Franklin Albert Coles (August 24, 1861 – August 10, 1943) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

Coles was born on August 24, 1861 in

Glen Cove, New York Glen Cove is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Nassau County, New York, United States, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island. At the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 28,365 as of th ...

, the son of

Isaac Coles Isaac Coles (March 2, 1747June 3, 1813) was an American planter, militia officer and politician from Virginia.Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915), Vol 5, p. 648 Early life and education Coles was born in Richmond in t ...

and Mary Willits. His father was a merchant and civil engineer who served in the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

1862 Events January–March * January 1 – The United Kingdom annexes Lagos Island, in modern-day Nigeria. * January 6 – French intervention in Mexico: French, Spanish and British forces arrive in Veracruz, Mexico. * January ...

. He was a descendant of settler Robert Coles. Coles initially attended the Glen Cove Public School, followed by the

Friends Academy Friends Academy is a Quaker, coeducational, independent, college preparatory school serving students from nursery school through the twelfth grade, located in Locust Valley, New York, United States. The school was founded in 1876 by 78-year-old ...

Locust Valley Locust Valley is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2010 census. History The rolling h ...

. He then went to

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he was a member of

Theta Delta Chi Theta Delta Chi () is a social fraternity that was founded in 1847 at Union College, New York, United States. While nicknames differ from institution to institution, the most common nicknames for the fraternity are TDX, Thete, Theta Delt, and Thump ...

, editor for the ''Cornellian'' in 1883, and was involved with the Cornell ''Sun''. He graduated from Cornell with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1884. He worked as a teacher in the Friends Academy from 1884 to 1886, and then at the

Friends' Central School Friends' Central School (FCS) is a Quaker school which educates students from nursery through grade 12. It is located in Wynnewood, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia. The school was founded in 1845 in P ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

from 1886 to 1887. He then attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, graduating from there with an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1888. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania state bar shortly afterwards. He was admitted to the New York state bar in 1890, at which point he began practicing law in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, with an office at

150 Nassau Street 150 Nassau Street, also known as the Park Place Tower and the American Tract Society Building, is a 23-story, building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is located at the southeast corner of Spruce Street and N ...

. He still resided in his native Glen Cove. Coles served as

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

of Nassau County from 1905 to 1911. He was a delegate to the 1915 New York State Constitutional Convention. In 1917, he was elected to the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, representing the Nassau County 2nd District. He served in the Assembly in

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

and

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

. He was chairman of the original Glen Cove Charter Commission, and while in the Assembly he introduced a bill that made Glen Cove, then an unincorporated part of Oyster Bay, the right to be its own city. By 1925, he moved his law practice to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, with an office at 215 Montague Street. Coles was first elected to the Board of Education in 1895, later becoming president of the board. He became a trustee of the Glen Cove Public Library in 1894, later becoming executive head of the trustee board. He was an organizer and president of the Nassau County Bar Association. He was a member of the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

. In 1906, he married Carolyn Reed. They had a son, Robert Reed. Coles died in North Country Community Hospital in Glen Cove after a year-long illness on August 10, 1943. He was buried in Matinecock Friends Meeting House Cemetery in Locust Valley.

References

External links

*
The Political Graveyard
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Franklin A. 1861 births 1943 deaths Politicians from Nassau County, New York Politicians from Glen Cove, New York Nassau County District Attorneys Cornell University alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers Pennsylvania lawyers Lawyers from Brooklyn 20th-century American politicians Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly American Quakers Burials in New York (state)