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Colemans of Ohio
Jonathan Coleman
Jonathan Coleman is believed to be the father of John. It is believed that they came together to settle the Hamilton County area in the late 1700's.
Goforth's Diary, which is a record kept by a man who lived at Fort Washington and which is now at the Natural History Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, records:
"July 14, 1791, Frances Bedle and Jonathan Coleman, a very old man, were killed by the Indians between Columbia and Cincinnati."
Apparently Jonathan was killed up at Turkey Run, at the east end of Cincinnati, in an area now known as Delta Avenue. Down at the bottom of it, on the riverbank, was a big flat bottom land called Turkey Bottoms.
Nothing more is known, either of Jonathan or his wife. We can only guess his birth date to be between 1710 and 1730.
Family tradition in Ohio claims the Coleman family descended from the Colemans of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and before that from Graves End, England.
John Coleman(1)
John Coleman is said to be the son of Jonathan. He is said to have fought in the American Revolution and then migrated to Pennsylvania for awhile. If this is true, then sometime before 1891, he and his family (including his father, at least) came to Ohio to make use of the land grant he is said to have received for his services.
John settled on the west side of the junctions of the Big Miami River and Taylor's Creek.
According to Benjamin Coleman's family bible, the family of John included:
1. John(2) who married Polly Jacobs
2. Hannah, who married John Frazey
3. Polly, who married Jack Pierson
4. Jacob(1), who married six times: 1) Mary (Polly) Bunnell (Bonnell)
2) Nancy Taylor, 19 Dec. 1822
3) Anna Martin, 13 Nov. 1825
4) Nancy____________
5) Barbara McCune
6) Barbara Campbell
No more is known about John(1) but there is quite a tale that was recorded about that area and attributed to his wife. But one telling attributed is to the mother of Jesse Coleman, the son of a W. Coleman.
Nevertheless, one of the Coleman descendants, Emma Arnold, told it thus:
"This is the way the story goes that differs from the account in the paper... They were at the fort and they went up in the boat, and Pap (that's what they called this Jonathan, the old man) and John was out on Taylor's Creek on his land grant, clearing ground and getting the cabin built, along with Able Ingersoll and Richard Arnold and John Jacobs. And some of the Indians were living in a village right at the end of where Highway #74 crosses the river now, just up on the hill, back of where the Coleman brick house now stands.
"Well the men were clearing ground and Mrs. Coleman got what they called "dirt fever" and she wanted to go and make a garden. So they got in the boat and went up the river where they found a piece of ground without a tree or a bush on it, all worked up loose and just the perfect thing to make a garden. So they started to put in a garden and they went back the second day and the third day, and this day, Oliver Spencer, whose grandfather owned the first hotel here in Cincinnati was with them. So they went up and they were putting in vegetables and the Indians came, "Whoop, whoop!" and started after them. Well, they killed the old man jonathan and they took the Spencer boy with them, and he was gone for two years.
"And she (Mrs. Coleman) had on, and this has always tickled me, three petticoats. It was such a not day and she wanted to keep the heat out. So she had on three petticoats and they were really heavy muslin and they had crocheted lace on them. And, of course, when the attack came it scared her and she ran and she jumped off a cliff and went down feet first and the air got up under her petticoats and, because they were thick, it didn't go through, and she hid in the water, which went up under her arms but not over her head. Then she came up and she just bobbled like a cork all the way from Turkey Creek (now Delta Avenue) to the mouth of Deer Creek.
"Well, the men were cutting grapevines and they heard her screaming and she was almost out in the middle of the river, right in the current. And they went out in a boat and brought her in, she didn't get in by herself.
"But look at that from the Indians' view. They had got their ground all cleared and worked up and they are ready to put in and along come these white people and start putting it in."
The Ohio family says John's wife was 60 years old when she jumped in the river. That would make her born about 1731. They also say she had a son named John(2) who had been in the Revolution and was married by then.
However, the John who was born in New Jersey, and married Polly Jacobs and later settled in Indiana was born about 1790. So, it is unlikely this woman who jumped in the river was his mother. And he was not old enough to fight in the revolution.
Also, it was a W. Coleman who had the first mill at Columbia, not John(1).
John(2) Coleman
The Coleman records say that John(2) Coleman married Polly Jacobs and that he was the son of John(1) and grandson of Jonathan Coleman. They say John(2) had a brother, Jacob(1) who settled in Miami Township, Hamilton, Ohio. So far we have no proof this John(2) is any relation to Jacob(1). Let's examine what we have.
The earliest Census record of them found was 1830, in Union Township, Montgomery County, Indiana. John (40-50), wife (20-30), boys: one under five, one five to ten. Girls: one under five, one five to ten. (see page 39)
Census 1840 found them in the same location, listing John with one boy (10-15) and both John... MORE
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