Cornelius Cole


Cornelius Cole was an American politician who served a single term in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican representing California from 1863 to 1865, and another term in the United States Senate from 1867 to 1873.
Cole, who died at the age of, is the longest-lived U.S. Senator.

Life

He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1847 and was admitted to the New York bar. In his lifetime he practiced law in his adopted state of California first in San Francisco, then in Sacramento. After returning to California following his retirement from national politics he practiced in San Francisco again and finally in Los Angeles with his eldest son Willoughby.
On March 8, 1856 Cole organized the California branch of the Republican Party, acting as secretary and writing the manifesto. Of the seven men who joined him were Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and the Crocker brothers Edwin B. and Charles Crocker. Later that summer of 1856, Cole started the Sacramento Daily California Times with James McClatchy as an editor. It was short lived lasting only a few months after the 1856 National election.
Additionally, he was nominated on the Republican ticket for Clerk of Sacramento Court, but failed to get elected. In 1858 he was elected as District Attorney of Sacramento County. In 1862 he and his family moved to Santa Cruz located on Monterey Bay. It was from there he went to the US Congress in 1863.
In 1880 he moved to southern California where he owned one of the original Spanish/Mexican landgrants, what is now known as Hollywood, then was dubbed Colegrove after his wife, Olive Colegrove. There are several streets now named after the family; Cole St., Willoughby Ave., Eleanor St. and Seward St.
The eastern California community of Coleville in Mono County is named for Cornelius Cole.
Cole's brother, George W. Cole, was a Union Army officer in the American Civil War who attained the rank of major general by brevet. After the war, George Cole was acquitted of the murder of L. Harris Hiscock, whom he accused of having an affair with Mrs. Cole.