Thomas Joshua & Laura W. Parsons Coffey

Family tragedies occur more often than we like to think!

Thomas Joshua Coffey was born in Wilkes County, NC on Aug. 8, 1883 to Joshua T. and Rebecca Eveline Wyatt Coffey.  He was married to Laura W. Parsons c1903 in NC, the daughter of Finley and Annie Anderson Parsons.  Laura was born Apr. 1, 1882 in Wilkes Co.

Within a year of marriage their first child, a daughter named Eula, was born in 1904.  Children came along in a more reasonably interval thereafter with the birth of Spencer Conrad on Apr. 8, 1906, Thelma in 1909, Burness in 1911 and Cozelle somewhat later in 1917.

Unfortunately, the Spanish Flu pandemic came along shortly after Cozelle's birth and was responsible for the deaths of some 50 million people, worldwide.

Thomas missed that deadly disease when he died of appendicitis in June of 1915.  The family laid him to rest in Wilkesboro, Wilkes Co., NC at the New Hope Church Cemetery.

The flu struck the remaining family in Oct. 1918 when Laura became ill from pneumonia brought on by the flu.  She perished on Oct. 15 at a local hospital in Winston-Salem, Forsyth Co., NC and was laid to rest in New Hope with her spouse.

See Source*

There were yet four young children in the household.  Eula was the eldest at 14 then came Spencer Conrad at age 12; Thelma at nine; Burness at 7 and Cozelle, about a year old. [Laura's death notice reports that she was survived by eight children but I have found only five.]**

Within about a month all were dead except Spencer. I still wonder how he survived!

Burness died 18 Sep., 1918; Eula and Thelma survived until Oct. 24, 1918; Cozelle on Oct. 27, 1918.



Spencer Conrad grew to adulthood, married and probably had children.  His wife was named Nellie L. but I have not found a marriage record nor any info on children born to the union.

In 1920 Conrad lived with his paternal grandmother in Union Twp., Wilkes Co.  I have not found him in 1930.  In 1940 he was found at Fort Bragg in Cumberland Co., NC where he was billeted after returning from Manila, in the Philippines. He was a Private in the US Army Field Artillery.

Conrad, as he apparently preferred to be called,  died Jul. 2, 1973 of carcinoma of lungs in Valdese General Hospital at Connelly Springs in Burke Co., NC and was buried at the Union Baptist Church Cemetery at Millers Creek in Wilkes Co. Nellie preceded him in death on Jun. 7, 1970. She is also buried at Union Baptist.


Source: 

*Newspaper - The Winston-Salem Journal, Winston-Salem, NC, https://goo.gl/6gtb6B : Date: Wednesday, October 16, 1918 Paper: Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) Page: 3 .

** Please contact me if you know of the other children and if they survived the epidemic. I would also like to know if Spencer Conrad  has descendants and the maiden name of his wife, Nellie.