From Proud Heritage, Vol 1 by DCPA, not currently in print.
George Calhoun Cole was born in Dallas County, Texas on his father’s homestead farm about three miles north of Dallas on August 8, 1857. The approximate present boundary of the homestead would be Capitol on the east, Haskell and Lemmon on the South, Turtle Creek on the west and Fitzhugh on the north. The first Texas State Fair was held on Cole farm land just north of this homestead farm.
He attended Add-Ran College in Thorpe Springs, Texas. Add-Ran was later to be located in Waco, then in Fort Worth, with the name being changed to Texas Christian University. As a result of his studies there he was chosen, at the age of twenty two, to become head of the Oak Lawn School in Dallas. While a student at Add-Ran, George met and later married Sue Anthony Bennett.
George C. Cole was the oldest child of John Higgs Cole and Elizabeth (Preston) Cole of Dallas County. Sue A. Bennett was the oldest child of Dr. Joseph Anthony Bennett born 1824 and Henrietta Friar Crump born 1830. Sue was born in Jackson County, Arkansas August 6, 1861. She came to Texas with her parents as an infant, passing through Dallas to settle in Kaufman. George and Sue were married in Kaufman, October 30, 1882 and moved to Dallas to live. The seven children in this family were: George Calhoun Cole, Jr. born December 30, 1884, Kate Agnes born July, 1886, Annie Laurie born January 16, 1888, Joe Bennett born June 10, 1890, Loudie Elizabeth born August 26, 1892, Cora Sue born July 21, 1895, and Margaret Henrietta born April 23, 1898.
Soon after their marriage George and Sue built a home on a hill overlooking downtown Dallas. The house was on Payne Street at Highland which later became Akard. George was the only one in his family to move in to Dallas. The rest waited for Dallas to move out to them.
George Cole was an attorney and a land agent with offices at 243 Main Street and at 610 Main Street in Dallas. He was politically ambitious. After being elected from the newly created 8th Ward as Alderman in 1889, he was re-elected in 1890. He was also elected by the 8th Ward to fill a vacancy when F. P. Holland resigned in 1892. After his mother died, he sold his share of her estate to his father and one of his brothers using the proceeds to finance an unsuccessful campaign for the office of Mayor of Dallas. Then he retired from politics.
George Cole died of head injuries March 4, 1901. He was injured when he stepped down from a slowly moving train near his office in downtown Dallas and slipped on loose cinders. He was 43 years old.
By Homer Warlick, Dallas
