Coffey, Frank J.

COFFEY, WILLIAMS, SHAW, MCMICHAEL, CUSTER, POMEROY, SMITH

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/27/2009 at 18:18:28

Coffey, Frank J.

Frank J. Coffey was born January 10, 1871, in Kansas, and is the son of W. G. and Cynthia (Williams) Coffey, the father being a native of Kentucky and the mother of Tennessee. Mr. Coffey's parents came from Kentucky to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1859 and engaged in farming near there. This they continued until 1861, when the father enlisted in the Thirty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, which was recruited at Des Moines. The father served for nearly four years in the great civil conflict, being mustered out at the close of the war. He served under Sherman and took part in some of the most important battles of the war. After the end of the great conflict, he came back to the farm, where he remained until 1870, when he with his family went to Kansas, where the subject of this review was born. While in Kansas the family took up a homestead and farmed for five years, after which time they returned to Iowa. The father now lives retired at Monroe. In 1905 the mother died and later the father remarried, his second wife being Mrs. J. N. Shaw. In politics Mr. Coffey's father is a Republican.

The subject of this review is one of eight children, five of whom are living: Susan, the eldest, died in infancy; W. E., born in 1861, died at the age of thirty; Ella, wife of Adam Hoxel, a retired farmer, resides at Indianola, Iowa; D. W., born in 1868, is in the grocery business at Iowa City; F. J., the subject, is next in order of birth; Mary E., born in 1873, died in 1889; Lottie, wife of James McMichael, a farmer, resides at Carlisle, Iowa; Tennie, wife of John Custer, a merchant, resides in Monroe, Iowa.

The subject of this sketch began working for himself at the age of twenty-four on a farm near Monroe. Later he went into the grocery business at Monroe, which he continued for six years. At the expiration of that period he sold out and engaged in the hardware business at Monroe, which he continued for three years. After that he came to Reasnor and purchased the general store of Fred Roberts, which business he has continued ever since. He deals in groceries, dry goods, notions, shoes and sundries of all kinds.

On June7, 1896, Mr. Coffey was united in marriage with Leo Pomeroy, daughter of W. K. and Amanda (Smith) Pomeroy, her father being a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of Illinois. Mrs. Coffey's father still lives, being in the soldiers' home at Marshalltown, Iowa, her mother dying when Mrs. Coffey was but a child. Mrs. Coffey's father was a Union soldier during the Civil War.

To Mr. and Mrs. Coffey have been born four children, all of whom are living, namely: Ruth, born May 28, 1897; Tennie, born January 26, 1906; Carl, born March 26, 1908, and Mary, born August 16, 1911. All are at home, the eldest being in high school at Monroe. Both Mr. and Mrs. Coffey are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Reasnor. Mr. Coffey is a member of Monroe Lodge No. 277, Knights of Pythias, at Monroe, of which lodge he is a past chancellor. He is also a member of the Woodmen of the World at Reasnor.

Mr. Coffey has always been a man of public spirit, interested in the progressive movements of his country. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 935