John Coffey (abt. 1730 - abt. 1800)

Born about 1730 in Spotsylvania County (today Augusta County), Virginia

Descendants

Died about 1800 at about age 70 in Lancaster, Lancaster, South Carolina, USA

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Biography

John Coffey is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A212797.

John Coffee was probably born in Augusta County, Virginia around 1730. Note that Augusta County was created from Orange County 1 Aug 1738 and Orange was created from Spotsylvania 1 Jan 1734/1735. If he were born in 1730 it would have been called Spotsylvania County, not Augusta County. John probably married Susannah Watson before 1748 in Augusta County. John owned land in Augusta County and they later moved to a location near Harpers Ferry (today West Virginia) from where he moved his family to Lancaster County, SC in 1754. (Need source information for residence location near Harper's Ferry before 1754)

Per Reed, John Coffee is mentioned often among the records of Lancaster County. He is referred to as a planter in Lancaster County, Camden District, South Carolina. One record says his land was in the Waxhaw Settlement and it adjoined the land owned by James and George Walker. This is also referred to as being on the west side of Cane Creek near the Charlotte Highway six or seven miles north of the county seat, Lancaster. Another reference indicates the land also adjoined that of James Huey and Hugh Montgomery. Reed was unable to learn exactly when John Coffee and Susannah Watson Coffee died but their deaths apparently occurred sometime towards the latter part of the eighteenth century near 1800 since he finds no mention of them after that date. Reed concludes they were buried in Lancaster County probably in the old Six-Mile Church Graveyard--about six miles north of the town of Lancaster.

According to Klayder's research, records do not agree as to how many children John and Susannah Watson had, but there may possibly have been eight. She lists them as follows with the caveat that all of the birthdates are not known, some sources do not include Elizabeth, Mary and Johnathan, and Rebecca, if she is their child, Rebecca was probably born in Virginia and would have been their first born:

• Rebecca Coffey
• Henry Coffey b 1748 in what was then Virginia, married a Hutchinson
• Hugh Coffey, Sr b 15 Mar 1750 near Harpers Ferry, married Agnes Montgomery
• John Coffey, Jr b 1752 or possibly 1746 in what was then Virginia, married Susannah, possibly Crockett, and may have died in Maury Co TN in 1810
• Nathaniel Coffey b 1754
• Elizabeth Coffey
• Mary Coffey married
• Jonathan Coffey

22 Aug 1767: John Coffey, eldest son and heir of Hugh Coffey, deceased, and Susannah, of the Province of South Carolina, deeded to John Ramsey 220 acres in Augusta Co VA acquired by his father Hugh Coffey through patent, 3d November, 1750. Land was on the corner of John Donoly's land, crossing the Cowpasture River. (Chalkley, Vol III, p 459, DB13-518)

Sources

• Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA testing. Richard Coffey, FTDNA kit #168121, and his 6th cousin Norm Coffey, FTDNA kit #B841164, match at a Genetic Distance of 3 on 111 markers thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their MRCA John Coffey. FTDNA indicates that the probability the two share a common ancestor within the last 6 generations is 61.15% and within the last 7 generations is 76.94%. FTDNA indicates that their most recent common ancestor who formed the SNP (R-FTB75177) is estimated to have been born around 1600 CE.
• NSDAR #A212797 jOHN COFFEY Service: SOUTH CAROLINA Rank(s): CIVIL SERVICE Birth: CIRCA 1725 Death: POST 12-25-1799 LANCASTER CO CAMDEN DIST SOUTH CAROLINA Service Source: WARREN, SC JURY LISTS, 1718-1783, PP 22, 42 Service Description: 1) GRAND JUROR, 1783, Spouse: Susannah X, child: Hugh m Agnes Montgomery
• Forrest F. Reed, A Reed Family in America: With special reference to the family and descendants of William Reed (1818-1895) whose ancestral home was in Itawamba County, Mississippi (Nashville: Tennessee Book Co, 1962), p 18-19, John Coffee and Susannah Watson.
• Annie Velma Urquhart Klayder. Urquhart, Coffey, Boland, and Allied Families of the South: Genealogy and Family History with Photographs, Sketches, and Maps (Phenix City, Alabama: Columbus Productions, Inc, 1991), p 198-199
• Lyman Chalkley, Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County 1745-1800 (1912; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 1980)