Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

I am sending herewith the report requested by you on the Taliaferro-Cole house and shop (block 13, colonial lot 352). We were fortunate in being able to incorporate in the report information gleaned from the Tucker-Coleman papers recently acquired by the department.

Taliaferro-Cole House and Shop
Block 13, Colonial Lot 352
May 19, 1939

This two story frame dwelling and story and a half frame shop (located on colonial lot 352, on the southwest corner of the Duke of Gloucester and Nassau Streets) are situated in James City County, and, since the bulk of the records of that county were destroyed during the Civil War, the historical materials available are fragmentary.

The earliest definite reference we have to this property is ascertained from the Frenchman's map, which indicates the presence of four structures which appear to be designed to represent the present dwelling and shop and two other buildings. These buildings are represented as follows:

The town plan map of the City of Williamsburg drawn by Benjamin Bucktrout in August, 1800, reveals that this property was owned in that year by some member of the Taliaferro family. A second early town plan map of the city, drawn by an unknown draftsman and described by the late Lyon G. Tyler (evidently from some internal evidence) an having been drawn about 1790, also indicates the ownership of this property by a member of the Taliaferro family.

-2-

When historical materials were gathered for the House Naming Committee in 1934, the following information was prepared for the Committee by the Research Department regarding this house and shop:

Now called "Mr. Cole's House". Duke of Gloucester St. Not owned. Suggested name: "TALIAFERRO-COLE HOUSE". Built by Charles Taliaferro, well known coach-maker, about 1750 and by him sold to Jesse Cole in 1804; and ever since that time in the possession of the Cole family. Taliaferro is a well known Virginia Tidewater name, and this is our only chance to use it. One of the cases where a double name seems justified.

Now variously called "Mr. Cole's Office", "Mr. Cole's News Shop", and "The Pulaski Club". Duke of Gloucester St. Not owned. Suggested name: "TALIAFERRO-COLE SHOP". Same as above.

Though certain indirect evidence of an earlier date would make it seem probable that this house and shop were owned by Charles Taliaferro during that period, there is no evidence in any of the materials accumulated by the department to show definitely that this property was ever owned by this individual. The earliest evidence of Charles Taliaferro being a resident of Williamsburg is found in an advertisement in the Virginia Gazette of March 24, 1768, in which Taliaferro acquaints the pubic that his business of chairmaking will be carried on as usual during his forthcoming absence from the colony. The advertisement is as follows:

WILLIAMSBURG, March 24, 1768
AS I intend to leave the colony, for a few months, some time this summer, I think it necessary to acquaint the publick that my business of CHAIRMAKING, in all its branches, will be carried on at my shop as usual; where those Gentlemen who please to favour me with their -3- custom may depend on having their work done on the most reasonable terms, expeditiously, and warranted to be good.--I request the favour of all persons indebted to me to pay off their accounts in April General Court, and those who have bespoke Riding Chairs of me to apply for them by that time.--I have for sale all sorts of materials for Chair and Harness making, for cash only.--I expect, in a short time, to be able to furnish Gentlemen with four-wheel carriages of my own make, of any sort, and hope to meet with encouragement.--I generally have Riding Chairs by me, which I will sell very cheap, for ready money, or bills of exchange.
CHARLES TALIAFERRO.

It is known that at various times, from as early as 1769 to as late a period as 1801, Charles Taliaferro owned numerous lots in the City of Williamsburg. In 1769 he offered for sale through the columns of the Virginia Gazette six lots owned by himself, on which were situated a new dwelling house and a fine spring. The advertisement inserted by Taliaferro described the property as follows:

Virginia Gazette
Purdie & Dixon, Editors

DECEMBER 7, 1769

To be SOLD by the subscriber, on five years credit,
SIX LOTS in the city of Williamsburg, whereon is a new dwelling-house, with four rooms and two closets, and a good brick cellar, also as fine a spring as any in the county not far from the house, the purchaser giving bond, with good security, to
CHARLES TALIAFERRO.

Who will sell, for cash only, a variety of materials proper for coach and chair makers, with genteel furniture for harness; also oil, paint, and gold leaf, fit for lining or drawing, and smiths files of all sorts. By next spring he expects to have finished a few light POST CHARIOTS, which he will sell cheaper than any can be imported from Britain.

-4-

Both of the town plan maps referred to above show six adjoining lots owned by some member of the Taliaferro family, and on this property ,there is indicated on Bucktrout's map a spring. These six lots are colonial lots Nos. 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and 77.

In 1773 further mention is made in the Gazette of lots owned by Charles Taliaferro. In a notice given of a public auction of the property of "the late Mrs. Catherine Blaikley," lots owned by Taliaferro were mentioned as follows:

Virginia Gazette
Purdie & Dixon, Editors

January 7, 1773

To be SOLD by publick Auction, on the Premises, on Wednesday the 27th of January, pursuant to a Decree of the County Court of James City,
THE HOUSES and LOT, on the main Street in the City of Williamsburg, where the late Mrs. Catherine Blaikley, deceased, lived, adjoining the Lots of Mr. Charles Taliaferro, and opposite those of John Blair Esquire. Six Months Credit will be allowed the Purchaser on giving Bond, with good Security, to
THOMPSON SWANN

In the issue of the Virginia Gazette of October 31, 1771, mention was made of the destruction by fire of an outbuilding on one of Taliaferro's lots, on which was evidently also situated his shop. This notice was as follows:

About eight o'Clock last Monday Night Mr. Charles Taliaferro of this City, Coach and Chairmaker, had the Misfortune to have an out Building of his consumed by Fire; owing, as is supposed, to a Spark from his Forge getting into the Fodder Lofts which, with the Stable, in which was a valuable Horse, were under one Roof, and all consumed together. A new Chariot, and a considerable Quantity of Timber, likewise underwent the same Fate.

-5-

In 1785 the Land Tax Book for Williamsburg shows that Charles Taliaferro owned fourteen lots. Two years later, in 1787, Taliaferro is shown as owning fifty acres in James City County, and that year he acquired in that county 117½ acres from James Shields. In 1791 Taliaferro is again listed as owning fourteen lots in Williamsburg. Again in 1797 and 1801 he is shown as owning the same number of lots. In 1822 Charles Taliaferro's estate was listed as comprising three acres in that county.

There is evidence to show that Charles Taliaferro practised his trade as late as 1790, at which time he mended a chair for Humphrey Harwood in partial payment of an obligation due Harwood. Harwood's Ledger records this transaction as follows:

Humphrey Harwood Ledger C
Page 21

	Mr Charles Taliaferro		Dr
1790	st
Novr	21	To 3 ½ days work of Nat at 2/6 pr day by agrt	£ --8 9
	28	To 5 do of -- of do at 2/6	--12 6
			£ 1-1- 3
	Per Contra		Cr
1790	th	By a quarter &c of mutton 3/9 -
Novr	29	& mending my Chair & sale of fish to balance 17/6	£ 1 1 3
			£1-1-3

-6-

There is no evidence to indicate at what date the Taliaferro-Cole lot (colonial lot No. 352) passed from the possession of the individual named Taliaferro who is known to have owned it as late as the year 1800, but we do know that by the year 1815 this property was owned by Jesse Cole. On July 15, 1815, Jesse Cole insured the property with the Mutual Assurance Society, policy No. 1516, which describes it as follows:

I the underwritten, Jesse Cole, residing at Williamsburg in the county of James City do hereby declare for assurance in the Mutual Assurance Society against fire on buildings or the state of Virginia, my buildings on the main street in Williamsburg now occupied by myself situated between Francis Timberlakes lot on the East and streets on the South, West and North in the county of James city …

Valuation of the property:

The Dwelling A	at $1100	-- Say Eleven Hundred Dollars.
The Store B	at 400	-- four Hundred do.
The Kitchen C	at 150	-- one hundred and fifty do.
The Shop D	at 400	-- four Hundred do.
	$2050

A tracing of the building indicated on the insurance policy is given below: -7- [There is a notation in pencil at the bottom of the photostat of this policy that this property was revalued by Jesse Cole, policy No. 5018, as having a frame dwelling and store, two stories, 31x27.]

Jesse Cole appears to have engaged in various forms of business at different times. As early as 1789 he is found advertising for sale chairs and other vehicles, harness, etc., etc. In the Virginia Independent Chronicle and General Advertiser of August 19, 1799, Cole inserted the following notice: -8-

August 19, 1789.

FOR SALE,
FOR CASH, part INTEREST WARRANTS, or CERTIFICATES,

A NEAT LIGHT Post chariot, with one pair of harness for £ 70. A light new fashioned PHAETON, with a crane neck. Several light single CHAIRS, which are hung on Braces, with harness and a box to them for £15- which will be, warranted sound. A new well built, fast sailing BOAT, well fitted with sails, anchors and cables, has a good cabin, and will carry about 200 bushels. Also several FERRY BOATS, which draws a very small draught of water.

I have also for sale, a tract of very level LAND, containing about 117 acres, lying near Williamsburg, which I will sell on long credit. For terms apply to JESSE COLE.

In that year and again in 1793 the Ledger of Humphrey Harwood (Ledger C, page 28, and Ledger D, page 3) shows Cole indebted to Harwood for carpentry work and brick work.

By 1818 he was acting as post mater at Williamsburg, and by 1827 Cole was serving both as an apothecary and as post master in the shop on his premises. Cole was a Mason, and in 1811 he was appointed Master of the Williamsburg Lodge No. 6. His son, Robert F. Cole was a student at the College of William and Mary during the sessions from 1834 to 1836. When Cole died in 1845, the property passed to his son, Robert F. Cole, from whom it descended to his son, the late Mr. H. D. Cole.

Evidently the appearance of the residence and shop were little altered for many years, with the exception of the false front which was placed on the shop. An elderly citizen of Williamsburg, Mr. -9- John S. Charles, writing his Recollections of Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1930, made the following statement with regards to this property:

…
The Cole residence presents very much the same appearance that it did years before the War. The fence enclosing the flower garden on the street was very much higher.

At the east end of the house there was a porch without a roof. The addition to the south is of recent construction. Inside of the back yard there was, in 1861, a row of outhouses on the Nassau Street side, -- kitchen, wood-house, stable and carriage-house. On the eastern side were two small buildings, afterwards removed. The very old house used as a "News Shop"and headquarters of the "Pulaski Club" is just as it was when the armies passed by in 1861-62, except the front of the news office was the same shape as the end of the house instead of the square top front as now. In the shed room of the house the "Virginia Gazette" was once published, and the post office was once in H. D. Cole's news office and also once in the shed room. On the white painted facing of the front cellar door, on the street, may now be seen the sign "London Porter", in script letters, six inches high, perfectly legible, placed there by the merchant doing business there certainly over three quarters of a century ago….

Another aged citizen of Williamsburg, Mrs. Victoria Lee, describing Williamsburg as it existed in 1861, stated:

…Both the Cole paper shop and the Cole residence are unchanged; and both of these buildings were owned then, as they are now, by the Coles.

TALIAFERRO - COLE HOUSE - NO. 18

Charles Taliaferro, maker of coaches and riding chairs, was in possession of lot 352 in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The best proof found on which to base a statement that Charles Taliaferro's house and shop were located on lot 352 is in an advertisement by John Moody [See additional facts, p. 1] in 1776 and in the insurance policy of Jesse Cole in 1815. [See Report I, p. 6] Durfey tailor in 1773 advertised his business in the house "lately occupied by Mrs. Catherine Blaikeley nearly opposite to John Blair, Esquire's, and next Door to Mr. Charles Taliaferro's."[Virginia Gazette, Purdie and Dixon, April 8, 1773] The location of Taliaferro is particularly difficult because he is shown as the possessor of one lot on the Duke of Gloucester Street in Blocks 13 and possibly another in Block 14 would be more nearly opposite to John Blair's house than the lot in question. The possible ownership of property by Taliaferro in both blocks and the unsatisfactory description of his location by others complicates the problem.

After Taliaferro's death, the property was purchased in 1804 by Jesse Cole. [Williamsburg Land Transfers] Jesse Cole was clearly located in the Taliaferro lot on the corner of Nassau and Duke of Gloucester Streets in the James City County Tax Records of 1818, when Francis B. Bryan's house and lot situated on the Duke of Gloucester Street was bounded "on the east by a cross street which divides his lot from Jesse Cole's lot and on the south by the Baptist Meeting house." On both the unknown draftsman's map and the Bucktrout map Bryan is shown on the south side of Duke of Gloucester Street, with Nassau separating his lot from that of Taliaferro's. Jesse Cole combined the practice of medicine and the apothecary's business with that of keeping the post office and boarding college students in his home in the late 1820's.

Additional Facts about Charles Taliaferro and Jesse Cole
TALIAFERRO - COLE HOUSE - NO. 18

In 1782 Charles Taliaferro is listed as one of the heads of families in Williamsburg. In the Williamsburg List of Taxable Articles for 1783 Charles Taliaferro's household is given as: Free Males, 1; Tithable Slaves, 11; Slaves under 16, 2; Horses, 5; Cattle, 4; Wheels, 0. [William and Mary Quarterly, (1), Vol. 23, p. 140]

In the year 1797 Charles Taliaferro owned not only the 14 lots with which he is shown from 1785 to 1801, but was credited also with one lot for which there is no record in 1801. [James City County Tax Records]

Charles Taliaferro's house and possibly his shop on Duke of Gloucester Street was an important landmark by which other businesses located themselves in the public eye, as is indicated by way of advertisements below:

SEVERINUS DURFEY, TAILOR, WILLIAMSBURG,
Begs Leave to inform his Friends and Customers, and the Publick in general, that he has removed to the House lately occupied by Mrs. Catherine Blaikeley, nearly opposite to John Blair, Esquire's, and next Door to Mr. Charles Taliaferro's, where he hopes for a Continuance of their Favours, as they may depend on their Work being done in the best Manner.

He has both WEST INDIA and DRY GOODS of most Sorts to sell on reasonable Terms, for ready Money.

N. B. He will be much obliged to all who are indebted to him more than twelve Months, by Bond, Note, or open Account, to pay off their Balances, as he cannot possibly give any longer Indulgence.

[Virginia Gazette, Purdie & Dixon, editors, April 8, 1773.]

JOHN MOODY, smith and farrier, from Philadelphia, but late from Norfolk, begs leave to inform the publick, that he has opened shop in this city, opposite to Mr. Charles Taliaferro's, near the Church, where he professes to shoe horses in all the different Methods practised in Europe and American, and cures them of most prevailing disorders. He also under- -2- takes smiths work in general, for all kinds of carriages, house work, farmers work, edge tools, &c. and shall be much obliged to all those who favour him with their custom.
[Virginia Gazette, Alex. Purdie, editor, June 28, 1776.]

One of the disputed points on the Frenchman's Map of 1786 (?) is a drawing that looks very much like a windmill. This drawing locates a windmill across the ravine back of Taliaferro's lots, as they appear on the map of the unknown draftsman and that of Bucktrout. Taliaferro also owned land in James City County. [See report on the Taliaferro-Cole House, p. 5.] A mention of a windmill belonging to a Major Taliaferro appeared in the advertised sale below:

I HAVE for sale ten LOTS or half acres of LAND, in the City of Williamsburg, near Dr. James Carter's, being the lots whereon the late Col. Hollaway lived. There is a dwelling house thereon in good repair, with a kitchen under it, and two large brick vaults. I would also sell the brick WINDMILL I lately purchased to Major Taliaferro, which very late experiences has proved may be made, with little alteration, exceedingly convenient and profitable. Any person inclinable to become a purchaser of the above may know the terms by applying to Mr. Tazewell in Williamsburg, or the subscriber in Middlesex county.
HUGH WALKER [Virginia Gazette, William Rind, editor, May 30, 1771.]

Charles Taliaferro began a warehouse, flat and boat business, as the following notices in the Virginia Gazette show:

A CONVENIENT HOUSE is just built at the College Landing, on the Creek that runs into James River, for storing any Kind of Goods; where are to be sold (on low Terms, for Cash) Salt, Tar, barrelled Pork, Hogs Lard, Bacon, good barrelled Shads and Herrings, Coal for smiths and Grates, Pine Plank, Cypress Boards, Pails, Shingles, &c. Flats to be hired at the same Place. Mr. James Jordan lives at the said Landing, will take in Lodgers, and keeps Carts to hire.
CHARLES TALIAFERRO.

N. B. My Business is carried on as usual, by good Hands. I make for Sale light POST CHARIOTS, which will be sold as cheap as can be imported. The last of my Make, I am informed, turn out very well.--I have good Harness for Sale.

-3-

The subscriber is in want of a quantity of good BARLEY for his brewhouse at the College Landing, for which he will give a good price, or exchange for strong beer.
CHARLES TALIAFERRO. [Virginia Gazette, Dixon and Nicholson, editors, December 4, 1779]

I HAVE for sale, for country produce, a light new CHARIOT; and would be glad to purchase a small tract of LAND, between 10 and 20 miles from this city, either on Chickahomany, or the north side of James river for which I will give tobacco or cash.
CHARLES TALIAFERRO. [Virginia Gazette, Dixon and Nicholson, editors, April 1, 1780.]

I HAVE a well made strong CHARIOT with a pair of harness; for sale, for cash. The chariot is not quite finished, but will be in about ten days, and will be sold much cheaper than it could be imported.

I do forewarn any person from freight on board of my vessels, without my orders, if commanded only by negroes.
CHARLES TALIAFERRO.

[Virginia Gazette, James Hayes, editor, February 7, 1784]

The Williamsburg Land Transfer for 1804 (Virginia State Library) shows that George Mason got 6 lots from Taliaferro and Jesse Cole got 7 lots from Charles Taliaferro. Cole's transfers are listed separately as 1 lot "via Taliaferro"; 6 lots "via Taliaferr." The 1 lot was undoubtedly the lot on the South side of the Duke of Gloucester Street; the 6 lots may have been the lots that Taliaferro had advertised in 1769. In the James City County Tax Records for 1806, Jesse Cole is shown as owning 7 lots in Williamsburg.

Jesse Cole in a List of Taxable Articles was shown as a free male with 1 horse in 1783. [William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 23, (1), p. 134.] He was a witness to Wythe's will. [William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 12 (1) p. 126.] He was a member of the Masonic lodge as early as 1780. [William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 1 (1), p. 20.] When the Williamsburg Masonic Lodge, which had been "lying dormant" for some time after the removal of the capitol to Richmond, was reorganized on December 10, 1811, Cole was -4- appointed master. [Ibid., p. 31.] On December 27, 1816, he was one of the managers of the Masonic Ball given at the Capitol on the Festival of St. John. [William and Mary Quarterly , Vol. 25, (1), p. 156.] Sometime after 1821 Charles City County Charity School brought a suit against "Jesse Cole & others," presumably for a gift of money for which Cole had been made one of the trustees. [William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 14, (1), p. 34.]

Cole was postmaster in Williamsburg sometime around 1827-28 [The Phoenix Plough-Boy, Bruff & Repiton, Editors, October 1, 1828] but, just when he began is not clear from the records. From the description that is given below he combined medical practice with keeping an apothecary shop, the post office, and a boarding-house for college students as a means of livelihood. [William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 1 (1), p. 20; footnote 22.]

…I have reached the post office which stands in the center of Main Street. It is one of the curiosities of this place. I whish I could describe it to you, but such thing is entirely out of my power, and I defy Walter Scott himself to do it, notwithstanding his astonishing imagination, but as to enable you to form an incorrect idea of this superb establishment I will tell you that there is not article whatever in the world which could not be found in it. It is a Book Seller's store in which yould will find hams and french brandy; it is an apothecary's shop in which you can provide yourself with black silk stockings and shell oysters; it is a post office win which you may have glisters, chewing tobacco & in a word it is a museum of natural history in which we meet every afternoon to dispute about the Presidential election, and about the quality of the irish potatoes.

…Now I must speak in honest. The few persons I know here have paid me every kind of attention in their power and Doct. Cole's family in which I board is a very agreeable and interesting one…

[Letter of C. De La Pena to John Adams Smith, November 3, 1827, in Tyler's Quarterly Magazine , Vol. 3, p. 164-165]

Cole died in Williamsburg in 1845. [William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. (1), p. 20 See James City County Tax Records for 1847, p. 117.]

PULASKI CLUB - NO. 8
^{Bl. 13 - Lot 352}

• 1.Uses of the Taliaferro-Cole Shop.

  Mrs. H. D. Cole said that she had always heard that her grandfather, Dr. Jesse Cole kept a store and post office in the shop now being restored (Telephone conversation, April 2, 1940).

  She had heard only in recent years that Charles Taliaferro built and owned the house and shop. This, of course, proves nothing.

  Mr. Charles said of the shop: "The very old house used a 'News Shop' and headquarters of the 'Pulaski Club' is just as it was when the armies passed by in 1861-62, except the front of the news office was the same shape as the end of the house instead of the square top front as now. In the shed room of the house [dwelling?] the 'Virginia Gazette' was once published, and the post office was once in H. D. Cole's news office and once in the shed room. On the white painted facing of the front cellar door, on the street, may now be seen the sign 'London Porter' in script letters, six inches high, perfectly legible, placed there by a merchant doing business there certainly over three-quarters of a century ago."(Recollections, pp. 29-30.)

• 2.See House Report #7 for the quotation from Charles de la Pena.
• 3.Suggested change:

  No proof could be found for the statement "The building was owned and probably built by Charles Taliaferro, who erected the House to the West of it (No. 7) about 1750."

94

The Pulaski Club

Lost in the shadows of local tradition is the origin of one of Williamsburg's most distinctive institutions, the Pulaski Club. Any member will tell you that it was founded soon after the visit of the famous Polish general for whom it was named - and there lives no man who can say to the contrary.

There lives no man either who can remember when there was not a Pulaski Club holding session on the benches before the Cole Shop in summer, and moving indoors in the winter. There the members gathered around the old iron stove, enjoying the comforts of warmth, good talk and tobacco. That tobacco was used in all of its forms was attested by the equipment of the back room and the smoke and juice stained environs in the original shop building. The rooms themselves, in Mr. Cole's day, were fabulously interesting, papered with yellowing news clippings of a half-century's events, sporting prints, ageing dodgers and programs of local theatricals or political meetings.

Membership in the Pulaski Club was not to be lightly won. Men who had the leisure and the inclination could call attention to their existence by sitting quietly on the bench or lingering in the outer office until they achieved the coveted status of "damned interlopers." After this step forward, months or years might intervene before they were officially considered "under the watch and ward." Only through endless patient sitting, a thorough knowledge of local affairs and a talent for conversation on widespread topics-and the thinning of the ranks of the oldsters-could a man progress to the 95 final apotheosis of the Pulaski Club, a seat near the stove.

The scene has been caught for posterity in a painting which now hangs in the restored and transformed Cole Shop, but few of those who sat for the portrait are left. The benches in front of the shop still bear a marker indicating that they are sacred to the use of the Pulaski Club, and no citizen of Williamsburg would dare invade those precincts. Tourists are not so wise, and members must now take turns in coming early to stake out the claim.

Only the initiated know the inner mysteries of the Pulaski Club, but occasionally a banquet is reported in the Virginia Gazette, and the town recalls that recently a member has died, suspects that the flower fund was oversubscribed and that the surplus is being spent in the traditional manner.

Whether the Pulaski Club is, as has been claimed, "the oldest social club in America" or not, it is old enough to have been an inimitable feature of Williamsburg life for many generations.

Source: The Williamsburg Garden Club, comp., Williamsburg Scrap Book. Richmond, The Dietz Press, Inc, 1950.