29 November 2014

First Frame House In Chicago?


From the story of John and Sarah (Hesser) Coleman found in their son-in-law's (Sadastan Jones) biography:

John Coleman [Jacob, Valentine, Valentine] came to Indiana [John and Sarah were married in LaPorte County, Indiana, in 1834] at a very early day. He was a carpenter by trade and built the first frame house in the city of Chicago. He also carried the mail from Laporte, Indiana, to Chicago on horseback and it will thus be seen that he took a prominent part in the very earliest development of what was then known as the far west. He participated in the Black Hawk war and subsequently removed to Nebraska where he passed away in 1891, at the venerable age of eighty-three years, while his wife's death occurred the following year. [Source]  

See more about the family from the biography of Jacob Hesser Coleman, son of John and Sarah (Hesser) Coleman.

The family in Illinois in 1860:

1860 IL Greene Co.
Coleman, John, 57, b. PA, farmer
", Sarah, 41, b. OH
", Harriet, 23, b. IL
", Mary, 16, b. IL
", Lydia, 13, b. IL
", Alexander, 10, b. IL
", Sarah A., 7, b. IL
", Ellen J., 4, b. IL
", Rachael, 3/12, b. IL
Wells, Hanson, 73, father-in-law, b. VA

A transcribed version of the Coleman Family Bible, owned by Sarah Hesser Coleman, can be found here.




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