Biography
Coleman was born in Chatham, New York in 1870. His parents moved the family to Labette County, Kansas in 1871, and in 1881 his father died. William then worked as a salesman.
While he was selling typewriters in Alabama he saw a lantern that used gasoline instead of kerosene. He then switched his sales to lanterns. He then began to craft his own lantern, which he marketed as the Coleman Arc Lamp. In 1901 Coleman married Fanny Sheldon and they moved to Wichita, Kansas. They had two children Sheldon Coleman and Clarence Coleman. The business was now called the Coleman Lamp and Stove Company. He was mayor of Wichita in 1923 and 1924.
Coleman died in 1957 from a heart attack. He is buried in Old Mission Mausoleum, Wichita, Kansas.
Read more about this topic: William Coffin Coleman
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