San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HARWELL WOODROW COALE
A distinguished attorney in San
Joaquin County, Harwell Woodrow Coale is a native of Alabama, where he was born
at Mobile, on March 28, 1873, a son of Skipwith and Mary Elizabeth (Harwell)
Coale, natives respectively of Maryland and Alabama. The Coale family is a very old family in
Maryland, and was members of the Society of Friends. Grandfather Samuel Coale married Miss Susanna
Woodrow, who also comes of a very old family of Maryland. They removed to Alabama where Samuel Coale
became an extensive planter and reared a large family, of whom Skipwith was the
eldest; he enlisted and served four years in the Confederate Army during the
Civil War, holding an officer’s commission, and was wounded. After his return home he became a cotton
factor in Mobile, Alabama, until his marriage to Miss Harwell, when they
located at Choctaw Corner, Clarke County, where he was a merchant until his
death in 1883; his wife survived him just one week. This worthy couple had four children, of whom
Harwell W. is the eldest. He was reared
at Choctaw Corner until he was left an orphan at the age of ten years, then
with the other three children went to live with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs.
Coale, on their plantation and there, under private instruction was prepared
for college. When
sixteen years of age he entered the Southern University at Greensboro, Alabama,
where he was graduated with his degree of B. S. in the class of 1892 having
pursued excellent courses in chemistry, pharmacy, and commercial law. He engaged in the drug business in Thomasville,
Alabama, for two years, then was with the Brunswick
Drug Company of New Orleans traveling throughout eastern Texas for his
territory, with his headquarters in his home town of Beaumont; then he moved to
Palestine, Texas, and traveled for the Houston Drug Company, continuing with
them for a period of four years.
In 1904, he came to California as a
salesman for the Coffin, Reddington Drug Company of San Francisco; and since
1905 he has made his home in Stockton.
He took up the study of law in his spare time, and in 1917 he was
admitted to practice at the bar in California; and he has since been practicing
law in Stockton with offices in the Wilhoit Building. Much of his practice is in the Federal
Courts, and he has been very successful.
Mr. Coale married Miss Helen
Josephine Booth, one of the fair daughters of Alabama, born in Clarke County,
and they have two sons: Dr. Harwell
Woodrow Coale, who has offices in the Farmers and Merchants Bank Building,
Stockton, and Julian L. Coale, a well known musician in San Francisco. Mr. Coale is a member of Morning Star Lodge
No. 68, F. & A. M., Stockton, and of San Francisco Consistory No. 1, 32nd
degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a member of Aahmes Temple A. A. O. N. M. S.,
Oakland, and with his wife he is a member of Stockton Chapter No. 373, O. E.
S. He is a charter member of Palestine
Lodge No. 873, B. P. O. E., at Palestine, Texas, and is a member of the San
Joaquin County, State and American Bar associations. Fraternally, therefore, as well as
professionally, Mr. Coale enjoys a very enviable standing.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
776-779. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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