1906 - A drawing of a volcano with smoke coming out of it

Coleman was born in Buffalo, New York to John Hull Coleman (1813) and Charlotte Augusta (née Caryl) Coleman. His younger brother was Caryl Coleman (1847–1930), an ecclesiologist, church glass manufacturer and decorator who was educated at Bellevue Medical College and Canisius College, and who married Nonna Agnes Black. Caryl opened the church department of the Tiffany Company in New York in 1889 and operated it for 10 years. In 1899 he founded the Church Glass and Decorating Company of New York which manufactured a variety of decorative and stained-glass windows for various churches, academic institutions, and other private and public buildings. His maternal grandparents were Capt. Benjamin Caryl and Susan Young. His paternal grandparents were Charles H. Coleman (1787–1880) and Doreas (née Hull) Coleman (1791–1822). Charles was a descendant of Thomas Coleman of Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, who came to Boston in 1635 and moved to Nantucket in 1663 after living in Newbury, Massachusetts. He was raised in Buffalo and studied art under William Holbrook Beard "and an itinerant painter, Andrew Andrews whose real name was Isaacs.