Seventh Generation

5982. Theodocia "Docia" Coffey was born on 28 August 1883 in Yadkin Valley, Caldwell Co., NC. She lived with her parents in Globe Twp., Caldwell Co., NC on 9 June 1900. She lived and was a widow in Blowing Rock, Watauga Co., NC on 2 April 1930.¹⁹⁹⁴¹ Docia appeared in the census on 23 April 1940 in Watauga Twp., Watauga Co., NC.¹⁹⁹⁴² Docia died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 14 February 1941 at the age of 57 in Watauga Co., NC and was buried at Boone Fork Community Cemetery in Blowing Rock, Watauga Co., NC on 16 February 1941.^19943,19944

Theodocia "Docia" Coffey and Columbus Filmore "Lum" Blalock were married on 13 November 1911 in Montezuma, Linville Twp., Avery Co., NC.¹⁹⁹⁴⁵ They¹⁹⁹⁴⁵ appeared in the census on 19 January 1920 in Bend, Deschutes Co., OR.¹⁹⁹⁴⁶ Columbus Filmore "Lum" Blalock, son of William McKesson Blalock and Sarah Malinda Pritchard, was born on 15 January 1863 in North Carolina. Lum died on 6 October 1925 at the age of 62 in Bend, Deschutes Co., OR and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Bend, Deschutes Co., OR.^{19947,19948,19949}

Theodocia "Docia" Coffey and Columbus Filmore "Lum" Blalock had the following children:

Theodocia "Docia" Coffey and Luther Marshall Farthing¹⁹⁹⁵⁰ were married circa 1932 in Watauga Co., NC.

Farthing Family.--Dudley Farthing was born in Virginia, April 6, 1749. He was the son of William Farthing and his wife, Mary. Dudley Farthing died in Wake County February 22, 1826. His wife was Annie, daughter of WM. Watkins and Phoebe, his wife. She was born July 4, 1747, in Virginia, and died February 13, 1812, in Wake County. Their children were: Phoebe, born November 15, 1778, and she married John Link, February 3, 1803; Mary, born July 3, 1780, and died March 22, 1826; William, born August 25, 1782, married Polly W. Hallyburton, February 9, 1804; John, born September 26, 1784, married Lucy Goss, first, who died April 9, 1827, and then Polly Amos; he died February 29, 1868; Reuben, born September 1, 1787, married __________; died August 14, 1834; Eliza, born February 22, 1790, and died August 3, 1790. The children of the Rev. William W. Farthing were: Dudley, born November 29, 1804, married Nancy Mast in 1831; he died July 8, 1895, and she September 22 1882; Patsy, born December 4, 1805, married Thomas Shearer, an uncle of Robert Shearer; they moved to Kansas between 1850 and 1855; Nancy was born February 21, 1807, married Joseph Brown and went to Missouri; Reuben P;, born June 28, 1808, married Sallie Brown, and died December 20, 1889; John Atkins, born July 21, 1809, married, first, Melissa Curtis, and, second, Keziah Farthing; William Brown, born December 20, 1810, and married Annie Kindle; Edward F., born April 30, 1812, and died May 3, 1812; Thomas, born May 9, 1813, married Ermine Hallyburton; Annie Watkins, born September 5, 1814, married Wm. Young Farthing, father of W. S. Farthing; Harriet, born March 22, 1816, married James Brown, and died May 16, 1897; Mary Hervey, born February 21, 1818, married Hiram McBride, died May 26, 1869; Abner Clopton, born October 6, 1819, and married Mary Narcissus Farthing; Paul, born April 17, 1821, married Rachel Farthing; he died in a Federal prison at Camp Chase in 1865; Stephen, born January 3, 1823, Married Margaret Adams, and died January 25, 1882. Dudley Farthing's wife was Nancy, daughter of John Mast and Susan Harman, and she was born May 18, 1809. Their children were: William Judson, born February 6, 1832, and went to Texas in 1859, where he died unmarried September 10, 1865; Susan, born July 12, 1833, and is yet alive; James Martin, born July 25, 1835 and was killed December 13, 1862, in the battle of Fredericksburg, Va.; Mary White, born January 9, 1837, married Newton Moore in 1860 and died May 11, 1914, in Virginia; Thomas Jefferson, born August 13, 1838 never married, died of pneumonia at Lynchburg May 21, 1862; John Young, born May 17, 1840, married Polly Farthing; Henry Harrison, born October 7, 1841, Married Sarah Catharine Baker November 29, 1872; Martha B., born August 24, 1843, died in infancy; Joseph, born August 9, 1844, died in infancy; Lewis Williams, born November 6, 1845, married Nancy McBride, daughter of Hiram; Sarah Carolina born January 31, 1849, married Warren Greene, first, and then Anderson Cable; Wiley Hill, born March 23, 1850, married Rachel Louisa Farthing, sister of W. S. Farthing, and lives near Blountville, Tenn.; Nancy Emeline, born January 6, 1852, and never married. John Farthing was a brother of Rev. William Watkins Farthing and a son of Dudley the first. He was born in Durham, then in Orange County, July 29, 1812, and in the fall of 1826 came with his brother, W. W., to Beaver Dams, but he lost his wife there and also his brother, W. W. John's first wife was Miss Lucy Goss, and he returned to Durham and married Polly Amos and came back to Watauga in 1831 and settled where Zionville now is, where he owned most of the land; The children by his first wife were: William Young, who married Ann W. Farthing; Dudley, who married Sarah Wilson; Sherman, who was killed by a tree near Zionville just before 1840, thus preventing his expected marriage; Nancy, who married Wm. Ferrall; Rachel W., who married Paul Farthing, a son of Wm. F. Farthing, a son of Wm. W. Farthing; Keziah, who married John A. Farthing, who lived where W. S. Farthing now lives; Lucy White, who never married; Anne, who married Caswell King in Wake County, was an infant when her mother died in Watauga, and was taken back by her father, John Farthing, and reared by Keziah Cozart in Wake County. In her old age she came again to Watauga, where she died.

The children by the second marriage were: Reuben, who married Ellen Wilson, first, and then a Miss Harman; Elijah, who married Amanda Oliver; John, who died when nineteen years of age; Sallie, who married John Adams.

John Farthing's father was Dudley Farthing, who died in Wake, his wife having been Annie Watkins, whom he married February 2, 1778. The first Dudley Farthing had, beside William Watkins and John, the following children: Reuben, who married a Miss Hargus, his descendants still living in and near Durham.

The Farthings came originally from Wales to Pittsylvania County, Virginia, from which they went to Person County, North Carolina, where Annie Watkins was reared. The Rev. William Watkins Farthing was a minister and traveled some for the old Missionary Society of North Carolina, which antedated the Baptist State Convention, and he was traveling and preaching when he first got acquainted with Watauga County. His sons, Reuben, John A;, Abner C. And Stephen J., were ministers, the two youngest having been ordained under authority of Bethel and the two elder under that of Cove Creek churches. Rev. J. Harrison Farthing, son of Abner C., is a minister, as are also Calvin S., son of Thomas; Robert Milton, a son of Calvin S., and he preaches in Tennessee, and Rev. L. Whitfield also preaches.

Dudley Farthing was a son of Rev. W. W. Farthing; married Nancy Mast, a daughter of John Mast, who lived where Finley Mast now lives. He had been a member of the Ashe County court prior to the establishment of Watauga County, having been appointed in 1832 to fill out the term of Abram Vanderpool, and from that time till the Constitution was changed in 1868 he was chairman of the Watauga Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. He presided with great dignity and administered his office with sound judgement and ability. No superior court judge who ever came to Watauga County presided over his court with more jestness, impartiality or legal learning than Dudley Farthing. He was elected county commissioner after 1868 and became chairman of the board. According to the recollection of his son, Col. Henry H. Farthing, there was reason to suspect that $1,000.00 of the county funds was missing, and Judge Farthing declared that at the next meeting that matter would be investigated. The court house was burned before that meeting and with all the records except Deed Book F. He was born November 4, 1804, and died July 8, 1895. He was just twenty-two years old when he moved with his father to Watauga county. It is said that when corn was scarce he would not sell it for money, saying that a man with money could get it anywhere, but a man who had no money could get it only where he was known and his needs obvious. ;He lost little if anything by thus crediting his neighbors in distress. Dudley Farthing lived where Mrs. Susan Farthing lives now, in a frame house built about 1850, three-quarters of a mile southwest from Bethel Church. He and his wife are buried there, Stephen Farthing having inherited the W. W. Farthing home place and objected to additional interments in graveyard above the old home place. There is a graveyard which W. S. Farthing and others have used for burial of their relatives east from the old Farthing graveyard.

Rev. L. Whitfield Farthing was a son of Reuben Pickett and grandson of W. W. Farthing. R. P. Farthing married Sarah Brown, a sister of Thomas Brown, below Three Forks in 1831. Their children were: Thomas Brown, who was born in 1833 and married Celia Greene; William Watkins, who was killed at Brandy Station, Va., in the Civil War; James Hervey, who was born about 1836 and married Lucretia Farthing, but moved West, where they died; L. W., who was born April 18, 1838, and married Nancy Farthing in October, 1866; Joseph Elmore, who was born April 18, 1840, and Married Mary Harman; Mary, born in
1842, but never married; Jesse, born in 1844, but died when twenty or twenty-
one years of age; John Watts, who was born February 15, 1848, and married
Adeline Rivers in 1876.

Rev. Reuben P. Farthing was the son of Rev. William Watkins Farthing and his wife, Phoebe. He was born June 28, 1808; married Sallie Brown, and died December 20, 1889. He was early admitted to the ministry of the Baptist Church and preached for nearly all his adult years, literally "without money and without price." He was one of the foremost educators of his day, and did much for the advancement of the religious and educational status of the people of Watauga County. He answered every call from all who needed his aid and assistance. His life was one of devotion to duty. When he died the late Major Harvey Bingham paid a tribute to his worth and excellence of which any man might well have been proud. This was published in one of out newspapers and is preserved by the family as a sacred memorial of a great and good man, for in it was said that, while not a college graduate, Reuben Farthing was nevertheless a highly educated and very learned man, having unaided and alone dug out from the classics and from scientific books a store of knowledge that was not only abundant, but pratical. A distinguished visitor to his home was struck by his erudition, and was surprised to learn that he had acquired it all by dint of hard work and unremitting study. Luther Marshall Farthing was born on 2 July 1868 in Watauga Co., NC. From 1924 to 1932 he was the sheriff in Watauga Co., NC. He died of angina on 2 July 1934 at the age of 66 in Watauga Co., NC and was buried at Boone, Watauga Co., NC on 4 July 1934.^{19951,19952,19953,19954}

Death Notice, The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC, Tue., Jul. 3, 1934, Section 1, Page 5

L. M. Farthing Dies In Boone

Former Watauga Sheriff Was Member of Prominent Family; Rites Today.

Boone, July 2, Luther M. Farthing, former Watauga sheriff and member of a prominent family of the county, died suddenly at his home here today. He was 66 years old.

Surviving are his widow, six children, Victor of Chicato, Russell of Matney, Mrs. Edgar Edmiston of Cove Creek, Albert, Ruby and Marshall Farthing of Boone, and a brother, W. D. Farthing of Boone and Blowing Rock.

Funeral rites will be conducted tomorrow afternoon at the home here.

In the 1930 census Luther was the sheriff of Watauga Co.