This entry could easily have been named "All in the Family."
McDonald (Don) Johnson and Hazel Blalock were distant cousins. Don was the son of McCrourie Cromwell and Myra Angeline Coffey Johnson while Hazel was the daughter of Columbus Filmore and Theodocia Coffey Blalock.
Don was born Apr. 14, 1908 in Watauga Co., and died on Jun. 23, 1972. He is buried at the Boone Fork Baptist Church Cemetery in Watauga Co. Hazel was born Dec. 8, 1912 in North Carolina* and died on Apr. 6, 1984. She too is buried at Boone Fork. I do not have a marriage date for them. Hazel was apparently the second wife of Don. His first wife was Caroline (Carrie) Hawthorn.
I have not found any children born to Caroline. Don and Hazel had at least three children, all born after 1930, who cannot appear here due to privacy concerns.
Columbus Filmore (Lum) Blalock was a son of the infamous William McKesson (Keith) Blalock and his wife, Sarah Malinda Pritchard. "Keith," as some may recall, was the Union sympathizer who ran rampant through some parts of western North Carolina during the Civil War. His mother, Mary Blalock, married Austin Coffey and brought "Keith" and another child, a daughter also named Mary, to the union. Austin raised both children as his own.
Austin was somewhat of a Union sympathizer as well, which put him somewhat on the "outs" with his brothers, McCaleb, William and Reuben who were staunch Confederates. This caused some consternation within the family, and William was eventually slain by a man named Perkins on the orders of "Keith."
Nice guy, huh!?
Theodocia, Lum's wife, was the daughter of Thomas Avery and Louisa E. Gragg Coffey. Thomas was the son of Austin and Mary, and a half-brother to "Keith." "Docia" was Lum's third wife. He first married Emma McNeely followed by Esther Caldonia (Donia) Calloway. Children by Esther were Lilac, Fuchsia, Violet and George. With all those colorful names for the girls, it seems that they should have tagged George with "Red", "Blue" or "Green" for a nickname. Give the parents credit however, for not giving the girls the almost obligatory names of Sarah, Mary or Elizabeth!
Esther later married George Banner and had a daughter which they named Esther. Theodocia was also married twice. Her last husband was Luther Farthing who died in Watauga Co. on Jul. 2, 1934.
Myra Angeline Coffey, mother of McDonald Stephen Johnson, was born Mar. 9, 1871 in Watauga Co., and died there on May 14, 1938. She was the daughter of Jesse Patterson and Phoebe Matilda Curtis. Phoebe was sister to Louisa Adeline Curtis who married Jesse's brother, William Clayton Coffey, Jr. It was William Clayton, Sr. who was killed by "Keith" Blalock's men.
Contact me at the above e-mail address to add to or correct any of this information.
*Some researchers report that Hazel was born in Oregon and only came back to North Carolina after her father died in Oregon in 1925. The 1920 census for Bend, Deschutes Co., OR for the family has Hazel born in North Carolina. No other birth record has been found to confirm that she was born in either place.
