Jasper Pink and Mary Jane Minton Coffey

Jasper Pink and Mary Jane Minton Coffey



Ben Coffey is looking for his ancestors. He descends from Jasper Pink and Mary Jane Minton Coffey. Jasper's death certificate reveals that he was a son of Joseph and Lucinda Coffey Coffey. The only problem seems to be that there was not a Joseph Coffey around at the time of Jasper's conception.

The problem is compounded by the fact that Ben's DNA markers match those of an Estes. There was a Joseph Estes residing in the area not far from the Johns River area where Lucinda and her family resided in Caldwell Co.

Lucinda was born c1832 to Enoch and Prudence Gragg Coffey. Enoch was a son of Joseph and Isabella Lindsay Coffey. Joseph was a grandson of John Coffey and Jane Graves through their son Reuben Coffey and his wife,Sarah Scott. Enoch and Prudence likely had more than one child, but so far only Lucinda has been found.

Joseph Coffey, father of Enoch, is thought to have died in 1835, but he could have died much later. It is possible that the Joseph Coffey who died in 1849, and whose estate was handled by Enoch, was Enoch's father.

Jasper and Mary Jane left North Carolina sometime after their marriage on Aug. 21, 1873 in Boone Twp., Watauga Co.* I have not found them in the 1880 census record. All nine of their children were born in Caldwell Co., the last on Mar. 8, 1893. So, sometime between that date and Jun. 7, 1900 they left North Carolina and moved to Geary Co., KS where they appeared in the Jun. 7 census of that year. Ben writes that soon after Jasper and Mary Jane moved to Kansas, Joseph Estes also relocated there.

In 1910 the family was still living in Geary Co. I have not found them in 1920, but on Apr. 3, 1928 they were residing at 1221 Monroe St. in Topeka, Shawnee Co., KS. It was on that date that Jasper Pink died due to "mitral insufficiency." His death certificates reveals that he was buried at Junction City in Geary Co.

Mary Jane lived until Oct. 6, 1925 and died on that date in Macon Co., MO. She is also buried at Junction City.

Jasper and Mary's children were:

George Alexander, born May 27, 1874, died Dec. 28, 1928. George married Grace Percy Armitage on Aug. 21, 1900. George and Grace both died in San Bernardino Co., CA.

Jonathon Horton, born Mar. 30, 1876 in Lenoir, died Oct. 21, 1961 in Norton Co., KS. He married Maude B. Ayers on May 14, 1903 in Junction City, Geary Co., KS. Maude was born Jan. 25, 1885 in Oklahoma and died Oct. 10, 1969.

Malinda Lucinda, born Jul. 26, 1878 in Lenoir, died Nov. 1, 1925 in Chapman, Dickinson Co., KS. She married James Joseph Cullen on Aug. 16, 1905 in Junction City.

James Washington, born Feb. 26, 1881 in Lenoir, married Mae Switzer.

William Finley, born Apr. 17, 1883 in Lenoir, died Sep. 13, 1946 in Rossville, Shawnee Co., KS.

Enoch Thomas, born May 31, 1885 in Lenoir, died Apr. 15, 1921 in Junction City.

Ellis LaFayette, born Jul. 3, 1888 in Lenoir.

Jennie Etta, born Dec. 27, 1890 in Caldwell Co., and died Sep. 8, 1987 in Rossville, Shawnee Co. She married Harry Gutshall on Oct. 11, 1936.

Joseph Richard, born Mar. 8, 1893 in Lenoir, died in Jun., 1963 at Rossville, Shawnee Co. He married Mary Bell Bledso on Nov. 23, 1932.

Drop me e-mail at the above address if you would like to contact Ben, or to add to or correct any of this information.

















*Marriage Register of Watauga County, North Carolina 1873-1954 (Boone, Watauga Co., NC: Dept. of Hist., Appalachian State Univ., Boone, NC, 1995)

Photos are courtesy of Ben Coffey

Anderson T. Coffey

Anderson T. Coffey was a son of John Davidson and Mary A. Mayfield Coffey. He was born in July, 1863 in Indiana and married Margaret (Maggie) Brown in Carroll Co., IN on Jul. 28, 1886. Maggie was born in Michigan in Dec., 1867.

I know of only one child, a daughter named Mayfield M. Coffey, born Sep. 1887 in Indiana.

Anderson was a railroad agent by profession. He is listed in the Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., IN city directory as an agent for the American Express Co. for years 1887 and 1888. In 1900 the family was in Council Grove, Morris Co., KS where Anderson was enumerated as a railroad station agent. Probably having just arrived in that town, they were boarders in the household of the Lewis Mead family. Mead was the local banker.

In both the 1905 and 1915 Kansas state census the family still resided in Council Grove. They seem to disappear after 1915. I have been unable to find them in any subsequent census. Neither have I been able to find a marriage record for Mayfield. The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) contains an entry for a May Coffey, born in Sep. 1886 and died in Kansas in Aug., 1965. It remains to be proven whether or not she was the daughter of Anderson and Maggie.



Please contact me if you have any additional information about this family.