COLE, NATHANIEL (1888-1977)

COLE, NATHANIEL, United Church minister, Red Bank and Whitneyville, 1932-36; b. Victoria, Nfld, 22 Nov 1888, s/o Ambrose J. P. Cole and Selina Shepherd; m. 1920, Gertrude Mary Pike, of Carbonear, Nfld; d. London, Ont., 7 Sep 1977.

The son of a Newfoundland shipmaster, Nathaniel Cole was educated at the grammar school at Carbonear and Victoria College, Toronto. In World War I he saw service in France and Belgium with the 9th Field Ambulance Corps. Ordained in 1919, he was a Methodist and United Church minister at New Aberdeen and elsewhere in Nova Scotia until 1932, when he accepted a call to Red Bank.

Cole had pastoral responsibility for St Stephen's Church at Red Bank, St Philip's at Whitneyville, Wesley United at Trout Brook, and a small congregation which had no church at Exmoor. Impressed by the relative antiquity of the Miramichi settlements, he inquired into the origins of the churches and organized anniversary celebrations. Unfortunately, few historical records were available, and the founding dates of 1835 and 1838 which he used for the Trout Brook and Red Bank churches respectively were considerably earlier than the dates on which congregations were organized, churches erected, or ministers engaged.

Cole returned to Nova Scotia in 1936. In 1943 he went to Ontario, where he completed his ministry and spent his retirement years. He was survived in 1977 by his wife, Gertrude M. Pike, and a daughter. Two sons died young and another in action in World War II.