Coffey, James Wilson

COFFEY, TURPIN, NORMAN, HARRISON

Posted By: mjv (email)
Date: 9/9/2020 at 14:33:16

James Wilson Coffey, section 14, Lime Creek Township. Among the highly respected citizens of Washington County will be found the subject of this personal sketch. He was born in Pulaski County, Ky., May 10, 1822, and is the son of Lewis M. and Delilah (Turpin) Coffey, the former a native of Stokes County, N. C., born in 1798, and the latter of Pulaski County, Ky., born in 1802. They were the parents of ten children; Nancy, the widow of Robert Jones, resides in Morgan County, Ind.; J. W., the subject of this sketch; Mary A., the wife of John Cook Bettie, deceased; John L., a farmer in Allen County, Kan.; Moses T., a farmer in Morgan County, Ind.; Philip B., a resident of Cass County, Mo.; Delilah, deceased, was the wife of F.M. Hale, of Harrison County, Mo.; Elizabeth was the wife of James Ready, both deceased; R.W., a farmer in Cumberland County, Ill.; Lewis M., deceased. The family left Kentucky in the fall of 1827, and moved to Morgan County, Ind., where they settled upon a farm of 101 acres and made that their home until the death of Mr. Coffey, in 1844. He was a flatboat pilot, and each year would take a load of produce down the river to New Orleans. Mr. Coffey was an industrious man, a careful manager, and one who possessed the confidence of all his friends. After her husband’s death Mrs. Coffey continued to make the old farm in Indiana her home until her death, which occurred in 1873, at the age of seventy-one years. She was a kind mother, and one who took great pride in her children.

The early life of our subject was spent upon the farm and in attendance upon the common schools until the age of thirteen. He then went to work upon the public canal, remaining at that for three years, and in the spring of 1838 went with his father to New Orleans, and afterward made one trip each year, which took them three or four months each time. Between times he worked upon his father’s farm until 1842, when the cholera broke out and they abandoned flatboating. Mr. Coffey was married, on the 11th of December, 1842, to Miss Louisa T. Norman, a native of Tennessee, born June 23, 1826, and the daughter of James and Sarah A. (Harrison) Norman, the former a native of North Carolina, and the latter of Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Coffey are the parents of ten children: Lemuel L. M., born March 6, 1844, at home; John T., born May 23, 1847, was a member of the 27th Indiana Infantry, running away from home to defend his country’s flag, and now a farmer in Clatsop County, Ore.; B.F., born Jan. 28, 1850, and James M., Sept. 30, 1853, are farmers in Clatsop County, Ore.; Joseph L., born May 19, 1856, is a clerk in the hardware store of B.W. Nicola and Co., of Wellman, Iowa; V.H., born May 30, 1858, is a clerk in a dry-goods house in Astoria, Ore.; P.D., born April 22, 1861, and Sarah D., Feb. 11, 1864, are at home; two died in infancy.

After our subject had abandoned the river, he turned his attention exclusively to farming, and continued to live in Morgan County, Ind., where his children were all born, for a period of thirty-seven years, or until the 9th of October, 1864, when he loaded his family into a wagon and started for Lime Creek Township, Washington Co., Iowa. He had made a trip to this county in 1863, at which time he decided that Iowa was the place for him to live. After his arrival on Oct. 24, 1864, he bought 148 acres on section 14, Lime Creek Township, where he has since continued to reside. He has bought and sold a number of acres since, but his farm is now in fine condition, and is one of the best fenced in Lime Creek Township, all fenced in 20-acre fields.

At the time of the marriage of our subject he had no money and was $43 in debt, but by his own industry and good management he has acquired a fine farm and enough of this world’s goods to live comfortably in his old age. He has held various township offices, was Treasurer of the School District, and Treasurer of the township. He is held in high esteem by all who know him, and is a man who takes an active part in all political and public affairs. Socially he is a member of the A.F. & A.M. Politically, he is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party.

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington County, Iowa (1887). Excerpt from Biographical Sketch of James Wilson Coffey, pages 286-287.