James Cole (Y-DNA)

Status summary

Completed as of April 9, 2026:

• Recruiting additional direct male-line James Cole descendants for further SNP testing. Individuals who believe they are patrilineal descendants should Read me First

Still to do as of April 9, 2026

• NGS/WGS test multiple descendants of James Cole to firmly place family clade as well as test descendants to discover any subclades unique to descendants lines

IMPORTANT: Read me First

Biography

For more information see Cole, Ernest Byron The Descendants of James Cole of Plymouth 1633... The Grafton Press, New York 1908

First Generation

James Cole was born England, circa 1600, date, place and parentage currently unknown. He died Plymouth aft 1678 (and poss. aft 1688). James married Barnstaple, Devonshire 1 May 1625 Mary Tibbes and they had four children: James (1626/7), Hugh (1628), John (c1630) and Mary (c1632).

Second Generation

James Cole (II) was bp Barnstaple, Devonshire 11 Feb 1626/7 and died Plymouth aft 28 Jan 1702/3. He married Plymouth 23 Dec 1642 Mary Tilson and they had seven children (Plymouth): Mary (1653), Elizabeth (1657), John (1660), Ephraim (c1662), Martha (c1672), Hannah (c1675) and Joanna (c1679).

Hugh Cole was bp Barnstaple, Devonshire 29 Jun 1628 and died Swansea 22 Jan 1699/1700. He married three times, first Scituate 8 Jan 1654/5 Mary Foxwell, then Swansea 1 Jan 1688/9 Elizabeth LETTICE (widow of William Shirtiffe & Jacob Cook) and finally Swansea 30 Jan 1694 Mary SHELLEY (widow of William Harlow & Dea. Ephraim Morton). He only had children by his first wife: James (1655), Hugh (1658/9), John (1660), Martha (1662), Anna (1664), Ruth (1666/7), Joseph (1668 no further rec.), Ebenezer (c1671), Mary (1676), Benjamin (c1678), Mercy (unm.) and Experience.

John Cole was born abt 1632 in Plymouth Colony and died Portsmouth, RI bef 15 Dec 1676. He married Plymouth 21 Nov 1667 Elizabeth Ryder and they had at least four children (Plymouth): John (c1668), ____ (dau c 1670), Elizabeth (c1675) and Nathaniel (c1676).

DNA results

Further needed testing

We need additional direct male-line descendants of James Cole to WGS/NGS test to discover American branches of the family.

References & External Links

• Anderson, Robert Charles, The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony 1620-1633 (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 2004), pp. 122-126.
• Cole, Ernest Byron The Descendants of James Cole of Plymouth 1633... The Grafton Press, New York 1908
• Zubrinsky, Eugene Cole FASG, Additions and Corrections to the Cole Ancestry ... e-book 2013

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