Dr. Solon Lycurgus Coleman, Jr. constructed Co-Nita Manor, also known as the Coleman-Brunson House, in Uniontown, Alabama, somewhere in the Neo-Classical Revival style, in 1909. In 1862, his father, Dr. Solon Lycurgus Coleman, Sr., enlisted in Company D of the 4th Alabama Infantry as a Private. During the Battle of Fredericksburg, he sustained damage to his right leg. After returning to work at the end of 1864, he was appointed Division Hospital’s buying agent in 1865.
Georgia was the location of the formation of the 4th Alabama Infantry Regiment in May 1861. It battled at Appomattox Court House until Lee surrendered. In the Civil War, 1,422 men were under its command. Of them, 240 perished in combat, while almost 100 perished from illnesses. After returning from the war, Dr. Solon L. Coleman, Sr. and his wife, Rosa Scott Coleman, had a child. Their third child, named after Dr. Coleman, was born in Uniontown on May 22, 1874, and was given the name Solon Lycurgus Coleman. At the age of 35, his father passed away in January 1874, four months earlier. Thus, he was never introduced to him. Dr. Solon Lycurgus Coleman, Sr. is buried at Rosemont Cemetery in Uniontown.
Solon L. Coleman, Jr. chose to become a doctor in an attempt to carry on his father’s legacy. He made history in 1896 when he became the first person to earn a pharmacy degree from Alabama Polytechnic Institute, which is now known as Auburn University.
He later attended Tulane University to get a degree in medicine, and there he received his degree. He began practicing medicine as soon as he graduated, dedicating his entire life to his profession and working in the city of his birth.
Dr. Coleman entered into marriage again in 1927, this time to Martha Ida McGinniss Brown-Coleman. After a brief illness, Dr. Solon L. Coleman passed suddenly in 1938 at the age of 68 in a hospital in Selma, Alabama. His final resting place was Rosemont Cemetery. Co-Nita Manor was eventually owned by the Brunson family.
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