When I search for obituaries, marriage notices and other newspaper articles, the best I hope for is more information on the family. Sometimes I get really lucky and get a tribute such as the one I posted recently on Elizabeth Chapman Graves Coleman. From that tribute, I discovered that Elizabeth and her husband, Samuel Coleman had eight children, two of whom died very young, and a son, Samuel Woodson Coleman who died at the age of 26. Further research gave me an estimate of his birth around 1833 and death around 1859. Unfortunately, I've not found any more on him or a record of his marriage and the name of his child.
But from this one tribute I've found:
Names of all the children who lived to adulthood of Samuel & Elizabeth Coleman:
1. Daughter Mary E Coleman & husband Levi Prewitt, six children, two daughters who married & their spouses. Working on their descendants.
2. Daughter Lucy Hawes Coleman & husband James T. (J.T.) Calloway; their children Woodson "Woodie" Calloway & Coleman Calloway. Woodie's husband was Wm. T. White; Coleman's wife was Elizabeth Laudeman.
3. Daughter Adda or Addie Coleman married Willard Davis. I wrote about his death notice the other day. They lived in Topeka, Kansas. Willard was Attorney General in the 1870's in Kansas. He died in 1885, Adda died in 1911 in Kansas City. Their children were Clyde Davis (female) who married Alvin Connelly and Levi Prewitt Davis aka Prewitt Davis.
4. Daughter Anna Coleman & spouse Samuel T. Willis. Their daughters challenged me as they are only named as Mrs. Beverly Jouett (Susan Willis), Mrs. Prewitt Van Meter (Elizabeth Willis), and Mrs. William Mithoefer (Annie Willis). In addition to the three daughters, there were four sons: Benjamin Willis, Coleman Willis - who married and died in Tennessee, and Carlton Willis. Benjamin & Carlton and Annie Mithoefer are providing a challenge.
5. Son, Benjamin L. Coleman, married Isabella Milligan and had two children: Robert Milligan Coleman & Eleanor Coleman. Eleanor married Meredith Johnston. Eleanor and Meredith at one time owned Claremont Manor on the James River in Virginia. They are even mentioned in the book: Claremont Manor: A History. Unfortunately the only copy is through a partner of Amazon for $182.80. Not going to happen. I didn't even find it in the Allen County Public Library Catalog. Darn. Meredith and Eleanor Coleman Johnston divorced and the last trace I find of her is aboard ship sailing for France in February 1930. Meredith died in 1950 in North Carolina. There is also an intriguing newspaper article about the house that appears in the Lexington (Kentucky) Leader in 1925. That went on my to do list.
6. Son, Samuel Woodson Coleman, born circa 1833 and died circa 1859. He was married with one child, when he died at the age of 26.
All this from one newspaper tribute. Usually the best you can hope for in a wife or widow's obituary is her first name - I have way too many who even on their death certificate are referred to as Mrs. So-and-So. It's a real pleasure to find as much as I have in the past week. This information was all gathered using Ancestry.com, GenealogyBank.com, Family Search pilot site, Missouri State Archives Death Certificate Project, Shelby County Tennessee death records and marriage records that were available online, the Fayette County, Kentucky Genweb, the Lexington Public Library Local History Index, the Lexington Cemetery online index and Find-A-Grave. My research covered Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee. I found obituaries, marriages announcements, will notices,and other newspaper articles, census, death certificates and marriage certificates.
At one point in my search, I had so many tabs open on my browser that I had to scroll right and left to get to the databases I was searching. If I had found nothing else on my trip, just this one tribute has added information and color to my family history.
*Obsessive Compulsive Family Research Disorder.
Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes
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