Norman Jay Colman

See Norm Coleman for the US Senator from Minnesota.

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Norman Jay Coleman (May 16, 1827 – November 3, 1911) was a newspaper publisher and the first United States Secretary of Agriculture.

Coleman was born in Richfield Springs, New York, and later moved to Kentucky to become an educator. He received a law degree from the University of Louisville Law School in 1849. Coleman then moved to Missouri and went into farming. In 1855 he founded the Valley Farmer newspaper. As a result of his publication, Coleman became a prominent figure in Missouri farming circles, which set the path for a political career in the U.S. House of Representatives. The publication of Coleman’s newspaper was interrupted by the American Civil War, but three years after the war he founded the "Coleman’s Rural World". His political career continued when he was appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Missouri from 1875 to 1877. During his tenure he campaigned for the creation of the United States Department of Agriculture under the administration of President Grover Cleveland, of which he served as its inaugural Secretary for the remainder of Cleveland’s term.

He was a member of the Freemasons.

External links

* Find-A-Grave profile for Norman Jay Coleman