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November 28, 2011

John H. & Miriam Coffey Sanders

John and Miriam were the parents of Newell Sanders, written about in an earlier blog.  At the time, I did not have a whole lot of information on the descendants of John and Miriam.  Newell appears to be the only son or child that survived from that union.  Hopefully, what I add here will be of some use to readers who have an interest in this family.



Newell Sanders' mother, Miriam Coffey, was a daughter of the Rev. Reuben A. and Martha "Polly" Dowell Coffey.*  She was born to them on Dec. 26, 1822 in Watauga Co., NC and died in Chattanooga, Hamilton Co., TN on Nov. 12, 1885.  The marriage between her and John Sanders, Jr. occurred on Sep. 30, 1849 in Owen Co., IN.  John H. Sanders, Jr. was born on Jan. 20, 1824 in IN and died there on Oct. 2, 1851.  The only census that the couple appeared in was the 1850 of Owen Co.  That records shows a child named John M., age 6, born in IN.  I believe this child to be John's by an earlier marriage and not with Miriam.

Miriam married for a second time on Dec. 31, 1857 in Clay Twp., Owen Co.  This husband was John Hamilton Buchanan, born Mar. 9, 1831 in KY, died Jul. 12, 1890 in Hamilton Co., TN.  The 1860 census of Owen Co. shows children Adelaide, age 10, William D., age 8, Newell Sanders, age 9 and Judson Buchanan, age 1.  Newell of course was Miriam's first child; Judson was her second. It is unclear what became of the child John M. Sanders that appeared in the 1850 census.  In 1870, a daughter named Marietta, age 5, appears in the household with John and Miriam but nothing else has been found.  I suspect that she died young.

This family remained in Owen Co. at least through the 1870 census but, by 1880 they had relocated to Chattanooga in Hamilton Co., TN.  Newell had graduated from Indiana University in 1873 and married Corinne Dodds, also a Indiana U graduate (Bachelor of Science) in about 1873.  In 1877 the couple moved from Indiana to Chattanooga where he began to successfully manufacture plows. The Buchanan family followed and Judson eventually went into the plow making business with his half-brother.
Judson married Mary Angie Coffey, a second cousin and daughter of Alfred Alphonso and Julia Ann Dawkins Coffey.  Alfred was a son of Elijah and Polly Hull Coffey.  Elijah and Reuben were brothers, sons of Thomas and Sally Fields Coffey.  Judson died on Jan. 27, 1842 in Chattanooga.  Angie died there on Nov. 9,1932 and both are buried there at Forest Hills Cemetery. Their children were:  Raymond, 1886-1887; Corliss, 1889-1947; Evelyn, 1892-1927; Robert, 1893-?; and James, 1900-1922.  With the exception of Robert, for whom I have found no death/burial info and, Evelyn who is buried with her husband at Arlington National Cemetery, all of the others are buried at Forest Hills.
Judson's daughter Evelyn married Homer David Cogdell of Bullock Co., AL c1918, or earlier.  David apparently had some connection with the plow company because he is known to have traveled, and at least once to Europe.  After Evelyn died, he moved with Caroline, their only child, to Sioux Falls, SD where in 1930 he reported his employment as a salesman of farm utensils.  He was then 42 years old and unmarried.  Caroline was 10 years old.  On Mar. 14 of the following year he married Mary Helen Elliott of Sioux Falls.  There is a passenger record which shows this couple returning from Le Harve in France to the Port of New York on Feb. 17, 1938.  With them was one child, Helen Janet, born May 8, 1936, "abroad to American parents."  Homer died on Oct. 8,1956 in Alexandria, VA was was buried at Arlington.  He had served as a Captain in the US Army during WW1.  I have no information on the death or burial location of Mary Helen.



Newell and Corinne, a daughter of Clelland Finley and Mary Elizabeth Orchard Dodds, lived on Lookout Mountain in Hamilton Co., TN.  They were the parents of six children.  It appears that only three of them lived to adulthood.

They were:

Wendell, born Jan. 15, 1875 in Indiana, died Apr. 30,1892 in Hamilton Co., TN.  He is buried at Forest Hills.

Norinne, born Dec. 17, 1876 in Indiana, died Jul. 3, 1939 at Lookout Mountain, married John Harvey Anderson.  He was born Feb. 9, 1874 (place not known to me) and died on Jan. 7, 1966 in Hamilton Co.  Both are buried at Forest Hills.  They are known to have at least one child, John, Jr., born prematurely and died on Apr. 15, 1915.  He is also at Forest Hills.

Mildred, born May 1879.  No further information.

Sherman, born Aug. 18, 1882 in TN, died in Chattanooga onOct. 2, 1927.  Sherman was married but I do not know his wife's name.  He died at age 45 from acute appendicitis and was buried at Forest Hills.

Dorothy, who was called Dot, was born Oct. 24, 1886 and died on Jan. 4, 1894 in Chattanooga.  She is buried at Forest Hills as well.

The last child I know of was Pansy, born in June, 1890 in TN, died Jun. 4, 1944 at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville.  She married Ben Matthews Allison c1910 and gave birth to at least two children, both sons. Joe Hill was born in 1913 and died in 1979.  Ben Matthews, Jr. was born Aug. 24, 1914 and died Sep. 17, 2004.  Joe's wife was Mary Cummings.  I do not know where Mary Cummings Allison is buried.  The rest of this family rest at Forest Hills.
"Sanders, Newell, a Senator from Tennessee; born on a farm near Bloomington, Owen County, Ind., July 12, 1850; attended the rural schools; graduated from Indiana University at Bloomington in 1873; owned and operated a book store in Bloomington, Ind., 1873-1877; moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1877 and became a manufacturer of agricultural implements; member of the school board 1881-1882; alderman 1882-1886; president of the Chattanooga Plow Co. 1882-1901; member of the board of directors of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway; appointed as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert L. Taylor and served from Apr. 11, 1912, to January 24, 1913, when a successor was elected; was not a candidate for election; chairman, Committee on National Banks (Sixty-second Congress); continued his former manufacturing pursuits; died at his home on Lookout Mountain, Tenn., January 26, 1939; interment in Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tenn."**
Click on the "earlier blog" link at the top of this page to read more about Newell and Corinne.












*More blogs about Reuben and Polly can be found by using the search block in the sidebar.
**Mitchell Chapple, Editor, National Magazine: An Illustrated American Monthly, vol. 36, April, 1912 - Sept., 1912 (Boston, MA: Chapple Publishing Co., Ltd., ~Oct., 1912), Page 413. [There are many sources of information on Newell.  Search for him in Google Books.

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