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John Coleman
Clinton County
A native of Ohio, born in Shelby county, August 15, 1839, and is the son of Philip and Ellen (Dougherty) Coleman, both natives of the Emerald Isle. During his boyhood John Coleman attended the public schools of Elgin and the country schools of Gilbert Station, but his advantages along that line were rather limited. On leaving school, at the age of fifteen years, he entered the employ of the Fox River Railroad Company as an apprentice in the blacksmith shop at Elgin, and remained there until coming to Clinton. Mr. Coleman completed his apprenticeship at Clinton, and has continually advanced through all the positions up to foreman of the blacksmith shop, in which capacity he has served since 1895. He possesses considerable inventive genius, and from scraps found about the shop, which were practically useless, he constructed an air hammer, which is now in use. As an inventor of the machine he has not only received recognition throughout the United States, but also in Germany. Mr. Coleman also invented what is known as the Coleman punch bar, which is in general use on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. In 1863, at Chicago, Mr. Coleman married Miss Jane Coolahan, who died in Clinton in 1876. Mr. Coleman was again married in 1881, his second union being with Miss Catherine J. Keeffe, a native of Ireland. He is a member of the Catholic Church and an active worker of the Catholic Temperance Society. Politically he affiliates with the Republican Party, and although he has never sought office, he was elected to the city council in 1867 and served two years in that capacity. He was also elected to the state legislature, and was an active member of that body from 1886 to 1888, serving as chairman of the committee on labor. He introduced four bills, two of which became laws at the next session, one being against blacklisting men. He is a prominent member of the National Railroad Master Blacksmiths' Association, in which he has served on various committees and is now a member of the committee on track tools. He is distinctively a man of affairs, and takes an active and commendable interest in public matters.
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