By Jim Coleman
Coleman Crest Farm will be hosting the 2024 Annual Family Reunion of the Descendants of Liberian President, William D. Coleman on Friday July 19th, Saturday July 20th and Sunday July 21st!
William D. Coleman was born in Fayette County on July 18, 1842! At the age of 11, he emigrated to Liberia with his widowed mother Ellen and settled in Clay-Ashland Liberia, named after US Speaker of the House, Henery Clay and his Lexington based estate, Ashland.
In 1877, William D. Coleman was elected to Liberia’s House of Representatives and served as Speaker of the House of Representatives until 1879. Later he served in the Senate and then as vice president before assuming the presidency when President Joseph James Cheeseman died in office as the 13th President of Liberia.
Ever since meeting my cousin Fatima at the Liberian Embassy in Washington DC and then later meeting the Coleman’s of Clay Ashland Liberia at their 2016 annual family reunion, it has been my dream to invite my Clay Ashland Liberian relatives, including the family’s matriarch, Dr. Genevieve Coleman Garnette, the grand daughter of William D. Coleman, to Coleman Crest Farm after the renovation of the farm and the construction of the farm’s new Legacy House.
My dream has become a reality and I can barely wait till July 19th to welcome all of the Descendants of William D. Coleman to Coleman Crest Farm and to Fayette County where it all started for William D. Coleman!
Lots of planning is already in the works for this exciting historic weekend! This ain’t nothing but God!! Won’t He Do It!!!
