Person Record

Metadata

Name

Cole, Alston J.

Othernames

A. J. Cole

Genealogy ID

51876

Born

31 JUN 1824

Birthplace

Wysox, Bradford PA

Deceased

12 MAY 1890

Deceased where

Burdett, Pawnee KS

Cemetery

Brown's Grove Cemetery KS

Education

Towanda Academy
Geneva Medical College

Occupation

Surgeon, Druggist

Titles & honors

G.A.R. Mansfield Post # 48
Charter Member Mansfield Universalist Church

Military

Civil War

Spouse

Mary B. Adams (1848)

Children

Mamie Cole
Lelia Cole
Charles L. Cole
Thomas J. Cole
Eugene B. Cole

Reference

Obit GAR

Notes

A.J. Cole was born in 1824 and enlisted as a surgeon March 5, 1863 in the 11th Pa. Reserves and was honorably discharged June 13, 1865. He was promoted to Brevet Major on May 13, 1865 and at one time was surgeon at Finley Hospital, Washington, DC. His regiment was in the battle of Gaines Mills and it was here that most of the regiment was captured. It also fought at Charles City Cross Roads and was attached to General McDowell’s division.

ALSTON J. COLE was born in 1824 in Wysox, PA. He enlisted as a Surgeon, March 5, 1863 in 11th PA Reserves (also Co. S, 40th PA Inf.) and was honorably discharged June 13, 1865. He was promoted to Brevet Major on Mar. 13, 1865 and at one time was Surgeon at Finley Hospital, Washington, DC. His regiment when organized had as its Colonel, Thomas F. Gallagher, of Westmoreland County. The regiment was composed of hardy farmers and lumbermen used to labor and hardships. It took part in the battles of Gaines Mills when most of the regiment was captured and sent to Berle Isle and Libby prisons. It also fought at Charles City Cross Roads and was attached to General McDowell’s division. It was at the battles of Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna and Bethesda Church and was mustered out of the service on June 13, 1865. After the campaign in Maryland the regiment was reduced to less than two hundred effective men, yet moved promptly with their division to the field of Antietam and bore an important part in that battle. At Gettysburg on the second day they were in the thickest of the fight making a magnificent charge. They were at Bristol Station and after the Bethesda Church battle the regiment was ordered from the front to Washington and from there to Harrisburg, PA. – GAR#48, p.116

COLE, Alston J. – The Late Dr. A.J. Cole – F.W. Clark, Esq., received a telegram Tuesday morning of last week, announcing the sudden death on the day before of his father-in-law, and our former townsman, Dr. A.J. Cole, at Burdett, KS. The cause of his death was not given in the dispatch, but it is presumed to have been apoplexy or heart trouble. A letter received Monday from Mrs. Cole states that the Doctor dropped dead in his garden, after having eaten a hearty dinner. The funeral rites were held Wednesday at Burdett, where his remains were temporarily interred. A very large concourse of people gathered from all directions and from long distances to pay their last respects to the departed. Owing to the great distance and shortness of time from the death to the burial, the relatives in the East were unable to be present. Dr. Cole was born in Wysox, Bradford County, and was 66 years old at the time of his death. He was educated at the Towanda Academy, and the Geneva, NY, Medical College. After leaving the Academy he taught school several terms at Geneva, before taking his medical course, and upon receiving his diploma from the Medical College, he located at Sheshequin, Bradford Co., where he successfully practiced his profession till early in the year 1863, when he enlisted in the war of the Rebellion, and was mustered in as surgeon of the 11th PA Reserves, and served as such, and surgeon of Finley Hospital, Washington, D.C., two years and three months and till the close of the war. Soon after his return from the Army, and in the year 1866 he removed with his family to Mansfield, where he practiced more or less, and kept a drug store up to four years ago, when he removed to Burdett, KS., where he resided practicing his chosen profession up to the time of his death. Dr. Cole was a very enterprising, large hearted, sympathetic and benevolent man, and had many warm friends in the community. Possessed of rare intellectual powers, and very religiously inclined, he became a great Bible student and was very active and prominent in church work. Generous and liberal to a fault, he always contributed more of his means and time than his financial circumstances would warrant. He married Miss Mary B. Adams in 1848, who survives him. as also four children, viz.: Mrs. F.W. Clark and Eugene B., of this place, Mrs. T.R. Hewitt, of Penfield, PA, and Charles of Kansas, and two sisters, Mrs. S.B. Wells, of New York City, and Mrs. Geo. B. Dailey, of Elmira, NY. – Mansfield Advertiser, PA, 21 May 1890, Wednesday, p.3

Find a Grave
Dr. Alston J. Cole b. 31 July 1821, PA; d. 12 May 1890, Kansas; Burial Browns Grove Cemetery, Burdett, Pawnee County, Kansas.