648
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
died comparatively young. In addition to
his Richmond property he owned vast
landed estates in different parts of the
colony, granted him by the King in con-
sideration of services rendered the Crown.
He was a colonel of militia and in some
old records is also spoken of as major. He
was a devoted adherent to the Church of
England, and was one of the founders of the
famous old St. John's Church, of Richmond,
being buried under the chancel of that
church. Not many years ago, in the course
of some repairs that were being made in
the church, there was found under the
chancel, among other remains, a brass
coffin-plate bearing the name of John Coles.
He was church warden from the founding
of the church until the day of his death,
which occurred in 1747. At that time, the
church and state being closely allied, the
church wardens controlled civil and mili-
tary as well as church affairs, and in con-
sulting old records it is found that John
Coles wielded considerable influence in both
church and secular afifairs. His death in
October, 1747. followed the birth of his son,
Isaac, by a few months, and in his will he
left an immense tract of land in Albemarle
coimty, Virginia, to his son, John (2), will-
ing to his sons, Walter and Isaac, vast
estates on the Staunton, Dan, and Bannister
rivers in that portion of Brunswick county,
Virginia, which was afterward set off as
Halifax county, also bequeathing to them
other property. His daughters received
good estates, Mary, married Henry Tucker,
and has many descendants, and Sarah, who
married General George Muter, having no
children. John (2) Coles married Rebecca
Tucker, and built and resided at "Enniscor-
thy," Albemarle county, \^irginia. named
after the old home in Ireland whence his
father had come. John (2) Coles was the
father of Governor Edward Coles, and his
descendants have been prominent in many
states of the Union, high office and honor
coming to many. Mary (Winston') Coles,
born in 1721, died in 17^8, married ("second)
a Mr. Donald.
Colonel Isaac Coles, son of John (i ) and Mary (Winston) Coles, was born in Rich- mond, Virginia, March 2, 1747, died on his plantation in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, June 3, 1813, and is there buried. He was educated at ^\'illiam and Mary College, Williamsburg. \'irginia, was a 'colonel of
militia during the revolutionary war, and
was a member of the Virginia legislature in
1783-84-85-S7. He was a member of the
convention which met in Richmond in June,
1788, to ratify the new Federal Constitution,
and there voted against its ratification. He
was a member of the first United States
Congress which met in New York City in
1789 and there "voted against the adoption
of the Constitution as it came from the
hands of its framers, for he saw the poison
under its wings." It is also on record that
he voted to "abolish the slave trade," al-
though a large land-owner and slave-holder
himself, while his brother-in-law, Elbridge
Gerry, of Massachusetts, voted to continue
it. He held his place in Congress until
1797, ^'ifl while a member of the Philadel-
phia Congress he voted "to locate the seat
of government on the banks of the Poto-
mac." He was twice married, (first) in
1771. to Elizabeth, died in 1781, daughter
of AX'illiam Lightfoot. of Charles Citv
county. \'irginia. They had three children,
only one of whom lived to maturity, Isaac
(2). who built and lived at a place called
."^pringwood. near Houston. Halifax coimty.
Virginia, and was the grandfather of the
late Hon. Paul C. Edmunds and Captain
Henrv Edmunds, of Halifax county. Colo-
nel Isaac Coles, Sr., married (second'i in
Januarv, 1790, Catherine Thompson, a "New
York belle and beauty." whom he met
while attending the New York Congress.
She was a daughter of James and Catherine
(Walton) Thompson, of New York, and a
descendant of the Beekmans. Her sister,
.A.nn, had previously married Elbridge
Gerry, of Massachusetts, an old bachelor at
the time of his marriasre. Elbridge Gerry
was a signer of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, governor of Massachusetts, mem-
ber of Congress, vice-president of the
United States at the time of his death in
1814, and was once sent abroad on an im-
portant diplomatic mission with Pinckney
and Marshall. Catherine Thompson, sec-
ond wife of Colonel Isaac Coles, Sr., was
born in New York City in 1767, died in
Pittsylvania countv, Virginia, in 1848, be-
ing buried by the side of her husband. They
were the parents of a large family, of one of
whom. \\'alter. further mention is made.
Colonel Isaac Coles. Sr.. during his political
career, lived on the plantation in Halifax
countv. \'irginia. inherited from his father,
