By trade, Eli was a stone cutter and worked in the quarries in Pickens Co. most of his adult life. He was the fifth of at least seven children born to Jesse and Winifred. His older siblings were Thomas Walton, Larkin D., Lewis Elbert and William R. Those younger than him were Martin Van Buren and John Gordon.
Aaron Bonville Coffey (L) |
This seems to indicate that Susan died about the time of Aaron's birth and that he was perhaps farmed out to other family members while Eli pursued work as a stone cutter. Just months after Eli died in Aug., 1874, Frances Bradford Coffey gave birth to his son, Eli, Jr. Frances remarried c1877 and in 1880 Eli, Jr. lived with her and his step-father John Howell in Pickens Co.
Eli and Frances were buried at Long Swamp Baptist Church Cemetery at Marble Hill in Pickens Co. Susan's burial place is unknown.*
George Aaron Coffey (l) & Ava George |
Eli Charles Coffey, Jr. married Margaret Gertrude Shumate on Feb. 20, 1902 in Whitfield Co., GA. She was born on Nov. 24, 1877 in Dalton, Whitfield Co. to Ignatius and Elizabeth Gertrude Bitting Shumate. Junior died Oct. 9, 1948 in Whitfield Co.; Margaret died there on Nov. 13, 1940. Their burial ground is unknown to me. I know of one child, a daughter, Lou Shumate, born c1907 in Dalton.
Source for photo of Aaron and George Aaron: "Interior of the Lithonia Banking Co.," (circa 1912) & interior of George's Dry Goods Store. Photographs from "Vanishing Georgia"; Georgia Archives, 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, GA 30260.
*There is a grave for a Susan T. Coffey at Lithonia. The stone simply reads "Susan T. Coffey 1840-1891." Susan Tribble who married Eli was born c1840. If this is Eli's wife, they apparently divorced extremely early in their marriage, but where did she go? I found a Sue Coffey in DeKalb Co. residing with her brother, but his surname was Webb. Do we have an incorrect maiden name for Susan? Where were her parents?