John COLES

  Noted events in his life were:

• Biography. The lands of the Mildendo estate first came into the Coles family through grants to and purchases by John Coles, the first of the family to come to America.

He was born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland <http://www.wexfordtourism.com/map_of_wexford.htm>, the son of Walter Coles and his wife, Alice Philpot. His father was for 40 years prominently connected with affairs of state, and served as Provost of the city of Enniscorthy for a number of years.

One of seven children, John Coles was educated in England. According to an article in the VIRGINIA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, "while still a very young man, on account of having incurred the displeasure of his father, he came over to Virginia, about the last years of Governor Spotswood's administration, precise year unknown."

The date of his emigration was between 1730 and 1735. He settled in what is to become the city of Richmond, on what is today called Church Hill. He was one of the earliest settlers there. When William Mayo laid out the 32 squares, each containing four lots, of the new city for William Byrd II in 1737, there already were some scattered houses, one of them belonging to John Coles.

The Richmond home was located on present-day 22nd Street, between Broad and Marshall Streets, and stood until about 1871, when it was demolished. Again according to the Virginia Magazine, it was a part of the Monte Maria Convent in its last years.

John Coles only spent the winter in Richmond. During the summer he and his family repaired to Enniscorthy, their home in Albemarle County, named for the city of his birth.

Not long after his emigration John was possessed of a rather large fortune. This has led some to infer that his father forgave him of whatever had come between them and given him his share of the paternal estate. A wealthy merchant, he was to become one of the largest landowners of his day in Virginia.

His holdings in and around Richmond included city lots and several farms (he once gave a whole city square for a single fine horse!). The Enniscorthy tract in Albemarle embraced several thousand acres, and there was a similar tract in Louis County.

Mr. Coles' largest holdings were in southside Virginia, in that part of Lunenburg County that was in 1752 to become Halifax. A single grant of 5600 acres lay on both sides of Staunton River. Between 1746 and 1748 he received six surveys. They were: 300 acres on both sides of Buckskin Creek; 65 acres on the south side of Staunton River; 400 acres on both sides of Buckskin Creek; 400 acres on both sides of Buckskin Creek; 300 acres on Buckskin Greek; and 1513 acres on Black Creek.


John Coles was married, circa 1738, to Mary Ann Winston, daughter of Isaac Winston and Mary Dabney of Hanover County. The Winstons were, according to William Byrd II, "a good old family." John and Mary Ann were to become the parents of five children, namely: Walter Coles, born November 14, 1739, died October 7, 1780;
Sarah Coles, born August 15, 1741, died October 16, 1778;
Mary Coles, born April 19, 1743, died January 22, 1823;
John Coles, born April 29, 1745, died February 5, 1808; and
Isaac Coles, born March 2, 1747, died June 3, 1813.


[http://www.oldhalifax.com/county/Mildendo.htm]

• Will, 1747, Halifax County, VA. By his last will, dated October 11, 1747, John Coles left all his children and his widow well provided for, but he left the bulk of the estate to his eldest son, Walter, thus upholding the old-world ideas of aristocratic inheritance. Included in Walter's bequest was "all the land I bought of Richard Ward and John Wingham, on Staunton River ... to him and his heirs and assigns forever; also the following slaves, Primus, Jun, Billy, Doll, Lucy, Jenny, Jemmy, Cate, Abram, Tamar, Will, London, Dublin, Nan and Moll, with all their increase ... with all the stock of cattle, hogs, horses and mares on said plantation, after his two sisters and brother Isaac have their part of the stock laid off for them."

[http://www.oldhalifax.com/county/Mildendo.htm]

• Cemetery: St. John's Episcopal Church, 1747, Halifax County, VA. John Coles died on October 16, 1747, and was buried under the chancel of St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond, where he was serving as senior warden at the time of his death.

John married Mary Ann WINSTON ca. 1738.