Walter W. McCole, a well-known merchant tailor of Greenfield, this county, is a native Hoosier. He was born in Noblesville, this state, June 2, 1869, son of Major Cyrus J. and Elizabeth (Metsker) McCole, both natives of Indiana, the former of whom died at Noblesville in 1912, he then being seventy-eight years of age, and the latter of whom is still living in that city.

Major Cyrus J. McCole gained his title by promotion during his service as a soldier of the Union army in the Civil War. He was reared to a mercantile life at Noblesville and when the Civil War broke out enlisted for service in the Seventy-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, presently being promoted to the captaincy of his company. He continued to rise and was mustered out at the close of the war with the rank of major of the One Hundred and Twelfth Indiana. Major McCole was a well-known merchant at Noblesville and continued in business there many years. He was a Republican and was a past noble grand of the Noblesville lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. To them four children were born, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest.

Walter W. McCole was reared at Noblesville, the city of his birth, and received his schooling in the public schools of that city. He went from there to Cleveland, Ohio, where he learned the tailor's trade and in 1889 returned to Indiana and opened a tailoring establishment in Greenfield, where he ever since has been quite successfully engaged in business. Mr. McCole not only has an extensive trade in and about Greenfield, but carries on a large mail-order business, his custom coming from all parts of Indiana. He is an enterprising and progressive business man and keeps in close touch the general tailoring situation as a member of the International Tailors' Society.

In June 1885, Walter W. McCole was united in marriage to Hattie Beecher, who was born at Greenfield, daughter of Fred and California (Offutt) Beecher, and to this union two children have been born, Elizabeth and Frederick. Mr. McCole is "independent" in his political views. He is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the affairs of which organizations he takes a warm interest.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Pages 882-883.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI September 20, 2001.

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