GILMER COUNTY, GA - BIOS  Coleman, Elnathan Walker 

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ELNATHAN WALKER COLEMAN was born August 2, 1861, at Ellijay,
in Gilmer county.  At an early age he moved with his parents
to Talking Rock, in Pickens county, where he lived on a farm
until his twenty-second year.  He received his common school
education in the common schools of Pickens county and at the
Ludville Academy.  In 1881 he entered the North Georgia
Agricultural college at Dahlonega, where he graduated in
1884.  During seven months previous to 1884 he was appointed
to fill the chair of mathematics in that institution, and
discharged the duties of that position with credit and
ability.  He took a prominent part while at college in
literary work and was an active member of literary and other
class societies.  He was, and still remains, a member of the
S. A. E. college fraternity, and thoughout his college
course was frequently the recipient of class honors,
standing high in the confidence of the faculty.  While
attending college he supported himself by teaching on
vacations.  After completing his college course, Mr. Coleman
became principal of Pine Log high school in Bartow county.
He next went to Atlanta to prepare himself for the legal
profession and entered the office of Henry B. Tompkins.  In
November, 1885, he was admitted to the bar of the superior
court of Gilmer county by Hon. James R. Brown, the presiding
judge. Immediately thereafter he commenced the practice of
his profession at Ellijay.  Mr. Coleman, in a brief period
after his admission to the bar, arose to the distinction as
an able advocate and a judicious counselor.  His defence of
David Dover at the first term after being admitted to the
bar, tried for the crime of arson, was pronounced at the
time to be the ablest effort of the kind ever made before a
Gilmer county jury, and at once placed him in the front rank
of forensic advocated in the Blue Ridge circuit.  In 1887,
he was elected Mayor of Ellijay, and has had frequent
occasion to decline re-election to that ofice.  On Dec. 18,
1888, Mr. Coleman was united in marriage to Miss Fannie King
of Marietta, Ga.  Mrs. Coleman died in June, 1890.  In 1893,
Mr. Coleman turned his attention to the mining industry.  He
has invented a mill for the purpose of extracting the gold
from the ores.  A special feature of his invention is the
power to save the precious metal after it has been
extracted.   He has organized and is interested in several
gold-mining companies and has done much to develop the
mining industry in the state.  Mr. Coleman has been an
advocate of higher education in his section of the state.
He was one of the first board of trustees of Young Harris
institute in Town county, Ga.  He was also one of the
originators of establishing the Blue Ridge institute at Blue
Ridge, Ga., and is vice-president of the board of trustees. 
He delivered the principal address at the laying of the
cornerstone of that institution in 1893, and also delivered
the first annual literary address in 1894.  He was also
vice-president of the board of trustees of the Ellijay
Seminary for several years. He was also been a member of the
board of education, of the north Georgia annual conference
of the M. E. church south for several years. Mr. Coleman's
father is Watson R. Coleman, born in Haywood county, N. C.,
on June 8, 1817, and who moved to Georgia in his early
youth.  His mother was Nancy A., daughter of Samuel T. and
Sallie Wilson.  She was born in Buncombe county, N. C., on
May 28, 1826, and married to the father of this sketch in
LaFayette, Ala., Oct. 29, 1858.  Mr. Coleman has three
brothers living: Dr. W. L. Coleman, a practicing physician
at Canton, Ga.; James I. Coleman, a mail-agent, residing in
Atlanta, and W. S. Coleman, editor and publisher of the
Cedartown "Standard" at Cedartown, Ga.

Source: Memoirs of Georgia published 1895 by The Southern
Historical Association