Marshall L. Coffey (1819-1904)

Marshall was a son of Ananias and Jane Hindman Coffey, born in Russell Co., KY on Apr. 28, 1819.

The first census in which I can identify Marshall is the Aug. 16, 1850 enumeration of Adair Co. Identified then as Martial L. Coffey, age 31,  head of a household and included his widowed mother, Jane, age 69, and sisters, Eliza, age 33; E. J. [Emily Jane], age 26 and L. C. [Louisa Caroline], age 23.

Coffey-Silky Marriage Record

Later the same year, Marshall married Jemima Silky, daughter of John.  The marriage occurred on Dec. 16, 1850 in Adair Co.¹

He and Jemima pursued the typical life of that era in rural America; farming and hoping for babies. The latter apparently never came because there were none recorded in the 1860 or 1870 households.

Coffey-Blaydes Marriage Record

Jemima died sometime between June of 1870 and November of 1881.  Neither a death nor burial record has been found.  On. Nov. 13, 1881, Marshall married the widow Mary Blaydes in Metcalfe Co., KY.² The marriage certificate is blank indicating a marriage did not occur.  Be that as it may, they lived together as man and wife at least through the 1900 Adair Co. census when he was 81 years old and she seventy-one.

A year before his death, a local newspaper reported "Uncle Marshall Coffey, one of our oldest citizens, went into a trance a few nights ago; says he heard music and saw some of his relatives."³

Marshall died on Jan. 3, 1904 in Columbia, Adair Co., KY:

"On Jan 3rd, 1904, the death angle [sic] came and claimed for its victim Mr. Marshal Coffey, who would have been 85 years old had he lived until April 28th next. He professed the Christian faith when 16 and joined the M. E. church South and has ever since been true to the faith which he claimed. He often remarked in his last days that he had not become worried in striving for that happy abode which awaits all who are true to the faith he claimed; [sic] He leaves an aged wife and many friends to mourn his departure. His remains are interred in the family cemetery."§

Marshall's middle name is said by some to have been Lock, but I have been unable to independently  confirm that.

Sources:

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¹“Kentucky County Marriages, 1797-1954", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V5Z6-1RN)

²“Kentucky County Marriages, 1797-1954", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V5PN-BK5)

³"The Adair County News, Columbia, Adair Co., KY", http://1.usa.gov/16gOebu, Jan. 21, 1903, Page 4, Col. 3.

§"The Adair County News, Columbia, Adair Co., KY", http://1.usa.gov/16gPuv7, Jan. 20, 1904, Page 2, Col. 3. An item which appeared in the July 20, 1904 edition of The Adair County News, Page 3, Col. 5 somewhat complicates the death date for Marshall Coffey. The article reads "Mr. T. R. Price and wife, of Bliss, visited relatives here and attended the funeral services of Mr. Marshall Coffey and Thomas G. Keltner Saturday and Sunday." At the same time, another newspaper, The Interior Journal of Jan. 26, 1904 in Stafford, KY reported in an article entitled "In Neighboring Counties" that Marshall Coffey, age 85, had died "near Burnside." Burnside, KY is some 50 miles to the east and south east of Columbia. It seems unlikely the ground would remain so frozen through Spring and early Summer of 1904 that his grave could not be dug and his body moved to the burial ground until July. The closest "Coffey family cemetery" I could locate is one at Coburg in Adair Co.  There are very likely others nearby to Columbia.