Emily S. Cole is my great-grandaunt, the sister of Laura Minerva Cole, my great-grandmother. Emily and Laura were daughters of James W. Cole and Harriet S. (Hitchcock) [Lyman] Cole. Emily and Laura are first found in Iowa in the October 1850 census of Fairfield, Jefferson County living with their parents James Cole, 41, and Harriet, 40. Their family included Emily, 9, Laura M., 7, and David Hitchcock, 9, who was Harriet's nephew, the son of George B. Hitchcock and Caroline (Grossman) Hitchcock.
James W. Cole died intestate March 24, 1852 in Jefferson County and his estate was probated there. Gordon Mallett, his brother-in-law, was appointed guardian of his two minor daughters. By the 1856 Iowa State census Gordon Mallett had died, and Harriet S. Cole and daughter Laura Cole are living with the family of Jared B. Hitchcock, Harriet's brother, in Davenport, Scott County, Iowa. Later that year Harriet S. Cole died October 20, 1856 in Moline, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from Davenport, where she was visiting another brother Rev. Allen B. Hitchcock. Her untimely death made Emily and Laura orphans. Laura was apparently made a ward of her Uncle Jared B. Hitchcock, because she remained living with his family through 1860 in Wilton, Muscatine County, Iowa, until she married in 1862. Emily, about 15, was not found in the 1856 census, but by 1860 she was living with her Uncle George B. Hitchcock, a minister, in Lewis, Cass County, Iowa.
 Rev. George B. Hitchcock's house in Lewis, Iowa. |
Beginning about 1855 Rev. George B. Hitchcock was a conductor on the Underground Rail Road, helping slaves to escape to Canada. Today, his house in Lewis, Iowa, is a National Park Service Historic Site. Emily was living in that house with her Uncle George's family beginning shortly after her mother died. (Emily Cole taught school in Cass County in 1858.1) In 1865, Rev. Hitchcock was called by the Congregationalist Church to work in Missouri, where he was to educate and minister to freed blacks. Two years later he was moved to Kansas to carry on similar duties there. Emily went with George's family to Missouri and then to Kansas. On September 6, 1868 Emily S. Cole married James Dudley in Cherokee County, Kansas. James Dudley was about 18 years older than Emily and had several children by his previous wife, Julian, who may have died in connection with the birth of her last child in 1868. After their marriage, James and Emily Dudley apparently lived in Missouri where they are in the 1870 census of McDonald Twp., Jasper County, Missouri. That census shows Emily to be the step-mother of six Dudley children born 1857-1868.
In the 1880 U.S. Census of Elk Falls, Elk County, Kansas, Emily has two living children by James Dudley, George W. Dudley, age 6 born in Missouri, and Laura R. Dudley, age 1 born in Kansas. According to the 1900 census, and her obituary, Emily would give birth four times but only one, G. W. Dudley, survived after 1900 and to adulthood. He is the George W. Dudley, born March 24, 1874 in Joplin, Missouri who married Estella Stull, and is in the 1920 and 1930 censuses of Oklahoma and Kansas, also a minister. In September 1880 after the census, James Dudley died and Emily was left with seven children, all but one were minors. On February 20, 1883 in Chautauqua County, Kansas, (just south of Elk County) Emily (Cole) Dudley married her cousin, and long time buddy, David M. Hitchcock.
Because I received a copy of the obituary of Emily S. Hitchcock2, I have been able to trace her family until her death November 6, 1921 in Golden, Colorado, the wife of David M. Hitchcock.
As mentioned earlier, David Hitchcock was in the 1850 Fairfield, Iowa census living with his Aunt Harriet's family; David is also in the 1850 census of Wapello County, 9 years old living with his parents a few weeks later. David, 19, was also in the 1860 census of Cass County, Iowa, but I don't think he went with his father's family to Missouri. I believe he joined the Union Army. There is a record that a Hitchcock, David M., was a member of Co. G, 1st Colorado Cavalry3, rank in: Private; rank out: Sergeant, Union Army. He apparently received a Civil War pension from Kansas, I think the date of the pension record is 19 August 1869, but it is hard to read.
 David M. Hitchcock, 1861 |
I received a copy of a photograph of David, identified as taken 18612. It is a very impressive photo of a handsome young man wearing a greatcoat with fur collar and cuffs, over a dark uniform with shiny buttons and buckle. I think it is his Cavalry dress uniform.
This is a partial record of his unit:
UNION COLORADO TERRITORY VOLUNTEERS
1st Regiment, Colorado Cavalry
Regiment organized from 1st Colorado Infantry November 1, 1862. Attached to District of Colorado, District of the Upper Arkansas and District of the Plains till November, 1865, operating against Indians and protecting stage routes. Stationed by detachments at Denver, Camps Collins, Curtis, Fillmore, Robbins, Weld and Canon City and at Forts Lyon and Garland. Mustered out at Leavenworth, Kansas, November 18, 1865.
I have not been able to find David Hitchcock in any census until the 1900 census of Golden, Colorado. I now know that David and Emily were married February 1883 in Chautauqua County, Kansas. At that time, her family would probably have included: Leona A. Dudley, 17; Julia A. Dudley, 15; George W. Dudley, 9; Laura R. Dudley, 4; maybe one more. They apparently remained in Chautauqua County for several years because Leona Dudley married her first husband there in May 1883, and Julia Dudley married William Wilson there in February 1887. By 1900 all of these children were either on their own or had died. In the 1900 census of Golden, their entry shows David M. Hitchcock, born March 1841, 59, married 17 years, and possibly a Carpenter. Emily, wife, born May 1841, 59, married 17 years, 4 births, 1 living. Also living in their household is Floyd Dudley, “ad.son” born March 18??, 10, school. I was initially not sure where Floyd Dudley came from, but his birth about 1890 seemed to rule out George, then 16, as the father. Now, I am quite sure that Floyd is a son of William Dudley, then 31, and a step-son of Emily's. Both William and Floyd Dudley are mentioned in Emily's obituary as sons, “not her own”. Floyd's mother may have died and he was adopted by Emily and David Hitchcock. Floyd is also in the 1910 and 1920 censuses of Golden, working as a bottler in a brewery, possibly Coors.
Emily died in Golden, Colorado, according to her obituary (not dated) she was 81 years old, that would mean that she died after May 1922. Cemetery records show that she died November 6, 1921 when she was 80, and she was buried on November 9. Her obituary also says that her husband was 80 years old, and that was correct in November 1921. The obituary correctly indicates that she was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, Wheat Ridge, Jefferson County, Colorado. According to the records of Crown Hill Cemetery David M. Hitchcock died January 9, 1927 and was also buried in Crown Hill January 12, in the same lot with Emily. These cemetery records also show that their next of kin was William Dudley.
In the 1930 census of Golden, Colorado, W. Floyd Dudley is living with a wife, Velma C. Dudley, and two children, Charles W. and Emily, at 710 14th Street -- that was the address of Emily S. Hitchcock given in her obituary and is the address in the 1920 census of the household of David M. Hitchcock. Floyd Dudley apparently inherited the family home after his adoptive parents had died. Floyd Dudley's full name was apparently Floyd William Dudley according to the California Death Index when he died 1949 in California. However, he also used the name William Floyd Dudley. Floyd's wife Velma C. (Rieks) Dudley also died in California, but in 1996 at age 94. According to the California Death Index Floyd and Velma (Rieks) Dudley had at least one more child, Dwight Floyd Dudley, born in Colorado in 1932 who also died December 1998 in California.
June 2, 1960 Estella (Stull) Dudley, wife of George W. Dudley, died in Denver, Colorado and was buried June 6, 1960 in Crown Hill Cemetery. Stull family history4 indicates that George W. Dudley was also buried there. That has recently been verified by the records of the Crown Hill Memorial Park Cemetery that show that he died September 1959 in Golden and was buried on September 8, 1959 in Crown Hill Cemetery.
Alson Deming Braley
____________________________
- History of Cass County, Iowa, by Lafe Young, Pub: Telegraph Steam Printing House, Atlantic, Iowa, 1877, p. unk. “Among the school teachers in the county in 1858, were the following named persons: ... and Emily Cole.”
- I received the copy of Emily S. Hitchcock's obituary and her mother's and grandmother's eulogies, as well as the photograph of David M. Hitchcock from Kathy Farley, who is a descendant of Ellen R. (Hitchcock) Hall. Ellen R. Hitchcock was a sister of David M. Hitchcock, and the mother of Lily Dell (Hall) Matheny, who probably attended the funeral of Emily S. Hitchcock, her Uncle David's wife. Lily is a great grandmother of Kathy Farley.
- I have recently discovered that Company G of the First Colorado Cavalry was one of several companies involved in an engagement with Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado., November 29, 1864, often referred to as "The Sand Creek (or Chivington) Massacre". From the summary, "Col. John Chivington, who advocated Indian extermination,... In spite of the American flag and a white flag flying over the camp, the troops attacked, killing and mutilating about 200 of the Indians, two-thirds of whom were women and children." Several officers and non-commissioned officers refused to participate and were jailed by Chivington, and released during the investigation. I would like to think that Sgt. David M. Hitchcock was one of those who refused to participate.
- In my search for death dates and burial information for David M. Hitchcock and George W. Dudley, I have also received a lot of assistance from Diane Smith Battershell who is a Stull family descendant and researcher.