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CHAPTER 20 THE YALOBUSHA COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, COLEMANS by J. P. COLEMAN We have seen in Chapter 12 that John G. Coleman and Giles C. Coleman were, respectively, the seventh and eighth children of John Rowe Coleman and his wife, Mary Beam. John Rowe Coleman was the second child of Robert Coleman and Elizabeth Rowe. John Greene Coleman was born in 1805 and died in 1876. His wife, Mary Elizabeth (Coleman) was born in 1825, and died in 1899. John Greene Coleman was the Administrator of the estate of his deceased father, as well as his brother-in-law, William Coleman. Sometime shortly before 1850, he moved to Yalobusha County, Mississippi, for the 1850 Census lists him, his wife, and three children, Abner E., 4, Jesse R., 3, and William, 1. The 1860 Census added two children, Nancy Ann, 10, and Jeanette, only ten months old. According to the Greene County records, John G. Coleman and Elizabeth Coleman were married on November 3, 1841, when she was sixteen years of age, and he was thirty-six. At the 1870 Census, William D., then twenty-one, and Nancy Ann, then eighteen, were living with the John G. Coleman family. Professor Edward P. Coleman tells me that it is his understanding that William Coleman moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma. Jesse Rowe Coleman, the second son of John G. and Mary Elizabeth, served as a Representative in the Mississippi Legislature from 1908 to 1912. The following is his official biography as the same appeared in the Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi for 1908: JESSE ROWE COLEMAN, of Water Valley, was born September 15, 1847, at Eutaw, Greene County, Alabama, the son of John Greene Coleman and wife, Mary Elizabeth (Coleman) Coleman. His grandpar- ents came from Wales to South Carolina, and thence to Alabama. Mr. Coleman attended the county schools of Yalobusha County, served in the ranks of the Confederate Army when a mere lad, and had no opportunity for a college education. His occupation has always been that of a tiller of the soil, and his life has been quite devoid of incident. He is a Jeffersonian Democrat, a Universalist and member of the Masonic Order and of the Farmers' Union. He was elected to the House of Repre- - 262 - . THE ROBERT COLEMAN FAMILY sentalives November 5, 1907. He married November 1, 1876, Emma Laura Stevens, daughter of Silas P. Stevens and wife, Rhoda (Morgan) Stevens, of Columbus, Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Coleman have two children: J. G. Coleman, of Water Valley, and Mrs. Eula Lee (Coleman) Gordon, of Tuscumbia, Alabama. The really significant thing about this biography, written from information furnished by Mr. Coleman, is that he recites the family as coming from Wales. Also, his middle name was Rowe. Dr. Edward P. Coleman, on a visit to my home on April 6, 1965, said that Mr. Jesse Rowe Coleman was a "true Universalist." That he kept a good horse, and would ride all over the county visiting his acquaintances, discussing religion and arguing the political issues of the day. He ran for office many times, but was elected only once. He was a man of such firm convictions and of such freedom in stating them that he did not stand on the popular side of the political issues of the day. Jesse Rowe Coleman and Mrs. Emma Laura Coleman had two children as noted in the official biography. John G. was born in 1878, and died in 1964. His wife was named Alma. They had no children, but reared Miss Ethel Hollowell, who presently holds public office in Tuscumbia, Alabama. G.htm#N012728">John G., known as "G" also ran for public Office a number of times. He would always make a good race but was never elected. Giles C. Coleman was born January 2, 1810, and died August 16, 1857. His wife, Susan Colvin, was born March 6, 1822, and died July 17, 1863. They were married in Greene County, Alabama, May 3, 1836, when she was fourteen years of age. At the 1850 Census, Giles C. and Susan were still in Greene County, Alabama, where they were listed with children: Mary, born 1838; John, born 1840; Sarah, born 1843; Isabella, born 1846; Thomas, born 1847; and Francis (Murphy), born 1849. On October 8, 1851, Giles C. Coleman and Susan Coleman deeded 160 acres about six miles North of Eutaw to Isaac Mobley, Book R, Page 441. lt was then that they moved to Yalobusha County, Mississippi. He and his wife are buried in the Coleman graveyard, between Coffeeville and Water Valley, and just East of Mississippi Highway 7. My good friend, Representative Joe N. Bailey, Jr., located this cemetery for me on January 11, 1962. In August, 1963, when I was a candidate for a second term as Governor of Mississippi, Representative Bailey and I.htm#N012766">I visited this cemetery together. I am told that it is situated on land which was originally owned by William Coleman, son of John G. Coleman, and - 263 - . THE ROBERT COLEMAN FAMILY John G. Coleman is buried there by the side of his brother, Giles C. Coleman. Sarah Jane Coleman, daughter of Giles, born 1843, married her first cousin, Jonathan, son of Robert Coleman, of Choctaw County, Mississippi, and she is the subject of a considerable portion of Chapter 15. The 1860 Census of Yalobusha County lists Susan Coleman as living in the Center Beat, Oakland Post Office, lists children, John, Sarah Jane, lsabella, Thomas, Franklin, and Savilla. Of Giles Coleman's children, Thomas married Alenlie Gordon, Savilla married C. M. Gordon, whose nickname was "Clump," and Isabella married Gus Gordon. Francis Murphy Coleman, son of Giles Coleman, who also married a Gordon, Harriett, died in 1924. He is buried at the old Tabernacle Cemetery, southeast of Water Valley, near the Calhoun County line. He was one of the "straight laced" Colemans, no cussing and no frivolity. He was the hardest working man in the whole area. The children of Frank M. and Harriet G. Coleman were: 1. John D., moved to Lafayette County. 2. Annice, married Will Higginbotham, no children. 3. Corrinne, who burned to death and is buried at Tabernacle. 4. Vollie Pearson Coleman (twin) born June 11, 1883, died March 20, 1962. Married Mary Farrell, a highly respected school teacher. She was born December 17, 1886, and died May, 1920. About 1922 he married Mary Eudora Gholson. Vollie P. and his first wife are buried at Bethel Baptist Chureh, southeast of Water Valley. 5. Ollie Gordon (twin) born June 11, 1883, killed in a grade crossing accident when struck by southbound passenger train No. 23 while returning from a call. He said from the age of four that he was going to be a doctor. Ollie and Vollie went to school in Tula, Lafayette County, and to High School in Water Valley. Both went to G. R. C. College, Henderson, Tennessee, and Ollie attended medical school in Nashville, Tennessee. Except for four years at Batesville, he practiced medicine all his life at Coffeeville. Was County Health Officer. Children of Vollie Pearson Coleman and Mrs. Mary Farrell Coleman: Dr. Edward P. Coleman, now of the Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles, born 1910. - 264 - . THE ROBERT COLEMAN FAMILY Wilson Wayne, born 1911, killed on a hunting trip in 1923. Mary Annice, born 1913, lives in Memphis, Tennessee. Fern Lee, born 1916, died 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee, buried at Bethel. Leslie Farrell Coleman, born 1918, graduate of Mississippi, now County Agent at Raleigh. Children of Vollie Pearson Coleman and Mrs. Mary Eudera Gholson Coleman: Frances Corrinne, lives in Los Angeles, California. Lucille, lives at Palo Alto, California. Jack Anderson, Wilmot, Arkansas, graduate of Mississippi State, Smith Hughes Teacher. Sammy Benford, graduate of Ole Miss, lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Helen Gholson, lives in Los Angeles, California. Howard Gordon, living on the old Vollie Coleman farm. Children of Dr. Ollie Gordon Coleman and Mrs. Catherine Brister Coleman: Fay, Scarsdale, New York. Nell, Columbia, Missouri. Hazel, Chattanooga, Tennessee. O. G. Coleman, Jr., killed early in World War II. - 265 - . THE ROBERT COLEMAN FAMILY [PICTURE] [PICTURE] Twin Twin Ollie gordon Coleman at age 31 in Vollie P. Coleman at age 20 in 1903. 1914. M.D., general practice, Bates- Graduated Fried-Haridman College, ville. Miss. Henderson, Tenn. - 266 - .
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