Timothy Cole born 1646, died before 1735, of Eastham, Massachusetts

Timothy “Tymothy” Cole was born 15 September 1646 at Eastham on Cape Cod, the son of Daniel and Ruth (Collier) Cole. [Eastham/Orleans VR in MD 5:23]  I wrote about Daniel Cole here. Due to a lack of early Eastham records, my information on Timothy is sparse so this is very much a work in progress. Timothy lived in the part of Eastham that in 1797 was spun off into the town of Orleans. He is my 10th great-grandfather on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.

Timothy was mentioned in the 15 January 1694/5 division of his father Daniel Cole’s estate. He received an inheritance of 9 pounds, and he signed by a mark. [Barnstable Co PR 3:9 38-39]

Timothy married, between about 1671-1676,  a woman whose name is not known with certainty. If he was about 25 at marriage, their year of marriage was about 1671; if he was 30 then around 1676.

I was told that research done by the Daniel Cole Society narrowed his wife’s identity down to Martha Brown, widow of Samuel Harding, or Ruth Smith, but I have not seen this information myself. [Descendants of Daniel Cole Society newsletter, March 1994] 

Timothy and his wife had at least these two sons, born Eastham:

1. Daniel born between ca 1678 (if age 30 at his marriage) or ca 1683 (if age 25); married Sarah Hubbard; died 19 Aug 1711 (death record calls him “son of Timothy,” MD 5:197)

2. Timothy born between ca 1679 (if 30 at his marriage) or ca 1684 (if age 25); married Apphia Pepper, Elizabeth Sparrow, and Martha Almony; he was named guardian of his brother Daniel’s children, indicating he was indeed a son of Timothy

I descend from his son Timothy with his first wife Apphia. I wrote about them here. It could well be that Timothy Senior had more children. 

Timothy was a large Eastham landowner. In 1672 he purchased from Daniel Steward about three acres of meadow at Little Billingsgate. If this is the same as Billingsgate Island, it was located 2.5 miles from the Wellfleet shore. It was once a bustling fishing community but sadly it was destroyed by erosion. In the late 1800s concerned families started to leave the island. Homes and the school were dismantled, some floated to the mainland. In 1915 the lighthouse was destroyed in a storm. The island was completely submerged during a high tide in 1942 and is now called Billingsgate Shoal. 

Billingsgate Light destroyed in 1915

In 1680 Thomas Clarke of Plymouth purchased from Robert Wixam about twenty acres at the eastern side of Pochet (pronounced “poachy”) near the beach; Timothy Cole then purchased the twenty acres from Thomas Clarke.

Pochet Island Source: Patriot Ledger

On 23 August 1681 the town of Eastham granted Timothy Cole one acre of land at Stage Neck, Pochet, adjacent to where his house stood. Pochet Island is in Pleasant Bay, Orleans. It is connected to the mainland by bridge and is described today as stunningly gorgeous and a great bird-watching destination. 

The town discovered in 1688 that Timothy Cole had fenced in a considerable amount of Commons land adjoining his twenty acres at Pochet, and the bounds were adjusted to correct his incursion,

In 1703 the town granted to Timothy Cole, Ebenezer Snow and Nathaniel Atkins a parcel of meadow or hay ground between where Cole lived at Stage Neck and Nauset Middle Flat.

In 1711 land was granted to Timothy Cole, Daniel Cole, William Brown, Isaac Doane, and Richard Knowles:  the tenth lot out of twenty-four lots laid out at Great Island at Billingsgate. The dimensions given in the record were not complete but probably the lot was about seven acres like most of the other lots at Great Island. Also granted to Timothy Cole and his heirs about four acres on the northern side of Griffith’s Island at Billingsgate.  Timothy Cole and his heirs were also granted about ten acres on the easterly side of his other lot at Griffith’s Island at Billingsgate. Note that Giffith's Island is probably Griffin's Island off Wellfleet, the current location of multi-million dollar homes. 

In 1715 Timothy Cole and his heirs were granted about five acres on the westerly and southerly side of his plain lot,  probably referring to his land at Stage Neck at Pochet. Also granted to Timothy Cole lately deceased, several parcels of land. One parcel was about four acres next to his other land and next to land of his father Daniel, deceased, and next to land of John Knowles. This probably refers to his land at Pochet. Another parcel, size not indicated by probably another acre or more next to his meadow at Rock Harbor. Another parcel was between the meadows of Timothy Cole and William Twining. This probably was another acre or more in the Rock Harbor area. Also granted to Timothy Cole and his heirs a wood lot near Pamet Point and next to land of Ebenezer Freeman; size of surrounding lots indicates this lot was about 25 acres. Timothy Cole purchased from the town for two shillings land (probably at least one acre) on the southerly side of his Rock harbor meadow next to land of John Cole and William Twining. This purchase was for Cole and his heirs and probably was recorded after his death. 

Since so much of Timothy’s land was on islands and necks of land, I’ve wondered if he was a mariner. Billingsgate was suitable for maritime and pastoral activities as it had rich soil. Pochet had soil of variable productivity from rich to sandy to barren. Areas of better soil were suitable for crops, including corn. In the early 1700s, Billingsgate was the location for harvesting blackfish, a small whale, sought after for oil.

In 1675 Timothy Cole served in King Philip’s War as a member of the militia under Capt. John Gorham. His service included the Narragansett Expedition.  After the war he was granted land at Narragansett township.  In 1727 the Massachusetts Legislature granted a lot of about 30 acres in what is now Gorham, Maine to Timothy (technically to his heirs since he was deceased) for his service as a soldier in King Philip’s War. [York County Deeds Book 31] His son Timothy inherited the Maine land which he sold to his son-in-law Joseph Brown.

In the 1717 Poche Neck division of land between John Cole Sr and Joseph Cole of Eastham, the land of “Timoty” Cole is mentioned. [MD 15:96-97]

Timothy’s death date is not known and he left no will. He was living 3 October 1711 when his son was referred to as Timothy Jr and probably after 1717 when in the above mentioned division of land at Pochet Neck he is not referred to as deceased. He definitely died before 20 November 1735 when the will of his brother Daniel mentions the unnamed heirs of deceased brother Timothy.

He is probably buried in an unmarked grave in Cove Burying Ground in Eastham or the Orleans Cemetery.

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

Mayflower Descendant, Vol 23, No. 2 (April 1921) [Daniel Cole’s estate settlement]

George Madison Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War, A Critical Accounting of That War with a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677, 1896

Susan E. Roser, Early Descendants of Daniel Cole of Eastham, Massachusetts, Friends of the Pilgrim Series Vol. 2, 2010

Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 

David Hamblin, NEHGS Register, “The First Settlers of Eastham, Mass.,” Jan 1852

Christopher Setterlund, CapeCod.com, “Billingsgate: The Lost Cape Cod Island,”  March 25, 2024

Francis McManamon editor, Chapters in the Archeology of Cape Cod, III, National Park Service, 1985

Land transactions are mostly from a summary of Timothy Cole’s Eastham Land Grant Transactions that is available on Internet Archive. It does not give an author’s name. It includes source citation codes but no way to decipher them on this particular pdf.