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Welcome to my family history blog! It's purpose is to network with other family researchers and share the results of my genealogy research. This is an on-going project and information contained on this blog are subject to revision. Comments and contributions of information are welcome and appreciated.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Last Will of William Allen, Putnam co., GA.

NOTE: WILLIAM ALLEN of Putnam county, Georgia was the second husband of Nancy (Burford) Coleman and the step-father of Henry Allen Coleman. According to the family oral history, he was a cousin but it is not known by what relationship to the family. After his death about 1825, the family, [based on my research], moved to DeKalb county, Georgia. Nancy's brother, Phillip H. Burford, and James P. Barnes, Henry Allen Coleman's future father-in-law were heads of household in that county. The following Last Will and Testament of William Allen was transcribed from a photo-copy of the original on file in the Georgia Archives:



92
Georgia ,Putnam County
In the name of God Amen. I William Allen of the county and state aforesaid being weak in body but sound in mind and memory and calling to mind what is appointed for man once to die do make this my last will & testament & hereby disavow nulling all former wills.First it is my desire after my death that my body be committed to its mother dust and consign my soul into the hands of God who gave it.Item first. I give and bequeath unto Sally Allen Coleman our good tea and furniture.Item 2nd. I give unto my beloved wife all the balance of my estate both personal & real during her natural life or widowhood in case she should marry it then my desire that my estate should then be divided between my wife and her son, Henry Allen Coleman and in case she should not marry it is my desire after her decease that Henry Allen Coleman have the whole of it both real & personal. I do hereby constitute and appoint my beloved wife Nancy Allen Executrix and William E. Adams Executor of this my last will and testament, in testimony whereof I have herewith set my hand and fixed my Seal this 30th day of June 1825.

William Allen

Iddo Ellis
Richard Turner
John Crouch

Georgia, Putnam County, Personally officiated in open court, John Crouch one of the(—————————?) (——————–?) to the within will and is therefore ordered to be recorded.
WILEY WILSON D.CC.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Biography of William Allen Coleman, 1838-1917

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)