Dr. David Coleman
Dr. David Coleman was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1822. He was the fifth child in a family of six. His ancestors had been in this country prior to the Revolution. His parents removed to Ohio, and at twenty-three years of age, he began the study of medicine. In 1849, be graduated at Western Reserve College at Cleveland, Ohio. The same year he located in West Union as a physician. Here he remained all of his life except two years' residence, in Ironton, prior to the war, and a short time during the war, he resided in Ironton, exercising the office of Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment. He was married November 5, 1851, to Miss Elizabeth Campbell Kirker, daughter of William Kirker and his wife, Esther Williamson.
Dr. Coleman soon became the leading physician in his community and so remained during his life. He was the only physician who remained in West Union during the entire epidemic of cholera in 1851. His practice was a hard one, requiring so much riding on horseback in all kinds of weather, but he never hesitated at any hardship in the line of his profession.
In his political views, Dr. Coleman was always anti-slavery and was a Whig and Republican. He never sought or held public office nor would his professional business permit it. He became a member of the Presbyterian Church in West Union in 1853 and was faithfully devoted to it all his life. He was made a ruling elder and served in that capacity the remainder of his life. Physically and mentally, he was a large man. He made a fine appearance anywhere and had a most dignified presence and character. His heart was large and his sympathies active and easily touched. He was courageous, conscientious and self-denying. He was of a social nature, very fond of the society of his friends and greatly appreciated by them. He was hospitable and generous, benevolent to the poor and deserving. He was a pillar in his church, among his professional brethren, in his party, and in the community. Dr. Coleman was naturally a leader wherever he was placed. He has three sons, Dr. William K., his eldest son, who has succeeded him in West Union and is filling his place in the medical profession, church and state; Dr. Claude Coleman, a physician in Nebraska, his second son; his third son, Clement, died in young manhood.
Dr. Coleman died suddenly on Sunday afternoon, December 11, 1887, of an apoplectic stroke, in his sixty-sixth year. His wife survived him.
Dr. David Coleman believed in the high principles of religion and morality which he professed and lived. He earned and deserved the confidence of the community and held it. He was respected and esteemed in every relation, of life. He aimed to conscientiously perform every simple duty which presented itself to him and he did so. This made a good man and a great man of him, and were all men like him, there would be no crime in the world and we would have a model republic. His memory is fragrant to all who knew him and he should never be forgotten in that community where his life's work was done.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900