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a deterrent to our progress."
But they loved life in Kansas. There were wild turkeys and prairie chickens to hunt. Elvira married a son of Holland BROCK, named John, and they were married by 1878. Another daughter, Martha Alice, married William SWEET there on 5 May 1881.
Force to Leave Kansas Quickly
The 1880 Census in Cowley County, Kansas shows Jacob and his family surrounded on one side by his daughter Elvira and John BROCK, and her father-in-law and her family. On the other side were his son, John Henry and his wife and baby daughter.
They could have remained there forever, had it not been for one occurrence. Jacob's son, John Henry, had married a woman named Pamelia, by 1880, and they soon had a daughter, Emma. Then, his wife left him. This so devastated the COLEMAN family that they apparently concocted a plan to snatch the child and to escape to Washington territory.
But word of their plan got out on the evening of the planned attempt and Pamelia and her father told them at the point of a gun that they should leave. The COLEMAN family ended up fleeing the area in 1881 (July 4?), leaving behind their two married daughters.
Traveling through Utah, the Jacob Coleman family met up with Jacob's brother Uriah, in Nephi City, who told them the Oregon territory was too soggy for anything but horses, and convinced them to stay in Utah. They also bought a home in Nephi City, Utah.
Little Schooling in Utah
Jacob's children enjoyed the good schools in Nephi. But, in 1883, they moved once again, to the town of Chester, in San Pete County, where once again there were no schools, but where they bought a home and farmed for five years. Finally they sold out everything and moved to Woodside, Emery (at that time, perhaps Carbon) County, Utah. [James Uriah also said they went back to Nephi in 1886, until 1889, when they moved to Woodside, Emery County, Utah, on a ranch six miles west of Woodside,] A neighbor recollected that the Colemans were fruit farmers. There were no schools there. But James Uriah wrote that there was "good free range for cattle and we begun cattle raising."
Also, in 1883, on July 19, their son, John Henry, remarried Sarah Kate GOLDEN. On 10 Jan. 1887, daughter, Mary Elizabeth married John William STEWART. Then, on 25 June 1890, their son, James Uriah, married Leah THOMPSON, the 15 year old daughter of Anne (JONES THOMPSON) PRESSET, who was now the wife of Louis Presset, of Woodside. Then, in 1894, their daughter, Mary Elizabeth, took off with Charles DORSEY (later changed his name to FOREST). Around that same year their son, Perry Alonzo, married Elzina TURNER. On Oct. 30, 1895, shortly after the death of his second wife, John Henry married a third wife, Ann Eliza (WARNER) PEXTON.
Less than a year later, on July 4, 1896, Jacob died in Woodside. James Uriah said this caused Jacob's children to scatter. James Uriah was working for the railroad only 6 miles from his own ranch. His mother, Barbara, stayed on her ranch for a few weeks and then she sold out and came to live with James for a while. During this time, James Uriah, illegally took a second wife on 7 Sept. 1896, who happened to be, Maud, the 18 year old sister of his wife, whereupon his first wife, Leah, left him.
Barbara ended up living with her daughter Ellvira's daughter in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, where she died 28 March 1910.
Jacob and Barbara's children are:
1. Purnell D., born 9 Nov. 1853. Died 1867 before they left Illinois.
2. Jacob William, born 10 Mar. 1854, died before 1860 Census in Illinois.
3. Elvira, born 25 Nov. 1855, married John Thomas BROCK, 10 Mar. 1854 (probably in Cowley County, Kansas). Died 22 Oct. 1928. ( I have located someone working on the Brock line and hope to locate a descendant of Elvira. I have much information on her children.)
4. John Henry, born 1 Nov. 1857. Married 1) abt. 1878, Pamelia E. ________, probably in Cowley County, KS. Married 2) Sarah Kate GOLDEN, 19 July 1883, in Salt Lake City, Utah., md. 3) Ann Eliza WARNER PEXTON, 30 Oct. 1895. After his first wife left him in Kansas they were forced to leave. His second wife died and he remarried shortly.)
5. Nancy Ann, born 3 May 1859. Died Sept. 1866, in Illinois.
6. Martha Alice, born 25 Aug. 1862. Married 7 May 1881, William R. SWEET, Cow... More
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