Margaret Rebecca Greene

Margaret was a daughter of David and Catherine E. Smith Greene, born Jul. 3, 1857 in Caldwell Co.  She married Smith Coffey, a son of Isaac and Sarah "Sally" Estes Coffey on Aug. 14, 1872 in Caldwell Co.*

Smith had first married Martha Smith in 1868** and had one son, Charlie, born c1874.

Rebecca and Smith were the parents of at least eight children:  Katherine who married Rev. W. Roseboro Beach; Mary who married Joseph Alexander Smith; Martha who married Horace Sudderth; Henry who married Thursa Elmira "Mira" Sudderth who later married James William Coffey, son of William Luther and Mary Ann Barlow Coffey; Margaret who married Duffy Benson; Thomas Jefferson who married Bessie Beach; George Greene who married Ella Anne Barnett; and Clara who married Jay Luther Barlow.

Annual Report

Smith apparently died before 1906 because on Sep. 19th of that year Rebecca married Burton N. Lanier at Kings Creek in Caldwell Co.***  It is unclear what happened to Burton because in 1910 Rabecca [sic] Lanier and her daughter Clara were enumerated at Kings Creek without Burton.¹  By 1920, enumerated as Myra R., she was once again using the Coffey surname.  She was a widow then and ran a retail grocery business which she operated through at least 1930.²

When Smith died, Rebecca was left with minor children Thomas, Greene and Clara.  She was required to report annually her expenses in support of the children.

Margaret Rebecca died on Dec. 11, 1938 at Kings Creek and was buried at Kings Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.

As always, corrections and additions are welcomed.

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*North Carolina County Marriages, 1759-1979 , digital images, FamilySearch.Org (www.familysearch.org).  Groom's Name: Smith Coffey Groom's Birth Date: Groom's Birthplace: Groom's Age: Bride's Name: Rebecca Greene Bride's Birth Date: Bride's Birthplace: Bride's Age: Marriage Date: 14 Aug 1872 Marriage Place: Caldwell, North Carolina Groom's Father's Name: Lic Isaac Coffey Groom's Mother's Name: Bride's Father's Name: Bride's Mother's Name: Groom's Race: Groom's Marital Status: Groom's Previous Wife's Name: Bride's Race: Bride's Marital Status: Bride's Previous Husband's Name: Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M74468-7 System Origin: North Carolina-EASy Source Film Number: 590345 Reference Number: bk 3 


**Ancestry.com. North Carolina Marriage Collection, 1741-2004 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA.  Name: Smith Coffey Gender: Male Spouse: Martha Smith Spouse Gender: Female Marriage Date: 12 Jan 1868 Marriage County: Caldwell Marriage State: North Carolina Source Vendor: FHL microfilm # ????? Source: Record of this marriage may be found at the Family Notes: Smith Coffey married Martha Smith on Jan 12, 1868 in Caldwell, NC


***North Carolina County Marriages, 1759-1979 , digital images, FamilySearch.Org (www.familysearch.org).  groom's name:Burton N. Lanier groom's birth date:1850 groom's birthplace: groom's age:56 bride's name:M. R. Coffey bride's birth date:1858 bride's birthplace: bride's age:48 marriage date:19 Sep 1906 marriage place:Kings River [sic] [Creek], Caldwell, North Carolina groom's father's name:Edmund Lanier groom's mother's name:Susanna Lanier bride's father's name:David Greene bride's mother's name:Mrs. David Greene groom's race:White groom's marital status: groom's previous wife's name: bride's race:White bride's marital status: bride's previous husband's name: indexing project (batch) number:M74462-1 system origin:North Carolina-EASy source film number:590348 reference number:


¹1910 NC, Caldwell Co., Kings Creek Twp., ED56, Sheet 4B, dwelling/family 50, Lanier, Rabecca [sic], head, female, white, age 52, married this time for 4 yrs., born NC, parents born NC; Coffey, Clara, dau., female, white, age 14, single, born NC, parents born NC, farm laborer


²1920 Caldwell Co., Kings Creek Twp., ED64, Sheet 9B, Pennell Road, dwelling/family 170, Coffey, Myra [sic] R., head, female, white, age 62, widow, born NC, parents born NC, retail merchant, groceries; 1930 NC, Caldwell Co., Kings Creek Twp., ED 14-6, Sheet 4B, dwelling 64, family 65, Coffey, Rebecca, head, female, white, age 73, widow, married at age 14, born NC, parents born NC, retail merchant, groceries

Preston C. & Sarah Ann Lucas Benson

Notwithstanding the heat and the fact that we had to turn on the A/C today, I can tell that summer is upon us.  New blogs from those that I follow are few and far between and, genealogy related e-mails are down to nearly zero from as many as 20+ per day during the fall and winter.  Even my own urge to write has been suppressed and I've been reduced to  correcting syntax and spelling errors in my Edward Coffey Project file.  I'm forced today to write this blog just to keep in practice and, had to stretch my imagination a bit to hopefully come up with something of interest.

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Abraham Lucas had a daughter named Sarah Ann "Sallie" Lucas, born c1840 in VA.  I believe she is buried in Newport, Augusta Co., VA at the Mount Hermon Lutheran Church Cemetery, but have no confirmation of that.

She married twice.  Her first was to Andrew Lucas in Rockbridge Co. on Oct. 1, 1860 and, on July 14, 1864 to Preston C. Benson, also in Rockbridge Co.*  Benson was born on Jan. 15, 1838 in Rockbridge Co. and died Sep. 17, 1908 in VA.  He was also buried at Mount Herman.  Andrew Lucas appears to have died young, probably in the Civil War.  I have found no children for them.

Sally and Preston had at least 10 children, three (at least) of which married into the Coffey family.

Their first child was James Franklin, born Mar. 5, 1865, died Sep. 14, 1939.  He was followed by John William, born in 1866.  John married Lucy Rebecca Berry of Augusta Co. on Mar. 21, 1888 in Middlebrook, Augusta Co.*

The first of Preston and Sallie's children to marry a Coffey was Henry Jackson, born Jan. 1, 1869 in Rockbridge Co.  He married Mary Frances "Molly" Coffey, the daughter of Alfred James and Martha Ann Bradley Coffey.  Molly was born Apr. 6, 1872 in Nelson Co., and died in 1949.  She and Henry were married on Mar. 29, 1893 in Rockbridge Co.*

Robert Lee followed brother Henry into the Coffey clan when he married Molly's sister, Martha Beveridge Coffey on Oct. 4, 1893 in Rockbridge Co.*  Martha was born c1879 in Nelson Co.

Child number five was Jasper A. "Newton," born c1873.  He was followed by Jacob Higgonbotham, born Apr. 15, 1875, died Jan. 25, 1949, both events in Rockbridge Co.  He married another sister to Molly and Martha.  She was Sarah Elizabeth "Sally", born Jan. 22, 1865 in Nelson Co., died Dec. 19, 1906 in Rockbridge Co.  That marriage occurred on Nov. 24, 1897 in Rockbridge Co.*

Jacob and Sally had at least two children:  Cornelia, born Dec., 1898 and, Jacob Stuart, born c1906, both in Rockbridge Co.

The last three children of Preston and Sally - known to me - were Lucinda Ann, born 1877; Marshall "Morris," botn 1881 and Maggie Bell, born 1885.  I have found no other information on them.

There was one other child whose birth order is not known.  He was Dan "Dap" Benson.  Like the last three, I have found no other information on him.

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I wonder if anyone has made a study of the real naming conventions amongst our ancestors?  I know that some followed the tradition of naming the first son after the paternal grandfather and, the first daughter after paternal grandmother.  Other sons and daughters were given names to similarly honor maternal grandparents.  But really!  Do you think parents did not know that there were already a few dozen of their neighbors with daughters named Sarah Elizabeth, Martha and Mary, each nicknamed Sally, Polly or Molly?  What do you supposed followed when mother leaned out the kitchen window and yelled:  "Molly, dinner's ready!"

The boys did not fare much better, if at all.  Of course, there was the occasional Salathiel, Saylor, Rutherford, Wetzel, Harrison and such.  But, any researcher knows there were more boys named James and Edward than there were named Saylor.

One day I'm going to count all the James' and Edwards.  That will be a big number!

Happy summer, yaw'll!

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*Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940

Jacob Higgonbotham and Sarah Elizabeth Coffey Benson

Jacob was a son of Preston C. and Sarah Ann Lucas Benson. I have seen his middle name spelled various ways, the most common being Higgonbotham. According to his WW1 draft registration card he was born Apr. 15, 1875 in Rockbridge Co., VA. According to his headstone, he died in that county on Jan. 25, 1949.

Sarah Coffey was his first wife. She was the daughter of Alfred and Martha Ann Bradley [photo below] Coffey and was born Jan. 22, 1865 in Nelson Co., VA and died in Rockbridge Co. on Dec. 19, 1906.

From census records it appears that Jacob and Sarah only had two living children: Cornelia, born Dec., 1898 and Jacob Stuart, born c1906, both in Rockbridge Co. Given Sarah's death date and Jacob's apparent birth year, it appears that she may have died giving birth to him.

In about 1908 Jacob H. married Etta W., last name not known. Apparently no children were born to this union. They first appear together in the 1910 Rockbridge Co. census where they report a marriage of two years. Jacob was age 35 while "Eddie W." was 46 and had been married once before.

Jacob registered for the draft on Sep. 12, 1918 in Rockbridge Co. He was age 43 and reported his birthdate as Apr. 15, 1875. He worked as a farmer for Jas. W. Searly [?] near Brownsburg. He named "Mrs. Etter Benson" as his nearest relative and described himself as being of medium height and build with black hair and dark brown eyes.

I have not located them in 1920, but in 1930 they were in the Walkers Creek district of Rockbridge Co. Jacob was 54 and Eddie [sic] was 76 years old. Stewart [sic], age 24 was living with them. He gave his occupation as laborer at odd jobs.

Alfred Coffey was a son of Garland G. and Nancy Coffey Coffey. Garland was a son of William and Betsy Giles Coffey while Nancy was the daughter of Reuben, brother to William, and his wife Nancy Giles, sister to Betsy.

Martha Ann Bradley was a daughter of William Franklin and Elizabeth Wood Bradley of Nelson Co.

Please contact me if you can add to or correct any of this information.

 

Photos courtesy of Connie Coffey Dorsey