 (born c1830) England as were parents, Farmer
Mary B. Cole, age 45 (born c1835) Ireland as were parents

1873 Voter Register
John Silas Cole, age 43, born England, Farmer, Arcata, same naturalization info as above, plus 8th Jud Dist

1870 Eureka Census
John Cole, age 39, ? Labourer, born England
Mary Cole, age 37, H.K.?, born Ireland

According to the voter registers in San Francisco, your John was not (different naturalization date and place than your John):
John Cole, age 36, Harnessmaker, 632 Second (1866 record)

   Not much help.  The only thing that I see is that he liked to use his middle name or initial. 

[hawk64]

Hi Lisa

You have been more than just help - you've been terrific! That last message organises the information really well.

For starters, I have never had a description of him before. Funnily enough though, I have his handwriting when he wrote the letter back in the 1860s.

You make an interesting comment about him always using John Silas or John S. His brother did the same thing - he was Charles Colet Cole or Charles C. Cole on everything.

I think I am fairly convinced that Harriet and Mary are two different people. What happened to Harriet - well, I don't know. John's father had a wife in England and one in Australia so maybe that ran in the family, too.

We will probably never know who Mary was. The 1900 census says they were married for forty years, which would be 1860. He married Harriet in 1862 in England. Was he actually married to Mary? Did he marry her before Harriet? In those days, he was a mariner so he could have been anywhere. I know he sailed to Australia in the 1850s to find his father.

It's an interesting story and becomes more interesting with his father's activities.

Is there any point accessing the death record and if so, how do I go about it?

Once again Lisa, thanks for everything.

[shellyesq]

Looking at the printed version of the death index here - https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-81SK-DGM - there is a column that refers to the first initial of the spouse, and the entry for J.S. Cole has nothing there.  Perhaps that means that Mary predeceased him.  I didn't see any entries for Mary/Harriet/Mrs. J. Cole on the death index that seemed to fit. 

[hawk64]

Thanks for that. Unfortunately I seem to have a lot of trouble with viewing documents at FamilySearch and this one is no exception. I can't view the original but thanks for your input.

[Lisa in California]

You are very lucky to have a sample of his handwriting!  To me, that's what makes genealogy so fun - it's wonderful (and necessary) to have certificates, but to actually have something personal from the individual is amazing.

Keeping in mind it appears that the brothers used their middle names and that John was a mariner, could this be John in 1867?
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01gev/
1867 SF Directory
John S Cole, ship rigger, dwelling E s Beale nr Howard
This man appears to only be in the 1867 and 1868 directories. 
John Cole, rigger, dwl 327 Beale - 1868 directory (according to today's maps, this address is down the road from Howard)

If you are interested in history, information can be found online regarding this part of San Francisco.  One good article is "Buried Ships"
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hgshp1.htm
When I worked in San Francisco, I didn't realize the full history of the area.  Under at least one of the buildings where I worked, pieces of ships were uncovered prior to the start of the building's construction.

While census returns are very helpful, I don't pay too much attention to what is stated.  My Canadian ancestor was recorded as having arrived (in Canada) in 1867, when in fact I know that he and his wife sailed c1857.  It was clearly a "6" on the image, not a 5.  Don't give up hope on finding our more about the Cole's; records seem to be added all the time on the internet.

Perhaps if we have another look, we may find more for the Cole's in the early 1900s.  I'll be back in a bit.

[Lisa in California]

I was hoping that the library in Eureka might have an "Ask A Librarian" feature; it seems that they do not.  It would be a slow process, but you could try writing to the library, to their reference desk, to see if they have newspapers from around September 26-27, 1907, mentioning the passing of J.S. Cole.  I might suggest asking first if there would be a fee for performing the search.  Most libraries will do a search or two without a fee, but I ran across one that did the search, then asked for payment.  [You might mention that you don't live in the states - perhaps they might be more willing to help.]     Note:  Having just said that, I've always found library staff to be very helpful and appear to enjoy their jobs very much.

I'm not too sure how many (accurate) details would be included in the death certificate for J.S. Cole.  If his wife passed away prior to his death, it seems that there wouldn't be any family members around to give too many details in which you would be interested.  Of course, you might be able to find out for certain if it was John S. and possibly where he was buried.
One address for the library:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01gew/

[Lisa in California]

Hmm.   
1861 SF Directory
John Cole, mariner, dwl 668 Howard

1862 SF Directory
John H Cole at the same address, boiler maker

Maybe this was the same man (since your John shouldn't have been in San Francisco at the time)

Link to San Francisco Directories, if you need them for future reference:
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/sfdatadir.htm
Click on "IA" to view the actual pages, please

San Francisco databases
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/sfdata.htm
The newspapers can be helpful, but I didn't see anything for the Cole's c1900s.