1792–1858

Introduction

portrait

Born: Jan­u­a­ry 2, 1792, Stewk­ley, Buck­ing­ham­shire, Eng­land.

Died: May 1, 1858, New York Ci­ty.

Buried: Iv­an­dell Ce­me­te­ry, So­mers (now Her­i­tage Hills), New York.

Biography

Converted at age 13, Coles be­gan preach­ing at 22, and em­i­grat­ed to Am­er­i­ca in 1818.

He ed­it­ed the Chris­tian Ad­vo­cate and Jour­nal for 12 years, and the Sun­day School Ad­vo­cate for sev­er­al years. He was a mu­si­cian of some abil­i­ty, and a good sing­er.

Zion’s Her­ald said of him:

His fond­ness for the so­ci­e­ty of child­ren, and his fa­cul­ty of in­ter­est­ing and in­struct­ing them was ex­tra­or­din­a­ry.

Wherever he went, af­ter a short ac­quaint­ance, they clus­tered about him as a fa­ther, and, not by an­ec­dote, of which he had no great fund, but by orig­in­al con­cep­tions and by ques­tions and by quaint re­marks fit­ted to their ca­pa­ci­ty, he al­ways suc­ceed­ed in con­trol­ling their at­ten­tion.

Works

Sources

Music