John
Coleman
and his wife, Mary Drosbach, made their way over the rough pioneer
trails in the early 1830s and landed in what is known as Mt. Carroll where they
decided to make their future home with a goodly number of other Pennsylvanians.
In
spite of some prairie land, a large area was covered by trees, solving the
heating problem by providing fuel for stoves and fireplaces, as well as logs for
building. Population explosion was welcome because few settlers had migrated
westward.
Families
of large numbers were common, although there were no hospitals. John and Mary
had 11 children:
John
Jr., who became Carroll County Treasurer;
George,
who homesteaded land in the Cherokee Strip, making the run for it on horseback
in Oklahoma;
Louis,
who opened a grocery store and operated it in partnership with a Mr. Eggenberger;
Tom
and Clarence, who both died one day apart with the diphtheria when they were
preschoolers;
Edmund,
who went west to prospect for gold;
Laura,
who taught one-room schools and attended the new Frances Shimer Seminary;
Grace,
who attended the Francis Shimer Seminary and later married Joseph Miles, a
banker;
Mae,
who attended the new Seminary and later married Fred Colehour;
Cora,
who attended the Francois Shimer, taught rural school and married William J.
Mackay, a farmer in Salem Township and
Frances,
who operated a variety store on Market Street where Otto Jessen had formerly
operated a Variety Store. She also opened a store where "Poffy's
Tavern" was located later, was bookkeeper for Fred Colehour's Food and
Grain Business and married Fred after Mae died.
Returning
to the original John and Mary, John opened a Feed and Grain and Coal business
near the railroad tracks, since many folks were burning coal to heat their
homes. Farming was the main occupation and many trees were cut to clear more
land for farms, so John bought and sold grain and maintained an elevator which
still stands today, known as Colehour's Elevator-Feed and Grain Business. He
also was mayor of Mt. Carroll.
Frederick
Colehour was employed by his father-in-law and when his sons were old enough,
they also worked there. Eventually, they found themselves as "The Colehour
Brothers" (Theodore and Clarence) operating business. Clarence (Jim) had
two sons (Fred and Richard) who were interested in keeping the business going
but of late years, Fred Jr. has retired and Richard is in charge. Theodore (Ted)
had two sons who were not interested in the same profession and pursued
different paths. The eldest, Graham, became interested in television and lost
his life in a fall, while putting up an aerial in Freeport. The youngest, Ted
Jr., is a successful salesman for items used by business firms to advertise
their wares. Not many of the offspring of the 11 Colemans are around anymore and
certainly not operating a going business, such as the Colehour's Feed and Grain
business. Cora Mackay was the last of the 11 original family died at the age of
almost 90 in 1965.
From:
Pioneers
Families Of Carroll County Illinois
Located at Genealogy Trails - Carroll County, Illinois site.
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/carroll/index.html
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