Allaniah Cole
Ephriam Cole, a man of good English descent, married, in 1773. Sophia Mitchell, of Maryland. It is said of them that as boy and girl, they lived on adjoining plantations, on the Susquehanna River, near the Chesapeake Bay.
When the accounts of the adventurous conduct of Daniel Boone, in Kentucky, inspired the husband to follow that intrepid hero, the brave young wife was ready to leave a refined home, where her mother, although the proud descendant of the English Kents, had taught her daughters those homely virtues, which fitted the women of those times for the perils and hardships of pioneer life. It is needless to follow this resolute couple through the pathless forests, inhabited by red men, whose savage nature had been justly roused by the white men, who came to steal their lands and drive them from their homes.
At Williamsburg, Ky., where they made their home, Mrs. Cole was ever the ruling spirit of the family of three boys and five daughters. In 1800, Allaniah. a fourth son, the subject of this sketch, was born. The remittance from Mrs. Cole's home and her untiring energy kept the family above want, and the girls as well as the boys were, for those times, well educated, but there came a time, shortly after the birth of Allaniah, that the parents felt that better times awaited them in Ohio. They located in West Union, a town settled by persons far above the average; schools and churches, the best obtainable, were there and Allaniah did not fail to appreciate his mother's earnest desire to have him take advantage of all that was offered. At that early day, a college education meant a long journey eastward and a greater outlay of money than could be obtained by even the most prosperous. These West Union people determined to surmount the seemingly insurmountable difficulties and when their brightest sons and daughters were ready for a higher education, "Dewey's Grammar School" was awaiting them. This school must have been in advance of the so-called colleges which sprang up in other Ohio towns a little later, for we hear of no one being excluded on account of sex. Allaniah Cole was a student of "Dewey's Grammar School," where he became acquainted with Miss Nancy Steece, one of the girl students, who years after became his wife.
After leaving "Dewey's Grammar School," Allaniah's first business venture was the index to his character. Hearing that horses were bring ing fabulous prices in New Orleans, he went to Mr. John Sparks, a wealthy citizen of the town, who directed him that he could buy, on time, as many horses as he could drive. Mr. Sparks said: "I'll go on paper, Al." It was then determined, and the nineteen-year-old boy was soon started on his long journey, over bad roads, sometimes mere bridle paths, with his trusty men driving his fine horses. He arrived in New Orleans in six weeks, long rests having been needed to keep the horses in marketable condition. The venture was successful and Allaniah was soon at home paying every cent due his creditors, besides being able to show Mr. Sparks that his good offices had not met the too frequent ingratitude of beneficiaries. Years after Mr. Cole would speak to his children of Mr. Sparks' great kindness to him, when he had "nothing but his good name." After several similiar expeditions south, Allaniah found himself the proud possessor of five thousand ($5,000) dollars. His next venture was at an iron furnace, in Lawrence County, where he learned the business, before he risked his precious, hard-earned five thousand.
In the beginning of the year 1828 he made his best and most successful venture, when he married the "Dewey's Grammar School" student, the daughter of Henry and Mary Anne Steece. Henry Steece was a German, who came early in the history of Pennsylvania to develop that iron center of the world. He was what, at the present time, would be called "the chemist of a furnace." When, toward the latter part of the past century, marvelous accounts of the great iron ore deposits of Brush Creek, Adams County, Ohio, reached the Pennsylvania "iron men," Mr. Steece soon started with his family, consisting of wife, four sons and five daughters, down the Ohio River in a keel boat, to a landing (now called Manchester) twenty miles from their objective point, Brush Creek. It is recorded that Archie Paul and James Rodgers, afterwards distinguished "iron men," were on the ground to meet them, and that one at least, of the three furnaces—"Old Steam Furnace, Marble Furnace and Brush Creek Furnace"—was already nearly ready for the "Dutchman." Henry Steece, whose valuable work was to terminate so soon. When Henry Steece's work was finished, his widow, who was already understood and appreciated as a woman of great intellectual and moral force, did not fail of the moral support of her husband's friends. While she in turn repaid their kindness with intelligent help that broadened their homes, and kept their children fit companions for her talented boys and girls, whose discipline and education had added to her task of supplying their daily bread. Nancy, the youngest of the girls, was sent to West Union to Dewey's Grammar School, to board in the family of Mr. Armstrong a wealthy merchant. An illustration of the hospitality of pioneer times, as well as the desire of making their academy famous, it may be told that when the mother went to Mrs. Armstrong, to pay her daughter's board, she refused to accept payment, saying, "Nancy is the guest of my daughter. Keep your money."
About 1830. Mr. Cole bought the Old Forge, eight miles above Portsmouth, on the Scioto River, where he lived but two or three years, when he went to take the then great charge of Bloom Furnace. While at Bloom, he was among the first to introduce the "Sunday Reform," against the judgment of most of the furnace men, who felt sure that stopping the furnace from midnight Saturday until midnight Sunday, would give the much dreaded "chill." Few, looking at these old furnaces today, could realize their past importance, the army of workmen, woodchoppers, ore diggers, lime diggers, lime burners, stone-coal miners, charcoal burners, besides the many employed on the immediate furnace grounds.
At Bloom, Mr. and Mrs. Cole, while accumulating what was in those days considered a large fortune, were unconsciously doing missionary work. The schoolhouse, of their building, was also the place of worship, and Mrs. Cole saw to it that the people were not neglectful of the privileges of religious as well as mental training.
A curious phase of that age, at the furnaces, was, notwithstanding the houses were of rough logs and the want of which is now considered necessary furnishings, the high style and strict etiquette of living, the table linen was always the finest and cleanest, the silver bright, the china beautiful, the glass clear, knives and forks polished after each meal. It is told of Mr. Cole, that when a young man appeared at his table, on a warm day, without his coat, he rose and waited: "Mrs. Cole always liked the gentlemen to wear their coats here." Needless to say the man put on his coat.
Mr. Cole, though not a drinker, kept the friendly glass, to drink with friends, but the arguments of a speaker of the first temperance society—The Washingtonians—convinced him that total abstinence, on his part, was the only way to reach the many inebriate men of his employ, whom he had vainly tried to help. The evening of that temperance lecture, will be remembered today, if any one is living who witnessed Mr. Cole's signing the pledge and inviting his men, who were present, to follow his example. Nearly all took the pen and many confirmed drunkards kept their pledge till the end of their lives.
In the Spring of 1842. at the urgent request of his wife, Mr. Cole retired from business and removed to West Union, to educate their young family, but in November of the same year, Mrs. Cole was taken ill, and in two weeks Mr. Cole was left with six motherless children.
In 1844, the family went to Kentucky, the ideal state of the Cole family. In the fall of the same year Mr. Cole married Miss Louisa Paul, a niece of his first wife. Miss Paul was a beautiful lady, of refinement, good judgment and common sense, who did what she could for the children of her adoption. After years of prosperity in the iron business of Kentucky, Mr. Cole returned to Ohio, on account of failing health, living several years in Portsmouth, before returning to Bloom Furnace, where he died in 1866.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900