William Cole

William Cole ( -- ) emigrated from Essex, England to the Colony of Virginia in 1618, and in 1629 was one of the two men who represented Nutmeg Quarter (which later became part of Warwick County) in the House of Burgesses.

Early life

Cole was the eldest son of Humphrie Cole and his wife Hester of Tillingham in Essex, England.

Career

Cole sailed to Virginia aboard the Neptune in 1618. His relation to George Cole who was killed when Native Americans attacked Edward Bennett's plantation on March 22, 1622, and with John Cole and William Cole who sailed for Virginia aboard the Margaret with their passage paid for by the Society of Berkeley Hundred's investors is unknown, and both those probably died soon after arriving in Virginia. Virginia authorities sent back to England in May 1625 a list which credited this man with planting 50 acres in Elizabeth City, Virginia. Cole died some time before September 15, 1664, when 100 acres of land he had patented (based on immigrants for whose passage he had paid) in Accomack County (on Virginia's Eastern Shore), escheated and was assigned to another man. His son William Cole (this man's grandson) also served in the House of Burgesses, representing Warwick County in the early 18th century. The next probable descendant who served in the legislature was Roscow Cole who represented James City County in the mid-19th century.