The Coffee Pioneers of the Texas Panhandle

In the last blog, I transcribed the death report for Woodson "Woods" Coffee, a native Texan, from the Amarillo Daily News of June 13, 1953.  That information defined how Woodson became a pioneer in the Texas Panhandle.  With this blog, and perhaps a few later, I will attempt to show how Woodson came to be one of those pioneers.

This particular line of Coffee families comes from what we Coffee/y researchers often refer to as "the Chesley line." Because there was a Chesley, Jr., researchers have long believed that a Chesley Sr. must have existed. So far, however, no record of Sr. has ever been found. Current thinking has some leaning more towards Edward Coffey, Jr., son of Edward Sr., and his wife Anne Powell. As more sophisticated DNA testing methods become available, we learn more about our ancestry.

We can begin here with the mythical Chesley and his supposed wife, Jane Cleveland.  Their supposed son, Joel, married Martha Stepp or Stapp and had about nine children; namely Joseph; Cleveland; Catherine, Joel, Jr., James, Jane, Celia, Nathaniel (Nathan?) and Nebuzaradan.

Dr. Marvin Coffey in his book about his ancestor, James Bluford Coffey, cited years-old information from Mrs. C. R. Porter of El Reno, OK.  She repeated the story of Chesley and Jane, stating that it came from a daughter of Nathan and Sarah Eliza Emeline Coffey Porter c1895 and presumably from older records which she had access to.

Another source, a Mr. Lee Robert wrote in 1998 "that Joel, born 1780, m Martha 'Patsy'?.  They had 6 children: Nathaniel, m1 Louisa Durham, m2 Nancy Clark; Alvina (Elvira), b 1811, m Martin Wright, Mar 27, 1828.  She died Sep 7, 1869; Caroline, m Unk Summers; Martha L., m Perry M. Stacy; Francis m Jackson Jones; Henry B., m Sara Ann Isbele."  Seems doubtful this is the same Joel, however.

Joel was b. late 1740's and d. 1789.  Married Martha in 1753. Martha was b. 1737.  Joel was son of Chesley and Jane Cleveland Coffee. Their children were Jesse Cleveland; James, Joel, Nathan, Katy, Frances Jane, Sealey, Nebuzarren, Cleveland.  

Source:  Revolutionary Ancestors, 1976; Wood Coffee Will and Inventory. [Joel's 1789 names his children and there is present a comma between Jane and Sealy; e.g. Jane, Sealy]

"Joel and Martha are also mentioned in The Georgians, Genealogies of Pioneer Settlers, by J. H. Austin.  [As pertains to the Coffey families, this book is of doubtful accuracy]

"Joel's will (probate) dated 1789 Wilkes Co., NC.  Children listed as James, Joel, Cleveland, Nathan, Katy, Jane and Celia.  See North Carolina will book C, page 321.

A Joel Coffey was named as one of the buyers from the estate sale of Robert Patrick in Surry Co., NC in Feb., 1778.  Robert Patrick apparently died between 1774 and 1777.  He was on the 1774 tax list of Benjamin Cleveland and again in 1775.  He was not listed on the 1777 tax list.

Marvin Coffey wrote in his work that "A DAR record has always listed Joel as born 1730, and married in 1753 to Martha Sealy, born 1737.  However, their youngest son Nebuzaradon was born posthumously in 1780 would thus have been born when Martha was 52 years old."[1]

A number of researchers have theorized that Joel married Martha Sealey who died, and he then married Martha Step.  Others have the opinion that Joel married a widow by the name of Mrs. Martha Step Sealey while another group has said that Sealey was a nickname for Celia which was the middle name of Martha.  Another thought is that Joel was born much earlier, about 1750.

Joseph is not listed in Joel's 1789 will (Wilkes Co., NC Will Book I, p260) but does appear in other researcher's works.  He could have been born to Joel's first wife and died before the will was made.  Joseph has also been reported to have gone to Kentucky quite early, and already otherwise provided for by his father thereby not making the will.  And, even if Joel had only one wife, Joseph could still have died quite young.  Marvin noted that there was a Joseph Coffey on early tax records of Adair Co., KY.

Martha Step's father was named Joseph so it would have been customary for Joel and Martha to have given a son that name.  A daughter Celia was referred to as Sealy in Joel's will.  Marvin's research did not uncover any Sealy families in the same county that the Coffeys lived in Virginia or North Carolina.

Continuing our trek to Woods and eventually his descendants, we begin with Joel and Martha's son James and Elizabeth Coffey Coffey.  James and "Betty" were cousins. Her father Nathan and James's father Joel were brothers.

Of the nine known children of James and Betsy, seven were male and two were female.  We'll concentrate on only one son, he being Logan McMillon Coffee [sic] thought to have been born Dec. 7, 1809 in Adair Co., KY. James and Betsy were married there on Mar. 4, 1804 [from descendants but no independent confirmation.] Logan was born in that County on Dec. 7, 1809 [no independent confirmation.]

When he was nearing age 30 he wandered off to Alabama where he met Mary Elizabeth Ragland. The two were married in Jackson County, AL c1837. Mary was a native of Jackson Co., TN. In 1840 the family was living in Marshall Co., AL but by the 1850 census, they were in Colorado Co., TX; in 1860 they were in Lavaca Co., TX. Perhaps they headed to far northwest Texas when the sabers began to rattle loudly in AL.

Logan's death was somewhat mysterious in that his body was never recovered.  He is said to have been hauling freight from Brownsville, TX back to Lavaca Co., when he was probably murdered in June of 1865; perhaps by Indians or maybe Confederate raiders.  In the book - On the Headwaters of the Lavaca and Navidad, by Paul Boethel, the author indicates that the circumstances of his death were "fraught with suspicions, possibly murder by his companions from the same neighborhood."

After Logan's murder, his widow Mary petitioned the court under date of Aug. 20, 1865 for administration of the property, saying her husband died about June 20th, 1865. (Probate records, November term, Lavaca Co., TX). 

Logan and Mary had eight children, 5 sons and 3 daughters.  The eldest child was Mansel Matthews Coffee [2]

Mansel was born in 1839, Jackson Co., AL where he met and married Georgiana Frances Reynolds on Jun. 4, 1861.  They were parents of nine children, seven sons and two daughters. Woodson "Woods" Coffee was their eldest, born Mar 1, 1862 in Gonzales Co., TX.

Woodson married Ollie Pickens Stribling, daughter of Cornelius Kinchelo Stribling and Nancy Carolina Stribling, presumed cousins. Their children also numbered nine.  They had six sons and three daughters. 

[1]Interesting to note that John M. Porter of Lincoln Co., MO married Eliza Emeline Coffey, daughter of Nathan and Sarah Meredith Coffee in 1850 Pike Co., IL. They resided there a very long time with John dying there in 1895.  Eliza died there in 1901. Further, Martha Coffee, a daughter of Nebuzaradan married William Porter, brother to John and they named one of their sons Joseph Woods Porter.

[2]No idea why they began spelling their name this way, but speculation says it happened in Alabama where General John Coffee of Battle of New Orleans fame had settled and became quite prominent in the state.

Thomas Jefferson Coffee (1805-1858)

Thomas was born Feb. 16, 1805 in Burke Co., NC.  He was the eighth of 11 children born to Ambrose and Mildred "Millie" Moore Coffey.  

Ambrose had wandered down from Blue Run in Orange Co., VA to Wayne Co., KY where Millie was born in 1770 to Jesse and Alley Johnson Moore. Ambrose and Millie married there sometime before 1788.¹  He descended from Edward Coffey through Edward's son John and John's son, Rev. James Coffey who married Elizabeth Cleveland.

Thomas spent his early life in North Carolina but eventually made his way to Mississippi where in 1827 he married Malinda Graves Haley in Hinds County.  All of their known children were born in that state; the last, Roxana in 1842.

By 1850 Thomas and Malinda were in Brazoria Co., TX with children Aaron, Ellen, Ambrose, Henry and Rosana [sic].

A daughter, Minerva, born in 1830 had married John Venable Lobdell in KY in 1848 which produced Henry Lee, born 1850 in Brazoria.  The child died there in 1852 and was buried in the Sandy Point cemetery. She and John soon moved back to MS but not before their daughter Bettie was born in Brazoria in 1854. Two other children, and overall a total of six were born to Minerva in two marriages.  John died in Bolivar in 1859.  In the 1860 census Minerva, a widow, claimed $130,000 in assets, or over $4 million in 2015 dollars.  

The Civil War would soon reduce that considerably!

In 1868, Minerva married the lawyer George Thomas Lightfoot in Bolivar Co. and by 1870 they were residing in Vicksburg, Warren Co., MS. George declared his assets to total $17,000.  In the household were two Lobdell children and one Lightfoot child.  Two unidentified Coffee children, one male age 2 mos., and one female, age 1, both born born in LA were also in the household. In 1900 she lived with her son, John Venable Lobdell, Jr. and was reported to have been the mother of six but only John survived.

I do not yet know when or where George Thomas Lightfoot died.  Minerva died on Jan. 23, 1907 in Rosedale, Bolivar Co. and was buried at the Beulah cemetery in Bolivar Co.

Col. Aaron Coffee was born in MS in Sep., 1832 and died in McKinney, Collin Co., TX on Feb. 28, 1912.  He married Mary Summerville Smith, born c1835 in VA, in Galvaston, TX on Mar. 28, 1860. They lived in Brazoria county in 1870 and in 1880 were in Collin Co., TX where he died in 1912 and is buried at the Pecan Grove cemetery in McKinney.  He and Mary had at least two children, Julia born in Galveston in 1864 and Cassie, born in 1878 at Collin Co.

Pre-Civil War, Aaron held 25 slaves. He was manager of the Halcyon plantation which held 132 slaves.  His total worth in 1860 was $267,000, almost $8 million in today's money.²

He served with Co. B, 13th Texas Infantry, CSA, during the Civil War.

Thomas died in Brazoria Co. in 1858; and Malinda, a year earlier.  Both are buried at Sandy Point in Brazoria.  They had other children but they are held for later.

---

¹Dr. Marvin D. Coffey, Author/Researcher, James Bluford Coffey: His ancestors and descendants in America, second printing (Medford, OR: n.p., 1994), Page 60. [That they returned to NC from KY might not be wholly accurate.  However, the next three children of Ambrose and Millie, George W., Holland and James Madison are said to have also been born in Burke Co. America, who married Samuel Lusk in 1822 Warren Co., TN is said to have been born in KY in 1801 and Lewis Moses, born 1798 is said to have been born in Stokes Co., NC.]

²Abigail Curlee Holbrook, "A Glimpse of Life on Antebellum Slave Plantations in Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 76 (April 1973). Ralph A. Wooster, "Wealthy Texans, 1860," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 71 (October 1967).

Salathiel "Sales" & Eva Phylena Conner Coffey

Salathiel "Sales" Coffey & wife Eva Phylena Conner

"Sales" Coffee was born Dec. 13, 1876 in Collin Co., TX to William Stanley and Sarah Elizabeth Lucas Coffey.

While many others in this family often spelled their surname Coffee. Except for the photo below, he seems to have always been a Coffey.

His father, was a Kentuckian, born there on Jul. 9, 1842.  He rode to Texas with his father and the rest of their family in 1855.  They settled in the area around Allen, in Collin Co. William married Sarah Lucas, a sister to Gabe Lucas, a colonel in the CSA.  William fought with the CSA for the duration and was wounded three times.  

Like others of the time and place, William was a farmer.  However, when he was around 55 years old in 1897, he was elected sheriff of Collin Co. and maintained the peace in that county for the next three years. His wife having died around 1900 may have been the reason he didn't pursue being a lawman again.   In 1910 and 1920 he lived with Silas Walker in Collin county and died there on Jun. 23, 1922 of chronic heart disease. Silas' wife, Alwilda Davis Coffey was his sister.

It was this William Coffey and his brothers that I wrote about some time back, recognizing that he, brother Z. T. and Mint W. all died within 72-hours of each other.

Newsprint Photo

Sales was the seventh of 10 children born to William and Sarah Lucas Coffey and, in 1900, he married Eva Phylena Conner, a daughter of Julius Augustus and Mary Hinman Conner.  Eva was born Mar. 15, 1881 in Sulphur Springs, Hopkins Co., TX and died in Amarillo on Dec. 21, 1945. The above photo is believed to have been taken in 1937 at one of the annual Coffee Family reunions held in Texas unto today. The photo to the left accompanied his obituary.

Many of the ancestors of the Coffey/Coffee families that attend were natives of Logan and Russell counties in KY while many of their ancestors came from Wilkes Co. in North Carolina.

Most of those who attend the annual gathering in Texas are descendants of James Coffey and his wife, Elizabeth "Betsy" Coffey Coffey. James is thought to be descended from Joel and Martha Stepp Coffey, a son of the still mythical Chesley and Jane Cleveland Coffey. Elizabeth is thought to be a daughter of Nathan and Mary Saunders Coffey. Nathan is said to be a brother of Joel,

Sales descended from Chesley through his son Salathiel through Elias who married Mary Coffey, another daughter of Nathan and Mary Saunders. Their son, also named Salathiel, married Nancy Dunbar. and their son was William Stanley Coffey.

Sales had been a deputy sheriff in Cottle and in Briscoe counties in Texas. He had also been a police officer in Amarillo where he had been assigned to several jobs, including desk sergeant, a plain clothes officer and a "night scout car" officer. When he died on Dec. 27, 1944 he had been residing in Amarillo for 18 years. A news item announcing his death recorded that he had moved to Amarillo from Silverton, TX and had been in the insurance business for the four years preceding his death. Sales was also a veteran of the Spanish-American War.

He was survived by his wife and three daughters: Mrs. Walter L. Bain of Phillips, TX; Mrs. Fred Trees of Houston and Mrs. E. T. Gilkerson of Fresno, CA. Will, his only surviving son was serving in the US Navy at the time. Two other sons, Elmer and Amos had died as youngsters.

He was buried on Dec. 30 at the Llano Cemetery in Amarillo, just across the county line in Randall county. Eva followed him to the grave almost one year to the later, on Dec. 21, 1945. She was also buried at Llano.

Edward Coffey (c1700-c1776)

Very little factual information is known of Edward Jr., a son of Edward and Ann Powell.  He is "said" to have been born c1701 in Essex Co., VA and, died in Albemarle Co., VA after 1774.  He married Grace Cleveland, a daughter of Alexander and Mildred Presley¹ Cleveland sometime between 1737 and 1740.

Marvin Coffey wrote in his ancestral work on James Blueford Coffey, a descendant of Edward and Ann, that he had found no proof of the children of Edward and Grace.  He speculated that Cleveland, Coffey, who married Elizabeth² is one of their sons.  Or, he might be the Cleveland Coffey who entered land in Burke Co., now Caldwell Co., on Zack's Fork, in the year 1778.

Marvin thought that Edward Jr. might be a twin of the better know John who married Jane Graves. John is thought to have been born between 1699 and 1700 followed soon thereafter by Edward Jr., with perhaps less than a year between the births.

No proof of the names of Edward and Grace's children has ever been found.³  Marvin, again speculating and, based on time and location, thought that Benjamin, born in VA in 1763 and on the Burke Co., NC census from 1790 to 1850 (Caldwell Co. in 1850) was the son.  He married Leah, born c1760 in VA.  A Leah Coffey who married Francis Hickman in Jefferson Co., TN in 1798 might be their daughter.

Other possible children were James, on the 1785 census in Botetourt Co, VA and William in Montgomery Co., VA from 1781 to 1785.  They could also have been the children of Peter and Susannah Coffey of Prince Edward Co., VA. The William found on tax lists in Buckingham Co., VA from 1783 to 1797 is likely to have been a son of Peter.

Jesse Cleveland Coffey found in Wilkes Co. up to about 1786 could be the same found later in Pendleton Co., SC in 1790 and 1800.  He was the father of Cleveland, Edward, Joel, Elijah, Elisha and John.4  

Jesse is found in the Pendleton District, South Carolina census of 1800.5 6  He married Nancy Alexander, probably before 1766.

I have been in recent contact with descendants of Jesse and Nancy.  Their ancestor was Jesse's son Joel who married Martha "Patsy" Cobb.  For the most part, descendants of Joel remained in Rabun Co., GA all of their lives.

Joel and Martha had at least four children, the first being John Coffee, who is often referred to by the title of Reverend.  He is buried as "Elder John Coffee." He married Lavinia Carter in that county on Dec. 31, 1833 and died c1835, likely in childbirth. and later married Martha Singleton on Feb. 4, 1837.  With Martha, they raised 11 children.  John died in 1886 and Martha in 1887.  Both are buried

at the Clayton Baptist Church Cemetery in Clayton, Rabun Co.

The second child of Joel and Martha was Mary Frances, born c1818 in SC, died 1873 in GA.  She married Silas B. Price on Mar. 19, 1835 in Rabun Co. and were parents of at least five: Nancy Elizabeth, Martha, William J., and John R.

William Rowland was third and his wife was Ruth M. West, born 1851.  They married on Aug. 25, 1879 in Habersham Co., GA.  William was born on Nov. 4, 1834 in Rabun Co., died in GA in 1909. Ruth died in 120.  Both are buried at Head of Tennessee Baptist Church Cemetery at Dillard in Rabun Co.  Their children were Mable, Georgia, John Benjamin; Franklin, James Clinton and William H.

Jesse Leonard was the last known child.  He was born on Oct. 10, 1828 in Rabun Co. and married first to Nancy O. Singleton on Sep. 2, 1845.  She was born c1828 in GA.  Their children were Terrel, Mary M., Jemima, John E., James Jefferson, Lucinda and Martha, all born between 1847 and 1860. These children remain a work in progress.  More is known of the children by his second wife, Arzelia P. Thomas, born 1839 in Rabun Co.

Those children were Sarah B. "Sally," born c1863, married James A. Canup on May 4, 1886 in Rabun Co.  Robert Douglas, born Dec, 1866, married Martha Hazeltine Bowen on Dec. 10, 1888 in Towns Co., GA.  Joseph T., born c1869, no other information.  Rachel L., born c1872, married W. Virgil Bowen, no other information.  Franklin Alexander, no further information; Naoma Callie, born c1875, married Anderson Eller on Apr. 8, 1900 in Rabun Co. and lastly, Genela F., born Jun., 1877, married Martin Baker on Aug. 25, 1895.

---

Footnotes

¹ Some Cleveland researchers reject Mildred Presley as the wife of Alexander and name an anonymous "Mary" as the mother of his children.  My source for her name is the work of  Marvin Coffey whose source appears to be by tradition. I consulted The Genealogy of the Cleveland Families, Edmund James Cleveland, 1899 and Virginia Cleveland Ancestor Discovered, George A. Martin, National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 46, Sep., 1958. Cleveland's work appears to me to mix two different Cleveland families and, is the source of the Presly surname.  I have not made a study of the Cleveland line and have only those two references to go by.

² Elizabeth is suspected to be the daughter of a man named Benjamin Franklin of Albemarle Co.  He had a daughter named Elizabeth who is known to have married a Clifton or Cliff Coffey and to have lived in Albemarle Co.  Marvin believed that Cliff or Clifton was a nickname for Cleveland because Joel and Martha Stapp Coffey had a son named Cleveland and nicknamed Cliff.  According to Tim Peterman, Elizabeth Franklin Coffey was the mother of Grace Coffey who married Rutherford Coffey in Green Co., KY in 1801.

³ At least by any Edward Sr. researcher that I know.

4 According to Marvin Coffey.  Others name his wife as Nancy Alexander and children as Cleveland, Bathsheba, Edward, John, Joel, Nancy and Elisha. Some descendants continue to spell their name Coffey while others, up through about the middle of the 20th century began spelling their name Coffee.  It appears now that practice ended and descendants have once again accepted Coffey as the correct spelling.

5 Attenpt to reconcile family members: 3 under 10 males: Edward, Joel and Elisha; Male 16-25, Cleveland; Male 45, Jesse; Female under 10: Nancy; Female, 10-15, Unknown; Female, 45, Nancy.  John should be here, born between 1786 and 1822.

6 Some family researchers claim that Jesse was born c1855 in VA and died c1807 in the Pendleton Dist., SC.  Some write that his parents were Joel Coffee [sic], and Martha Seely, and that he married Nancy [lnu] and was the father of Joel, born c1799 in the Pendleton Dist., and married Martha "Patsy" Cobb.  Joel is said to have died Sep. 15, 1849 and is buried in the Old Kingwood Cemetery.  The only reference I have found thus far to any Kingwood cemetery, places it in Preston Co., WVa.

^{Sources used were Rabun County Marriage Records; Census records, and family histories of Karen Coffey Galanski and Victoria Isham.  Heavily relied on for early Edward and Ann Powell research is credited to Marvin Dale Coffey and his work, James Bluford Coffey, His Ancestors and Descendants in America, and Vol. II, privately printed in 1984, second printing in 1994.  See http://bit.ly/1zUm0Sn for more information about this book.}

Dr. Jesse Franklin Cleveland

The Abbeville Press & Banner, Abbeville, SC, 19 October 1910

"Given A Close Call - Train Killed Horse, Broke up Buggy, Man Escaped

"At Spartanburg Dr. Jesse F. Cleveland, president of the Tucapau mills and one of the wealthiest men in upper South Carolina, had a narrow escape from death there Wednesday when the buggy in which he was driving was struck by a passenger train on the Southern railway at Forest street crossing in that city.

"The horse was killed and the vehicle was smashed to pieces.  Dr. Cleveland was thrown from the buggy and sustained slight injuries.  At first it was thought a wound in his head was of a serious nature, but this has not proved to be true.  Wednesday night he was sitting up and receiving his friends.

"At the point where the accident occurred there is a sharp curve which is situated on a grade crossing.  Houses are built close up to the track, and it is not possible to see an oncoming train for more than 100 (?) feet away.  An engineer can not see the crossing until he is right on it.  Dr. Cleveland was driving south on Forestt [sic] street and didn't see the train nor did the engineer see Dr. Cleveland until it was utterly impossible to stop the train in time to prevent the accident."

---

Dr. Jesse Franklin Cleveland was a son of Jesse and Mary Blassingame Cleveland.  He was born Feb. 7, 1847 in SC and died there on May 1, 1926.  His spouse was Caro V. Zimmerman, born 1848 in SC, died there in 1899.

"Death in Spartanburg

"Special to the State.

"Spartanburg, Jan. 5. - Mrs. Dr. Jesse F. Cleveland died at the family home last night.  She had been a sufferer from consumption for months and her death was not unexpected.

"She was universally esteemed and also well known throughout the county, being a sister of Mr. Chas. W. Zimmerman of Glenn Springs.  She will be burried [sic] at the Church of Advent his afternoon at 4:30 o'clock."

Both are buried at the Episcopal Church of the Advent at Spartanburg, SC.

I have five children for this couple:

Elizabeth Emily, born Apr. 13, 1874, died unmarried on Jun. 19, 1923 at Saluda Twp., Greenville Co., SC. Buried at Episcopal.

John Zimmerman, born Oct. 5,1875, died Dec. 6, 1961 in Henderson Co., NC, buried at West Oakwood Cemetery in Spartanburg.

Robert B., born Jun., 1879

Arthur, born Nov. 4, 1884 at Spartanburg, died Jul 31, 1936 in Henderson Co., NC, buried at Episcopal.

Conrad Pierce, born Jun. 13, 1888 at Spartanburg, died there on Jan. 21, 1972.  His death certificate names his spouse as Chevilette Cothrane [sic].

Rev. War Col. Benjamin Cleveland

Benjamin Cleveland

Hero of the Battle of King's Mountain

Compiled from a number of public domain sources by Doug Land

Benjamin Cleveland was born on May 26^th, 1738 in Bull Run, Prince William County, Virginia. He was the son of John Cleveland, a house-joiner, and Martha Coffee. His education was limited and he strongly disliked the constant effort of farm work. He was a hunter for several years, living irresponsibly. In 1761 he married Mary Graves and made a reluctant attempt at farming. The couple had two children, but Cleveland also had another child by a woman in Virginia.

About 1769, at the age of thirty-one, Cleveland moved to the Upper Yadkin in North Carolina with his father-in-law and family. They settled near Mulberry Fields, in Wilkes County. There he began to earn a good reputation among the locals. He still did not show any strong interest in farming, so while his father-in-law’s slaves cleared land for the new plantation he continued to hunt. He later moved to Surry County on the north side of the Yadkin River. In the early 1770’s he learned about promising land in Kentucky from his neighbor Daniel Boone and in the summer of 1772 Cleveland organized a party to search for it, but they were robbed by a band of Cherokee around Cumberland Gap and returned home due to the lack of supplies. After his return Cleveland regained his strength, gathered a party of gunmen, and daringly returned to the Cherokee area, moving from village to village to recover his possessions. This event permanently established his reputation as a strong Indian fighter.

In 1774 Cleveland sat as a justice in the Surry County court and was appointed that same year to be a juror at the superior court in Salisbury. In 1775 news of the Battle of Lexington cause the Surry court to quickly change to a safety committee. He was offered the position of ensign in the Revolutionary Army by the provincial congress, but he turned down the offer to become a captain of the Surry militia in 1776. He fought against Loyalist forces in the Wake Forest region and in the autumn 1776 he led a company in Rutherford’s campaign against the Cherokees in North and South Carolina. During the course of this campaign militia forces completely destroyed thirty-six Cherokee towns. In 1777 he served at Carter’s Fort and the Long Island of Holston, in East Tennessee while a treaty was negotiated. He was made Justice of the Peace of Wilkes County in 1778 and became a colonel in the Wilkes County militia. Cleveland also held other civil positions in the years of the Revolution. He was the commissioner of the Loyalist’s confiscated estates, supervised elections, county ranger, and in 1778-1779 he was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons, representing Wilkes County. In 1780 be became a member of the N.C. Senate for a term. He voted against tax raises and supported a bill to capture and sell slaves that had been illegally freed. Cleveland himself was a slave owner.

In June 1780 he helped to drive Loyalists from Ramsour’s Mills and then fought at the battle of King’s Mountain. This battle was against Major Patrick Ferguson, who was the left wing of the British army’s attack on the South. The Revolutionaries won decisively, killing Ferguson, and the battle became the turning point of the war in the South. In 1781 Cleveland was briefly captured by Loyalists but was soon rescued by his friends and brother Bob. Throughout the war Cleveland was merciless to the Loyalists that fought against him. He hanged those that he did not like, had others whipped, and allowed some to give an oath of allegiance with the promise of good future conduct. In 1779 he was indicted at the superior court of Salisbury for murdering two Loyalists, but was pardoned by the governor at the request of the General Assembly. Cleveland was not always nice to his own people either. The people around Salem complained about the militia under Cleveland who had a habit of taking things without paying for them.

At the end of the Revolution Cleveland was forced to give up his land and in 1785 Cleveland moved to the western border of South Carolina and became an associate judge in Pendleton County. He became quite overweight with the loss of his active lifestyle, and reached the weight of 450 pounds. He was forced to travel by cart as he was no longer able to ride a horse and wore only a shift in warm weather. Cleveland died in his chair in October 1806 at his plantation on Tugaloo River, in current Oconee County, S.C. A monument was erected to him on July 29^th, 1887 at Fort Madison, South Carolina and in 1841 North Carolina named a county after him.

"Of all the fierce frontiersman whose activity spread consternation among the partisans of King George in the Southern campaigns of the American Revolution, not one stood higher than Colonel Benjamin Cleveland." (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 69).

Colonel Cleveland was born on May 16, 1738, in Prince William County, Virginia. His family home was on Bull Run, the same creek that later became famous during the Civil War. The family moved sixty miles west to Orange County when Cleveland was still young. (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 69).

Cleveland showed a bold and forceful personality even when he was a boy. It is said that "at the early age of twelve he seized his father's gun and put to flight a party of drunken rowdies who were raising a disturbance at his home while John Cleveland, the father, was absent." The young Benjamin was not fond of farming, thinking it too tame, and instead became a good hunter. "To him the life of a hunter was a source of profit as well as pleasure, for the hides, furs, and pelts won by his rifle brought him no inconsiderable income." (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. pp. 69-70).

Tradition says that Cleveland fought in the French and Indian War, where he learned how to be a soldier. (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 70).

Sometime before he left Virginia, Cleveland married Mary Graves, the daughter of a wealthy gentleman. They had two sons and a daughter. Around 1769, Cleveland moved his family to North Carolina. They first settled on the shore of Roaring Creek, a tributary of the Yadkin River. (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. pp. 70, 73).

In 1772, Cleveland left for Kentucky with four other men. He had heard tales of the abundant hunting from Daniel Boone himself. On the way, the party was robbed of all of their provisions, including their guns, by a party of Cherokee Indians, who demanded that the white men go back to where they had come from. The group did. Later, Cleveland returned to Cherokee territory in order to get his horse back. He was able to do so with the help of a few friendly Cherokee. (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 70).

When the Revolutionary War began, Cleveland was commissioned as an ensign in the Second North Carolina Regiment. In January, 1776, he was promoted to lieutenant. In November of the same year, he became a captain. Eventually, he resigned from the Continental Line and joined the militia. He saw action at Moore's Creek and skirmished with the Cherokees until a peace treaty was worked out in July 1778. (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. pp. 70-71).

In 1777, Wilkes County was formed, "chiefly through the instrumentality of Captain Cleveland, and he was made colonel of the militia forces of the new county in August 1778. In 1778 Colonel Cleveland represented Wilkes in the North Carolina House of Commons, and was State Senator therefrom in 1779." (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 71).

Cleveland was kept busy throughout the rest of the war. "To tell in full of the desperate encounters in which Cleveland engaged would fill a volume. He was constantly engaged against the enemy, in 1777 serving in enemy campaigns, going on the expedition to Georgia in 1778, and returning in 1779, and afterwards marching against the Tories at Ramseur's Mill, though he did not reach that place in time for the battle" (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 71).

"'Old Round About,' as Cleveland was familiarly known (taking that sobriquet from his plantation of the same name), probably had a hand in hanging more Tories than any other man in America. Though this may be an unenviable distinction, he had to deal with about as unscrupulous a set of ruffians as ever infested any land--men who murdered peaceable inhabitants, burnt dwellings, stole horses, and committed about every other act in the catalogue of crime."(1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol V. p. 71).

The historian Dr. Lyman C. Draper wrote of Colonel Cleveland: "Cleveland was literally 'all things to all people.' By his severities he awed and intimidated not a few --restraining them from lapsing into Tory abominations; by his kindness, forbearance, and even tenderness winning over many to the glorious cause he loved so well." (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 72).

Cleveland distinguished himself most in the Battle of King's Mountain on October 7, 1780. "The battle of King's Mountain was fortunately a great and overwhelming victory for the Americans; and among all the desperate fighters there engaged not one showed more personal courage than Colonel Cleveland. " (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 72).

"After the victory at King's Mountain more than thirty Tories were condemned to death, and nine were executed--the others being reprieved. The executions here alluded to were...punishments for past crimes--house-burnings, outrages against women, desertions and betrayals, assassinations of non-combatants. These measures were also in retaliation for past British cruelties--a few days before this eleven Americans having been hanged at Ninety-Six in South Carolina and many more having been accorded similar treatment at other times. Cleveland was a member of the court (or court martial) --the nature to the tribunal being of a perplexing character --which tried and condemned these Tories. The Battle of King's Mountain restored comparative order to western North Carolina, yet there was more fighting to be done, and Col. Cleveland as usual bore more than his share, serving under General Griffith Rutherford. (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. pp. 72-73).

After the war, Cleveland lost his plantation, "The Round About" to "a litigant who had a better title therefor." Cleveland moved on to South Carolina, where he became an Indian fighter and then a judge after the fighting ceased. Apparently, the more sedentary lifestyle of a judge did not agree with Cleveland, for "Before he died Cleveland attained the enormous weight of four hundred and fifty pounds." (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 73).

Colonel Cleveland died in Oconee County, South Carolina, in October of 1806. "By chapter 9 of the Laws of 1840-41 a county was formed out of Lincoln and Rutherford and named for Colonel Cleveland. In this act the name was misspelled Cleaveland, but by another legislative enactment --passed many years later --the error was remedied." (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. V. p. 73).

Bibliography

Ashe, Samuel, ed. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. 5. Greensboro, NC: Charles L. Van Noppen, 1905.

Carnes, Mark C., and Garranty, John A., editors. American National Biography, Volume 15. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Fiske, John, and Wilson, James Grant, editors. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 4. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1888-1889. Reprint. Detroit: Gale Research, 1968

Powell, William S., ed. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Volume. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1979.

Rice & Sarah Bradford Coffey

Rice was the son of a Baptist preacher.

Rice Coffey was the ninth of at least 11 children born to the Rev. James Coffey and wife, Elizabeth Cleveland.  James was the oldest son of John and Jane Graves Coffey; John the eldest of Edward and Anne Powell Coffey.

We know little about his early life until he married Sarah Bradford in about 1790.  He appears in very few North Carolina records which indicates that he and Sarah moved early in their union to Wartrace, at the time the second largest town in Bedford Co., TN.  According to Worth S. Ray in his huge work Tennessee Cousins, A History of the Tennessee People¹, the town of Wartrace was built on land donated by Rice and Henry B. Coffee.² [sic]  I personally do not know of a Henry B. Coffee/y associated with Rice until the birth of his son, Henry Bradford Coffey in 1796.

The first tax record in which Rice appears in Bedford Co. is one created in 1812.  An account written c1890 by a grandson, Rice Abner Coffey, reports that Rice moved from NC to Bedford Co. in 1808 and all but the last three of his children were born in NC.  If that is true, migration to TN would have been a bit earlier that 1808.  The 7th of his and Sally's children³, Martha D., was born Dec. 24, 1806 in TN.

Sally was born to Bennett and Margaret White Bradford4 July 22, 1770 in Bedford Co., perhaps in the same area of Wartrace Creek that later became the incorporated town of Wartrace.  She died there on Sep. 3, 1840 and was buried at the Old Salem Cemetery at Bell Buckle in Bedford Co.5   Rice died on Jul. 24, 1853 in Bedford Co., and was buried in the Coffey family cemetery at Wartrace.

Their children were:

Jerusha, a daughter born May 4, 1792 in Wilkes Co., NC; died Mar. 10, 1810 at Old Salem.

Elvira, born May 14, 1794, in NC and probably Wilkes Co., died Jul. 20, 1849 in Bedford Co.  She is also buried at Old Salem.

Henry Bradford, born Jul. 12, 1796 in Wilkes Co., died Apr. 11, 1864 at Jackson, Clarke Co., AL.  I have no independent information that Henry died during the Civil War,  After all, he was at least 67 years old when he died, a bit old to have taken up the cause, but I wonder what was he doing 300+ miles south of Wartrace in that year.  He was buried in Jackson at the Cross Cemetery.

His spouse was Sarah Rial Edmondson, born in Halifax Co., VA in 1809, died Mar. 31, 1892 in Wartrace.and was buried at the Coffee Cemetery.  She was the mother of ten:  Wiley Daniel; Elizabeth A., Richard E., Jane; Elvira; William Edmondson; Mary; Martha; Garland Rice and Isham.

Following Henry Bradford was Mary G., born 1797 in Wilkes Co., died Oct. 22, 1878 in Wartrace.  She married John Kendall (var) on Mar. 4, 1821 in Bedford Co.  They had a number of children, including Arcena who married a Prewitt, but I have not researched all of this family.Mary is buried at the Coffee Cemetery in Wartrace.

Weightstill Avery was next, born 1801 in NC, died 1837 in Bedford Co.  No known marriages.  He is buried at Old Salem.

Alexander Hamilton, born Jan. 19, 1803 in NC, died Apr. 5, 1864 in Jackson Co., AL.  His wife was Nancy E. Weatherly to whom he was married on Aut. 2, 1828 in Rutherford Co., TN.6  He was buried at Fackler in Jackson Co. at the Roach Cemetery.  Nancy died in 1841 and was buried at Old Salem.7

Their children were Rice Abner, 1833-1896; Michael A., c1837-? and, Weightstill Avery, 1837-1898.  Rice and Abner apparently migrated to Scottsboro in Jackson Co., AL.  They each died there and were buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery.  Rice Abner married Mary Ann Coffey, his first cousin, daughter of Benjamin and Mary E. Roach Coffey. Benjamin and Alexander Hamilton were brothers. Weightstill Avery married Mary Elizabeth Harris on May 2, 1866 in Jackson Co.8  Their children were Alexander Harris; Rice Abner; Eula Lee; Weightstill III, Mary Hudson and Vivian.

Rice and Sally's seventh child was Martha D., born Dec. 24, 1806 in TN, died Mar. 25, 1849 in Benton Co., AR.  Her spouse was Col. Alexander Curry Yell, born Nov. 12, 1805 in Rutherford Co., TN, died Oct. 24, 1881 in Benton Co.  Their children were Sarah J., Mary E., Martha E., Elizabeth, Marna and their only son, Archibald Yell.  Martha and Col. Yell are buried at the Yell Cemetery in Siloam Springs, Benton Co.9

Benjamin B. was next born.  His birth date was Aug. 16, 1809 in TN and death on Apr. 6, 1864 in AL.  He married Mary Elizabeth Roach, bor Sep. 4, 1824, died Sep. 8, 1850 in AL.  They are buried at the Roach Cemetery in Fackler.  I know of only one child, Mary Ann, born 1842, died 1864,  She was the wife of Rice Abner, above.

The last child born to Rice and Sally was Gen. John Reid Coffey.  You can read more about the General in a 2005 blog, updated July 25, 2014.

---

Some few years ago, a visitor to Coffey Cousins submitted the following information,   It was not an original document but was represented to me as a document that should be accepted at face value, with no additional proof. I passed the document around to various long time Coffee/Coffey researchers, asking for help authenticating the claim that Rice Coffee was the father of William Berry Coffee. To my surprise, none of them had ever seen or heard about the document. None of them denied that it could be truthful, but none could authenticate with documentation the claim that William Coffee Berry was the illegitimate son of Rice Coffee and Elizabeth Fields Berry.

Here is the text as I received it:

"William Coffee Berry was the illegitimate son of Rice Coffee and Elizabeth Fields Berry. She was the widow of a Revolutionary War soldier who had died of rheumatic fever. She then moved down to Wilkes County, North Carolina, where a brother & sister had married into the Coffee family. Rice Coffee refused (or couldn't) marry Elizabeth, but apparently did acknowledge that William, and later Mary, were his. Elizabeth gave both his name and her married name to both children.William was an Elder in the Refugee Baptist Church in Henderson County, North Carolina in 1850 ..and also became a literal refugee later in June of 1863 when he, his second wife and teenage daughter had to flee their home ahead of advancing Yankee troops.

"In 1870 at Avery's Creek, North Carolina, when he was 74, he wrote out a detailed account of the family's history, from which many of the facts in this total computer file were drawn. Here is that account, deciphered as best was possible, given the condition of the document and his handwriting:"

A BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BERRY FAMILY By William Coffee Berry January 30, 1870 "Richard Fields married Elizabeth Murrel, the sister of Drury Murrel ...all natives of Amherst County, Virginia. After marriage, Mr. Fields settled in Albemarle County, Virginia where Mrs. Fields became the mother of four children: Thomas, Joel, Elizabeth and Sarah. Mr. Fields died and his widow married a second time. Her second marriage was to John Gilliam, by whom she became the mother of three sons: Epaphroditus, Cornelius and John. Thomas (Fields), her oldest son, married Elizabeth Coffee and emigrated to Wilkes County, North Carolina, where he lived to an advanced age and died, leaving a large and respectable family behind him.

"Joel (Fields) died in the 21st year of his age and left no descendants. Sarah (Fields) married Thomas Coffee. They emigrated shortly after the close of the Revolution to N.C. and settled in Wilkes County. She became the mother of nine children, seven sons and two daughters. -Her second son, Reuben, was a distinguished Baptist clergyman. He emigrated with his family and two of his younger brothers and their families to the state of Indiana, and settled in Monroe County near Bloomington, where all those brothers have since died.

"Reuben, (along with) Lewis and Larkin Epaphroditus Gilliam, emigrated from Virginia to Wilkes County, North Carolina ....and married Sally Israel, daughter of Michael Israel, and moved with his family to Clay County, Missouri, where he has since died. He was a local Methodist preacher. Cornelius Gilliam married a Miss Wood and moved to Kentucky, where he accumulated a handsome property and died without any children. John Gilliam (Jr. ?) married, lived and died in Virginia.
Elizabeth Fields married Bradley Berry of Albemarle County, Virginia, by whom she became the mother of a son and called his name Franklin. After his birth his mother, Elizabeth Berry, moved with her infant son Franklin to Wilkes County, N.C. ... where she became the mother of Mary and William, the avowed and acknowledged offspring of Rice Coffee.

"(Several lines here were erased or obliterated by someone who [apparently] couldn't stand the idea of this ancestor being illegitimate. It was likely Ruth Parker, who was the custodian of this document in 1971. Her qualification as a DAR would be in question if she could not trace a direct bloodline back to a Revolutionary War soldier, and being a DAR was very important to her. She even gives her DAR registration number, 489910, along with her signature.)

"When William C. Berry was in his 13th year (circa 1809), his mother moved with Mary and William to Buncombe County, N.C., where she lived until her death. This aforesaid Elizabeth Berry was born March 12th, 1755 and deceased on Monday, May 24th, 1824. Mary was born February 5th, 1789 and was married in February 1810 to Mr. David Rodgers, by whom she became the mother of nine children: Three sons and six daughters. Named as follows: (Sarah), Fawniah, Hugh, Mary, Jane, Robert, Elizabeth Emily, Margaret Minerva and David. The oldest was born December 16, 1811 and the youngest January 21, 1830. All are still living at the present date, 1870. Mary Rodgers, their mother, died April 21, 1857. She lived beloved and died lamented.

"The three sons, Hugh, Robert and David and five of their sisters are living in Jackson County, N.C. and all are in easy circumstances. The other sister, Mary, married Mr. Jason Chasteaux. They are settled on Toccoa River, Fanning County, Georgia and are in affluent circumstances.

"William C. Berry was born October 19th, 1796, and on the 30th day of April, 1816, was married to Miss Letticia Woody, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Woody, by whom he became the father of 12 children, six sons and six daughters: Thomas F, Elizabeth, Mary, William M.C., Larkin M., Mariah Louisa, Lewis Franklin, Sarah Elviry Emily, Martha Ann, Ephriam Moor, Joseph Manning, and Letticia Minerva June.

"Thomas F. was born February 2nd, 1817 and died July 18th, 1878. Elizabeth was born October 29th, 1818. She married William Bishop of Spartanburg, South Carolina May 16th, 1844, and became the mother of nine children, five sons and four daughters. She departed this life on April lst, 1864, aged 46 years, 5 months, 2 days. Mary Berry was born March 22nd, 1820, and was married to James B. Sutton (?) January 13th, 1842. She became the mother of ten children, two of which died in infancy. She lived to see six grandchildren and died November 22nd, 1869, aged 49 years and 8 months.
William M.C. Berry was born February 27th, 1822 and was married to Clarisa Williams, daughter of Frederic & Martha Elizabeth Williams of Spartanburg, S.C., by whom he became the father of four children, two sons and two daughters. He yet lives and recently visited his aged father, who now resides in Jackson County, N.C. at the close of the year 1869.

"Larkin M. Berry was born April 12th, 1824 and professed religion in his 13th year. He became a preacher in the Baptist denomination at age 17, and was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry December 24th, 1848. He has attained the character of an able, popular, efficient preacher. He married Miss Martha Bishop of Spartanburg May 16th, 1844 and became the father of four children, three sons and one daughter. He located himself and his family in the city of Lacon, Illinois in the spring of 1869 where he now lives on January 30th, 1870.

"Mariah Louisa was born April 10th, 1826 and married John Bishop of Spartanburg, S.C. on August 31st, 1848, by whom she became the mother of seven children, four sons and three daughters. Her husband, John Bishop, died near Richmond in the Confederate army in the spring of 1864. She is now living in Jackson County, N.C. in 1870.

"Lewis Franklin Berry was born May 25th, 1828 and found the baptist church at Boiling Springs, Spartanburg, in October 1844. He married Sarah Lewis of Spartanburg, by whom he became the father of seven children, five sons and two daughters. He emigrated to Morgan County, Alabama and settled three miles north of Summerville (?). ...professed to be a preacher of the gospel.

"Sarah Elviry Emily Berry was born March lst, 1830 and married John Crook, Jr. She died December 28th, 1865, aged 34 years, 9 months, 27 days. She left but one child behind to perpetuate her name.
Martha Ann was born May 3rd, 1832 and died on Friday, July 5th, 1834.

"Ephriam M. Berry was born August 9th, 1834 and professed religion on October 27th, 1850, and was baptized into the fellowship of the Refugee Baptist Church in Henderson County, N.C. He married Miss Matilda Jenkins in the spring of 1853. His wife, Matilda, lived seven months after their marriage and died of consumption on Monday, December 24th, 1853. In the year 1863, said E.M. Berry emigrated to the northwest ... located himself in the state of Indiana, where he has attained some degree of notoriety as an M.D. and an Eldership in the Christian Church.

"Joseph M. Berry was born December llth, 1837, made profession of the Christian religion October 26th, 1850, and was baptized into the fellowship of the Refugee Baptist Church in Henderson County, N.C. on Friday, November 8th, by his father, Elder William C. Berry. After the death of his mother, Joseph M. located in Greenville, S.C. where he married Susannah Owens, by whom he became the father of one child, a daughter born January lst, 1861. In the spring of 1863, he emigrated to the northwest, locating at Bedford, Indiana. He became a student of the high school at that place and has since attained to high distinction and notoriety as a scholar and a clergyman in the Christian Church.

"Letticia Minerva June Berry, the youngest of her father's family, was born March 4th, 1840 and professed religion October 25th, 1850, and was baptized into the fellowship of the Refugee Baptist Church in Henderson County, N.C. on Friday, November 8th, 1850 by her brother, Elder Larkin M. Berry. She remained at home with her parents until her mother's death, and she was then placed under the care & control of her Aunt Mary Rodgers. After the death of Mrs. Rodgers, Minerva returned to her father, who married Miss Charlotte Osbourn, daughter of Jermiah & Ann 0sbourn. She remained with her father and stepmother until June 23rd, 1863, when all were driven to the necessity of leaving home as refugees to seek a destination of safety in the state of South Carolina. Minerva then went to East Tennessee, where she was still living when last heard from by the writer, her father and her mother (Letticia Woody was married April 30th, 1846 and died April 14th, 1855, aged 56 years, 10 months, 22 days. She had lived many long years a pious and exemplary Christian life, and died in the full triumphs of the Christian faith. Jonathan Woody, her father, was the son of William Woody, a native of England. He married Sarah Persel, an English lady. They immigrated from England and settled on the Potomac River in the state of Virginia, where Jonathan was born. After his birth, the family moved to South Carolina where Jonathan married Mary Lovel, by whom he became the father of eight children, four sons & four daughters. Three died in infancy. Their father, Jonathan Woody, moved when nearly 100 years of age to the state of Iowa, and died at his youngest son's place, Berry Woody. Jonathan Woody had three brothers and four sisters: William, Talton, James, Elizabeth, Nancy, Sarah and Mary.

"William married a Miss Watkins. Nancy married John Slaton. Sarah married Abner Norrce and Mary married John Davice, nicknamed "Jack of Diamonds". William Woody, brother of Jonathan, had 13 children, nine sons and four daughters: John, Talton, William, Killis, Silas, Nicholas, David, Joseph, Washington, Nancy, Elizabeth, Kizzias (Polly) and Mary. Nancy married William Miller. Elizabeth married John Gasperson. Polly married a Mr. Cook.

"NOTE: William C. Berry wrote this account for his son, Joseph M. Berry, who carried it to Oklahoma, where it passed to Joseph's daughter, Lillie Belle Berry Clark in 1917. In 1951, Lillie entrusted it to Ruth Hope Parker Lessley, her niece whom she had raised from infancy. Ruth is the daughter of Laura Berry Parker, Lillie's sister, who died in 1907. In January, 1971, Ruth lived in Paducah, Kentucky."


[On Feb. 23, 2007, DNA testing confirmed that a direct descendant of William Berry Coffey is a Coffey, and likely the illegitimate son of Rice Coffey.  See Coffey Cousins' DNA website for details.]

---

Sources:

¹Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, Jul., 1950

² I do not know of a Henry B. Coffee/y associated with Rice until the birth of his son, Henry Bradford Coffey in 1796.  According to a TN State Historic Marker, Rice donated 8 acres to the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad on which the town was build around.

³ Some discrepancies exists in various accounts of the number and names of children.  The 1820 census lists 5 male children and 3 female, which agrees with the account presented here.  The oldest of their children, daughter Jerusha died in 1810.

4 Genealogical Publishing Co., Reprint, Genealogies of Virginia Families: From Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007), Page 212.  Margaret was Bennett's second wife.

5 I've wondered why she was buried at Bell Buckle, some two hours north of Wartrace on horseback.  Perhaps the Coffey Cemetery at Wartrace had not yet been established?! The oldest grave at Wartrace appears to be that of Rice who died in 1853.

6 Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002", index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VNXX-3CM : accessed 05 Mar 2013), Alexander H Coffey, and Nancy E Weatherly, 1828 and Zella Armstrong, Author/Compiler, Notable Southern Families, with Janie Preston Collop French, Author/Compiler (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1974), Vols. 5-6, Page 14.

7 Nancy E Weatherly, 1828 and Zella Armstrong, Author/Compiler, Notable Southern Families, with Janie Preston Collop French, Author/Compiler (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1974), Vols. 5-6, Page 14.

8 "Alabama Marriages, 1816-1957", index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FQDR-V2Q : accessed 10 Jan 2013), W. Avey Coffey and Bettie L. Harris, 02 May 1866.

9 This came to me several years ago and the source is unknown:  "We omitted to mention last week, the death of our old-time friend, Col. Yell. He was a well-known and prominent citizen of this [Washington Co., AR?] and Benton counties. The name of Aleck Yell in Northwest Arkansas was a household word. Always the friend of the oppressed, none knew him but to love him. Now that his earthly career is ended, the memory of his good deeds will outlive the cold marble that covers his ashes. Friend of our early days, sorrowfully we pronounce the word that makes us linger farewell."  Col. Yell was a son of Moses Archibald and Jane Curry Yell.  

John Cleveland & Elizabeth Coffey

The Cleveland family is neither short on research nor controversy.  Very little of what I will write here has been personally researched.  Instead, I have depended on several sources that many readers will very likely recognize.

I'll begin with at controversy I faced when I wrote on 2004 that Alexander Cleveland, born c1670 in Orange Co., VA, married Mildred "Milly" Presly [sic] in that county c1694.  According to the source, Alexander may have married twice.  A grandson, Henry Wilson Cleveland, Alexander married "Margaret Doolittle, of Irish descent."

Shortly afterward I received email from a reader that Alexander did not marry Mildred.  That reader assured me that they "have thoroughly researched that family and come to the conclusion that it is simply impossible. Presley researchers do not include her in their genealogies and there is nothing to tie that family to Gloucester Co."  After a couple of exchanges the writer refused to continue with the contact.

So, for what it is worth, this is what I have recorded in the Edward Coffey Project about Alexander and Mildred Presly Cleveland:

The couple married c1694 in Orange Co., VA and very likely had several children.  I have recorded only two:  John, born Jul. 31, 1714 in Gloucester Co., died Nov., 1778 at Blue Run in Orange Co., VA and, Grace, born Sep. 1, 1716 in Gloucester Co.

John Married Elizabeth Coffey in 1734.  She was the daughter of Edward and Anne Powell Coffey, born c1714 in Essex Co., VA, died 1770 in Orange Co.

They were parents of at least nine children:

Mary, born c1736 - no further information

Benjamin, born May 26, 1738 in Prince William Co., VA, died Oct. 15, 1806 in Tugalo Valley, Oconee Co., SC.  This is "the" Benjamin Cleveland of King's Mountain fame.  Marvin Coffey wrote that Benjamin was "probably the oldest son," and that he "spent some time in Pittsylvania co., VA where he became known as a mighty hunter."  in about 1768 the family moved to NC, first to Surry Co. (created from Rowan Co. in 1770) and later settled on the upper Yadkin River in Wilkes Co.  Benjamin married Mary Graves c1761 and they were parents of at least two sons, Absalom and John.

Pages upon pages could be written - and have in numerous books - about Cleveland.  Check the following sources for further research:

New River Notes at http://tinyurl.com/mmpgkns; Cleveland Family Chronicles at http://tinyurl.com/n55brot; Ashe, Samuel, Biographical History of North Carolina, 1906; Crouch, John, Historical Sketches of Wilkes County., Wilkesboro, NC, 1902 and, Kings Mountain Men, White, K.K (Katherine Keogh), Gen. Pub. Co., Baltimore, 1977

Rev. John Cleveland, born c1740 in Orange Co., said to have married Mary McCann.  No further information.

Elizabeth "Betty," Cleveland, born 1742, died 1828 in Scott Co., KY, married David Gillaspy between 1760 and 1765. The family moved to Madison Co., KY c1802. No further information.

Robert Cleveland, born 1744 at Blue Run, died 1812 in Lewis Fork Twp., Wilkes Co., NC.  Married in KY to Alice "Aley" Mathis, born 1750 died 1791.  At least two sons:  Jesse, married Mary Blassingame and parents of Dr. Jesse F. Cleveland who married Caro [sic] Zimmerman.  Robert and Alice's second child was Capt. Jeremiah Cleveland.  Robert may be the same that was in Pittsylvania Co., VA before arriving in Wilkes Co.  There is a 1799 land entry in that county for a Robert Cleveland as well.  Source cited is Deed Book 5, page 91.  Robert was a captain in the Revolutionary War, and was at King's Mountain.  He is said to have sired 17 children by two wives.

Jeremiah Cleveland, born 1746 at Blue Rn, died 1806 in VA.  No further information.

Photo by Vanessa Neal

Photo by Vanessa Neal

Larkin Cleveland, born 1748 in Orange Co., died 1814 in Giles Co., TN.  Larkin was probably as "famous" as his older brother, Benjamin.  He married Frances Wright, born 1756, died 1836 in Dallas Co., AL.  Larkin has a DAR monument at Buford Station Cemetery [aka Lane Cemetery] in Lynnville, Giles Co., TN which gives his rank as a Lieutenant.  An older headstone, likely placed shortly after his death, records his rank as Colonel.  Frances is said to have been buried at the Old Govan Cemetery at Selma in Dallas Co., AL.  A message found in a genealogy forum reads:  "The 1989 version of the Central Alabama Genealogical Society's book, Vital Data from Cemeteries of Dallas County, Alabama shows the following: Frances Cleveland, wife of Larkin Cleveland, b. 6 Aug 1756, d. 26 Mar 1836, bd. in the abandoned Govan family cemetery, located west of route no. 41 near Sardis, east of the intersection of county Rd 77 and Co. Rd. 30, Township 16, Range 11, Section 31."

Martha "Patsy" Cleveland, born c1759 in Orange Co., VA, married James Smith in that county in 1775.  No further information.

The last child of John and Elizabeth Coffey Cleveland is said to be Reuben, born 1752 in Blue Run, Orange Co.  Little or nothing is known of Reuben.  He was mentioned in his father will and may have died prior to 1792.  He is thought to have had a son named John.

Please note that many of the birth dates given for these children are - as far as I am concerned - speculative at best.  Most are from the compilation of data by Edmund West and found mostly on Ancestry.com as part of the "Family Data Collection - Births."  As I understand those records, they are compiled from information given in what are often termed "controversial" family histories found on Ancestry.  Personally, I have little faith in those histories unless more reliable sources are provided to back up given claims.

  Jack

---

Sources:

Cleveland, Edmund James, The genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland families , Page 3_2056.

George A. Martin, Virginia Cleveland Ancestor Discovered, National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 46, Sept., 1958)

Men of Mark in South Carolina, Vol. III, a collection of biographies edited by J. C. Hemphill and published in Washington, D.C. in 1908.  This collection contains the biography of Dr. Jesse Franklin Cleveland of Spartanburg, SC.

Original Immigrant of Southern Clevelands, Vikki L. Jeanne Cleveland, http://tinyurl.com/ljpwksn

Three Centuries in America: Thomas Machel of Middlesex County, Virginia, L. C. Edwards, 1999

King's Mountain and Its Heroes: History of the Battle of King's Mountain, October 7, 1780 and the Events which led to it, Peter G. Thomson, 1881; Lyman C. Draper LL.D., Editor

The Long Journey: A Family History 1687 to 1991, Thomas Lee Hair, Ft. Walton Beach, FL, 1992
http://tinyurl.com/o3oanrd

James Bluford Coffey: His Ancestors and Descendants in America, Vol I and II, Coffey, Marvin Dale, privately printed, 1984.  See also http://tinyurl.com/nfwfkro This book likely available on microfilm from the Family History Library at Salt Lake City.