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Lewis Cole, farmer, of Plattin Township, was born near St. Joe Mines,
then in Washington County, but now in St. Francois County, in the year
1832, and is the sixth of twelve children born to Joshua and Jane
(Turley) Cole. (For further particulars of parents, see sketch of
Joshua Cole). Lewis was reared under the parental roof, and was obliged

to walk six miles to obtain an education, which was rather limited.
He served about six months in the Confederate army under Col. J. Thompson,

of Gen. Price's army, in 1861, and operated principally at Belmont.
He was married in 1863, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of William and Mary
Shelley, formerly of Robertson County, Tenn., but who came to St. Francois

County, when Mrs. Cole was about nine years old.  Of the twelve children 

born to Mr. Cole and wife, five are now living: Albert S., Eva A., Ida L.,

Minnie L. and Newman F.  Mr. Cole lived two years in St. Francois County,

and in 1865 removed to Audrain County, where he remained one year.  He 

then came to Jefferson County and settled three miles west of Rush Tower

(where he has 380 acres of land, 100 acres under a good state of 

cultivation, all the result of his own labor), engaging in farming and 

mining and when in Audrain County he was employed as an overseer.  He 

is a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was for James Buchanan,

in 1856.  He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.