John Crisp Coleman (August 9, 1823 – March 23, 1919) was a California mining, railroad, and public utility magnate, and served in the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Cal ...

. He was the first President of the

Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) (nickname: ''Never Come, Never Go'') was located in Northern California's Nevada County and Placer County, where it connected with the Central Pacific Railroad. The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railr ...

, President of the North Star Mine in

Grass Valley A grass valley (also vega and valle) is a meadow located within a forested and relatively small drainage basin such as a headwater. Grass valleys are common in North America, where they are created and maintained principally by the work of b ...

, Vice President of the

Fireman's Fund Insurance Company Fireman's Fund Insurance Company was an insurance company based in Petaluma, California which provided personal and commercial property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The company was a principal U.S. subsidiary of Allianz, ...

, and Vice President of California Street Cable. He also served as director of the

Pacific Rolling Mills The Pacific Rolling Mill Company was the West’s first iron and steel producing foundry, founded in 1866, in San Francisco, California. (The company was also known as Pacific Rolling Mills and the two names were used interchangeably throughout its ...

, the Contra Costa Gas Company, and the North Shore Railroad.

Career

1834 California St - Wormser-Coleman House

Coleman was born in Walton,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, England. John and his brother,

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

, arrived at Hangtown Creek, California, in 1850. The two brothers mined at Canon Creek,

El Dorado County El Dorado County (), officially the County of El Dorado, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 191,185. The county seat is Placerville. The County is part of the Sacramento- Roseville-A ...

, and two years later, mined at Iowa Hill, Placer County, where he served as President of the

Sons of Temperance The Sons of Temperance was and is a brotherhood of men who promoted the temperance movement and mutual support. The group was founded in 1842 in New York City. It began spreading rapidly during the 1840s throughout the United States and parts o ...

. About this time, he went East to visit family and buy cattle. In 1860, they moved to Grass Valley, Nevada County, and with others, bought the Helvetia and Lafayette Mining Company. The brothers opened the Morning Star Mine (Placer County) and the Idaho Mine (Nevada County) in 1867; they were also part owners in the North Star Mine and the Hueston Hill Company.

Personal life

Coleman married Mary Lucretia Bush in 1856, and following her death in 1868, he was married in 1870 to Persis Hannah Sibley. Ten children survived him when he died. Coleman was a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, and a Trustee of the Grass Valley

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

. The Wormser-Coleman House on 1834 California Street in San Francisco was owned by Coleman and is a

San Francisco Designated Landmark This is a list of San Francisco Designated Landmarks. In 1967, the city of San Francisco, California adopted Article 10 of the Planning Code, providing the city with the authority to designate and protect landmarks from inappropriate alterations. ...

. The Coleman Memorial Laboratory at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...

, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery is dedicated to John C. and Edward Coleman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, John C. 1823 births 1919 deaths People of the California Gold Rush People from Grass Valley, California People from Suffolk Coastal (district) English miners 19th-century American railroad executives People from the San Francisco Bay Area California state senators 19th-century American politicians English emigrants to the United States Sons of Temperance