J. T. COLEMAN

COLEMAN

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/20/2020 at 13:41:50

J. T. COLEMAN, a member of the farming community of Jasper township, was born in Shelby county, Ohio, April 4, 1836, and is the seventh of a family of twelve children of Benjamin F. and Margaret (Tilberry) Coleman, natives of Shelby county, Ohio, and descendants of Scotch and German ancestors. In 1842 the family left Ohio and removed to Allen county, Indiana, where
Benjamin F. Coleman purchased a tract of heavily timbered land and began the task of clearing it and making a home. He improved this farm and resided there until 1855, when he sold out and removed to Crawford county, Wisconsin, being one of the first settlers of that county. There he again began the task of clearing a farm and reducing it from a wild state to one of productiveness and use, and passed the remainder of his days there. He died in the year 1866,
at the age of sixty-six years. His widow survived him until 1882, when she died at the age of sixty-seven years. Of the twelve children seven lived to maturity, and six now survive.

J. T. Coleman spent his youth in assisting his father to clear up the frontier farms, and
received his education in the primitive log schoolhouse of the pioneer days. When he reached his majority he started in life for himself, making a purchase of fifty acres of wild land in Crawford county, Wisconsin, where he resided a number of years. He was married December 16, 1858, to Miss Matilda Mack, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of James and Catherine Mack. The result of this union was four children, two of whom survive: Millard F. is a resident of Wyoming; Volney A. died at the age of twenty-five years; Emmett S. died at the age of two years, and James F. is at home. Mr. Coleman followed farming in Wisconsin until 1864, at which time he sold out and removed to Adams county, Iowa. There he bought 156 acres of unimproved land, where he now resides. This is the fourth farm he has cleared and developed from a wild state, and he is certainly deserving of great praise for the effort he has put forth in behalf of agriculture.

Mrs. Coleman was called from this life in 1866, aged thirty-three years. Mr. Coleman was married a second time, February 26,1867 to Miss Sarah C. Mack, a sister of his first wife. Two children were born of this marriage: William L. and Bina L.

Mr. Coleman has served in many local positions of trust and honor. He was first elected to the office of assessor in 1868, and has assessed his township eleven times. For seven successive years he has served as township clerk. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party.