Valentine M. Coleman of Newington, NH Biography from A History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire (1915)

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Source: A History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and Representative Citizens
         by Charles A. Hazlett, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill, 1915

Page 854

     VALENTINE M. COLEMAN, for many years one of the foremost
citizens of Newington, Rockingham County, N. H., was born in this
town, November 12, 1837, and died at his home there, December 1, 1911,
after a well spent life of seventy-four years.  He was reared in his
native town and in his younger days taught school for awhile, but later
engaged in farming, which occupation he followed thereafter to the end
of his life.  He was a man of high character, faithful to all the duties
of life, a good husband and father, and greatly esteemed by a wide circle
of friends and acquaintances, being one of the best known and best
liked men in this part of the county.  A Democrat in politics, he repre-
sented Newington in the New Hampshire legislature, serving efficiently
in that position.  For some time he was a member of the Piscataqua
Grange.
     Mr. Coleman married Miss Corinne Hoyt, who was born in Ports-
mouth, N. H., June 28, 1839, a daughter of James and Lydia (Smith)
Hoyt.  Her father, a native of Newington, was in early years a well
known and successful school teacher.  He was a son of William Hoyt,
in his day a well known and respected citizen of Newington, the Hoyt
family being one of the old and prominent families of this town.  Mrs.
Coleman was reared in Newington and attended Portsmouth High
School, subsequently finishing her literary education in an academy at
New London, N. H.  Afterwards, before her marriage, she taught school
for a time. She and her husband were the parents of five children, of
whom three are now living, namely: James H., a resident of Newing-
ton; Lydia S., wife of Calvin Lear, residing in Portsmouth, and Florence
H., of Newington, who is a graduate of Smith College.  The two de-
ceased are Dorothy and Nathaniel.  Mrs. Coleman is the owner of a good
farm in Newington and is a lady widely known throughout this locality
and as highly esteemed.  Of cultivated and literary tastes, she takes
an interest in everything calculated to enlarge the mind and refine the

[Pages 855 & 856 contained a portrait for a different biography]

Page 857

character and is a warmly interested member of the Shakespeare Club
of Newington.