Stay updated with breaking news from Edith banks. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Constructing a HouseGeorge William Cole was born in Athens, Georgia, late in the 1840s. The record of his 1879 marriage identified his parents, William Cole and Martha Cole, as freedpersons, but little else is known of his youth. By early in the 1870s he was living in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Inspired perhaps by his parents or by the heady events of emancipation and Reconstruction, Cole developed a desire for education and self-improvement. In 1872 he enrolled in the junior class of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (later Hampton University). Having earned promotion to the middle class, Cole left the school during the 1873–1874 academic year. By 1879 he had made his way to Essex County, where he found work as a teacher and probably also farmed. On April 21, 1879, Cole married Edith Banks, a native of the county. They had at least one daughter. ....