This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Coleman, Coy Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ok.2ADE/1671 Message Board Post: THE FREMONT COUNTY HERALD. April 26, 1907. "SEVENTY YEARS A HAWKEYE. Such is the Lengthy Citizenship of John A. Coleman of Farragut. Arriving Here Nine Years Before She Entered Statehood He Has Watched Her Growth Through all the Intervening Years.--Bit of His Life's History".--While in the city visiting his son, County Auditor Coleman, John A. Coleman, of Farragut, took the opportunity to make the Herald a call, and his brief visit was greatly appreciated. Shortly after entering our sanctum Mr. Coleman, in answer to an interrogation, began to relate some of his history, and it was a story interestingly told, and such a history should never be left unwritten. Mr. Coleman was born in Fulton county, Ill., in 1836, and in the year 1837 moved with his parents to Iowa, thus becoming a Hawkeye nine years before the state was admited to the Union. In those days people rode on the stage coach, paying 8 cents a mile, and would occasionally assist in prying the coach out of the mud with a handspike. He has lived to see the day when one can ride in a Pullman for 2 cents a mile and have every convenience. But the many hardships of his youth were only stepping stones to develope rugged manhood, which in a later day would be called for to play an important part in the affairs of the nation. In 1854 young Coleman was enrolled as a student of the Cherry Grove seminary at Knoxville, Ill., and there he completed the regular four-year course of study, his specialty being mathematics, although he was quite adept with the Greek and Latin languages. After completing his seminary course he took up the work of pedagogy and followed that profession for many years. Mr. Coleman was united in marriage in 1862 to Miss Mary Coy in Knox county, Ill., and a most excellent companion she has been, always bearing with patience the adversities of life or sharing with modesty the blessings of fortune. The year 1862 is a memorable one, as a cloud of war hung low over the nation and the hardy manhood, both north and south, was being called to arms. To do his duty for his country was a strong incentive to young Coleman, so he responded by enlisting lin Company I, 83rd Illinois infantry and went to the front to experience the hardships of war. On February 3, 1863, he was wounded in the left leg below the knee. This was at the second battle of Fort Donaldson, while defending the flag against a foe of 8000 to 666 men. The engagement was stubbornly fought and for five long hours the handful of Federals stood at bay the overwhelming numbers of confederates, but late at nigth the gunboats released Uncle Sam's boys from their perilous situation. Coleman, being wounded, secured shelter in a log cabin where some negro women were holding a prayer meeting, but as the supplications were not of pentcostal warmth a cannon ball from the Confederate lines soon crashed through the cabin, an! d then the mourners got down to business and rounded out that spiritual gathering in a hurry, and Coleman says he never lay so close to the ground before nor since. Mr. Coleman has been a great student of history and is acquainted with the biography of almost every man of prominence. It was his privilege to know Lincoln and Douglas and hear them discuss the political issues of the campaigns when each was candidate for the presidency. He has traveled extensively through the west and has observed the turn of current events throughout the world, and his memory serves him accurately upon all topics of conversation. As a story-teller and entertained Mr. Coleman has few equals, and nothing affords him more pleasure than to meet a group of his friends and discuss matters of a lofty character. May he live on and on to enjoy the blessings of life is the wish of all within his large acquaintance.