Jasper Pink Coffey

Jasper, born Sep. 16, 1851 in Mortimer Twp., Caldwell Co., NC, died Apr. 3, 1928 in Topeka, Shawnee Co., KS, was a son of Lucinda and a previously supposed spouse, Joseph Coffey whose lineage has not been discovered.  Lucinda was the daughter of Enoch and Prudence Gragg Coffey.

Jasper Pink Coffey

Jasper married Mary Jane Minton on Apr. 21, 1873 in Boone Twp., Watauga Co., NC and by 1900 was in Geary Co., KS with his family.  They did not leave for Kansas until after Jul., 1888 (and probably not before 1900) when their seventh child of nine, Ellis La Fayette Coffey was born in Caldwell Co.  This birth is confirmed by record found in Caldwell Co. birth index, Vol. 12, Page 62.  The 1900 census for Geary Co. lists the whole family, except for eldest son George who was already married.  All of the children are shown with birth place in North Carolina.

Because no one could find the elusive Joseph, Jasper's paternity has long been suspect.  Just recently, through DNA testing of a descendant of Jasper, it has been determined that Jasper's father was an Estes.

Anyone familiar with North Carolina Coffey families knows that there has been a long relationship between these two families.  It is like some have told me: "scratch a Gragg, find a Coffey."  That could also be said for the Estes families in that state.

If the researcher looks at the 1850 census for the Johns River district in Caldwell county, the Enoch Coffey family (Lucinda was his daughter) will be found on Page 8, dwelling/family 111.  Langston Estes, age 64 is found at family 113.  Family 114 is Joseph Estes, married to Dicey with one child, Loretta age 1.

Mary Jane Minton

Could this Joseph Estes be the "Joseph Coffey" who fathered Jasper?  Probably yes!  Coincidental that Joseph Estes had the same first name as the alleged Joseph Coffey?  Probably no!

Jasper and Mary Jane's children were:

George Alexander, born 1874, died 1928, married  Grace Percy Armitage; lived in Nebraska and died in California in 1928.  Grace died there in 1958.  They had at least one son, Willard Duane, born 1903.

Jonathon Horton, born 1876, died 1961 in Norton Co., KS.  Married Maude B. Ayers and had at least two sons, Lawrence, born c1905 and Walter John, born c1912.

Malinda Lucinda, born 1878, died 1925 in Dickinson Co., KS, married James Joseph Cullen in Geary Co., KS in 1905.

James Washington, born 1881, married Mae Switzer.  They had at least two sons, Jesse and Bud.

William Finley, born 1883, died 1946 in Shwanee Co., KS.

Enoch Thomas, born 1885, died 1921 in Geary Co.

Ellis La Fayette, born 1888.  Nothing else known.

Jennie Etta, born 1890, died 1987 in Shawnee Co.  She married Harry Gutshall in 1936.

Joseph Richard, born 1893, married Mary Bell Bledso in 1932; died in 1963 in Shawnee Co.  They had at least one son, Frederick.

By birth then, all of these children and their descendants are member of the Estes clan with their only connection to the Coffey family back through Lucinda to Enoch, but the males will not have Coffey DNA.

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Photos courtesy of Ben Coffey