Learning More About the Colemans -- John James Coleman and Sarah Myers Coleman

My great grandfather Daniel Patrick Coleman had an older brother John James Coleman who also emigrated from Ireland to the United States. I first encountered John Coleman living in San Francisco in the 1900 US Census while looking for Daniel. According to the 1900 Census record, John arrived in the United States in 1877. I am still working on determining when and where John arrived in the US, but I do have some idea of what happened to him afterwards.

In about 1895, John married Sarah (Sadie) Myers, probably in San Francisco. By the 1900 census, Sadie had given birth to three children, but only two had survived -- Gladys Mae (b. 1896) and John James, Jr. (Jack, b. 1899). By the 1910 census John and Sadie had moved to Alameda and Sadie had given birth to four more children, again of which only two had survived -- Aileen Gertrude (b. 1904) and Marion (b. 1906.) John and Sadie's eighth child Noel Margaret Coleman was born in 1914. According to both the 1900 and 1910 censuses, John was a sailor. The 1910 census indicates he was a mate on a fishing vessel. By the 1920 census, Sadie turns up as a widow. I haven't been able to find a death notice for John, but based on the California Death Index, I believe he died in 1919. Sadie lived in Alameda County, mostly in Oakland, until her death in 1956.

John and Sadie's children have been challenging to follow in the records as three of their four daughters were married more than once, which means lots of name changes. The fourth daughter, Marion, I haven't been able to find any records for past 1933 as yet, so it's possible she too will prove to have challenging name changes. I've gotten some information on all five of John and Sadie's children, and will follow up with what I've found in later posts.

I am also planning to spend a bit of time looking in to Sadie's family. As I noted in an earlier post, Sadie's younger sister Gertrude Myers Alexander was a witness to my great grandparents' wedding in 1904, so while she is not a direct relative, she did play a role in the family history.