(The following biography, originally written by the late Supt. C. H. Hufford, appeared in the March 5, 1936, issue of the Coleman County Chronicle,
 and has been revised by J. H. Brown, Hurst, Texas, a great-great-grandson of Col. Coleman for this publication in 1983.)

     Among the many restless and adventurous spirits that came to Texas over a hundred and fifty years ago was a remarkable man named Robert Morris Coleman.  Mr. Coleman was born in Kentucky about 1799, a son of James and Rebecca Coleman.  The Colemans had originated in Virginia from Captain Robert Coleman who settled on Mobjack Bay, Old Gloucester County, 1638.  He spent the first thirty years of his life in the turbulent West (Kentucky), living through all the harrowing experiences of the war of 1812, and grew up to be a true product of the Kentucky frontier of the times.  He was an expert horseman, a skilled axe-man and a sure shot.  He knew Indian customs and characteristics and was acquainted with all the arts of their warfare.  He joined ranging company to fight Indians in Alabama, married and had two children there before returning to Kentucky about 1826.

     Robert M. Coleman and his family came to Texas in 1831 with their slaves with a wagon train and settled in what is now Bastrop County.  One son was born there on the 5th of December 1831, and died two days later.  Mr. Coleman was tall, angular and lanky; he was dark-eyed, mustached and weatherbeaten.  In temperament, he was quiet but high strung and impetuous.  He had the courage to attack the difficult tasks which the frontier imposed but he lacked the self control and diplomacy necessary to win the political emoluments which he might have received.  He became an alcalde (mayor) in the Province of Bastrop.

     At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Mr. Coleman received a captaincy in the Texas Army, commanding the Mina Volunteers, and was soon engaged in its first great project, namely the capture of San Antonio, then held by the Mexican army.  He appears to have been present at the Battle of Gonzales, the "Lexington of Texas."  Captain Coleman and his company took part in the Battle of Concepcion, just below San Antonio, where the Mexicans were defeated and the way opened for the capture of San Antonio.

     While serving as captain of the Rangers, Mr. Coleman was elected to be a member of the General Convention which was called to meet at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836, and he resigned his Ranger captaincy to attend this convention.  As a member of that convention he took part in drafting the Declaration of independence and the first Constitution of Texas, and was a signatory of both instruments.

     That task finished, he responded to the call for all able bodied men to join General Sam Houston, then in retreat before General Santa Anna.  Houston received him cordially and appointed him "Colonel, Aide-de-Camp" effective April 1st, 1836, and in this capacity he served gallantly through the battle of San Jacinto on Houston's staff, with his service terminating July 15th, 1836, according to his Republic of Texas pay records. Genera Houston and Col. Coleman were men of widely different traits of character and it was almost inevitable that they should disagree.  There was considerable criticism of the General's military strategy and it appears that Col. Coleman permitted himself to become the spokesman for that group.

     Col. Coleman returned to his Bastrop county farm, but from that time on he and his family seemed to be pursued by an evil genius as cruel as it was implacable.  In the summer of 1837, Col. Coleman visited Velasco with his family, was placed under house arrest by Houston, and was drowned while swimming in the mouth of the Brazos River about the 2nd of June.  His widow Elizabeth, and six children returned to Webberville and attempted to carry on with their farming on Webber's Prairie after his death.  On February 18., 1839, a band of maurading Indians surrounded the homestead, killed Elizabeth Coleman and the oldest son, a fourteen year old boy named Albert, and burned the house.  This boy, who possessed his father's spirit, defended the family nobly until killed.  Another son (James) escaped as the Indians approached, and the baby boy (Thomas) was carried off into captivity in the Indian Nation, never to return to the family.  The three daughters, Rebecca, Sarah Elizabeth, and Sarah Ann, hidden under the cabin's thick plank flooring by Albert, survived the attack and were cared for by Samuel Wolfenbarger (who had served as a Ranger under Col. Coleman) until they became of age.  Rebecca married Robert J. Russell, Sarah Elizabeth (who was wounded in the breast by an arrow during the attack) married William Brown, and Sarah Ann married William J. McClellan.  James ranched in the area of Hornesby's Bend until his death about 1855.  All the Coleman children were dead by 1860.

     On February Ist, 1858, the legislature created the present Coleman County and John Flenry Brown (son of Henrys. Beman County and istorian, then a member of the legislature, suggested that tor a new county be named "Coleman" in grateful acknowledgement of the patriotic services of Robert M. Coleman.