The following was submitted by Kevin D. West [kdwest@sandspringsok.org]. Annie was his GG-grandmother:
Annie Lewis Alexander was born on 24 Jan
1863 in Parker Co., Texas. She was the
daughter of Lewis and Sarah E. (Culwell) Alexander. Around 1878, while still residing in Parker Co.,
Annie married Frank Hudson Coffey. Frank
was born 10 Jan 1861 in Texas, the son of Elijah D. Coffee and Margaret “Peggy”
Armstrong. Frank and Annie Coffey later
moved to the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in late 1889 or
early 1890. They were still residing
there when the 1900 Census was taken. A
decade later they were living in Oldham and Carson Cos., in the Texas
panhandle, where Frank worked for the railroad.
But, by 1920 Frank and Annie had moved back to Oklahoma, settling in
Tulsa, where they remained into the 1930s.
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| Photo by Kevin D. West |
Annie Lewis (Alexander) Coffey passed
away sometime in early January of 1936.
Regrettably, no death certificate is on file for her at the State Health
Dept. I have attempted to determine her
exact date of death, having searched in newspapers, funeral home and other
records, as well as by submitting queries both printed and online, all without
success. Fortunately, Tulsa’s Memorial
Park Cemetery, where Annie Coffey is buried, does have a record of her date of
internment, that being 7 Jan 1936. For
nearly eighty years, my great, great-grandmother’s grave has remained unmarked,
but no longer. Her specific date of
birth and date of burial are inscribed on the headstone.
After his wife’s death, Frank Coffey
moved to Bristow, Creek Co., Oklahoma where he later passed away on 13 Jun
1940. According to his death
certificate, he is buried in the Bristow City Cemetery. Unlike his wife Annie, Frank’s grave is still
unmarked. And, unfortunately, the City
has no record of where in the cemetery he is buried. My paternal grandmother, Annie Jewel (Smith)
West, daughter of Arizona Pearl (Coffey) Smith, often said of her maternal
grandparents, Frank and Annie Coffey, that they were “good, Christian
people.” What better epitaph could
anyone wish?
