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| Mattie Payne Portwood Coffey & first husband, William Bruce Portwood |
William died in Texas on Sep. 9, 1893 and was buried at Friendship Cemetery in Boyd, Wise Co., TX. He was 27 years old.
Some years after William died and after Mattie had returned to her parents home in Jamestown, Russell Co., KY, she married Thomas Jackson "Stonewall" Coffey, a son of Stanton P. and Mary C. Saufley Coffey.
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| William Bruce Portham |
Robert L., born Oct., 1889
Elaine - born Feb., 1897.
Robert and Elaine appear in the 1900 census as grandchildren of William and Mary Jane Payne, Mattie's parents. The Coffey family was living with Mattie's parents in Jamestown. In that census, Mattie reported that she was the mother of two children and, two were living. Because she had two children by Portman, Robert and Elaine seem likely to be Stonewall's from an earlier marriage.
The order of children becomes a bit confused when in 1910 William J., age 12, born in KY, appeared with the family as a son. Robert E. was 10 years old. Reubin Payne and Charles Sofley were also enumerated as their children. Reubin was born in 1902 and Charles in 1907. There was a son, George Stanton, between them who was born in 1905, but was not enumerated with the family in the 1910 census.
Mattie's two children with Portwood, Ella May, age 18 and Thomas B., age 16 were with the Coffey family in 1910.
In 1920 the children still at home were: William, age 22; Robert, age 20; Reubin, age 17; George, age 14 and Charles, age 12.
Robert was Robert E. Lee Coffey who married a lady by the name of Lula and appear in the 1930 census of Mulvane, Sumner Co., KS without children.
William Jackson married Pauline Myrtle Logan c1925. They also appear in the 1930 Mulvane census with children William, born c1927 and Dorothy M., born c1928.
A Reuben P. Coffey, age 25, born KY, was an inmate at the Kansas State Industrial Reformatory in 1930. Also in the Reformatory that year was Bill Coffey, age 20, born KS, but no relationship to Stonewall's family is known to have existed.
Also that year, a Charles S. Coffey, age 22, born KS, was a boarding house lodger in Wichita, Sedgwick Co., KS. He was unemployed.
George was a US Army student aviator at Kelly Field when he died in a plane crash in 1929. Injuries were described in his death certificate as "fracture, compound, comminuted, two (2) inches above right eye. Death was instantaneous."
Most from this family are buried at Belle Plaine Cemetery in Sumner Co., KS.
The photograph of Mattie Coffey and William Bruce Portman is courtesy of Kevin Coffey. Kevin has submitted additional photos and comments that will be published in subsequent blogs.
