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John William Poindexter (ca 1848–February 16, 1889) - Encyclopedia Virginia
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Alexander Owen (ca 1830–ca 1898) - Encyclopedia Virginia
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Early Years
Coleman was born into slavery early in the 1830s, probably in North Carolina. The names of his parents are not known. He grew up on a Person County farm owned by William Bailey, who later sold him to Joseph Pointer, another county farmer who owned sixty-seven slaves in 1860 and who may have brought him to Virginia. Coleman learned to read but not to write. He was married, probably by 1858, to a woman named Amanda, a Tennessee native, born about 1839, whose maiden name is not recorded. They had at least one son. It is not known when or under what circumstances Coleman secured his freedom nor when he came to Virginia. His name first appears in the Halifax County tax records in 1869, and by the next year he was working as a carpenter. In June 1872 he bought at public auction 150 acres of land, for which he paid $982.50. The county court approved the deed and conveyed it to him in March 1875.
Clark was born into slavery in Halifax County and was the son of Mathew Clark and Chaney Clark. Contemporary public records occasionally expand his name to Mathew or Matthew Clark, and sometimes add a terminal
e to his surname, but he signed his name as Matt Clark, and his name appeared in that form in the official proceedings of the House of Delegates. The name of his owner and the circumstances under which he secured his freedom are not known. By 1870 Clark had married Elizabeth Betts, could both read and write, was a farm laborer, and lived in the Mount Carmel district of Halifax County, near the North Carolina border. On October 6, 1870, he paid $154.12 for thirty-four acres of land located at or near the township of Black Walnut, where on May 22, 1873, he was elected justice of the peace.