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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of James E. COLEMAN, M.D. 

[Surnames: BEARD, COLEMAN, PORTER] 

COLEMAN, JAMES E., M.D. 

    
The most enlightened tenets of medical and surgical science find expression in the career of Dr. James E. Coleman, a general practitioner of Canton, since the summer of 1884, a leading and progressive factor in many of the foremost medical associations in the country and a potent influence in securing to the children of Canton the best possible educational opportunities, Dr. Coleman's professional ambitions unfolded on the farm near Canton, where he was born Feb. 28, 1863. He is of English-French and German descent, a son of Ezra P. Coleman who was born at Hackettstown, Warren County, NJ, in 1818, and grandson of John Coleman, born on Schooley's Mountain, also in New Jersey. John Coleman married a daughter of France. 
    
Sarah (Beard) Coleman, mother of James E., was born in Virginia and was of German parentage. 
    
Dr. Coleman attended the district schools in the country and graduated from the highschool in Canton, thereafter entering Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which he graduated in February, 1884. In 1887 he was united in marriage to Nettie Porter, a native of Canton and a graduate of the highschool. Of this union there is a son, Everett P. Coleman. 
    
Dr. Coleman is a member of the Fulton Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Mississippi Valley Medical Society and the American Medical Society. He has long been connected with the Military Tract Medical Society, of which he has served as President. 
    
His interest in education is second only to his interest in the art of healing. For several years he has been a member of the Board of Education and was for a time President of that body, and his insistence upon discarding old-time methods has been largely responsible for its present high standard. 
    
Dr. Coleman is fraternally connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Masons, Knights of Pythias, and Modern Woodmen of America.