Cole Family Tombstones

Giles and Lawrence County, TN

My grandmother was Mattie Pearl Cole born in 1892 in Puncheon, Giles County, TN.  Her family arrived in Giles County from North Carolina sometime in the early 1800s.  Due to missing will and estate records, the Cole family has been impossible to piece together going back just two generations beyond my grandmother.  We know all the Coles of the Puncheon area of Giles County are related, we just don't know exactly how.  Below are a variety of Cole and other related surname tombstones located in Giles County.

Noblit Cemetery

Noblit Cemetery is located in the Puncheon area of Giles County, west-southwest of Minor Hill.   Several Coles as well as numerous members of other Puncheon families are buried in what was originally the Noblit family cemetery.

The Noblit Cemetery bell.	Another shot of the bell.	View of the cemetery.
Tombstone of Lewis Houston and Lizzie Balch Cole, my great grandparents.	Tombstone of Mary Gant Balch Hendrix, my great great grandmother (mother of Lizzie Balch Cole).	Tombstone of Thomas Wilson Cole, son of Lewis and Lizzie Cole, my great uncle.
Tombstones of William Thomas and Margaret Mankins Cole, the grandparents of Estha Cole.

Mt. Carmel Cemetery

Mt. Carmel Cemetery is located in southwestern Giles County east of Minor Hill.   Numerous tombstones in the cemetery have fallen apart and become illegible.  It is believed by Cole descendants that there are several Coles buried here in what are now unmarked graves.  William F. Cole and his wife are buried off in a corner of the cemetery seemingly all by themselves.   If you take a close look at the area around their tombstone, however,  you'll notice sunken areas of ground, the tell-tale signs of unmarked graves.   We believe that these are likely the graves of several Coles whose graves we've never been able to locate even though we know they died in Giles County.  Most notable of these Coles were Thomas and Hannah Cole who are likely the parents of William F. Cole, Mattie Cole who was the young mother of Lewis Houston Cole, and Robert A. Cole, Mattie's brother.   William Anderson Jones, the father of Lewis Houston Cole is also buried in this cemetery. 

The Mt. Carmel Cemetery sign and cemetery in the background.	Tombstone of William F. and Michel Griffin Cole.

Tombstones in other Cemeteries

The following Cole family tombstones are located in other cemeteries primarily in Giles and Lawrence County, TN. 

Tombstone of my great aunt Anna Cole Daniel in Maplewood Cemetery, Giles County. Anna was the daughter of Lewis and Lizzie Cole.	Tombstone of my great aunt Beuhla Cole in Maplewood Cemetery, Giles County. Anna was the daughter of Lewis and Lizzie Cole.	Beuhla and Anna are buried side-by-side. Anna's two husbands are buried in Prospect Cemetery.	The Davis family plots in Mimosa Cemetery, Lawrenceburg, Lawrence County.	Tombstone of Ray Davis, husband of Rosa Cole.
Tombstone of my great aunt Rosa Cole Davis, daughter of Lewis and Lizzie Cole.	Tombstone of Thomas Davis, son of Ray and Rosa Cole Davis. Thomas was killed during WWII after having initially survived the invasion of Normandy.	The tombstone of my great uncle and aunt, Wilburn and Myrtle Thompson Cole, located in Minor Hill Cemetery. These are W.C.'s parents.	Tombstone of my grandparents Russell and Pearl Cole Gilbert located in Hillside Memorial Park, Akron, OH.