According to a source*, William and Margaret (LNU) Giles of Virginia were the parents of James, Nancy, Elizabeth "Betsy", Mary "Polly" and William. James was born c1775 and is the only one for whom I can estimate a birth year.
Two of James' sisters married Coffey men: Elizabeth married William Coffey (born c1775) on Apr. 18, 1800 in Amherst Co. and Nancy married Reuben G. Coffey (born c1777) on Sep. 5, 1801 in Amherst Co. Both men were sons of Edmond Stewart and Nancy Barnett Coffey. Edmond was a son of John and Jane Graves Coffey and John was a son of Edward and Ann Powell Coffey.
James Giles married Jemimah T. Coffey in Amherst Co. on Dec. 19, 1797.
So far, none of my Edward Coffey contacts have ever heard of Jemimah.
I speculate that she was a sister to William and Reuben. Their father, Edmond died in 1808. I have not found a birth or death date for their mother, Nancy Barnett. She may have died early and may have, as many old men of all eras are wont to do, married a younger woman with whom he had at least one more child, it being Jemimah.
So, I am stuck with an unknown Coffey (not the first by any means) but this one intrigues me by her presence in Amherst Co., and the fact that no one has heard of her outside of the cited source.
I am going back to the books to see if I can learn more about the Giles family. In the meantime however, please leave a comment or, drop me an e-mail if you have solved the mystery.
*My Virginia kin : comprising the Hamlett, Witt, Giles, Wills, Eubank-Fortune, Mullenix, Lynchard, Talbot, and Kight families : with a short treatise on the Loving family, Strawberry Point, Iowa: Press-Journal Pub. Co., 1958, 253 pgs., p 64.
