Alameda County
Biographies
THOMAS D. COFFMAN
Four and one-half miles south of Livermore lies the Vienna vineyard, which is owned by eastern parties and managed by Mr. Coffman. The estate consists of two hundred acres, of which one hundred and twenty-five acres are under cultivation to fruit and vines, while the balance is utilized for general farming purposes. Under his supervision the place presents an appearance of thrift and prosperity, the winery and other building are kept in good repair, and improvements are made as the need for them arises. For his responsible position the manager is qualified by previous years of practical experience in the same line of work. There is no detail in connection with the raising of grapes and manufacture of wine with which he has not became familiar, hence his services as manager are of special value to the owners of the vineyard.
Mr. Coffman was born in Lancaster, the county-seat of Fairfield county, Ohio, August 29, 1850, and is a son of Noah B. and Elizabeth (Lamb) Coffman, natives of Pennsylvania. During early manhood his father moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio and settled upon a farm in Fairfield county. During 1852 he established the family home in Champaign, Ill., and conducted farm pursuits in Champaign county from that time until his death, which occurred at fifty-two years of age. While living in Ohio he met and married Miss Lamb, who had removed thither from Pennsylvania and whose death occurred in Illinois at seventy-four years of age. At the time the family removed from Ohio Thomas D. Coffman was only two years of age, hence his earliest recollections are associated with Illinois and the home farm in Champaign county. As a boy he attended the common schools and gained an excellent practical education. At the age of twenty years he gave up farming and began to clerk in a general store, which occupation he followed as long as he remained in Illinois. The year 1877 found him working in the lead mines of Kansas, but finding nothing satisfactory there, in 1878 he went as far west as Colorado. He was at Leadville during the boom days of that town, when gold had just been discovered in its mines. While prospecting there he also followed the carpenter's trade, remaining for two years. Later he was similarly engaged at Durango, Silverton, Pueblo and other mining towns. From Colorado he proceeded to Montana, where, although he failed to meet with any good fortune in the mines, he was able to earn large wages at his trade.
From Butte in 1886 Mr. Coffman came to California. His losses in the mines had swept away his little property, and after his arrival in the Livermore valley he secured a position as foreman on the Olivina vineyard, comprising six hundred and fifty acres, and said to be the largest vineyard in Alameda county. Ten years later, on resigning his position at the Olivina, he went to Jackson, Amador county, Cal., and for two and one-half years conducted a livery business in that town, returning to Alameda county at the expiration of that time and assuming the duties of manager of the Vienna vineyard. He and his wife, who was formerly Emma B. Spruegel, have a pleasant home on the ranch and enjoy the esteem of a host of friends and acquaintances in the vicinity of Livermore. Though never a candidate for office nor a leader in political affairs, Mr. Coffman is stanch in his allegiance to the Republican party and votes the straight ticket at all elections. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the kindred Order of Rebekahs.
Transcribed
8-5-15 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 723. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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