#5 Alexander D. Cole (1839-1907) - Union Veteran

 

PCA Archives

Alexander D. Cole was born May 17, 1839, in Moosup, Connecticut, to Caleb Cole and Hannah Crandall.  The Coles were fairly prosperous farmers.

In October 1862, Cole enlisted in Company A, 12th Rhode Island Infantry, for a period of nine months.  His regiment took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg that December.  After that, it was on guard duty in Kentucky and Ohio.  Cole reenlisted at the end of his initial hitch and served until July 29, 1865.

On January 16, 1868, Alexander Cole wed Ella Augusta Lord in Boston, Massachusetts.  The young couple was living in Southbridge, Massachusetts, when their first child, Fannie, was born on November 20, 1869.   Alexander was employed in a woolen mill.

Although little Fannie thrived, the Coles’ next three children—Charles, Henry and Gertrude—did not live long enough to see their first birthdays.  It wasn’t until October 28, 1876, that Ella gave birth to a son, George Elbert, who would grow to adulthood.  One more child, Nellie, was born May 26, 1882.

Over the years, Alexander and Ella seem to have parted ways, as he is listed as divorced on the federal census of 1900; he gave his occupation as ‘landlord’.  He and his two daughters had moved to Phoenix around 1895, possibly because Fannie was suffering from a malady which caused her joints to ossify, limiting her mobility (may have been something like rheumatoid or osteoarthritis). 

At first, Fannie was active in the local Presbyterian church and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.T.C.U.).  In time, however, she was confined to bed, unable to bend her arms and legs.  On September 17, 1901, her doctor tried a surgical intervention to ‘break’ her joints, but Fannie died of shock following the operation.   After a funeral conducted by Rev. McAfee of the Presbyterian Church, she was buried in Rosedale Cemetery.

While living in Phoenix, Alexander Cole joined the John Wren Owen G.A.R. post.  In March, 1907, he applied for an invalid pension and received Certificate #969811.  He passed away on October 5, 1907, of cardiac dilation, and was buried next to his daughter Fannie in Rosedale.

Nothing further is known of Cole’s younger daughter, Nellie; likely she married.  Cole’s son George Elbert lived in Phoenix for a brief time, at least.  In 1910, his nine-year-old daughter Ella died of tuberculosis while residing at 716 West Madison.  She too was buried in Rosedale, probably in the Cole family plot.

by Donna Carr

 

 

 

Rebecca Reid Davenport (1820 - 1907) - Homesteader - Enterprising Women

Gila River
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html

Rebecca Reid Davenport was born October 1820 in Indiana.  Rebecca was married to Bailey McNess Davenport most likely in Missouri around 1840.  She was the mother of 10 children.

The family remained in Missouri until 1854, when they moved to California. The family prospered while in California, but sadly Bailey died on July 17, 1875 in Los Angeles County.  Rebecca administered the estate, and Bailey was buried with a beautiful headstone in the Santa Ana Cemetery.

Rebecca left California for Arizona around 1880.  Her son Jacob was married by then and working in Phoenix.  She would travel back and forth to California where her other children still lived.  In 1892, Rebecca began homesteading 158 acres in the area of what is now Citrus Valley Road and W. Sisson in Gila Bend.  Rebecca wrote in the homestead application that she first lived in a tent before the house was built a year later.  She would have been 74 years old.

Rebecca described her house as being built of lumber and having three rooms.  Another house was added along with a well, two corrals and a dairy room.  She indicated that 80 acres had been cleared and were in use.  Her sons Jacob and Thomas were living with her and working the land.  Some of those outbuildings can still be seen on the property.

Rebecca was living alone by 1899 according to her homestead application, and in 1900 she was granted a land patent.  She went to California for a short time and was living with daughter Martha Ivory.  

Rebecca returned to Phoenix where she transferred ownership of her property to son Charles prior to her death.

Rebecca is buried in the City Loosely Cemetery surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.