Fourth Generation

53. James Coffey Jr. was born circa 1757 in Albemarle Co., VA. James died in North Carolina circa January 1795.

1/27/1795 A Burke county Administration Bond was granted to Mary Coffey, widow, and to her father Jesse Moore.

James Coffey Jr. and Mary "Mollie" Moore were married on 30 August 1794 in Wilkes Co., NC.

This marriage date is probably incorrect, and they were likely married well before 1790. In 1790 James had 1 son under 16, and 2 daughters. He died in Jan. 1795, or late 1794, and letters of administration for his estate were granted to Mary and her father Jesse on 27 Jan. 1795 in Burke Co.

There is also a marriage record in Wilkes Co., NC dated Aug. 30, 1794 for James Coffey and Sarah Coffey.

Some researchers say that James never married. Others say that he married Mollie Moore, a daughter of Jesse Moore.

There seems to be an error in the records, or research as earlier sources (The Moore Family of the Globe, pub. in the Lenoir Topic, Wed., Oct. 7, 1891 and reprinted in Gleanings from the Heart of the Corn Belt, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1970, pp18-22)report that Mollie married Abraham Alloway Strange.

No marriage record has been found for James and Mollie, but two of her sisters married Coffey brothers from this family. One marriage record dated Aug. 30, 1794 has been found in Wilkes Co., NC for a James Coffey to a Sarah Coffey. So far, this couple hasn't been definitely accounted for in research.

It is therefore extremely difficult to separate this James in the records of NC from James, son of Thomas who married Delilah Ferguson. The James, Jr. mentioned in Wilkes Co. court of P and Q minutes is probably the son of Rev. James as is the James mentioned in the Yadkin Baptist church records as being clerk in 1790.

James Jr. lived next to his father in Wilkes Co., but moved to Wayne Co., KY in the early 1800s. He returned to NC and traded his land in KY to his brother Lewis Russell Coffee.

James Jr. cannot be definitely found in the 1800 or later census of Wilkes or Burke counties, but cannot be found in Wayne Co, KY either. Perhaps he went with Rice and others to Bedford Co., TN as there is a James there in 1830 who is of the appropriate age. There is also a James on the Jefferson Co., TN tax lists of 1800 and a will listed for 1807. Mary "Mollie" Moore, daughter of Jesse Moore and Alley Johnson, was born on 2 June 1766.

James Coffey Jr. and Mary "Mollie" Moore had the following children: