Frederick W.B. Coleman

Frederick W.B. Coleman, the first U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
to the three Baltic States, in Riga (Latvia) in 1928.
(Photo courtesy of AMFA, an endowment of the Coleman Family)

Frederick William Backus Coleman was born on May 17, 1874 in Detroit, Michigan. After attending public school in Detroit, he studied in Germany for two years. He returned to the United States and received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1896 and his LL.B. (law degree) in 1899 from the same university. From 1902 to 1906, Mr. Coleman practiced law in Detroit. He moved to London in 1907 to become the legal counsel and representative of a French manufacturing company. In 1910, Mr. Coleman moved to Minneapolis where he resumed his law practice. In 1914, he worked as the legal counsel for a coal company based in Norway and Russia for two years. During World War I, Mr. Coleman served as a captain in the U.S. Army from 1917 to 1919.

Coleman was appointed the first U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the three Baltic States on September 20, 1922. He presented his credentials in Tallinn on November 20, 1922 and served in the position for nine years. During Coleman's tenure as non-resident Minister, the U.S. Legation in Tallinn was established on June 30, 1930 with U.S. Consul Harry E. Carlson serving as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. Coleman received Estonia's Cross of Liberty 3rd Class in 1925 for his civilian services to the new Estonian state.

Resident in Riga, Minister Coleman departed post on October 20, 1931 to become U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Denmark. Two years later he resigned from the Foreign Service and moved to Sanford, North Carolina. Mr. Coleman became involved in a political-economic survey of the United States from 1835-1938. He died on April 2, 1947 in Bronxsville, New York and was buried in North Carolina.