Isaiah M. Coltrane

ISAIAH M. COLTRANE. Among the well known old settlers of the county, now deceased, no name stands higher in the memory of the residents than that of the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this review. For many years he was a resident of Sheridan township, where he lived on a farm of 200 acres in sections 21 and 16, township 32, range 22. He was born in North Carolina, April 19, 1838, and was a son of William and Elizabeth Coltrane, natives of the same State.

William Coltrane, our subject's father, who was a farmer by occupation, concluding that the West held greater possibilities for the farmer, came to Kansas in 1866 and bought a farm near Timber Hill, Kansas, and later removed to Sheridan township, Cherokee County, where he resided until his death. His family consisted of seven children,—Isaiah M. (called "Jim' when he was in the army); Mary; Louise; Franklin; John; Monroe; and Branson.

Isaiah M. Coltrane was occupied on the home farm until the age of 21, when he went to Parke County, Indiana, where he enlisted in the 11th Regiment, Indiana Vol. Cav. He served three years in the Civil War under Grant, during that time being taken prisoner twice and held for a short time. At the close of the war, he returned to Parke County, Indiana, where he was united in marriage to Samantha Ella Teague, a daughter of John and Luzana (Morgan) Teague, natives of Guilford County, North Carolina. The father, John Teague, when a boy of 12 years, went with his mother to Indiana, where he remained the rest of his life, following the occupation of farming. In politics he was a Republican and religiously a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the mother, belonged to the United Brethren. His death occurred in 1884, and that of his wife in 1896. Their family consisted of these children: Lofton, of Parke County, Indiana: Cynthia (Trueblood), of Berkley County, California; Samantha Ella, our subject's first wife; Virena, Rockville, Indiana; Sarah Emily, our subject's second wife; Joseph and Mary, of Marshall, Indiana; Albert, a resident of California; Maurice, of New York City; and Bertie, of Kingman, Indiana.

Mr. Coltrane's first wife died in July, 1881, and in 1883 he married Sarah Emily Teague, a sister of his first wife. The children of his first marriage were Annie J., Mary and John, all deceased. The children of the second marriage are as follows: Bertha May and Homer M., both living with the mother on the home farm. In the spring of 1866, Mr. Coltrane came to Kansas, first going to Douglas County, where he stayed only a short time before coming to Cherokee County, where he located on 160 acres of land in section 21, township 32, range 22, later adding 40 acres adjoining in section 16, which go to make up the 200-acre farm, where the family now reside. The place was unimproved, the only building being a small log house. He began to make improvements, and in later years built substantial farm buildings, and now the place stands as a monument to the perseverance and untiring energy of one man.

In politics he was a Republican, socially a member of the G. A. R., and religiously a consistent member of the Friends' Meeting. No family stands higher in the county than the one bearing the name of Coltrane. The mother and children, loved and esteemed by all who know them, are worthy representatives of the man whose death caused universal sorrow throughout the township.

History of Cherokee County Kansas and its representative citizens, ed. & comp. by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, 1904, transcribed by Crystal Frazier, student from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, 3/6/97.