Harriet must have been a remarkable woman. Although her origins remain a mystery, I have come to believe through various sources, that she was born in the year 1820. She calls her birthplace, South Kingstown, others have said Jamestown or Newport, RI.

Her father was John W. Roach, and Englishman, and all that is known of her mother is a first name, Betsey and that she was an American.

Harriet married for the first time when she was about eighteen. Her first husband was John Lewis. No record has been found of their marriage, but I continue to search.

Their first child was George L. Lewis born in 1839. Their only daughter, Mary Elizabeth was born about 1840 and another son, Thomas Wilson Dorr Lewis joined the family in 1842. Her first husband must have been a strong supporter of the famous Thomas Wilson Dorr, the gentleman who in the 1840s tried to overthrow the Rhode Island government. He was a champion of the common man, and he strove to grant voting privileges to them. Harriet and John named their son for this great man.

Sometime before 1847, John died and Harriet was left a young widow with three small children. She was living in Cumberland, RI when she met and married Joseph Cole of the same town. Both had been widowed . She was twenty seven.

By 1850, the family moved to Seekonk, MA. Joseph’s young son Charles was not with them. He was five years old. Charles was living with his maternal grandmother, Adah Salisbury Smith in Cumberland, RI. Joseph Augustus Cole was born to Harriet and Joseph in Seekonk on September 3, 1848. Joseph Sr. was called a yeoman at that time, which meant he was a small land owner.

In 1860, her only daughter married a scoundrel by the name of Nelson P. Bennett. He was an unsavory, lazy character. About one year after the marriage, Joe and Harriet went to the Bennett farm in Foster, RI where her daughter was living with her husband and young son. Harriet found her daughter in horrendous condition, with no shoes in the middle of winter. Joe and Harriet bundled up Mary and the child and took them home. Nelson later deserted his wife and child and joined the Army in the Civil War. Mary later divorced him.

It must have been a heartache for Harriet to see her daughter and grandchild treated this way. As always, Harriet was there to help.

They had quite an extended family at that time. Several sons were at home, as was her daughter Mary Elizabeth, her second husband and her small son James, Harriet’s grandson.

It seems the Coles always had room for one more. Family members could count on the love of their mother to take them in when they needed assistance.

The family soon moved to East Providence. Harriet saw three of her young daughters- in- law die early. Harriet’s sons were widowed with young children to care for, and Harriet was always there.

Her marriage to Joe ended in October of 1874 when she filed for divorce. She had kept him from living in their home for a while because he was often intoxicated. He was “drinking hard” as his son deposed at court during the divorce, and was unfaithful to Harriet many times. His own son had caught him with a woman in the back room of a saloon “on a sailcloth”. She had good reason to disolve their marriage.

Joseph died on March 23, 1878 in East Providence and Harriet died six years later on September 3, 1884. She was 64.

The name Harriet is a treasured one in the Cole family. A grand daughter was named Harriet in 1882, and that grand daughter named her first daughter Harriet also in 1906.