John COLEMAN, born 1654 (General)

by john hayward , Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 18:47 (5352 days ago) @ smaughan

I suggest you visit the Gloucester Record Office rather than Longhope Church as all the records will have been deposited there. Even the records of monumental inscriptions are held at the Record Office. Look for baptisms at Longhope around the period 1654 in both Bishop Transcript and Parish Registers but he may have come into the parish from elsewhere and this is where it gets tricky.
If you have a rough idea when a person has died then maybe that he left a Will. You can investigate this by contacting the Record Office on the Web and look for an index of Wills for Coleman,Colman or Coulman. Similarly for Benfield.
I have a transcript of a Will made by a John Colman in 1745 in which he leaves £5 to have a tomb constructed for him on his decease.They seem to have been quite wealthy as he bequeaths large sums of money to various relatives i.e.£40 and £50 large sums for the time I would think.
Another possible avenue for exploration is if any of the Colman relatives were married by License. This again gives additional information on a marriage not recorded in the Parish Register.
I am not sure whether the Coat of Arms might lead somewhere. Perhaps it depends how long they have been in the family.
Good hunting,
John Hayward