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Farmer and merchant, was
born March 17, 1814, at Wartracc, Bedford
County, Tenn,; son of Rice and Sallie (Bradford) Coffey, the former a native of
Pennsylvanla. born in 1786, who moved to North Carolina and became a gunsmith when a young man,
married there, and returned to Tennessee in
1801, settled on a farm of one thousand acre,
of land which he had bought from Gen. Jackson, and on which his son was born, and died
in 1863, his wife having preceded him by thirteen years; grandson of James Coffey, who
raised a large family, of whom all the older
sons served in the Revolutionary War. His
grandmother was a sister of Col. Benjamin
Cleveland, who commanded a regiment at the
battle of Kings Mountain. He spent bis early
days on a farm attending the common old-field schools. When he was thirteen years
old be entered a high school st Shelbyville
Tenn. and remained there for a year, after
which be went to Alabama, located at Bellefonte without a dollar in his pocket or an
acquaintance in the county, and became clerk
in a store. When he waa twenty-two years old,
he established a mercantile business of his own
in that village, continuing it for ten years,
until 1846. He was elected sheriff of Jackson
County in 1840, and at the outbreak of the
Mexican War enlisted in the U. S. Army in
a company commanded by Capt Richard W,
Jones. He afterward acted as lieutenant,
lieutenant-colonel and major-general in tbe
militia; went to Mobile to organize the First
Alabama regiment; was elected its colonel;
and as such participated in tbe siege of Vera
Crux. After the war with Mexico he became a
general of militla. He had returned to his
farm, and devoted his attention to its cultivation until 1853, when he moved to Stevenson
and engaged in the mercantile business. He
continued in that line until tbe beginning of
the War of Secession, then closed his store,
and went back to his farm of four thousand
acres on the banks of the Tennessee River.
In 1861 he was elected a delegate to the convention which passed the ordinance of
session. He was bitterly opposed to that ordinance, but being overpowered, submitted to
the will of the majority, and afterward gave
moral and substantial support to tbe cause of
the Confederacy. He was a Methodist; and a
Mason.
Married: January 21, 1849, Mary Ann Cross,
who died September 6, 1887; daughter of Col.
Charles and Eliza (Clark) Cross, of Jackson
County, natives of North Carolina, who came
to Alabama about 1826, the former a soldier
in the Indian wars, who was drowned in tbe
Tennessee River, about 1848; granddaughter
of Maclin Cross, who was in the battle of Nick-
a-Jack, Indian Nation, and Robert Clark, who
fought in the Revolutionary War, and died
from a wound received in battle at Eutaw
Springs; great-granddaughter of Col. William
Maclin, an officer in the army of Independence.
Children: six. of whom four grew to maturity;
l. Eliza, m. William J. Tally;
2. Sallie B. m. C. W. Brown, chief clerk in the office of tbe
state superintendent of education;
3. John Benjamin;
4. Clark Melin. Last residence: Fackler, Jackson County.
Source: History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 3
NOTES:
Judy K. Brantley has his listed at Find-A-Grave buried at Center Point Baptist Church Cemetery with his wife Mary Ann (Cross) Coffey.
Birthdate is listed as 27 March 1814 - died 21 May 1896. The birthdate listed on his biography is 17 March 1814.
Mary Ann is born 28 Dec 1831 and died 6 Sep 1887.
John Benjamin Coffey b 10 Feb 1855 and died 23 Jan 1884 is the s/o John and Mary Ann.
Col. Charles Maclin Cross 25 Apr 1812 - 20 Jan 1864 (father of Mary Ann)
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