Biography - Rev. Coffman
Note: Rev. Coffman's biography transcription is incomplete because pages 12 – 15 were missing.
The Rev. Coffman is the son of Alva and Louis P. Coffman, and was born on his father’s farm, twenty miles south of Rock Island, in Mercer County, Illinois, April 25, 1864. His early life was spent on the farm, and in Reynolds, where he attended school. He attended the Western Business College at Toledo, Iowa, and graduated in 1887. After this he spent several years in the general merchandising business, which he conducted successfully.
In January, 1891, he concluded to retire from business and engage in the ministry. October 1, 1891, he became pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church of Ft. Byron, Ill., after having spent nine months as an evangelist. He was ordained by this church March 9, 1892, and remained its pastor until 1894. During the time he was filling this pulpit he was also attending school at Augustine College at Rock Island. In the fall of 1894 he entered Shurtleff College at Upper Alton and attended that school two years, and in the meantime served the First Baptist Church at Brighton, Ill. In March 1897, he received an unsolicited call to the pastorate of the Roodhouse Baptist Church, which he is filling with universal satisfaction. He is a deep thinker, a logical and convincing speaker, and is destined to win laurels in the service of his Master.
Politically, Rev. Coffman has always been a Republican in principle, though he votes with the Prohibitionists. He is a member of Hibbard Lodge No. 247, A. F. & A. M., of Brighton, and of M. W. A. Camp, No. 99, of Reynolds.
Transcribed 25 Oct 2006 by Linda Jones Craig from Souvenir of Roodhouse, 1897.
