Taylorville, Christian Co., IL Breeze Courier Nov. 9, 1915 Mrs. Lydia Jane Coleman Passes Away Early Today, Aged Over Ninety Years Mrs. Lydia Jane Coleman, widow of the late John M. Coleman, who is known to a large circle of relatives and friends, a;; of whom loved her for her many admirable traits of character, as :Aunt Jane" Coleman, died at 2:00 o'clockthis morning at her late home , 711 East Franklin Street of senility, aged 90 years 6months and 27 days. Mrs. Coleman has been an invalid for the last five years, being unable to leave her room. For several months she has been growing weaker and weaker and her passing away has been momentarily expected for sometime. The funeral services will be held at the Christian church at 2:00 o'clock tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon Rev. W. W. Weeden, of Mt. Carmel, a former pastor of the local church, officiating, assisted by Rev. Rounds the present pastor. Interment will be beside her husband in Oak Hill cemetery. Obituary. Lydia Jane Hill, one of the family of ten children born to John and Elizabeth Hill, first saw the light of day in the Jessamine county, Kentucky, April 12, 1825. She came to Illinois with her parents, brothers and sisters in 1836 when she was but 11 years of age, the family settling in Sangamon county where they resided until 1838 when they moved to Christian County, taking up their residence on a farm 2 1/2 miles northwest of Palmer. Here she was united in marriage to Charles Vandeveer Feb 5th, 1852 and they moved to their farm (now the Gus Smith place) six miles west of this city. Here they farmed for several years and then moved to Pana where her husband and his brother, Aaron Vandeveer conducted a flouring mill until his death in that city in 1865. She was again united in marriage, this time to John M. Coleman at Decatur, in 1867, and they moved to Mrs. Coleman's former home, west of this city, where they resided until the early seventies when they removed to this city and built the coleman home on East Franklin street, where Mr. Coleman died on August 14, 1889, and where the deceased passed the remainder of her life. "Aunt Jan" was the last survivor of the ten children both to her parents, and as she never had a child, the children of her deceased brothers and sisters, being her nearest kin and numerous, endearingly called her "Aunt Jane" and this for years in the name by which she was known, no only to her relatives but to a large circle of acquaintances. While everyone spoke of her affectionately as "Aunt Jan," she was really the aunt of 22 prominent residents of the county and the great-aunt of many more. The following are her brothers and sisters the year of their death and number of the children who are nephews and nieces of deceased: J. H. Hill died in 1872 1 child Terry Hill 1886 Gabriel Hill 1886 Mary Ann Leigh, 1886 7 children Wm R. Hill 1902 3 children Mrs. Fannie Hailey, 1868 2 children J. T. Hill 1909 6 children R. B. Hill 1881 4 children Martha died in early life. The children of the above are the great nephews and nieces and their many children are great-grandnieces, there being five children who ar great grandnieces, meaning that they are in the fifth generation succeeding the parents of Mrs. Coleman. "Aunt Jane" united with the Christian church in 1844 and has always lived an upright Christian life: she was a benevolent friend and neighbor always ready to aid the worthy in distress, and maintaining a cheerful happy disposition throughout the 90 years of her long and useful life. --------------------------------------------------------------------- UGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Teri Wareham Kuntz