Members of the Cole family were some of the very earliest settlers in Covington County. Two brothers, natives of South Carolina, arrived in the area circa 1815. Noah B. Cole was married in the Sparta community of Conecuh County, Ala., in 1819. His brother, Thomas Delorum Cole, was married a few years earlier circa 1814 in South Carolina or Jefferson County, Ga., before they arrived in South Alabama.

The brothers were the sons of Daniel Preston Cole Sr. and Mary (DuBose), daughter of John DuBose (1738-1799) and Lydia (Carter) (1796) who were French Huguenots. Daniel Preston Cole Sr. was the son of William Cole and Margaret (Ransom) who were both born in 1740. Daniel was born in 1760 in Frederick County, Va. and was married in 1789 in Darlington District, S.C., to Mary DuBose (1765-1851).

Daniel and Mary resided in Darlington District for a time and were there when their first son was born in 1790. They moved next to Jefferson County, Ga., where the oldest son, Thomas, was married circa 1814. The family moved to South Alabama circa 1819, and it appears they settled in Coffee County. They were in the new Dale County in 1840, but back in Coffee in 1850. They were in Pike County in 1855 when Daniel died.

Daniel and Mary reared the following children: Thomas Delorum, b. 1790, d. 1865, m. 1812 Elizabeth Horn (1789-1863); John Mason, b. ca 1791, d. before 1829; Margaret, b. 1792, d. 1875, m. Isaac Hilliard Horn; Noah B., b. 1795, d. 1854, m. 1819 Welthea Taylor (1801-1976); Elizabeth, b. 1797; Ransom, b. 1800, d. 1880, m. Agatha Bostwick; Jeantte, b. 1804, m. James Wood; and Daniel Jr., b. 1806, d. 1875 m. (1) Nancy Wood (2) Mary Jane Dick.

Today’s writing will focus on the two sons who settled for a time in Covington County. Noah B. Cole was the third son and is the first one to be briefly reviewed. He was married in Sparta of Conecuh County in 1819 to Welthea Taylor (1801-1876), daughter of William and Sarah or Martha (Billingsley) Taylor.

Noah was one of the first settlers to purchase land in Covington County from the government in 1824. In January of that year he acquired 79.83 acres of Creek Indian land in the Andalusia Township. The property was located on the headwaters of Five Runs Creek about four miles east of the future site of Andalusia. The northwest portion of the land crossed Five Runs and lay south of the future railroad tracks. His brother, Thomas Delorum Cole, purchased 79.91 acres of land at the same time that adjoined Noah’s on the south and was west of the future Sanford Town limits. Other families settling there about the same time were Willis Daffin, William Holley Sr., John and Josiah Jones, Edward Mancill Jr., Byrd and Howell Sasser and Henry and Wiley Williams.

Noah and Welthea Cole reared the following children: Calista; Jahaza; Mary Ann; Lucinda, b. 1819, d. 1900; Almira, b. 1822, d. 1900; Palestine, b. 1830, d. 1918; Minerva, b. 1833, d. 1860; Calistra, b. 1836, d. 1866; Amazon, b. 1839, d. 1880; and Ransom Taylor Sr., b. 1843, d. 1906. By 1850, the family had left Covington County and moved to Albany, Iles, La. Noah died in Caddo Parish, La., in 1862.

Noah’s brother, Thomas Delorum Cole, remained in South Alabama, so the following portion of this column will focus on his family and descendants. He and his wife, Elizabeth Horn, reared the following children: Julian, b. ca 1815; Lorenzo Jackson, b. 1816, d. 1873, m. Amanda Harper; Caroline, b. 1819, d. 1877, m. Lewis Hutchinson Jr.; Thomas Delorum Jr., b. 1822, d. (two dates found: 1824 and 1863); Nancy Elizabeth, b. 1825, d. 1912, m. Christopher “Kit” Kyzer; Narcissa, b. 1827, d. 1903, m. John Allen Hornsby; and Sarah, b. 1829, d. 1898, m. Mason Creed Kimmey.

Thomas Sr. was residing in Coffee County in 1865 and met with a tragic death when he was beaten to death by some renegades near the end of the War for Southern Independence. Family legend reports that he was believed to have some treasured gold, which he had hidden. One descendant stated, “He never revealed where, so the legend of Cole’s gold still exists.”

Thomas Cole Sr.’s daughter, Nancy Elizabeth Cole, and her husband, Christopher “Kit” Kyzer, reared the following children: Sarah, b. 1849; Isaac, b. 1851, d. 1942, m. Della Elizabeth Dubose; Missouri Caroline, b. 1852, d. 1900, m. Samuel Green Wood; Victoria A., b. 1860, m. J.W. Walls; and Nettie, b. 1862.

The Kyzer’s daughter, Missouri Caroline Kyzer, and her husband, Samuel Green Wood, reared the following children: Emma E., b. 1869, d. 1899, m. William Tillman Smith; Ida L., b. 1871, d. 1928, m. William Henry Butts; Early W., b. 1874, d. 1946, m. Pet Storpes; Lorenzo Jackson, b. 1876, d. 1960, m. Effie Wilkins; Costilla Thomas, b. 1880, d. 1968, m. Ora Lou Burke; Palestine, b. 1882, d. 1955, m. William Hussey; Lemuel L., b. 1887, d. 1948, m. Mamie Sorrells; and Doctor Samuel, b. 1893, d. ca 1903.

Missouri Caroline Wood’s oldest daughter, Ida L. Woods, and her husband, William Henry Butts, reared the following 11 children: Gene Marion, b. 1890, d. 1950, m. Alice Corrine Maddox; James Early, b. 1891, d. 1949, m. Veedie Mae Adkins; Eli Raleigh, b. 1894, d. 1963, m. Lucy Goff; Savannah, b. 1895, d. 1975, m. Walter Cain; Victoria, b. 1899, d. 1980, m. Richard Cordle; Arthur, b. 1901, d. 1868, m. Amanda Cutts; Louise, b. 1903, d. 1982, m. Coralee Jordan; William Henry Jr., b. 1906, d. 1991, m. Edna Merle Watson; Edward Lee, b. 1908, d. 1989, m. Elinor Virginia Mills; Hattie Mae, b. 1910, d. 1992, m. Emmett Coleman; and Huey Lee, b. 1915, m. Clara Louise Saxon.

The oldest son, Gene Marion Butts was married to Alice Corrine Maddox, daughter of Marion Maddox. Gene Marion is remembered to have worked at the old logging Town of Poley near Opp circa 1910. He and Alice also reared 11 children: Rosie, b. 1913, d. 1990, m. Elijah Wesley Lingo; Doshie, b. 1915, m. James Alfred Marsh; Willie Marion, b. 1917, d. 1961, m. Ola Pearl Marsh; Hubert Lee, b. 1919, m. Meerle Wilkins; James Lewis, b. 1921, m. Willie Mae Wilkins; Duva, b. 1924, d. 1985, m. John T. Stinson; Nettie Mae, b. 1928, m. J. W. Hudson; Erma Jean, b. 1930, d. 2000, m. Barnett McDaniel; James Franklin, b. 1932, d. 1969, m. Ruby Mae Maddox; Elmer, b. 1935, d. 1992, m. Mary Ellen Moffit; and Joe Talmadge, b. 1938, m. Willie Jean Wiggins.

There were a few other Cole descendants mentioned in early histories of the county, but this writer was unable to relate them to the above families. There were no families enumerated in the 1850 census for Covington County, but there were two men listed as registered voters in 1867, D.H. Cole and J. Cole. In 1864, James C. Cole was 46 years of age when he enlisted in Covington County for the Confederate Army. He served as 2nd. Lt. for Company I, 4th Ala. Regiment (Senior Reserves). Then a Charles Cole homesteaded 160.13 acres of land in the Patsaliga River Township in 1887.

Sources for this writing included Ancestry.com, a story published in The Heritage of Covington County, Alabama, which was researched by Willie Wilbur Butts and submitted by Linda Olean Butts Worley, and Wyley Ward’s Early History of Covington County, Alabama, 1821-1871.

Anyone who might find an error in the above or additional information on this family is requested to contact Curtis Thomasson at 20357 Blake Pruitt Road, Andalusia, AL 36420; 334-804-1442; or Email: cthomasson@centurytel.net.