Descendants of Robert Coleman of VA & Charles Coleman of NC

Compiled by Wes Coleman  wcoleman@pdq.net   Friendswood, TX. Author of Descendants of Robert Coleman of Nansemond County, a book online at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nansemondcolemans/

Charles Coleman, b. 1744 or 1750-1755 in Edgecombe County, NC who married Mary Roundtree and came to Greene County, AL with two sons, John and Wiley. In a book published by the 51st governor of Mississippi, J. P. Coleman, entitled The Robert Coleman Family from Virginia to Texas 1652-1965, the author reprints an article from the local newspaper, "The Greene County Democrat", in Eutaw. This article honors all those known descendants of this Charles Coleman in the area. The article tells of the family having a lot of genealogical information that connects this family to the immigrant, Robert Coleman of Nansemond County, Virginia.

From J.P.'s book, I have compiled a tree of descendants as follows:
From J.P. Coleman's book, pp 436-439: GREENE COUNTY, ALABAMA, DESCENDENTS OF ROBERT COLEMAN OF NANSEMOND COUNTY,VIRGINIA

THE COLEMAN FAMILY:

(NOTE This paper was given January 9, 1964, before the Twenty Three Circle and again in January, before the Greene County Historical Society, as a tribute to James Samuel Coleman, 1873-1963). 

[based on this article above, I have built the following tree of descendants, Wes Coleman]

Charles Coleman, b. 1744 Edgecombe County, NC, fought in the American Revolution as Quartermaster of the 3rd N. C. Regiment. He married Mary Rountree and died in 1824, being buried at Grassdale in sight of the Coleman-Bank house said to be the oldest frame house in Greene County. Five generations of Colemans are buried at Grassdale.  Settled in Greene County, AL where he brought his two sons John Coleman, settled in Greene County Wiley Coleman, Settled in Bibb County.

Side Note 1: While at the Library of Congress, I found this in the Daughters of the American Revolution - Lineage Book 96: "MRS. ALICE COLEMAN McDOWELL. 95982 Born in Hale County, Ala. Wife of E. B. McDowell. Descendant of Charles Coleman, as follows:
1. Harvey Coleman (1848-1910) m. 1st 1868 Emma Allen (1851-75):
2. James Cobb Coleman (1810-68) m. 2nd 1836 Juliet Bestor (1811-59)
3. John Coleman (1781-1852) m. 1807 Rhoda Cobb (1793-1863)
4. Charles Coleman m. 1765 Mary Roundtree (1750-1821)

"Charles Coleman (1744-1824) served as quartermaster in the third North Carolina regiment. He was born in Edgecomb County, NC; died in Green County, Ala. Also No. 40171."

Side Note 2: Charles Coleman b.1750-55 in NC unit m.Mary Roundtree [per The Coleman Family, by the American Genealogical Research Institute listing for the veterans of the Revolutionary War.]

John Coleman, born in Edgecombe County, N. C., [birth was in 1781 per DAR record 95982 above] died 1852 in Greene County, Alabama, where he had come in 1819. He came to Bibb County in 1818.

James Cobb Coleman (1810-1868), first married Martha Ann Anderson (1810-1834), and married secondly, Juliet Bestor, sister of Dr. Daniel P. Bestor, a Baptist Minister and Educator. [Juliet lived from 1811 to 1859 per DAR record 95982 above.]

James Cobb Coleman's two children by his first wife were:
1. Julia Frances Coleman, m. Ulysses Thadeus McLemore:
2. Thomas Wilkes, 1833-1920.

James Cobb Coleman married c1835-1839 to Juliet Bestor and their children include:
3. Alice Coleman, b c1836-1840, m. Dr. John Samuel Meriwether in 1860.
4. James Cobb Coleman, Jr. b. 1842, d. 1912
5. Harvey Coleman, b. 1848, d. 1910, m. 1st 1868 to Emma Allen b. 1851, d. 1875. [Harvey is not mentioned in J. P. Coleman's book, but is mentioned in the DAR record 95982 above.]

Julia Frances Coleman and Ulysses Thadeus McLemore had Joel Thadeus McLemore, m. Judith Elizabeth Dunlap

Joel and Judith had:
1. dau. married Bassie Hester
2. dau. married R. I. Colgrove
3. Joe Thadeus McLemore

Thomas Wilkes Coleman 31 Mar 1833, nine miles west of Eutaw, and died Nov. 9, 1920, at Eutaw, with burial at Grassdale. He married Nov. 1, 1860, at Sumterville, Alabama, to Frances Jane Wilson (1842-1920). Thomas Wilkes Coleman was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1891, and on the Alabama Supreme Bench, and is written up in Dr. Owen's Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Dr. A. B. Moore's Alabama, and other volumes.

Thomas Wilkes Coleman and Frances Jane Wilson's children include:
1. Julia Coleman m. James Oliver Banks
2. Mary Coleman m. Grigsby Eskridge Chandler
3. Thomas Wilkes Coleman, Jr.
4. Flavel Woodrow Coleman
5. James Samuel Coleman (1873- 1963)
6. Frances Jane Coleman m. Thomas Thompson Quarles
7. Charles Hamilton Coleman
8. John Anderson Coleman

James Samuel Coleman b. 25 May 1873, near Akron, Alabama. He died 19 Dec 1963 at Eutaw, AL, bur. Grassdale Cemetery. He married 20 Sep 1905 at York, AL to Mary Belle Peteet. He attended school at Eutaw and was appointed to Annapolis by Senator John B. Bankhead. From 1889 to 1894 he taught in Eutaw (the school being where the swimming pool now is). He later taught at Verner School in Tuscaloosa, then studied a year in Heidelberg, Germany, and Paris, France, after which he taught at State Normal School at Livingston, then was Commandant for five years at the Wright School, Mobile, and then principal of Selma Military School. From l909 to 1945, he published the Green County Democrat at Eutaw. He was a Mason, a Presbyterian Elder (50 years) a member of the Board of Education, of the Kiwanis Club, and of the Twenty-Three Circle (of which he was really the founder).

They had:
1. James Samuel Coleman, Annapolis Grad, Justice of Alabama Supreme Court.
2. Wilson McConnel Coleman, Annapolis Grad and Capt in U.S. Navy
3. Charles Hamilton Coleman, lived in Dallas, TX
4. John Woodrow, an attorney in Talladega, AL

Alice Coleman and Dr. John Samuel Meriwether had:
Daisy Meriwether, m. _____ Dunlap,

Alice and John were the grandparents of Mrs. Mary Morgan (Ward) Glass William Riddle Ward, John Meriwether Ward, John S. (Bo) Meriwether, Lida Meriwether Hall, Sara Meriwether Humphries. Alice and John were great grandparents of William Ryan deGraffenried (candidate for Governor of Alabama in one race.)

James Cobb Coleman, Jr. (1842-1912):
James had children that include:
1. Alice Coleman
2. Louise Coleman
3. Janie Coleman, m. Mr. Kirksey

James was the grandfather of Polly Coleman, m. Yarbrough.

Harvey Coleman, (1848-1910) and Emma Allen (1851-1875) had:
Alice Coleman, m. E. B. McDowell; Alice submitted the DAR application no. 95982 above. Alice was born in Hale County, Ala.

Judge Wiley Coleman (1819-1892)

Rhoda Coleman (1829-1900)

Martha Jane Coleman, who married in 1852 James Oliver Banks, they had James Oliver Banks, Jr. (1865-1941), in 1888 married Julia Coleman and they had:
Wilkes Banks,
Ellen Gray Banks, m. Mr. Humphries,
Willis,
Hampden Jack
Ralph.

["Greene County Democrat," Eutaw, Alabama, June 11, 1964. ]

J.P. then writes the following explanations following the text of the article:

The foregoing newspaper article is an excellent report on those Colemans in Greene County Alabama, who migrated there from Edgecombe County, North Carolina. They were descended from Robert Coleman of Nansemond County, Virginia, and his sons or grandsons, William Coleman and Robert Coleman. The Nansemond County records have been destroyed and the particular genealogy of that County can only be put together from fragmentary sources.   I wish to pay special tribute to Mr. James Samuel Coleman, mentioned in the above article, who died December 19, 1963. Early in my efforts to locate the history of the Colemans I went to Eutaw, Alabama, met Mr. Coleman, and had a most delightful visit with him, including a visit to the beautiful cemetery at Grassdale. Later he gave me a copy of his autobiography, which my secretary typed.

This was a most interesting life story and ought to be published.  Miss Mary Ellen Coleman, sister of James Samuel Coleman, kept up a keen interest in genealogy. I once ran across some of her writings at the book store of The Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore. I purchased them and gave them to her nephew, Judge James S. Coleman, now of the Alabama Supreme Court. The history of this large and able family would afford sufficient material for a book within itself. -- Wes Coleman  wcoleman@pdq.net    Friendswood, TX. Author of Descendants of Robert Coleman of Nansemond County, a book online at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nansemondcolemans/