BIOGRAPHY, 416,MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA; Vol. 1;Southern Historical Society, Atlanta, GA. 1895.
W.A. COLEMAN, farmer and banker, Carrollton, Carroll Co., Ga., son of Henry A. and Sarah Ann (Barnes) Coleman, was born in 1838. His paternal grandparent, George Coleman, was a native of South Carolina, and came from that state to Georgia early in this century. His father was born in Putnam county, Ga., in 1814, was reared a farmer, and was a soldier in the Indian war of 1836. For many years he was a bailiff, and also a major of militia in Cobb county,Ga., when to be a major was something of a distinction locally. He was a prominent member of the Missionary Baptist church. His maternal grandparents, James and Sarah (McKenzie) Barnes, were among the early settlers of Lincoln county, Ga. Mr. Coleman was reared on a farm in DeKalb county, and what little education he received was at the old-time log school so many times described elsewhere in this volume, and in obtaining it had to go three or four miles barefooted. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company E (Capt. Sharpe), First Georgia cavalry, and continued in the service untill April 26, 1865. He was in many hard-fought battles, notably Chickamauga, Resaca, Kennesaw and Marietta—all the way to Atlanta and Savannah. He was on the skirmish line when Stoneman surrendered, and although he was neither wounded nor captured during the war, he narrowly escaped both. A spirit of enterprise and adventure took him to Honduras, Central America, in 1868, when he carried with him the necessary machinery and implements to engage extensively in saw-milling, fruit growing and cane-culture. He sawed the first lumber ever sawed and baled the first cotton ever baled for shipment in that country. His extensive manufacturing, agriculture and property interests in Honduras are now in charge of his son, William F., who resides there. From that source he derives a very large income, in addition to that from a large, well-improved farm in Carroll county, for, in addition to successfully managing enterprises so large and so remote, he prides himself on being one of the best farmers in this county. His success in everything he has undertaken has been phenomenal. He changed his residence from his farm to Carrollton, where he has an elegant home , so as to educate his children. He is one of the directors of the Carrollton bank. Mr. Coleman was married in 1858 to Miss Cynthia Riggs—born in Butts county, Ga.—daughter of John and Jane (Florence) Riggs, early settlers. Mr. Riggs was born in South Carolina, ran away from home and came to Georgia when sixteen years of age, and afterward became a Baptist minister of note. This wife died in 1877, leaving one child, William F., now in Honduras. In January, 1879, Mr. Coleman married Miss Clara, daughter of Valentine and Eliza (Gant) Kolb, a family of wealth, and among the first settlers of Meriwether county, Ga. By this marriage two children have been born to him—Laura and James. Mrs. Coleman is a member of the Missionary Baptist church and Mr. Coleman is a master Mason. (End)
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