Lorenzo Dow

A friend, after reading my blog about Bailey Eliphalet Chaney, wrote to me about the eccentric preacher Lorenzo Dow who labored in the continental wilds shortly after the Revolutionary War.  Lorenzo Dow  lived from 1777-1834.  At one time his autobiography was second only to the Bible in sales.   According to Wikipedia, Lorenzo was one of the most popular names in America in the 1850 census.

Looking through my Edward Coffey Project files, I found only one Coffey with given name of Lorenzo Dow.  This Lorenzo was a son of William Wiley and Mailnda Emeline Little Coffey, born Sep. 12, 1852 in Indiana.  He married Martha J. Wilson, born Oct. 28, 1854 in Gentry Co., and died May 13, 1938 in Stanberry, Gentry Co.  Lorenzo died on Mar. 20, 1920 in Cooper Twp., Gentry Co. 

Martha was the daughter of Sidney and Mary Cooper Wilson.  She and Lorenzo are both buried in the High Ridge Cemetery at Stanberry.

There is another Lorenzo Coffey in my file, but I do not have a middle name for him.  He was born in 1832 in North Carolina, a son of Larkin and Catherine H. Wilson Coffey.  He married Eliza Corder and had at least two children; Wayland and Nora.

Lorenzo Dow Carr, born c1832 in Virginia, married a lady by the name of Margaret who produced at least three sons, one named Alexander D. Carr, born Feb., 1861.  He married Alice E. Coffey on Apr. 17, 1884 in Nelson Co., VA.  Alice was the daughter of Joseph C., Jr. and Nancy Jane Coffey Coffey.

Then, there's Langston Lorenzo Estes, a son of Elijah and Zebiah Walker Wentworth Estes.  Langston was born in Nov., 1839 in North Carolina.  Langston received his name - at least the Langston part - from his grandfather, Langston Estes who married Mary "Polly" Moore.  The only reason these Estes families are in my file is because of a marriage between Lance Estes, a son of Reuben and Delphia Atkins Estes and Elizabeth Coffey c1803 in North Carolina.  Elizabeth was the daughter of James Coffey, Jr., and Mary "Mollie" Moore.

Lorenzo does not seem to be a popular name in a population of nearly 4000 Coffey men in my file, plus a few thousand other male given names in colateral lines.

The Estes and Moore families, along with the Coffeys were some of the earliest settlers in the Globe Valley of western North Carolina, in the shadow of Grandfather Mountain.