Sixth Generation

1052. Weightstill Avery Coffey was born on 26 August 1837 in Bedford Co., TN. Weightstill died on 20 July 1898 at the age of 60 in Scottsboro, Jackson Co., AL and was buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Scottsboro, Jackson Co., AL.^{4223,4224,4225}

In 1858 Weightstill A. and his brother Rice A. bought the firm Austin, Coffey & Co. which belonged to their uncle, John Reid Coffey. They kept the business until March 1861 at which time W.A. entered the Confederate Army. He attained the rank of Captain. After the War, they both lived in Scottsboro, Alabama. Weightstill was made President of Jackson County Bank. In 1892 he, his brother Rice A. and J.W. Moody operated a general store. Weightstill was Eula Lee (Coffey) Howard's father and Al Carhart's great grandmother. [courtesy Al Carhart]

W. A. COFFEY, president of Jackson county bank, was born in Bedford county, Tenn., August 26, 1837. He is a son of Alexander H. Coffey, who was born in Tennessee; always lived there, was a farmer all his life and died in 1864, aged fifty-five years. He was a justice of the peace for many years. He married Nancy Weatherly, a native of Tennessee, and to them were born four children, viz.: Napoleon B., deceased; Mary, deceased wife of Pleasant Lovelady, also deceased; R. A. of Scottsboro, and W. A. W. A. Coffey was educated at the schools of Bedford county, Tenn., and came to Alabama at the age of nineteen, settling at Stevenson, where he clerked for two years for Austin, Coffey & Co., Mr. Coffey, of this firm, being his uncle. In 1858 he and his brother, R. A., purchased the business and carried it on until March, 1861, when he entered the Confederate service as a member of the Seventh Alabama infantry, commanded by Col. John S. Coltart. He served as a private soldier until June, 1861, when he was granted a furlough on account of ill health. In the fall of 1861 he organized a company in Jackson county, which became company C of the Thirty-first Alabama infantry. Of this company Mr. Coffey was made captain. The regiment afterward became the Forty-ninth. Mr. Coffey served as captain of his company until after the battle of Shiloh, when the regiment was reorganized, and though he did not retain his captaincy, he remained with the regiment until July 9, 1863, when he was captured at Port Hudson and immediately paroled. He was not afterward in active service. The principal battles he was.engaged in were those of Shiloh and Port Hudson, and he was in several minor engagements. After the war he went to Stevenson, remaining there until February, 1866, engaged in clerking. He then moved to Maynard's Cove, and was there engaged in farming until 1888, when he removed to Scottsboro. In February, 1889, he was made president of the Jackson county bank, which position he still retains. In March, 1892, he and his brother, R. A. Coffey, and J. W. Moody, opened a general store, which they still carry on. Mr. Coffey is largely interested in farming in Jackson county. He is a democrat, but takes but little interest in politics. He is a Mason and a member of the Missionary Baptist church, and he has been a deacon of his church for many years. He was married May 2, 1866, to Miss Mary E. Harris, daughter of Carter O. Harris, a native of Kentucky, and to this marriage were born six children, all of whom survive, viz.: Alexander Harris; Rice Abner, Eula Lee, W. A., Jr., Mamie and Vivie.

Weightstill Avery Coffey and Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Harris were married on 2 May 1866 in Jackson Co., AL.⁴²²⁶ They⁴²²⁶ appeared in the census on 21 June 1870 in Jackson Co., AL.⁴²²⁷ They⁴²²⁷ appeared in the census on 5 June 1880 in Jackson Co., AL.⁴²²⁸ Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Harris was born on 16 August 1847 in Jackson Co., AL. Mary died on 18 October 1894 at the age of 47 in Scottsboro, Jackson Co., AL and was buried at

Answered to Death's Call Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Coffey, consort of W.A. Coffey, of Scottsboro, Ala., died Thursday night at 10:30 o'clock, October 18, 1894, in the 47th year of her life. She was the daughter of Carter O. and Mary Harris, the latter still survives her. Her grandfather was Caleb B. Hudson, who once represented Jackson county in the State legislature. The deceased was happily married to W.A. Coffey in May, 1866; born to them six children - three sons and three daughters, all of whom are yet living. The writer has known the deceased from childhood to her death. She was not known as what would be called a fashionable society lady; she was possessed of real worth, kind and charitable in her youth and after life. Her real worth was but little known to the world, from the fact that her devotion as daughter, mother and companion and kindness to all who visited her home was great and unsurpassed, not only in a general way but especially the kindness and motherly care of herself, as well as Grandma Harris, shown when having charge of the writer's two oldest daughters, after the death of their own mother in their childhood, which can never be forgotten by the daughters or their father. Mrs. Coffey had not attached herself to any church, but expressed great love for God and his people and the pleasure she enjoyed in reading God's Word. She was confined to her bed about eleven months with that dreadful disease, consumption. She appreciated and knew every care and attention that was given her in her sickness, not only by her own family but by the good neighbors generally, and the medical attention given her by Dr. Andrew Boyd was unsurpassed in skill as well as in kindness. While the loss to the family cannot be expressed, yet they should and must console themselves in knowing their loss is her gain, and by the help of God strive to meet her in the land of bliss and happiness, where parting will be no more. R.A. Coffey Cedar Hill Cemetery in Scottsboro, Jackson Co., AL.

Weightstill Avery Coffey and Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Harris had the following children: