In the land trials of Southwest Virginia, the bearer of the above name is often a witness as the surveyor who ran the lines in dispute. His father, John B. Cole, a native of Old Virginia, as the eastern counties were called by the dwellers west of the Alleghenies, and removed to Kanawha county in 1815. John L. was born June 9, 1826. He is a lawyer by study, a poet by choice and inspiration, an artist by tendency and a practical surveyor and engineer. He was a Justice of the Peace from 1855 to 1858, then County Surveyor, and in 1868-9 represented Kanawha county in the House of Delegates. From 1873 to 1875 he was State Librarian. His family name gave title to the river Cole, now perverted into Coal river, with its mouth twelve miles below Charleston.
Source: Prominent Men of West Virginia, Geo. W Atkinson and Alvaro F Gibbens, W.L. Callin Publishing, Wheeling, WV, 1890.
