A "Three Brothers" Tale

Salathial "Sail" Coffey, a son of Elias "Eli" and Mary "Polly" Coffey Coffey, was the father of 10 children by two wives.

His first wife was Nancy Dunbar to whom he was married in Russell Co., KY on Aug. 20, 1835.

To that union were born seven children, including William Stanley in 1842; Milton Wolford "Mint" in 1846; and Zachariah Taylor "Taylor" in 1848, all in Russell Co., KY.  William Stanley was sheriff of Collin Co., TX from 1897-98. 

Nancy died in KY in 1853 and Sail married a second time; this time to Mary Ann McFarland, the widow of Houston R. Ballew, on May 10, 1854 in Russell Co.  Three children were born to that union including another son, Sterling Price in Collin Co., TX in 1862.

The oddity of all this concerns the deaths of William, Milton and Taylor.

Taylor, age 73, died at Forest Grove, TX on June 21, 1922

William, age 79, died at McKinney, Collin Co. on June 23, 1922

Milton, age 76, died in Carter Co., OK on June 24, 1922

Sterling did not die until Sept., 1944 in Collin Co.

Salathiel (Sail) Coffey

Salathiel Coffey was born in Russell county, Kentucky, April 20, 1812. His father, Eli, was born in North Carolina, May 8, 1775, moved to Kentucky when a young man and there died July 18, 1833. He was a boot and shoe maker by trade and spent most of his early life in the shoe shop, but after going to Kentucky turned his attention to farming and distilling. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary Coffey. She was born in North Carolina, September 7, 1782, and died in Kentucky about 1873. She born him twelve children, the fifth of whom, Salathiel, was reared in Kentucky on the home farm and in his father's distillery. In 1855 Salathiel came to Texas and in 1857 settled on the farm where he now resides. He is an extensive farmer and a large land-owner; although he came to Texas poor and has dug what he has out of the ground. August 20, 1835, he married Miss Nancy Danbar [Dunbar] of Kentucky. She bore him nine children - Willis S., Jesse P., Lettie, Mary A., William S., Harriet, Milton, Zachariah T. and Nancy J. Mrs. Coffey died November 14, 1853, and May 10, 1854 Mr. Coffey married Mrs. Mary A. (Ballew) McFarlan [McFarland] of Kentucky. To this union have been born three children - Margaret E., Josie C., and Sterling P. The family are members of the Baptist church.1

Salathiel Coffey was the son of Eli and Mary (Polly) Coffey. Mary was the daughter of Nathan and Mary Saunders Coffey. She and Eli were first cousins because Nathan and Salathiel, the father of Eli, were brothers.

In addition to Salathiel (Sale), Eli and Mary were parents of at least 11 additional children: Mariah, born Jan. 17, 1803; Willis, born May 2, 1804 married Lotty, last name unknown; Elizabeth, born Aug. 14, 1807, married Jacob Wolford; Nancy, born Oct. 14, 1809; Serene (or, Serena), born Aug. 9, 1814; Nathaniel J., born Jan. 30, 1817; Stanton P., born Dec. 4, 1819; William S., born Jul. 10, 1821; Newton Eli, born May 2, 1827, died Jan. 13, 1890, married Martha Louise Vermillion; Mary Ann, born c1828; and Reuben, born c1830.

This family moved to Sangamon, then Shelby and finally to Christian Co., IL.

Salathiel (Sale) and his families can be found in the 1850 Russell Co., KY census. From 1860 until 1880 they are in Collin Co., TX.

Please e-mail me if you can add to or correct any of this information.



1 Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas Illustrated, Fannin County TXGen Web (The TXGenWeb Project) online [http://www.rootsweb.com/~txfannin/s.html], accessed Feb. 2005