Coleman Yellott (1821 – July 28, 1870) was a member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

and the

Maryland Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single- ...

Early life

Coleman Yellott was born in 1821, in Dulaney Valley,

Baltimore County, Maryland Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

, to Captain John Yellott. His father was a captain of a troop of cavalry in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. His grandfather came from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

around 1792. Yellott studied law and was admitted to the bar in

Harford County Harford County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is al ...

. Yellott was the brother of Judge

George Yellott George Yellott (July 19, 1819 – November 13, 1902) was an American politician and judge from Maryland. He served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Harford County in 1844. He served as justice of the Maryland Court of ...

Career

Yellott was elected to the

, representing Harford County, as a Whig from 1842 to 1843. He then moved to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and was elected as a member of the American Party to the

from 1860 to 1861. In May 1861, Yellott brought a bill before the senate. The bill was for the "public safety" of the people of Maryland. The bill would create a commission above the Governor and prepare a militia for the defense of the state, and presumably take Maryland into the Confederacy. The bill did not pass. He was a sympathizer of the South prior to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He was negotiating with the government of the Confederacy in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

when hostilities began. He then accepted an appointment as

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

and clerk of the military court which was attached to the Army of Southwestern Virginia. He served for four years and retired at the end of the war to

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

. Yellott began the practice of law in Lexington. He returned to Baltimore in 1869 to resume the practice of law there, but died shortly after.

Personal life

Yellott married Mary Virginia Rust, daughter of General

George W. Rust George W. Rust (April 7, 1815 – May 12, 1888) was a nineteenth-century Virginia doctor and plantation owner who during the American Civil War served in various Confederate hospitals, as well as the Virginia House of Delegates from Septemb ...

, of

Leesburg, Virginia Leesburg is a town in the state of Virginia, and the county seat of Loudoun County. Settlement in the area began around 1740, which is named for the Lee family, early leaders of the town and ancestors of Robert E. Lee. Located in the far northea ...

. They had five sons and four daughters, including Robert E. Lee Yellott. Yellott died on July 28, 1870, at the house of his brother-in-law, Colonel A. T. M. Rust, in Leesburg.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yellott, Coleman Date of birth missing 1821 births 1870 deaths People from Baltimore County, Maryland Members of the Maryland House of Delegates Maryland state senators Maryland lawyers Virginia lawyers People of Maryland in the American Civil War