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A history of Caroline county, Virginia

from its formation in 1727 to 1924
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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THE COLEMAN FAMILY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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THE COLEMAN FAMILY

Explanatory Notes—A, B, C, and etc., denotes generations.;
1, 2, 3, and etc., denotes order, according to birth; X denotes
one of direct line from whom descent is traced; ½ added to a
number denotes person who married into the family; C C or B B
mean contemporary generations of C or B of collateral lines.

(a) John Coleman, 1st, son of Sir James Coleman of Braxton,
Mango, Essex county, England, settled in Fairfax county, Va.,
in 1640, and married a Miss Hawes of King William county, Va.
ISSUE:

(b 1) James Coleman, 1st.

(b 2) Hawes Coleman, 1st.

(b 3) John Coleman 2d.

(b 4) June Coleman.

(b 5) Robert Coleman, 1st.

(b 5) Robert Coleman, married Elizbeth Lindsay, and had
issue as follows:

(c 1) Wyatt Coleman.

(c 2) Samuel Coleman, 1st.

(c 3) Robert Coleman, 2d.

(c 4) Thomas Coleman.


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(c 5) John Coleman 3d, b. 1723, d. 1763. Married Eunice
Hawes, b. 1725, d. 1807.

(c 6) Richard Coleman.

(c 7) Spilsby Coleman.

(c 5) John Coleman, 3d, who married Nicie Hawes, had issue
as follows:

(d 1) Samuel Coleman 2d, married Sarah Coleman.

(d 2) John Coleman 4th, married Molly Coleman.

(d 3) Hawes Coleman, Jr., b. 1757, d. 1840. Married Anne
Harris, b. 1756, d. 1809.

(d 4) Frances Coleman, m. Joseph Graves.

(d 5) Mary Anne Coleman, m. William Blades.

(d 6) Spencer Coleman, married Miss Goodwin. He died 1830.

(d 3) Hawes Coleman, Jr., who m. Anne Harris, had issue as
follows:

(e 1) William Harris Coleman, b. 1787, d. 1842; m. Anne
Hawes, b. 1793, d. 1852.

(e 2) Hawes Netherland Coleman, b. 1788, d. 1876.

(e 3) Mary Coleman, b. 1790, d. 1824; m. John Warner
Harris, in 1811.

(e 4) John Joy Coleman, b. 1797, d. 1869; m. in 1819,
Catherine Walker Hawes, b. 1800, d. 1876.

In the Genealogical Column of the Times-Dispatch (Richmond),
of March 29, 1908, appeared the following item concerning the
Coleman family:

"In the Spotsylvania County Records of 1738 mention is
made of William Coleman, of St. John's Parish in King William
county, son and heir of Darby Coleman, deceased, of King and
Queen county. In 1732 James Coleman is a legatee in the will
of Ambrose Madison. In 1744 there is a deed of Edward Coleman
and Lucrea, his wife. In 1795 is a will of Edward Coleman
mentioning his wife, Sarah, and sons James and Thomas; grandson
James (son of Robert Edward Coleman) and other children,
Caty Waggoner, Phoebe Hutcherson, Henry, James and William.

"It appears from the will of Spilsby Coleman, 1757, that
`Robert Coleman, Gent., of Drysdale Parish' in Caroline county
had five sons: Thomas, Robert, John, Richard, and the said
Spilsby; and a daughter, the wife of William Daniel. In 1745
this Robert Coleman of Caroline deeded lands to his son John,
of Spotsylvania, and the deed is witnessed by Leonard Wyatt,


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Samuel Hawes, Thomas and Wyatt Coleman. In the same year
the said Robert deeded land to his son Robert, of Spotsylvania.
In 1745 Robert Coleman and Sarah, his wife, living in Spotsylvania
on the land given him by his father, Robert Coleman. This
second Robert Coleman had a son named Robert who lived in
Orange and later in Culpeper, as appears from deeds of 1748 and
1761, in one of which he mentions lands he patented in Spotsylvania
in 1744. Besides his son Robert, of Orange and Culpeper,
he had sons, James, of Orange; Reuben, Lindsey, Caleb, Joseph
and Clayton; and daughters: Sally and Molly, who married,
respectively, their cousins Samuel and John Coleman, sons of
the John aforementioned. This John Coleman's wife was Nicie
Hawes whose name appears in the foregoing table.

"Reuben Coleman, son of Robert, 2d, died in Georgia in 1797,
and in that year is recorded a power of attorney to John Waller,
of Georgia and John Coleman, of Amherst county, to secure for
the following their rights in the Reuben Coleman estate: (1)
Robert, Samuel, Clayton, Rebecca, Nancy, Frances, and Nicie
Coleman, children of Samuel Coleman, of Caroline county, whose
late wife, Sally, was sister of Reuben Coleman deceased; (2)
George, Lindsey, John and Hawes Coleman, children of John
Coleman, of Caroline county, whose late wife, Molly, was also a
sister of said Reuben; (3) Thomas (then of age), Wilson, James,
Elizabeth, Sally, Nancy, Polly and Catherine Coleman, children
of James Coleman, deceased, of Orange county and brother of
said Reuben; and (4) Lindsey, Caleb, Joseph and Clayton Coleman,
brothers of the said Reuben Coleman, deceased. Witnesses
to this paper were Robert Coleman, Farish Coleman and Farish
Coleman, Jr.

"The Rev. Mr. Slaughter in his St. Mark's Parish says that
this Robert Coleman 3d, was the first of the name in Culpeper
and that he m. Sarah Ann Saunders and had one son, Robert, and
eight daughters, of whom Gilly, m. General Edward Stevens, of
Revolutionary fame; Anne m. Samuel Clayton, her cousin;
Lucy, m. the Hon. French Strother, of Culpeper; and the others
m. respectively, Francis Slaughter, Col. John Slaughter; —
Foster, — Yancey, — Crutcher. Philip Clayton was
executor of the will of Robert Coleman of Culpeper."

John Joy Coleman, whose name is the last mentioned in the
foregoing table, m. Catherine Walker Hawes on June 17, 1819,
and had, among other issue, Dr. Hawes Nicholas Coleman (the


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Nicholas in this name comes from the Nicholas Spencer family
with which the Coleman-Hawes family was connected) who was
born at Wintergreen, Nelson county, September 18, 1825, and
m. Nannie Elizabeth Watson, daughter of Dr. Daniel E. Watson,
of Albemarle, in 1863. Dr. Hawes Nicholas Coleman was a
member of the House of Delegates 1861-63.

The children of Dr. Hawes Nicholas Coleman and Nannie
Elizabeth Watson are as follows: The late J. Tinsley Coleman,
of Lynchburg, lawyer and member of the House of Delegates
1889-90, died 1916; Daniel Edward Coleman, merchant of Lynchburg,
died 1899; Aylett B. Coleman, Lawyer, of Roanoke, Va.,
and member of the House of Delegates 1904-06; Maury Joy
Coleman, lawyer, of Roanoke, died 1898; Charles O. Coleman,
Pennsylvania Railway official, home on Long Island, N. Y.;
Mrs. Arthur T. Ewing, of "Elk Hill" Nelson county; and Mrs.
J. Fulton Williams, of Charlottesville. To Mrs. Williams the
author is greatly indebted for much of the foregoing material.

Other members of the Coleman family whose names merit a
permanent place in this work are:

Samuel Coleman, of Caroline, Ensign 8th Virginia, 1776; 2d
Lieutenant, February, 1777; 1st Lieutenant in 1st Continental
Artillery, June 15, 1778; killed at Camden, August 16, 1780.

Richard Coleman, of Caroline, Ensign in 7th Virginia; transferred
to 5th on September 14, 1778; 1st Lieutenant in 1780.

John Coleman, Ensign 2d Virginia, July 4, 1779.

McAllister's Virginia Militia of Revolutionary War, Section 257,
page 193, shows Samuel Coleman, of Caroline county, was commissioned
a captain of Militia in January, 1779.

Samuel Coleman, m. Sarah Coleman (daughter of his uncle,
Robert Coleman, and Elizabeth Lindsay) and had issue, four
daughters and three sons: (1) Rebecca, m. Mr. Bosher; (2) Frances,
m. John Gatewood; (3) Nancy, unmarried; (4) Eunice Hawes,
m. Major Wm. Harris Diggs and lived in Nelson county; (5)
Robert, unmarried; (6) Clayton, m. Elizabeth Cross, of Hanover
county, Va., whose mother was a Miss Harris and her mother
was Miss Nelson, of Hanover county, Va.; (7) Samuel lived at
"Marl Hill," near Penola, Caroline county and died in 1862 at
Bowling Green. He m. first, Ann DeJarnette in 1804. His
second wife, was Mary Withers (niece of first wife and daughter
of Edward Withers and Mary DeJarnette). Issue by second


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marriage: Charles, Robert and Edward, unmarried; Samuel, m.
Emma Jordan; Waller, m. Sallie Duerson; Rebecca, first wife of
George Keith Taylor; Cornelia, m. Arthur Lewis; Susan, m.
Luther Wright (Captain Confederate Army); Mary Z., m. John
Ware, (Captain Confederate Army); Ottawa, m. James Wright;
Huldah, m. Boyd Brooks, Washington, D. C.; Hawes second wife
of George Keith Taylor.

illustration

Corbin Arms