Hand-drawn map of the Flat Top area of Walden's Ridge
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(383) Charles Washington Coleman, known as Wash, was born approximately 1815 in Tennessee according to all records available. He was a life-long farmer and began his livelihood in the old section of Bledsoe County, Tennessee which presently lies in Sequatchie County area somewhere between the Lewis Chapel and Flat Top communities.
Hand-drawn map of the Flat Top area of Walden's Ridge
Wash's father sold him 200 acres of land for $200 on 7 Sep 1842. The land bordered Bord Creek on Walden's Ridge in Bledsoe County (later Sequatchie Co.). The land was part of an original grant to Benjamin Wheeler, Joseph Hoge and Daniel Hoge. He added 700 acres to the 200 acres he bought from his father when in 1850 he purchased the land from Thomas Mansfield for $200 giving him a total of 900 acres.
Wash then sold 100 acres off the 700 acre parcel for $150 to Goodwin Casewell on 19 Aug 1851. Not a bad price since he gave only $200 for the entire 700 acres just a year before.
On 1/10/1855 he then bought an additional 100 acres for $100 from S.J.A. Burg.
This land bordered the N. W. corner of the land Wash already owned. Wash put up 107 acres as collateral for a debt of $111.10 he owed Stewart Rogers on 25 Jul 1858. The terms were that Wash sign a deed of trust to Samual Brown who was to hold the deed to the land for 60 days in which Wash must pay the debt or the land would be put up for public auction. It's assumed that Wash was able to pay off the debt since no record was found of the land being deeded to anyone else from Coleman or Brown.
In 1861, Wash started selling off some of his land. On 30 Jan 1861 he sold 200 acres to J. H. & I. J. Rogers for $200. Just a few days later on 4 Feb 1861 he sold another 100 acres to the Rogers' again for $55. Wash may have been preparing to leave Walden's Ridge by selling the land, for the next time the federal census was taken in 1870 he was living in Putnam County, Tennessee.
It is not known exactly when Wash moved from Walden's Ridge to Putnam County, but it could very well have been in early 1861 after he sold the 300 acres. When he moved to Putnam County he settled in an area called Buffalo Valley located in the extreme southwest corner of the county near the town of Baxter, Tennessee.
Buffalo Valley & West Baxter Area Map from the Tigerline Map Browser of the U.S. Census Bureau |
Baxter & Cookville Area Map from the Tigerline Map Browser of the U.S. Census Bureau |
Wash was married in the mid-1830's to Lucinda Sims. Lucinda was born around 1819 in Kentucky. Available records indicate that both Wash and Lucinda were illiterate. Lucinda died in the mid 1850's and was buried on Flat Top Mountain. Cy had a descendent of Wash Coleman's tell him that Wash remarried after Lucinda died but the last federal census Wash appeared in with a wife living with him was the 1850 census with Lucinda. He may have remarried but if he did it was not for long.
Wash, like many Coleman's that followed him, farmed most of his life but also did some carpentry and in the 1860 census he was listed as being a wagonmaker.
In the 1880 Putnam County census, the last federal census Wash appeared in, Wash was living with his married daughter, Mary Martin. Under the column headed "Maimed, crippled or bedridden" the word "Paralysis" was written in indicating he was in failing health, possibly from a stroke or something that had paralyzed him. Wash died in the early 1880's, the exact date is not known. He is buried in Baxter, Tennessee.
(383) Charles Washington Coleman and Lucinda Sims had children described as:
(394) 1. Elizabeth Coleman (McClure), b. c1837, in Bledsoe County, TN (395) 2. Thomas Jackson Coleman, b. 6/14/1838, in Bledsoe County, TN (396) 3. Barbara Coleman (Harvey), b. 2/01/1842, in Bledsoe County, TN (397) 4. Mary E. Coleman (Tucker), b. c1844, in Bledsoe County, TN (398) 5. Zachary Taylor Coleman, b. 11/?/1847, in Bledsoe County, TN (399) 6. Eliza Coleman, b. c1849, in Bledsoe County, TN (400) 7. Benjamin Franklin Coleman, b. c1850, in Bledsoe County, TN (401) 8. Susan Coleman (Starnes), b. c1852, in Bledsoe County, TN (402) 9. Mary Coleman (Martin), b. 6/?/1856, in TN
It was disturbing to note two of the daughters, Eliza and Mary, seem to appear twice and each duplicated name includes one or both years of birth as approximate years. The conclusion is that there may be an error in the above information. These two, Elizabeth and Mary appeared in the 1860 U.S. Census below.
The 1860 Census listed the family this way with apparent year of birth calculated:
(383) Coleman, Washington age 45, b. 1814-15 (396) Coleman, Barbary age 18, b. 1841-42 (397) Coleman, Mary E. age 16, b. 1843-44 (398) Coleman, Zachareah age 14, b. 1845-46 (399) Coleman, Eliza age 12, b. 1847-48 (400) Coleman, Franklin age 10, b. 1849-50 (401) Coleman, Susan age 8, b. 1851-52
Elizabeth and her husband died in the mid 1860s in an accident that apparently claimed the lives of their twin daughters as well. The rest of their children went to live with their grandparents, Wash and Lucinda. Therefore, Wash and Lucinda were raising children in addition to those listed above.
The family of (394) Elizabeth Coleman and husband John McClure is the subject of Chapter 23.
The family of (395) Thomas Jackson Coleman and his wives, Nancy Gothard and Rhoda Rogers is the subject of Chapter 24.
The family of (396) Barbara and Marion Harvey is the subject of Chapter 25.
The family of (397) Mary E. Coleman and husband William H. Tucker is the subject of Chapter 26.
The family of (398) Zachary Taylor Coleman and his wives, Jane Mitchel and Sarah Jemimah Stewart is the subject of Chapter 27.
The family of (399) Eliza Coleman is the subject of Chapter 28.
The family of (400) Benjamin Franklin Coleman is the subject of Chapter 29.
The family of (401) Susan Coleman and husband Fred Starnes is the subject of Chapter 30.
The family of (402) Mary Coleman and her husband, Noah Martin is the subject of Chapter 43.
12/16/2008
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