Bio of
Richard Coleman
Corporal, Company B
5th United States Colored Cavalry


Richard Coleman (b. 1843-d.1901) was a veteran of the US Colored Troops, Company B, 5th Regiment of the Colored Cavalry.  He enlisted at Camp Nelson on August 19, 1864 and rose to the rank of Corporal by the time he mustered out in Helena, AR in 1866. 

Richard Coleman purchased 26 acres of the original 50 acres of Huntertown in 3 separate land transfers in 1879, 1881, and 1884.  He sold parcels of land to many people, who, like himself, were formerly enslaved in Woodford County. He was farmer, a minster and a leader in the Huntertown community.

Richard Coleman married Bettie Waters in May 1868.  Richard and Bettie Coleman had 7 children:  Richard, Henry, Ella, Albert, David, James and Robert.  Bettie Coleman passed away in 1884.  Richard married Ellen Myles in April 1889 at the Zion Hill Church in Scott County.  Together Richard and Ellen Coleman had 4 children: Shelley, Roger, Mattie and Lula Christopher.

Richard and Ellen Coleman's daughter Mattie D. Coleman was a teacher at the Huntertown Colored School.  Their son Shelley D. Coleman was an insurance agent in Versailles, and a deacon at First Baptist Church. The families lived in the Huntertown community for many years.

Source: Huntertown History

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