Seventh Generation

5981. James Hardy Coffey was born in January 1886 in Yadkin Valley, Caldwell Co., NC. He lived with his parents in Globe Twp., Caldwell Co., NC on 9 June 1900. He registered for the WWI draft on 12 September 1918 in Newland, Avery Co., NC.¹⁹⁹²⁹ James was killed on 5 April 1936 at the age of 50 in Avery Co., NC and was buried at Montezuma Community Cemetery in Avery Co., NC.^{19930,19931,19932}

James Hardy Coffey was a deputy sheriff in Avery Co., NC when he was shot and killed on Sunday, Apr 5, 1936 by his nephew, Ernest Reid Coffey, the son of John Wesley, James' brother. Hardy suspected the nephew of breaking into summer camps around the county. On the night of his death he completed his tour of duty and had just returned home when a shotgun blast through a window fatally wounded Hardy. The nephew was sentenced to death in the NC gas chamber but that was commuted to life by the then NC governor. Many in the family believe that it was not Reid who killed James, but Reid's father, John Wesley Coffey.

In a footnote to his book Until He Is Dead: Capital Punishment in Western North Carolina History, [Parkway Publishers, Boone, North Carolina, 2003] James Thomas Rusher wrote that Reid Coffey always maintained his innocence. "Boyd Coffey, another nephew, stated the same. Several of the Coffey collateral descendants, without exception, said Reid Coffey was innocent. Boyd Coffey once asked his Uncle Reid directly about the murder of Hardy Coffey, and Reid's response was that he did not murder Hardy Coffey, but someday, Reid would tell his nephew all about the crime. Boyd Coffey was with his uncle when Reid Coffey died. Immediate family members of Reid Coffey are all dead, but the current generation of Coffeys maintains that Reid Coffey did not commit the murder, but rather another member of the immediate family did. This other male person was allegedly motivated by altogether different reason to murder Hardy Coffey. There is no way to prove or disprove this theory."

James Hardy Coffey and Lillian Mae "Lillie" Gray were married on 10 September 1905 in Watauga Co., NC.¹⁹⁹³³ They¹⁹⁹³³ appeared in the census on 29 April 1910 in Globe Twp., Caldwell Co., NC.¹⁹⁹³⁴ They¹⁹⁹³⁴ appeared in the census on 9 January 1920 in Linville, Linville Twp., Avery Co., NC.¹⁹⁹³⁵ James and Lillie¹⁹⁹³⁵ appeared in the census on 3 May 1930 in Linville, Linville Twp., Avery Co., NC.¹⁹⁹³⁶ Lillian Mae "Lillie" Gray, daughter of William Gray and Delia A. , was born on 4 November 1889 in Boone, Watauga Co., NC. She lived with her parents in Boone, Watauga Co., NC on 19 June 1900. She appeared in the census on 2 April 1940 in Linville, Linville Twp., Avery Co., NC.¹⁹⁹³⁷ Lillie died on 4 September 1979 at the age of 89 in North Carolina and was buried at Tanglewood Cemetery in Linville, Avery Co., NC.^19938,19939

James Hardy Coffey and Lillian Mae "Lillie" Gray had the following children: