Cornelius Cole

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American politician (1822–1924)

title: "Cornelius Cole" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1822-births", "1924-deaths", "19th-century-american-lawyers", "american-men-centenarians", "burials-at-hollywood-forever-cemetery", "california-lawyers", "editors-of-california-newspapers", "new-york-(state)-lawyers", "people-from-lodi,-new-york", "people-of-california-in-the-american-civil-war", "people-of-the-six-years'-war", "republican-party-united-states-senators-from-california", "republican-party-united-states-representatives-from-california", "wesleyan-university-alumni", "19th-century-united-states-representatives", "19th-century-united-states-senators"] description: "American politician (1822–1924)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Cole" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1822–1924) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Cornelius Cole
image	Hon. Cornelius Cole, Calif Panel 1.jpg
caption	Portrait by Mathew Brady 1860–1865
jr/sr	United States Senator
state	California
term_start	March 4, 1867
term_end	March 3, 1873
predecessor	James A. McDougall
successor	Aaron A. Sargent
state2	California
district2	at-large
term_start2	March 4, 1863
term_end2	March 3, 1865
predecessor2	Timothy Guy Phelps
successor2	Seat eliminated
office3	Member of the Republican National Committee from California
term_start3	1856
term_end3	1860
predecessor3	Position established
successor3	David W. Cheesman
birth_date
birth_place	Lodi, New York, U.S.
death_date
resting_place	Hollywood Forever Cemetery
death_place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
party	Republican
otherparty	National Union
alma_mater	Wesleyan University
spouse	Olive Colegrove (m. 1853)
children	9
profession	Lawyer
signature	Cornelius Cole Signature 2.svg
allegiance	United States (Union)
branch	California Militia
branch_label	Service
serviceyears	1863
rank	Captain
unit	1st California Cavalry Battalion
commands	Santa Cruz Troop, 1st California Cavalry Battalion
battles	American Civil War
battles_label	Wars
::

Early life and education

Cornelius Cole was born in Lodi, New York on September 17, 1822. He received his education at local common schools, Ovid Academy in Ovid, Lima Seminary in Lima, and Hobart College in Geneva. He graduated from Wesleyan University of Middletown, Connecticut in 1847, studied law with William H. Seward, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. After a year mining gold in California, in 1849 he began to practice law, first in San Francisco, then in Sacramento.

Political career

On March 8, 1856, Cole was one of the organizers of the California branch of the Republican Party, acting as secretary and writing its initial manifesto. He served on the Republican National Committee from 1856 to 1860. From August 1856 to January 1857, Cole and James McClatchy edited the Sacramento Daily Times.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Hon._Cornelius_Cole,_Calif_Alt_Panel_2_Crop.jpg" caption="Portrait by [[Mathew Brady]] {{circa}} 1860–1865"] ::

Additionally, he was nominated on the Republican ticket for Clerk of Sacramento Court but was unsuccessful. In 1858 he was elected District Attorney of Sacramento County. In 1862 he and his family moved to Santa Cruz. During the American Civil War, Cole supported the Union. In 1863, he was commissioned as a captain after winning an election to command the Santa Cruz Cavalry Troop, a unit he helped raise for the California Militia. He did actively command because he had been elected to Congress.

In 1862, Cole was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Union Republican, and he served one term, March 4 1863 to March 3, 1865. On November 19, 1863, Cole traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with Abraham Lincoln. He was on the speaker's platform near Lincoln, and both heard and saw him deliver the Gettysburg Address. On April 14, 1865, Cole spoke with Lincoln a few hours before Lincoln was assassinated.

In 1865, he was elected to the United States Senate, serving one term from March 4, 1867 to March 3, 1873. During his final two years as a senator, Cole served as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He was also one of the senators who voted in favor of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson.

Later life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/CCole-1922.jpg" caption="Cornelius Cole in June 1922 at age 99"] ::

After returning to California following his retirement from politics, he practiced law in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1880, he moved to Colegrove, where he lived in retirement. Cole was the founder of Colegrove, a settlement he created on land that had been part of Rancho La Brea; he acquired the land from owner Henry Hancock as payment for helping Hancock confirm title to Rancho La Brea. Colegrove was named for Cole's wife, and several streets were named for his children, including Willoughby Avenue, Eleanor Street and Seward Street. he turned 100 years old in 1922

Death and burial

Cole died of pneumonia in Los Angeles on November 3, 1924. He was buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

At age 102, Cole is the longest-lived U.S. Senator.

Family

In January 1853, Cole married Olive Colegrove of Trumansburg, New York. They were the parents of nine children.

Cole's brother, George W. Cole, was a Union Army officer in the American Civil War who attained the rank of major general by brevet. After the war, George Cole was acquitted of the murder of L. Harris Hiscock, whom he accused of having an affair with Mrs. Cole.

Works

References

Sources

Catherine Coffin Phillips, "Cornelius Cole California Pioneer" (San Francisco, 1929)
Leonard L. Richards, "The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War" (New York 2007)

References

Joint Committee On Printing, U.S. Congress. (1950). "Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949". U.S. Government Printing Office.
Richards, Leonard L.. (2008). "The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War". Vintage Books.
Willis, William Ladd. (1913). "History of Sacramento County, California". Historic Record Company.
Freshour, Sidney Glenn. (1995). "Wagons to Soquel, 1732-1932". Glenhaven Press.
(June 23, 1863). "California Military Registers, 1858-1923, Entry for Cornelius Cole". Ancestry.com, LLC.
(July 19, 1922). "Personal Glimpses: The Sunny Side Of Being One Hundred". Funk & Wagnalls.
U.S. Senate Committee On Appropriations. (2005). "Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate: 138th Anniversary, 1867-2005". U.S. Government Printing Office.
(November 17, 1924). "Died: Cornelius Cole". Time Inc..
Masters, Nathan. (September 27, 2013). "Hooray for...Colegrove? Remembering Hollywood's Forgotten Neighbor". Public Broadcasting System of Southern California.
Cole, Cornelius. (1908). "Memoirs of Cornelius Cole: Ex-senator of the United States from California". McLoughlin Brothers.
Morrison, Andrew Malcolm. (1921). "Efficiency of Life at 100 Years and More". Austin Publishing Co..
(2000). "The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony". Rutgers University Press.

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