Cole, Ashley W...

Ashley W. Cole (1841-1920) was born in Hampshire, England. He came with his parents to the United States in 1849, and attended public school in New York City. After serving in the Tenth New Jersey Volunteers he found work as a journalist, working for the New York Herald as city editor and foreign correspondent (South America and Cuba). He later worked on the city staff of the New York Times and served as their Albany correspondent. In 1887 he became city editor of The Press and then manager of the New York News Bureau. Cole became private executive secretary to New York State Governor Levi P. Morton in 1895 and in December of 1896 Morton appointed him State Railroad Commissioner, a position he held until 1902. In 1904 he went to London as representative of a manufacturing firm. Although he was not a career military officer, he was known as "Colonel Cole" for much of his life, including in his obituary in the New York Times .