When I started years ago to research my family’s genealogy, I never dreamed I would find ancestors beyond Great-grandparents. Here it is years later and I have found so many that lived so very, very long ago. Hugh Cole III and Martha Luther were my 8th Great-Grandparents and I have even researched beyond them and indeed to the Mayflower and beyond! It is quite a journey meeting all these ancestors and I don’t want to look at them as just names and dates but have strived to find out something about their lives. Even if it is just a blurb in a record, it gives me some insight about them and makes them much more real than just a name!

Hugh Cole III and Martha Luther were the parents of Joseph Cole Sr who married Freelove Mason. Their son, our ancestor, was Joseph Cole Jr. who I have written about in several posts! Hugh Cole III was born 30 May 1683 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts, British Colonial America. He was the son of Hugh Cole II and Deborah Buckland/Bucklin. His line descends from James Cole of 1633. Some other Coles in early Colonial America have descended from a Daniel Cole. These are two separate Cole families that eventually intermarry. I am related to both clans of Cole!

Hugh Cole III married Martha Luther, daughter of Reverend Samuel Luther and Mary Abell on 13 December 1705, location unknown, but probably in Swansea. Martha’s father was the son of Captain John Luther, emigrant. Martha was born 9 December 1681 so was 24 years old at the time of marriage and Hugh was 26 years old. They had seven known children together between 1706 and 1727: Hugh Cole IV, Nehemiah Cole, Joseph L Cole (Sr. – our ancestor), Martha Cole (m. Edward Hoar), Peleg Cole (m. Priscilla Winslow), David Cole (m. Anna Childs) and Deborah Cole.

An interesting bit I found related to Hugh and Martha is about the first Baptist Church in American Colonies. Warren, Massachusetts was originally part of Swansea but was annexed to Rhode Island became a town in 1747. For a while the Puritan Church was a “state power” and would tolerate no other opinions regarding religion. Roger Williams opposed this and moved to Providence, Rhode Island where he established the first Baptist Church in America in 1638. His beliefs were based on the principles of soul freedom and separation of church and state. The Coles of Swansea, including Hugh and Martha, chose to attend the Baptist Church as did many of their descendants for years to come! Below is the Baptist Church today.

Hugh Cole III died on 16 July 1753 at age 70 in Swansea and left a will. His son Peleg Cole was administrator of his estate which was divided between his wife and children as to his wishes “to provision for the Use of ye Family.” Martha Cole died in 1765 at age 83 or 84. Martha and Hugh Cole III are buried in the Kickemuit Cemetery, Warren, Bristol County, Rhode Island.

Links to related posts: A Difficult Fresh Start for the Cole Families

Joseph Cole Sr. and Freelove Mason: From Swansea MA to St. Clair VA!

SOURCES:

• The Blankenbeckler Family of Southwest Virginia and Related Families, Database, Ancestry.com., 2005, pp. 78-79.

• First Families of America, (Cole, Remond Selecmon), p. 117, Database, Ancestry.com

• U. S. & International Marriage Records, 1560-1900; database, Ancestry.com

• Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915, Database, FamilySearch, Martha Luther; FHL 0903395, Item 6.

• Abstracts from Bristol County MA Probate Records, 1745-1762; Vol. XIII, pp. 137-8; Vol XIV, pp. 227-8, 154.

• The Cole Genealogy; Descendants of James Cole of Plymouth 1633; by Earnest Byron Cole: Grafton Press, NY, 1908; pp. 42-55.

• Horace A Abell and Lewis P Abell, The Abell Family in America: Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 1940, p. 47.