Anna Lois Coffey Mossman

Anna Lois Coffey Mossman

Anna Lois Coffey was the daughter of Adolphus and Susan F. Stoneman Coffey. She was born Oct. 13, 1877 in Newark, Green Co., IN, and died Jun. 18, 1944 in Chester Co., NJ.

Her father was born Sept. 16, 1836 in North Carolina, and died Mar. 20, 1909 in Quincy, Adams Co., IL. Nothing is known of her mother's birth and death dates or places*. They were married Mar. 12, 1874 in Owen Co., IN.

Adolphus descends from Edward and Ann Powell Coffey through their son John and his son Thomas. Thomas' son Larkin, who married Catherine H. Wilson, was Adolphus' father.

Anna had at least two other siblings: Fanny M., born 1875, and H. Ruel, born 1878. Nothing is known of their Fanny's descendants. H. Ruel married Alice Eklund.

Anna was a school teacher, and author of many educational publications, including Industrial Arts for Elementary Schools which she co-authored with Frederick Gordon Bonser in 1923.

She retired as associate professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1943, and died when "shot and killed by a ricocheting bullet at her Cherry Hill Farm in Gladstone, New Jersey, Sunday afternoon, June 18th."

I have read that "...it is clear that historians of industrial arts and technology education have neglected to consider that a woman--Lois Coffey Mossman--had more to do with the establishment of industrial arts than did any other person."

Click on the title link to read more about this fascinating woman.

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Anna's mother was Susan Frances Stoneman, a daughter of Henry and Fanny Stoneman. More information about her family can be found here.