Polk Co. IAGenWeb

COLE, HON. C. C. — Late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa, and a man with few peers in the legal profession in the State. Sprang from a very early New England family. He was born in Oxford, Chenango county, New York, June 4, 1824. Was fitted for college at the Oxford Academy, and at eighteen was prepared to enter the junior class of Union College, but protracted ill health prevented, and at twenty-two he entered the law school of Harvard University, where he received a thorough training under the best legal instructors in the country, and graduated in about two years. Mr. Cole went immediately to Frankfort, Kentucky, and took charge for a short time of the legislative department of the Commonwealth, a daily paper of that place. He then located at Marion, Kentucky, where he was admitted to the bar, and commenced what has proven to be a very brilliant career in the legal profession. It was brilliant from the start. Success marked his first case at the bar, and won for him enviable reputation in that district. His uniform success was all the more remarkable from the fact that he had to contend with the ablest lawyers in the State. In May, 1857, Mr. Cole settled in Des Moines, which has since been his home, and his success here as an attorney has been second to none in Iowa. When in the spring of 1861 the American flag was stricken down at Fort Sumter he was among the first to protest against the infamous deed, and to raise his voice for the marshaling of Union troops. In February, 1864, he was appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court. The next autumn he was elected to the same office by an unprecedented majority, and reelected in 1870 by an equally flattering vote. In 1865 he was associated with Judge G. G. Wright in organizing a law school at Des Moines, since made a part of the State University at Iowa City. In 1869 Judge Cole became Chief Justice, and served in that capacity until the expiration of that term. He was re-elected but resigned the office on the 1st of January, 1876, and returned to, the practice of his profession. His judicial work has been distinguished for a display of the highest qualities which are demanded by the bench, and as a judicial writer he has eloquence, clearness, and force. Judge Cole has been for several years the editor of the Western Jurist, a periodical published at Des Moines, and conducted with marked ability. The wife of Mr. Cole was Miss Amanda M. Bennett, an associate of his youth, to whom he was married June 25, 1848. They have had seven children, five of whom are still living: Will W. (now associated with his father in the practice of law), Gertrude (wife of A. C. Atherton), Mary, Frank, and Carrie.