Name: Dorothy Irene COFFEY

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Birth: 28 Feb 1918 Nr Humeston, Iowa

Father: Newton COFFEY (1875-1969)

Mother: Adelia Gertrude ROBINSON (1878-1973)

Misc. Notes

(The following was written by Dorothy as a school assignment while attending Garden Grove School.)

"I started to school in a little country school called Green Bay. I had to walk two miles to school every day and because of bad weather I missed a lot of school and didn't pass, but I took two grades the next year so I wasn't behind. When I was in the sixth grade, Green Bay school closed and I had to go to Fairview School (better known as 'Bed Bug'). It was our real district but was a half mile farther away. In most of my years at school I was in a grade by myself except my first two or three years and half of the sixth year. While in country school I had only two teachers. In my eighth year of school I started to Garden Grove."

From Coffey Family stories and notes, compiled by Lynda Clare for 2005 Coffey Reunion:

After high school Dorothy started her studies at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, but did not graduate. Dorothy left school to marry Floyd Smith, a minister from the Baptist Church in Humeston. Floyd was 36 years old and Dorothy was 23 years old! The two lived in Iowa where the first four kids were born, then in Nebraska where Linda was born. Then in Kansas Timothy was born and the whole family moved to Missouri, 2 sons and 4 daughters.

Poor Dorothy. Always at the bottom of the pecking order. In fact, Erma remembers a good laugh she had at Dorothy’s expense…

“Dorothy and I were out picking gooseberries. (Mother used to can gooseberries, along with everything else we grew on the farm, and store them in the cellar.) To get to the bushes where the gooseberries grew, we had to pass through the field where the bull was. We had one bull, and that bull was real mean. He didn’t like people to be in his field.

“We had an agreement that we would warn each other when the bull was approaching. We had nearly filled our buckets with gooseberries when I turned to Dorothy and shouted, ‘run, Dorothy, run!’ Boy, did she run! And she was real mad when she realized the bull was nowhere to be found. She ran all the way to a tree to climb when she heard me laughing…

“But I never lied. I never said the bull was coming. I only said to run!”

Erma had to collect all the berries she made her sister drop! But according to Dorothy, they were collecting hazel nuts. They have learned to disagree agreeably!

CENSUS SUMMARY:

CENSUS 1940: Doroth I Coffey / b: abt 1918 in IA / Lodger / Living in Chicago, Cook, Illinois (Moody Bible Institute)

CENSUS 1930: Dorthy Coffey / b: abt 1918 in IA / Dau / Living in Clay, Wayne, Iowa

CENSUS 1920: Dorthy Coffey / b: abt 1918 in IA / Dau / Living in
Spouses

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1: Floyd A. SMITH

Birth: 19 Jul 1906

Death: 1 Aug 1997

Occupation: Minister, Contractor

Marriage: 5 Aug 1941

Searching for the Ancestors of Floyd Smith:

By Fred Coffey

David Smith (Floyd and Dorothy's son) and his wife Barbara visited with us for a couple of weeks in Houston in 2007, and while they were here I thought it would be a fun challenge to see if I could trace the ancestry of a man with the name of "Smith", so with a little help from David I dug into the easily accessible census and other records. Here's my preliminary ancestry, followed by the story of finding it all:

Isaac SMITH (abt 1790 - ) & Margaret

Joseph SMITH (abt 1827 - ) & Nancy COX

James Polk SMITH (abt 1852 - ) & Clara WOODCOCK (

Claude Owen SMITH (abt 1884 - ) & Ella HUNTSMAN (24 Jun 1874 – 29 Mar 1955)

Floyd A. SMITH (19 Jul 1906 - 1 Aug 1997) & Dorothy Irene COFFEY (28 Feb 1918 - )

In addition, we know something about some of the spouses above.

Here's what we have on Nancy COX:

Charles COX (16 Jan 1796 – 17 Aug 1873) & Nancy GRAHAM (22 Nov 1798 – 9 Sep 1873)

Nancy COX (abt 1828, in Lewis County, KY)

Here's the tree for Clara (actually "Clarissa") WOODCOCK:

William WOODCOCK (abt 1586, England) & Alice WASHBURNE (abt 1588, England)

John WOODCOCK (abt 1615 – 20 Oct 1701) & Sarah CURTIS (abt 1629 – 29 Nov 1676)

Jonathan WOODCOCK (Abt 1668 – 7 Dec 1736) & Rebecca MARTIN

Jonathan WOODCOCK (7 Mar 1702/3 – 28 Mar 1779) & Malutia LANE (17 Jun 1701 – 28 Mar 1779)

Jonathan WOODCOCK (21 Jul 1729 - ) & Abigail HILLS (abt 1731 - )

Samuel WOODCOCK (8 Oct 1755 – 21 Oct 1833) & Rhoda BISHOP (10 Jul 1763 – 30 Aug 1846)

Alanson WOODCOCK (23 Oct 1782 – 7 Nov 1783) & Catherine DUNHAM (1787 – 1852)

Jonathan WOODCOCK (25 Feb 1811 – 1 Jan 1902) & Mary Ann STONE (abt 1813)

Clarissa Emma WOODCOCK (Abt 1847 - )

And here's all I can find on Ella HUNTSMAN:

Peter HUNTSMAN ( ) & Catherine STILTS/STILTZ ( )

Alfred HUNTSMAN (15 May 1829 – 26 Mar 1896) & Hannah WATSON (25 Jun 1834 – 16 Mar 1910)

Ella Jane HUNTSMAN (24 Jun 1874 – 29 Mar 1955)

So, let's see if we can work backward in time and learn more:

David told me that his dad was born in Essex, Iowa (which is in Page County), and that his father's name was Owen, and his grandfather's name was Polk (who had in later years divorced Owen's mother). I thought that was enough to start, and dug in – and got nowhere. There were lots of people named Floyd Smith in Iowa, of about the right age, but none with a father named "Owen". Did find one "Floyd" of the right age living by himself at age 10 in 1915 in a sanatorium in Red Oak (Montgomery County), but that seemed very strange. The search looked like a total failure!

Just as an example, the 1930 census showed there were 157 people named Floyd Smith in the United States, counting only those who were born between the years 1905 to 1907. And I now know (see below) that NONE of them were the right person, because our "Floyd" accidentally got indexed as "Lloyd" in the 1930 census!

THE HOSPITAL STAY IN RED OAK:

Went back to David to report my dismal failure, and he told me the story of his father being seriously injured at about age 10 by a sow protecting her young pigs – and THAT explained why Floyd was by himself on census day in 1915, recovering in a hospital! Further, David admitted his grandfather's FULL name was actually "Claude Owen Smith". And it turns out that while he apparently told his family and friends that his name was "Owen", he told every census taker that his name was "Claude"! NOW I had something to work with.

THE 1925 IOWA CENSUS:

Now, a little census background: There was a federal census every 10 years, but for some curious reason IOWA decided to do a census of their own in 1856, and in again at 10 year intervals from about 1895 to 1925. So there were lots of things to look at. And MOST INTERESTING, in the 1925 census IOWA wanted to know who everybody's parents were, and where they were born, and where they were married!

So the 1925 Iowa census is a genealogist's bonanza! And by switching my search to look for "Claude", the family of Floyd Smith, age 18, was found living in Mills County, Iowa (that's in the same corner of the state as Page County, where he was born). Floyd has completed 12 grades of school.

Also in the household is his sister, Gladys, age 14. She is going to school 9 months per year, and has completed 7 grades.

Floyd's line says his father was Claude O. Smith, who was born in Iowa, and his mother Ella Huntsman, also born in Iowa. (The census taker screwed up here: Claude Smith's OWN line says he was born in Kansas, not Iowa - and other census years proved "Kansas" to be correct.) Claude and Ella were married in Iowa.

Now, Claude's own 1925 census line says he is age 41 (thus born about 1884) and has been in Iowa for 35 years (thus he moved there in about 1890). Claude has a 5^th grade education. It says his father was Polk Smith, who was born in Ohio, and his mother was Clara Woodcock, who was born in Iowa. (Later evidence will show Polk was actually born in Kentucky – not clear if this was a census taker error, or if Claude simply didn't know – Claude probably never really remembered his father who left when Claude was about age 6.) Claude's parents, Polk and Clara, were married in Iowa.

And the line for Claude's wife "Ellie" says her father was Alvin Huntsman, born in Ohio, and her mother is unnamed but was born in Iowa. Her parents were married in Ohio. Ellie is age 41 (born in about 1884) and has lived in Iowa all her life. She has an 8^th grade education. (Curiously, I now know her father was actually Alfred, not Alvin, – although she did have a brother named Alvin.)

OTHER CENSUS, 1905-1940:

I can find Claude Owen Smith, and wife Ella, and son Floyd in various other census reports, but none shed any more real light on ancestry. In 1905 Claude and Ella are living in Emerson, Mills County, Iowa. In 1910 they and Floyd are living in Fremont County, which is also in the far southwest corner of the state (their names are hard to read, had to search index for wife "Ella Smith"). In 1915 and 1920 they are living in neighboring Mills County.

Also had a tough time finding Floyd in the 1930 census, he got indexed as "Lloyd". However Claude O (age 47), Ella J (51), Lloyd A (23) and Gladys E (18) are all found living in Indian Creek Twp., Mills County, Iowa. Claude says he was born in Kansas, his father in Ohio, and his mother in Iowa. (Sorry Claude, your father was actually born in Kentucky, but may have lived briefly in Ohio.)

In the 1940 census, Claude, Ella and daughter Gladys are living in Red Oak, Montgomery County, Iowa. However Floyd is living in Humeston, Wayne, Iowa. The census taker didn’t fill out his occupation, so it’s not clear exactly what he was doing there. Under education, it shows “C-8”, suggesting he has completed 8 years of college? And of interest, his 1935 residence is shown as “Rochester, Monroe, New York”. (Need to check with his family, but my bet is he was attending Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School which is located there?)

1900 CENSUS, MILLS COUNTY, IOWA:

In the above 1925 census, Claude indicated he moved to Iowa in about 1900, when he would have been about age 16. I believe I found him in 1900 in Mills County, IA, working as a farm hand for the family of James Lake. However the census taker had exceptionally bad handwriting. The indexer read the name as "Clarence", and read the year of birth as "1880". With a little imagination, I can read it as "Claude O", and the year of birth as "1885", which makes more sense. Interestingly, it shows his father's birthplace as Kentucky, which I believe to be actually correct.

This connection seems quite good, in that his mother Clara Smith is also found in Mills County. She is working as a servant in the family of Arel Williamson. Clara is age 47, she is divorced, and she has had 4 children, all of whom are still living. The years married is shown as "25", but is then scratched out - presumably because she is divorced. But the "25" suggests she may have been first married in about 1875. Clara has a daughter, Mary I Smith, age 14, living with her.

THE 1890 CENSUS:

Unfortunately, the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire. Will have to bridge to 1880, and hope to pick up the trail there. Unfortunately Claude Owen has not yet been born in 1880, so we will have to look only for his parents.

THE 1880 CENSUS, GRANT TWP., OTTAWA COUNTY, KANSAS:

Now, I tried real hard to find "Polk Smith" in ANY census, with no luck. However we will shortly figure out that his full name was "James Polk Smith". (He was almost certainly named after President James Polk, whose term had just ended when he was born in about 1852. A general census search shows that naming kids "James Polk ____" was very popular in that time period.). James Polk Smith (and his parents) always told the census taker that his name was "James", or "James P". But at some point in his life he decided that using the name "Polk" among family and friends was cool.

But we know his wife was "Clara", and a search for "Clara Smith" turned up the family we want in Kansas (where Claude was clearly born). Our Clara, and husband James Smith, are found in the city of Grant, Ottawa County, Kansas, in 1880. He is age 28, and married to Clara (age 27). James says he was born in Kentucky, as were his parents (I think they lived there, but his father was born in Delaware). They have two sons, Johnathan (4) and Charles (2). (NOTE: A thorough genealogist would now go to the Ottawa County Clerk, and look for the birth certificates!)

(So far we know they were married in about 1875, and their children were Johnathan (born about 1876), Charles (~1878), Claude Owen (~1884) and Mary J. (~1886).)

1870 CENSUS, MONROE TWP., MONROE COUNTY, IOWA:

Now, we know from the 1925 census that James Polk Smith had married Clara Woodcock, and we can begin to look for those two names together. And we know Clara was born in Iowa.

And we find the family we want in Monroe County (that's near the city of Ottumwa, Iowa). "James P. Smith" is age 18, and was born in Kentucky. He is working as a farm laborer and living in the household of his mother Nancy, age 42, who was also born in Kentucky. Also at home are his sister Margaret (10), and brother Charles J (8).

Now, on just the previous page (implying a neighboring farm) we find his future wife Clary E. Woodcock, age 17, born in Iowa.

The "Woodcock" entries for Monroe County are LOADED with clues to the ancestry of Clary (aka Clara, aka Clarissa) Woodcock, which a genealogist can easily pursue! The census shows Clary's father is Jonathan, age 59, born in NY, and her mother is Mary A, age 57, born in NY. Clary has two brothers, James A (22, born in Indiana), and John P (20, also born in Indiana). And her apparent grandfather, Elornson (name not very legible, I now know it's really "Alanson"), age 87, born in Connecticut.

These are actually ALL the clues we need. The WOODCOCK family is already quite well documented on ancestry.com. One good source for the family tree of Clara/Clarissa is as follows:

http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=fwqbudd1&id=I10658

This family tree, by the way, shows that Clarissa Emma WOODCOCK did indeed marry one James Smith. But that is ALL they know about James.

1860 CENSUS, MONROE TWP., MONROE CO., IA:

James (aka Polk) Smith, age 8, is found, and he was born in Kentucky. And this census tells us the name of his father, since James is living with Joseph Smith, age 31, born in Delaware. Father Joseph was born about 1829. James' mother Nancy is age 30 and born in KY. And his baby sister Margaret is 11 months old. Living in the house is also one Walter Cox, who appears to be age 15 (13?) and born in KY.

And living just next door is the family of Johnathan Woodcock, which includes daughter Clarissa, age 8. We already know all about them from the above discussion.

Now it is also very interesting to note that very nearby there is an Isaac Smith, age 70, born in Delaware, and his wife Margaret (age 68?), born in Maryland. They have a daughter Sarah (23 or 25). And next door to him is John Smith, age 26, born in Delaware, John has named one of HIS sons Isaac, and he is almost certainly a son of Isaac and Margaret. That combination of names, WITH FAMILY HEADS ALL BORN IN DELAWARE, will become significant in a moment.

JOSEPH SMITH AND NANCY COX:

Now we know some more names, we can do a search for family trees where the name Joseph Smith, born about 1829, appears along with a wife Nancy. We find only one, but it tells us a lot about Nancy and about the "Walter Cox" found living with them in the 1860 census. You can visit

http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=*v28t0583&id=I469

This family tree knows nothing about Joseph Smith, except his name, and the fact that he married Nancy Cox on 22 May 1849 in Lewis Co., KY. It's a "Cox" family tree, and even Nancy is way down on a collateral branch. But it does tell us that Nancy had a son named Walter Cox, born in about 1847 (before she and Joseph were married). And that explains the mystery person in the 1860 census.

1856 IOWA CENSUS, MONROE CO., IOWA:

Joseph Smith is found in this census. Joseph is age 29, wife Nancy is age 27. Son is shown as "James K" (sure that should be James P) age 4. In the household is Walter Cox age 8. They live next door to John Smith, age 23, who is likely a brother?

1850 CENSUS, LEWIS COUNTY, KENTUCKY:

Now, we are going to look in KENTUCKY for those "Smith" families that were so close together in the 1856 and 1860 census for Monroe, Iowa:

We find our Joseph Smith, age 23, born in Delaware, and his wife Nancy, age 22, born in Kentucky. Living with them is Walker Cox, age 3, discussed above.

And next door is our Isaac Smith, listed as age 70 (I think he was really age 60), and his wife Margaret, both born in Delaware. At home are John (17), Sarah (15) and James W (14). John and Sarah were born in Delaware, James in Ohio, suggesting a family stop in Ohio before going to Kentucky? Note that Ohio is just across the river from Lewis County, KY. And this may explain why Claude Owen, in the 1925 census, thought his father came from Ohio?

The families tie together really well, and they all apparently moved together to Iowa some time between 1850 and 1856. I have little doubt that Isaac is the father of Joseph.

On the next page we can also find Charles Cox, whom we previously identified as the father of Joseph's wife Nancy.

1840 CENSUS, LEWIS COUNTY, KY:

We can find Isaac Smith in this census. However this census, and every other one before 1850, only gives the name of the head of the household (Isaac), and a count by age and sex of every other occupant. However the age counts are right to include Isaac as born in about 1790, and his son Joseph born in about 1827, so I'm pretty sure this is the RIGHT Isaac.

1830 CENSUS, LEWIS COUNTY, KY:

Yes, there is an Isaac Smith in the county, age 60-70 (thus born 1760-1770). This Isaac is much too old, and there are no children young enough to be our Joseph Smith (who should be about age 3). We'll pass on that one unless we find more info. For the moment, the Smith Family trail is lost. (There are many Isaac Smith's in the Delaware census for the early 1800's, and I have no basis for a search.)

THE HUNTSMAN FAMILY:

Going back almost to the beginning, we note that Claude Owen Smith married Ella Huntsman. Turns out that there is a small Huntsman family tree we can look at. It shows almost nothing about Claude Owen except his name and when he married Ella. Here's the address:

http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2210630&id=I1468

Claude and Ella were married 26 Jan 1905 in Mills County, Iowa. Ella was born 24 Jun 1874 in Emerson, Mills County, IA and died 29 Mar 1955.

DESCENDANTS OF FLOYD AND DOROTHY:

Floyd A. SMITH (19 Jul 1906 - 1 Aug 1997) & Dorothy Irene COFFEY (28 Feb 1918 - )

Karen Louise SMITH (29 Aug 1942 - )

Vivian Kay SMITH* (12 Apr 1944 - ) & Kent ADAMS (11 Nov 1946 - )

Vivian Kay SMITH* (12 Apr 1944 - ) & Alan R. TILLMAN (17 Feb 1944 - )

Judith Elaine SMITH (3 Jun 1947 - ) & Harry L. WITHROW

Lisa Marie WITHROW (26 Dec 1981 - )

Robyn Lyn WITHROW (28 Jul 1985 - )

David Arthur SMITH (16 Jul 1949 - ) & Barbara TAYLOR (12 Oct 1949 - )

Laura SMITH (15 Sep 1978 - ) & James Allen EVERETT (7 Nov 1977 - )

Andrew SMITH (22 Jun 1983 - )

Linda Joy SMITH (9 Sep 1950 - ) & Ernest Albert BERUBE (17 Jan 1951 - )

Jevette Colleen BERUBE (5 Oct 1974 - ) & David Leslie LINK (8 Oct 1974 - )

Shiloh Elizabeth LINK (31 May 1999 - )

Lexington McCartney LINK (7 Mar 2001 - )

David Donald Ernest LINK (29 Jul 2005 - )

Timothy Owen SMITH (24 May 1956 - ) & Lisa Cerise SMITH

Gregory Allen SMITH (13 Dec 1982 - )

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FredCoffey@AOL.COM