Coffman, John Franklin, M. D.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

John Franklin Coffman, M. D. For nearly ten years Doctor Coffman had successfully practiced as a physician and surgeon in Marion. Throughout that period he was associated with Dr. E. P. Marner, one of the oldest physicians of Marion County, and their relations were dissolved only when Doctor Coffman answered the call for duty in the medical department of the American army.

He was born July 1, 1883, at Glenwood, Iowa, a son of John Franklin and Mary E. (Turpin) Coffman. His father, who was born in Hagerstown, Indiana, June 25, 1850, spent all his active career as a farmer and is now living retired. The mother was born September 16, 1856, in Monroe County, Indiana. They were married at Lexington, Illinois. Their five children, four sons and one daughter, are as follows: William Turpin, born July 19, 1870, at Lexington, Illinois, died April 14, 1912, at Unadilla, Nebraska. He was also a member of the medical profession. James A. was born October 10, 1872. Merten M. was born May 5, 1875, in Ringgold County, Iowa. Doctor Coffman was the fourth in age. Mabel, born October 19, 1884, at Tingley, Iowa, is now the wife of Earl Ross, of Galena, Kansas.

Doctor Coffman was educated in the public schools of Ringgold County, Iowa, attending country schools at first and afterwards the Tingley High School, and in 1902 graduated from the Lake High School of Chicago. At the age of twenty-one, in 1904, he entered the Ensworth Medical College of St. Joseph, Missouri, and took his degree Doctor of Medicine with the class of 1908. In September of the same year he came to Marion and entered upon active practice, associated with Doctor Marner. Doctor Coffman was elected coroner of Marion County in 1912 and had held that office to the present time. On June 7, 1917, he was commissioned first lieutenant of Medical Staff, Third Regiment, Kansas National Guard. At this writing he is awaiting the call to the front.

Doctor Coffman is a republican in politics. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights and Ladies of Security.

At Chanute, Kansas, October 15, 1908, he married Miss Elizabeth G. Kaemmerling. Mrs. Coffman was born at Collinsville, Illinois, daughter of John and Mary Kaemmerling. Her father was born in Germany, March 24, 1844, and her mother at Sheffield, England, September 3, 1853. Her mother died in Chanute, Kansas, January 28, 1914. They were married in 1868 and their eight sons and three daughters were: Samuel, born June 28, 1874; John Jr., born January 21, 1876; William, born November 16, 1877; Thomas, born May 3, 1879, died February 25, 1916; Herman, born September 4, 1881; Anna, born July 20, 1883, died August 15, 1897; Elizabeth G., Mrs. Coffman; August, born December 24, 1886; George, born November 20, 1888; Lewis, born September 30, 1890; and Minnie, born January 30, 1893.

Doctor and Mrs. Coffman have one child, Delphos O., born October 13, 1909.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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