JENNIE COLEMAN (Sarah Westfall 8, Samuel 7, George 6, John 5, Simon 4, Jurian 3,

Symen 2, Jurian 1) daughter of Calvert M. Coleman and Sarah E. Westfall; b. 1877, Wayne Co., MI; d. 15

May 1957, Rochester, MI; mar. before 1898, MI, to EDGAR FREER, b. about 1870; d. 28 July 1933,

Detroit, MI.

Jennie and Edgar were hard-working people. In 1892, Jennie Coleman worked as a milliner in Detroit,

and lived with her mother and brothers at 228 Baltimore Ave. W. The 1898 Detroit City Directory shows

Jennie Coleman Freer was working at a livery at 728 Cass Ave., and Edgar Freer was working at it livery at

157 Alexandrine Ave. They lived at 778 12th St., Detroit, and they had a telephone! Number 4909. Edgar

had a lifelong interest in horses, both raising them and dealing in their sale. They eventually bought a

horse farm near Rochester, MI, although they continued to live most of the time in Detroit or Highland Park.

Edgar was also a real estate agent.
 

Jennie was a pretty, natural blonde woman who always dressed beautifully. She was the envy of her

many nieces, who loved and admired her.
 

On 28 July 1933, Edgar Freer attended the funeral of his cousin, Arthur J. Lenfestey. Three hours later,

Edgar suffered a stroke and died at his cousin's house at 4049 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit. Jennie and their

adopted daughter, Ruth Coleman Freer, were visiting in Chicago at the time.
 

Jennie and Ruth lived for several years in Detroit before moving permanently to the farm near

Rochester, MI. Jennie died of a heart attack at age 80, in Rochester, MI. Both Jennie and Edgar are buried

at Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit, MI.

Children: FREER

i. Ruth Coleman b. about 1910, Ypsilanti, MI; mar. to DeCortez of Spain.

(Ruth was bom to Roy Coleman and Florence Curtis; she was adopted by Jennie

and Edgar after her mother died)

 

Source: "The Westfall and Coleman Family History" by Clarice Koester Coleman (2003)