Matthew Cole

Not a known son of John Cole "the immigrant" & Ann Cole

Notes RE Matthew Cole

• Birth seen as 26 September 1649 at Hartford without citation
• WeRelate estimates birth as 1638, location unknown, based on marriage date of 16 July 1663, Northampton, Massachusetts, to Susanna Cunliffe.
• Their only child was Lydia Cole, b.22 Jul 1664 Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, died there on 8 July 1686.
• Find A Grave lists Matthew Cole as a son of John and Ann Cole. True to form for too many F.A.G. profiles, there's no image of a legible headstone (or illegible) or any source citation(s).
• A birth record in Harford for a Matthew to John Cole either doesn't exist, hasn't been found, or hasn't been digitized/published.
• Wikitree show Matthew as a son of John and Ann, but neither provides a convincing rationale.
• Search for Explanation of Marriage in Northampton, MA — Matthew married and died in Northampton, MA—a 45 mile trip on dirt-rock trails in horse and buggy times? Thus, it's worth questioning how a Matthew of Hartford met Susannah Cunliffe of Northampton.
• An image of an original handwritten record shows a 16 Jul 1663 marriage between a Matthew Cole and Susannah Cunliff—devoid of naming places of residence—at Ancestry.com, or New England Marriages Prior to 1700 at Ancestry.com.
• Finding a narrative history showing that Matthew—if he was indeed born of linked parentage in Hartford—was "from Hartford" when he supposedly met and married Susannah Cunliff is sorely needed to give credence to parentage. Did her family once live in or near Hartford and remove to Northampton? Hmm...

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References

1. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Matthew_Cole_%283%29 cites
   1. Matthew Cole, in Trumbull, James Russell. History of Northampton : Northampton Genealogies, 1640-1838. (Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States: n.p., bef 1899) 147. "Matthew Cole: a trader in a small way. Killed by lightning, April 20, 1665.
   2. Matthew Cole, in Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862) 1:428-429. "Matthew (Cole), Northampton 1663, m. Susanna, only ch. of Henry Cunliffe, was k. by lightning, 28 Apr. 1665."
   3. Deaths in 1665, in Corbin, Walter E. Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Northampton, Massachusetts, Corbin Collection Vol. 1: Records of Hampshire County, Massachusetts: Corbin Collection Volume 1. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003) 104. "Cole Matthew 'was killed by thunder' Apr. 28, 1665 h. Susanna (Cunlief). ('in his father Conliff's House')"
2. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cole-3030
   1. Source: S584 Author: Edward H. Cole Title: Descendants of John Cole Abbreviation: Descendants of John Cole Publication: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/o/l/Edward-Cole-AZ/ : v.
   2. MATTHEW COLE (Source: Remarkable Providences, Increase Mather, Boston, 1684, Ch. IV.), d. Abt. 1662, Northhampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts. Notes for MATTHEW COLE: And of Ann Cole he [Increase Mather] elsewhere adds (Providences, ch. IV.): "I am informed, that when Matthew Cole was killed with the lightning at North-Hampton, the daemons which disturbed his sister, Ann Cole (forty miles distant), in Hartford, spoke of it, intimating their concurrence in that terrible accident."
   3. Shepard, T. Watson. Register of The Deaths in Northampton, Massachusetts, From The First Settlement of The Town in 1653 to August 1824 (T. Watson Shepard, 1824) Page 5. https://archive.org/details/registerofdeaths1653nort/page/n11/mode/2up
3. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Susanna_Cunliffe_%282%29 cites
   1. Henry Cunliffe, in Trumbull, James Russell. History of Northampton : Northampton Genealogies, 1640-1838. (Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States: n.p., bef 1899) 156. "Susan, or, Susanna: Their only child in Northampton; who was betrothed to Eldad Pomeroy, brother of Medad; but he d. May 22, 1662, and she m. Matthew Cole, a small trader, July 16, 1663. He was killed by lightning, April 28, 1665; and she m. John Webb, Jr., Dec, 12, 1665. He was shiftless, and she lived a hard life."