Samuel Cole, born by about 1597, arrived in Boston in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony with the
Winthrop Fleet in 1630, being accompanied by his wife Ann, and likely all four of his known children. Several online accounts say that Cole was from
Mersea in
Essex, but it was the first husband of his second wife who came from that place, and Anderson finds no evidence supporting this provenance for him. He and his wife joined the
Boston church as members #42 and #43, indicating that they joined in the autumn of 1630. He requested to be made a
freeman on 19 October 1630, and took the freeman's oath the following May. (now downtown Boston) in 1775 still looked much as it did during Cole's time there, but today much of the bay has been filled and developed. Boston magistrate
John Winthrop wrote in his journal on the date of 4 March 1634 that "Samuel Cole set up the first house for common entertainment," this being the first tavern or inn in the colony. While claims have been made that this was the first tavern in the American colonies, there is evidence that it was predated by about 20 years in
Jamestown, Virginia. The establishment is commonly called Cole's Inn, but was called the
Three Mariners by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his play,
John Endicott. Cole, besides being called an innkeeper, styled himself as a confectioner and "comfitmaker" in several deeds. In August 1636 he attended a meeting of the town's wealthier inhabitants, and donated 10 shillings towards the maintenance for a master of a free school. Also in 1636, the colony's governor,
Henry Vane brought the
Narragansett Indian sachem
Miantonomoh, with his retinue, to Boston, and they were served a meal there. Drake, wondering how the guests were seated since the natives were not accustomed to chairs, surmised that they all sat on the floor in a circle, with the pot of meat placed in the middle. As with most members of the Boston church, Cole became caught up in the events of the
Antinomian Controversy in 1636 and 1637, and signed a petition on behalf of the Reverend
John Wheelwright who was later banished from the colony. On 20 November 1637 Cole was disarmed for this participation, and rather than give up his weapons, he, two days later, was the first to sign an acknowledgment that "it was ill done, and unwarrantably, as transgressing therein the rule of due honor to authority, and of modesty, and submission in private persons, and therefore I desire my name may be put out of it." On the last day of February 1638, Cole sold the southern part of a new mansion house in Boston where he "lately dwelled" to Captain Robert Sedgwicke of Charlestown for £200. The other half of the house was "assured to" Thomas Mariott and others. This same year the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company was founded, and he was one of its charter members. On 20 May 1645 Cole sold his inn to George Halsell, and on the same day bought another property of Valentine Hill where he opened a new inn. The location of this new establishment relative to later landmarks was on the west side of
Merchants Row, about midway between State Street and
Faneuil Hall. Frank Cole called it "a famous old inn [that] entertained many of the illustrious guests of the time," and also noted that Samuel Cole "had the usual experience of the publican under the rule of the Puritan" and was fined several times for overcharging his customers and had his license taken away for a time. In addition to being the proprietor of an inn, Cole was briefly active in the affairs of the town, and from 1653 to 1657 he served as a Boston
selectman, as well as being a sealer of weights and measures in 1654. While during the early days of the colony Cole was considered well off, and contributed to various causes, by 1661 he was suffering financial losses. In June of that year the General Court made a grant to him, stating that "considering that Mr. Cole was an ancient adventurer in the public stock and hath been long out of his money, been at great charges and loss in this business, hath approved himself respective and serviceable to the Court, the Court judgeth it meet to grant Mr. Samuel Cole three hundred acres..." Cole wrote his will on 21 December 1666, and died shortly thereafter, with the will proven the following February. == In literature ==