Pittward "Pitt" & Flavonia Fletcher Coffey

I completed some additional work on Pittward this morning.  Readers are invited to click on the blog title to see the original blog about this family and, which contains a few of the updates that will be included here.

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Pittward, or Pitt as he seems to have been called, was the eldest child and son of Charles Edward and Sarah Jane Ogden Coffey.  Charles Edward was a son of John Jack and Betsey Duff Coffey and, John Jack was the third son of Jordan and Betsey Rippetoe Coffey.  By now, descendants of Jordan should know that he was actually a Talliaferro (Toliver) and not a Coffey.  But, they are interesting folks and they do eventually get back together with the Coffeys through intermarriage.

Pitt was born in Virginia - and very likely Amherst Co. because his parents never left.  They lived there, raised their children there and are now buried there.  His first wife was Lucy Parks White, daughter of Henry A., and wife Elizabeth, born c1863.  She was the fourth of six children in the White household in the 1870 Peddlar Twp., Amherst Co. census.

Lucy apparently died in childbirth, c1882.  Her only child was Vernie Irvine, born Sep. 23, 1882, died Mar., 1970 in Buena Vista, VA.  Vernie married Robert L. Seay on Dec. 13, 1899.  He was also an Amherst Co. resident, having been born there on Oct. 25, 1875.  They had at least six children:  Evelyn, Vivia, John Robert, Henry Vaughn, Marion and William Lee.

Sometime between Vernie's birth and Sep., 1885, Pitt married Flavonia [sic] Fletcher, a daughter of Lucian and Maria Frances Crawford Fletcher.  Flavonia was born Apr. 8, 1869 in Amherst Co. and died on Jan. 4, 1955 at Fraziers Bottom in Putnam Co., WV.  Their first child was Jesse, born Sep., 1885, died unmarried on Feb. 12, 1918 at Charleston in Kanawha Co., WV.  He is buried at Spring Hill in Charleston, Kanawha Co.

The second child was Janet Aurelia, born Jul. 24, 1888 in Kanawha Co., died Mar. 27, 1945 at Huntington in Cabell Co., WV.  Janet died by suicide when she jumped off the 5th Ave. bridge spanning the Guyan River.  She was nearly 57 years old and was Mrs. Chester L. Martin.  Her first husband was T. Edward Berry to whom she was married on Nov. 19, 1908.  I have not found them in the 1910 census and do not know if any children resulted from that union.  Martin was her second husband, but I have not found a marriage date.  Chester died on Sep. 14, 1959 in Huntington.  His burial place is not known to me; Janet is buried at Spring Hill.

Third child was Alma Elizabeth, born at Jarretts Ford in Kanawha Co. on Mar. 1, 1890.  She was first married there to Thomas H. Young in 1911. They divorced sometime c1921 (it says so on the license for her second marriage) after giving birth to at least three children by Thomas:  Harless, c1913; Margaret, c1915; and Carroll Fletcher, c1918.  Alma married her second husband Frank C. Briscoe when she was 34 and he was a 51-year old widower.  They were married in West Virginia in 1924, and lived for awhile at 215 Hunt Ave. in Charleston where she gave birth to two of his children:  Mary, born c1925 and Joseph H., born c1927.  I haven't found a death record for James.  Alma died on Dec. 12, 1969 in Charleston but not before marrying again at age 73 to the 72-year old James Marshall Lawson on Apr. 25, 1963 in Kanawha Co.  Alma is buried at Spring Hill.  The buial places of her three spouses are unknown.

[Update] Child number four was Harry Clarkston, born Jun. 8, 1892 at Elkview in Kanawha Co., WV; died at Fraziers Bottom, Putnam Co., WV on Mar. 14, 1969.  His wife was Cecil Ann Fisher, born May, 1895 in Putnam Co. and died there in 1985.  She and Harry are buried at Saint Albans, Kanawha Co. WV at the Cunningham Memorial Park cemetery. I am still searching for a marriage date and place.

Number five was Fletcher Euick (?), born Jul. 5, 1895 in Charleston, died Nov., 1980 in Kanawha Co.  Also, no info on possible wife and children.

Six was Stoughton (I've seen it spelled Stephen, but it's Stoughton on his death certificate) Edward, born Feb. 27, 1897 in Kanawha Co., died of tuberculosis in Charleston on Apr. 17, 1918 at age 21,  He is also buried at Spring Hill.  He also was unmarried.

The last and seventh child that I have for Pitt and Flavonia was James Tinsley.  He was born Sep. 21, 1901 in WV and died from heart failure at age 330years Oct. 10, 1934 in Charleston.  He was also unmarried.

Susan Barsheba (Bob) Fletcher

This will be my last blog for about two weeks.  We are heading out tomorrow for a two-week camping trip down around Lafayette, Louisiana.  That area is the heart of Acadiana.  I hope to enjoy a few Cajun dinners in one of the many fine restaurants in that area.  So what if the cholesterol is high...you gotta die from something  so might as well have a full belly when you go!

I'm still searching for some associate editors to write an occasional blog.  You can write about your Coffey/Coffee family or any of those lines that connect to them.  If interested, contact me via e-mail.  My address is above right.

Susan Barsheba (Bob) Fletcher was a daughter of James Nelson & Rebecca M. O'Quinn Fletcher.  Her father was brother to George William Fletcher who married a sister to my 3G-grandfather, James R. Bishop.  She was born in Mississippi, and probably in Lawrence or Copiah Co. 

The Bishops first settled in Lawrence Co. after leaving Georgia.  My earliest Bishop ancestor was William Bucner who was in that county at least by 1818 when he purchased land in the SW part of S22, T7W, R19W comprising 160 acres.  He paid a total of $320 to the US Government for the property.  William sold the property on Jan. 1, 1834 and began moving west.  He was 66 years old at the time and made it only as far as Union Co., AR where he died in 1852.

William's son, James R. Bishop was my ancestor.  His daughter, Adaline Amanda married George William Fletcher.  As mentioned above, Susan's (Bob) father was brother to George.  That's why I have a drawer full of Fletcher family information.

Bob was the ninth of 14 children born to James and Rebecca.  There were six boys and eight girls, all born between Nov., 1838 and Oct., 1864!  Rebecca likely didn't remember what it was like not to be pregnant!  She died in 1880.  James died in 1864, worn out I reckon from trying to feed all those kids!

Bob married William Caswell Crocker on Nov. 9, 1873.  He was born Aug. 5, 1844 in Mississippi. and died Jan. 15, 1901 in Texas, probably Anderson Co.  Bob died there on Jan. 1, 1916 and is buried in the Tennessee Colony* Cemetery.

William Caswell is probably also buried here, but I have not yet found his headstone.

He and Bob had at least seven children:

Eugenia Alice, born Jan. 2, 1875
Toy Crawford, born Sep. 29, 1877
Allen Baxter, born Jul. 5, 1879
Savannah Ida, born May 25, 1882
Oliver Arnold, born Nov. 29, 1887, died Jan. 17, 1928.  He is also buried at Tennessee Colony.
Hanna Jane, born Apr. 8, 1890
Ebon Nealy, born Mar. 29, 1895, died Mar. 29, 1899.  He is also buried at Tennessee Colony.

As usual, I can be reached at the above e-mail address if corrections to this info are needed.




*Yes, there is a town in Texas with that name!
Photo of gravestone courtesy of Kristen Merritt on FindAGrave

Charles Edward and Sarah Jane Ogden Coffey - Update 2-22-2011

If you live anywhere in the US where the humidity and ambient temperature typically try to out do each other in the summer, you'll understand when I write that not much physical activity has been going on at my house for the past couple of days!

The outside cooling unit went down on Sunday.  A friend knowledgeable about such things came over and changed out a capacitor and the compressor started.  That lasted about an hour and we spent last night with every fan in the house, and one outside, running!

Today, I moved the wireless laptop out onto the deck and set up office in front of that large fan where I remained for most of the day.  Heat doesn't seem to bother my wife as much as me, so she rarely ventured out unless it was to refill my empty iced tea glass!

By the time my friend got back this afternoon with the new outside unit, temps were 91F inside and 90F outside!  Humidity inside and out was at about 49%.  But, it didn't take long to install the new unit and temps inside are steadily dropping.  We can look forward to a cool nights rest once again!

I didn't waste all of my time just sitting in front of that fan.  With the help of my friend John Taylor, I decided to update some of the information on Charles Edward Coffey, a son of John Jack and Elizabeth Susan Duff Coffey in the Jordan Coffey line.

<--Charles Edward Coffey

Charles was born on Nov. 30, 1882 in Amherst Co., VA and died there on Feb. 13, 1924.  He is buried at Bridge Hill Cemetery in Amherst Co.

He and Sarah Jane Ogden were married Feb. 14, 1854 somewhere - probably Amherst Co. - in Virginia.  Sarah was born Oct. 22, 1833 in Virginia, the daughter of Zachariah and Elizabeth McDaniel Ogden.  She died Jan. 17, 1904 and is also buried at Bridge Hill (note headstone).


One of their sons, Pittward (Pitt) Coffey (I've see his name in some genealogies as Pitt Woodford) was married to Lucy White on Oct. 3, 1881 in Amherst Co.  The entry reads that Lucy, age 18 and a widow,  was the daughter of Henry and Eliza White. She was also sister to Sallie M. White who married Pitt's younger brother, Charles Edward Coffey.

I have seen at least one unsourced genealogy that gives her name as Lucy Parks White.  I wonder if she could have been previously married to a Parks who died, and then to Pitt!?

Lucy gave birth to a daughter named Vernie some 10 months later, on Sep. 23, 1882.  Within a very short time - probably around 1885 - Pitt absconded with Flavona Fletcher, a daughter of Lucian and Marie Frances Crawford Fletcher.  Lucian had some interest in Sweet Brian College in Amherst Co., and in 1901 Flovona received a portion of his share, some $5000.

Pitt and Flavona had already relocated to Kanawha Co. in West Virginia where Pitt farmed a little and eventually went into the grocery business.  In 1900 he was a farmer.  In 1910 he was a grocer.  The extra cash that Flavona brought home probably helped him get started in the retail business.

By 1920 Pitt was retired.  Too bad he didn't live longer to enjoy his retirement.  He died on Jan. 9, 1922 of stomach cancer, and was buried on Jan. 10 at the Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston, Kanawha Co.

I do not yet know where Flavona went after 1920.  But, she died on Nov. 5, 1955 in Putney, Kanawha Co.

In 1930 Flavonia was living with her daughter Alma and Alma's second husband, Frank C. Briscoe in Charles, WV.
Vernie, Pitt's daughter with Lucy married Robert L. Seay, who was born Oct. 25, 1875 (not yet sure where).  He and Vernie had at least six children:

Evelyn, born Nov. 10, 1900, died Aug. 16, 1966
Vivian, born Sep. 25, 1903, died Nov. 1, 1973
John Robert, born Jun. 25, 1906, died apr. 2, 1984
Henry Vaughn, born Apr. 7, 1908, died Nov. 16, 1940
Marion, born Oct. 16, 1910, died May 23, 1975
William Lee, born Sep. 3, 1913, died Mar. 20, 1940

Pitt's children with Flavona were:

Jesse, born Sep., 1885, died Feb. 12, 1918 of "probably typhoid fever" and,  was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston, Kanawha Co.  Jesse died unmarried.

Janet Aurelia, born Jul. 1888, died Mar. 27, 1945.  She married first T. Edward Berry on Nov. 19, 1908 in Lexington, Rockbridge Co., VA.  She later married Chester L. Martin, born 1886, died Sep. 14, 1959 in Huntington, Cabell Co., WV.  She is also buried at Spring Hill Cemetery.

Alma, born Mar., 1890. Alma married first to Thomas H. Young in 1911, Kanawha Co., WV. She gave him at least three children: Harless, born c1913; Margaret, born c1915; and Carroll Cletcher, born c1918, each in WV. She last appeared with Young in the 1920 census in Charleston. In 1924 she married a widower, Frank C. Briscoe and gave him at least two children: Mary, born c1925 and Joseph H., born c1927. That marriage license shows that Alma was divorced. Briscoe was 17 years senior to Alma and seemingly preceded her in death because, in 1963, at the age of 73, Alma married for the third time. This husband was 72-year old James Marshall Lawson. Alma is buried at Spring Hill. I have not discovered Mr. Lawson's burial place.
Harry Clarkston, born Jun. 8, 1892, died Mar., 1969.  Buried at Putnam Co., WV.

Fletcher, born Jul. 5, 1895, died Nov., 1980 in Kanawha Co.

Stoughton Edward, born Feb., 1897, died Apr. 17, 1918.  I've seen some genealogies who named this child Steven.  However, Stoughton is how it is spelled on his death certificate.  He died very young (age 21) from Tuberculosis.  He was also buried at Spring Hill.

James Tinsley, born Sep. 21, 1901, died Oct. 10, 1934.  James died early as well.  He was deceased from a heart attack by the time he was 33 years old.  He is also buried at Spring Hill.

More to come on the remainder of Charles' children with Sarah Jane Ogden.

Please contact me at the above e-mail address to add to or correct any of this information.

Photos courtesy of John Taylor