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.
