This company's roots begin with a foundry established by Isaac Cole in 1827. In 1836, his sons Isaac and Benjamin and son-in-law John Aldrich joined the firm, which became Cole & Co. In 1846 an as-yet unidentified Mr. Davis joined the firm and it became Cole, Davis & Co. In 1857, Benjamin took sole ownership and operated the business under the name of B. J. Cole & Co. In 1873 an incorporated stock company was formed and the business became Cole Manufacturing Co.

Mr. Aldrich's son-in-law was Charles P. S. Wardwell, an important designer of tenoning machines and double-arbor tablesaws. Cole, Davis & Co. is known to have manufactured Wardwell's patent double tenoning machine.

Information Sources

• 1849—The 1849 New England Mercantile Union Business Directory lists Cole, Davis & Co. of Lake Village, N. H., as an iron founder.
• 1852—The Transactions of the N. H. State Agricultural Society for 1852 lists the results of that year's state agricultural fair, held at Meridith Bridge, October 6-8. Cole, Davis & Co. exhibited plows, a parlor stove, and a hall stove, winning $5 awards for each of their stoves. "B. J. Cole" of Lake Village was awarded Diplomas for second-place side-hill plow and cultivator, and we assume that these were the Cole, Davis & Co. plows.
• 1854—From ads in 1854 issues of Scientific American.
• 1871—The New-Hampshire Register and Farmers' Almanac for 1871 lists B. J. Cole & Co. of Lake Village, "machinery and mill castings".
• 1873—The New Hampshire Register and Farmers' Almanac for 1873 lists B. J. Cole as a justice and as the president of the Lake Village Savings Bank. B. J. Cole & Co. was listed as a maker of "machinery, mill castings and water wheels".
• 1890—The 1890 book The history of Salisbury, New Hampshire, by John J. Dearborn, has this paragraph:

  Benjamin J. [Cole] was b. at Franconia, Sept. 28, 1814. He obtained his education principally at the old Noyes academy, the first normal school in the state. In December, 1836, in connection with his brother Isaac and his brother in law John Aldrich, he purchased the foundry at Lake Village of his father, and continued the business under the firm name of Cole & Co. This firm continued operations until 1846, when it became Cole, Davis & Co. In 1857 Mr. Cole became sole proprietor, conducting it until 1873 under the name of B. J. Cole & Co. In 1873 the plant was taken by an incorporated stock company, with a capital of $72,000. At the present time their annual product amounts to one hundred thousand dollars, furnishing employment to seventy-five hands. For a more extended sketch the reader is referred to the History of Merrimack and Belknap Counties, page 774.

  The father's history is also given:

  Isaac [Cole], b. at Beverly, Mass., June 26, 1769. He was a carpenter by trade, and m. Hannah Atwood, a native of Atkinson. After marriage he rem. to Chester, thence to Landaff, and about 1813 went to Franconia, to assume the superintendence of the wood-work department of the New Hampshire Iron Manufacturing Co., and continued there eight years. In 1821 he rem. to Salisbury, settling in that part of the town now included in Franklin, and built a small foundry on the north side of Chance pond brook, opposite Taylor's foundry. This was the first iron foundry in this section as well as one of the first in the state. He carried on his foundry here for six years, and in 1827 rem. to Lake Village, where he again established a small foundry, which he operated for nine years. This subsequently formed part of the plant of the present extensive iron works at that place. He was an active man, of marked mechanical aptitude, and of great industry and perseverance. He was a member of the Free Baptist church. He d. July 8, 1854, aged 85.

• 1917—The 1917 book, Lakeport's Ancient Homes, by Major John Aldrich, has the following:

  (House No. 933 Union Ave.) Built by John A. Cole in 1836, opposite the wharves at the landing of the lake. Mr. Cole was born in Boxford, Mass., in 1801; married Miss Ryan of Plymouth and lived at Franklin two years, removing to Lake Village in 1827. In 1836 he became partner of the firm of Cole, Davis & Co. till 1857, when he sold his interest in that firm to his son-in-law John Aldrich, and retired from business. He died in 1866. He had four daughters by his first wife, and two sons. ... Marcia B., born in 1828, married Charles P. S. Wardwell about 1850; she married a second husband in June, 1880, and died in 1892. ...

• 1919—The Granite Monthly for October, 1919, had this obituary (emphasis added):

  MAJOR JOHN ALDRICH Major John Aldrich, the oldest resident of Lakeport, who died there July 29, was born in Franconia, June 1, 1824. He married Mary, daughter of John A. and Mary Ryan Cole, April 12, 1846, at Lakeport, then Lake Village. She died in 1907, aged 80. In 1857 Mr. Aldrich acquired the interest of his uncle, John A. Cole, in Cole, Davis & Co., afterwards the Cole Manufacturing Company. He enlisted in 1862 as a private, and was elected captain by the men with him from Lake Village and vicinity. His company became Co. A., 15th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. He was promoted to major April 8, 1863. For many years he was superintendent of the Wardwell Needle Company. He retired from business several years ago. In 1917 he issued a book, "Lakeport's Ancient Homes," a history of the early days of Lake Village. He was the oldest living past master of Mt. Lebanon Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and he also was a member of the I. O. O. F.