William Riley COLE

                   Pioneers and Patriots "Over the Blue Mountain"
B-GSF #026,452 Riverdale W. Rec/Life History of Wm. R. Cole 22 May 1817
M-GSF #1263280 Tib Civ Marr/Md.Cert. Quincy, Adams, Illinois 19 Mar 1840
D-GSF #026454 Roy W Rec (Deaths 1910) Ogden City Cem. Rec. Photo copy
Bapt.-GSF #026452 Riverdale, Weber, Utah W. rec/Life His.of Wm. R. Cole
End.-NV Temple End Reg.
Slg.-GSF #183,396 p.127 EH Sld to Spouse 9 Apr 1868 also sealed again-
      31 Jan 1934 in the S L Temple

       I, William R. Cole, son of Owen Cole and Sally Turnbaugh, was born in Middlesex, Yates County, New York on May 22, 1817.  I, with my parents, moved from New York to Ohio on October 25, 1832.  I heard the first sermon preached in Copley, Ohio in 1833 by Sidney Rigdon.  In 1833 I received the gospel and was baptized in the Vermillion River on December 27, 1834 by Elder Elmer Harris and confirmed the same.  I started for Missouri in 1837 on foot, walking 450 miles in fifteen days carrying 45 pounds on my back.  I stopped and worked four months for my uncle, Mose Daley.  I reached Far West, Missouri on September 15, 1837.
       In July 1838 I prepared a house, hay and grain for my father's family which came to Far West from New York in October 1838.  I had joined the Church before my father's family did and they did not want me to come West and offered me great inducements to stay there, but I told them that I must come  After I came away, they joined the Church and came to Far West in 1838.

       (From his point, the history is written from memory
        by William F. Robinson as told him by William R. Cole.)

       William R. Cole got acquainted with Prophet Joseph Smith and he often said of him, "I love him.  I worked for him and farmed for him, worked at ship carpentry and millwright work. . ."  He sold dry goods and trinkets, carrying them on his back from place to place.  Brother Cole told about making coffins of hardwood for $1.00 a foot.  They were dressed down and protected with beeswax.  They were pressed with a hot iron and rubber with a silk handkerchief until they could have been used as mirrors.  At one time the Prophet's family ground the wheat they used for bread in Brother Cole's coffee grinder.
       Sometime later Brother Cole met and married Nancy Sarepta Parish.
       He went through all the mobbings at Far West and the persecutions.  He and Uncle Daley were going to the Breast Works at Far West when Brother Daley said, "Here, Will, you take my gun and I will take a hoop pole.  You can shoot better than I can."  He was there when our brethren surrendered and saw Bogard (or Bogart) (The wife of Charles C. Rich called him Beauregard) shoot at Charles C. Rich, but missed him.  Brother Cole said, "Charles why didn't you return that fire?"  Brother Rich answered, "Inasmuch as the poor devil missed me, I thought it best not to do it."  Just at that time Brother Cole got word that his father was shpt and he got permission to go to him.  He found that a mobber had shot his father through the hip, a flesh wound.  Brother Cole went and took care of him, helped him to recover.  This same Bogard or Bogart was the leader of the mob at Crooked River after Apostle Patten was killed.  Brother Charles C. Rich took command of our men and shot the mobbers as they swam the river.
       At times, Brother Cole was a bodyguard to the Prophet Joseph Smith, earlier in his life.  Brother Cole had heard it prophesied by the Prophet Joseph Smith that if the mob continued to persecute the Saints they would be killed and the crows would eat their flesh.  Brother Cole was a witness to that  When Bogard or Bogart was killed, his body was washed down the river onto a sand bar and the crows ate the flesh off his bones.  Brother Cole and his family went to meet the Prophet's body and that of his brother Hyrum when they were brought from the Carthage Jail.  Brother Cole told of how the people wept at the death of their beloved Prophet when it seemed that even the flowers wilted as if they too, wept  They held the funeral and the body was secretly buried because the mob had threatened to behead the bodies.  Brother Cole said when they buried the Prophet there were no clouds in the sky to be seen, but immediately upon finishing their task, the rain poured down and covered all traces of the burial place.
       Brother Cole was a wheelwright (wagon maker) and he helped to make the wagons that carried the Church records on their journey westward.
       Brother Cole's wife, Nancy Sarepta Parish Cole was ill when the time came for their journey west, having a six week old baby.  She had not been able to walk or sit up one day, so Brother Cole bored holes in the wagon box and laced rope across it to make a bed where she laid until she recovered.  He hitched cows with the oxen and they helped to pull the wagon.  They could then milk the cows both at night and morning placing the milk in a churn and as they journeyed along, the motion of the wagon churned the butter.  Brother Cole was told by many that the cows would not be able to stand to travel with the oxen, but they stood the trip even better.
       Their first home was in Riverdale and was built without nails, using wooden pegs.  He became very successful, owning around 300 acres of land and other property.  After fifteen years he married a second wife and there were three sons and two daughters by this union.
       He loved temple work and did a lot of work for the dead.  He was a faithful Church worker and always remembered his association with the Prophet Joseph Smith.  When he was about 79 years of age, he came to live with his granddaughter, Diana Baker Robinson.  He died at the age of 94 and for two years before his death he was bedfast and for nine months, Sister robinson and her children fed and cared for him as they would a baby.  His last wish was to see his children once more and to bear his testimony to them.
       The Robinson family has a cane that was brought from the Hill Cumorah and given to Brother Cole.

       William Riley Cole was buried in the Ogden City Cemetery (Utah.)