Fifth Generation

263. Asbury Madison Coffey was born on 25 January 1804 in Wilkes Co., NC. Asbury died in Knob Noster, Johnson Co., MO on 28 November 1897. Knob Noster Cemetery in Knob Noster, Johnson Co., MO in November 1897 .^{863,864,865,866}

In 1814 Asbury's father moved the family to Wayne Co., KY where Asbury grew up.

Asbury graduated from Center College in Danville, KY in 1826 and moved to McMinn Co., TN where he taught school. On July 22, 1828 he married a former pupil, Mary Bradford. She was a niece of Sarah Bradford, wife of Rice Coffey who was the brother of Eli, Asbury's father.

Asbury and Mary lived in McMinn Co. until 1842. During that time he was treasurer of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. The family later moved to Pettis Co., MO where Asbury was elected to the legislature from Pettis Co in 1850. In 1851 he was appointed as Indian Agent by Pres. Fillmore and lived for some years among the Peories in Kansas until 1855.

He became a member of the first Territorial Legislature of Kansas ("Bogus Legislature") in 1855, and was instrumental in forming the Kansas Militia on Aug. 31, of that year. He was a Major General in the Southern Division of the Militia, and leader of Kansas' pro-slavery movement.

In June 1856 Gen. Coffey marched on John Brown's camp with about 300 men in an effort to rescue one of his men who had been taken by Brown's followers. After discovering that the man has already been released, Coffey withdrew with his force. While passing through Osawatomie, KS his men were said to has "committed gross depredations on the property of the citizens of that place." The governor, Shannon, said of the incident that "General Coffey is himself a prudent, discreet man, but these irregular forces are liable at any moment to throw off all restraint, and follow the dictates of their own inflamed and excited feelings."

In 1859 the Coffey family moved to a farm in Knob Noster, Johnson Co., MO. By 1873 Asbury was back into politics and was elected president of the Missouri State Grange. He also served for several years on the local school board.

Coffey Co., KS was named for him, but not the town of Coffeyville.

Two of his children, Rachel and Henry, settled in the Beaverton-Portland, OR area. Rachel married Robert Walker.

Asbury died in Knobnoster, MO on Nov. 28, 1897.

See: Kansas Bogus Legislature at

http://kansasboguslegislature.org/members/coffey_a_m.html

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The following appears in The Coffey Clan from 1690 by Frank R. Moore. Moore relates that it "was copied from a letter of Col. A. M. Coffey of Knobnoster, Mo., written Feb. 9, 1897, to his daughter, Mrs. Robert Walker of Beaverton, Oregon."

"The Coffeys are of Irish origin. Many of the name still live in Ireland. The first emigrants located in Virginia (from) whence my Grandfather James Coffey, removed to North Carolina, when my father was a boy, and at the age of sixteen he entered the army and served during the balance of the Revolutionary War. One of my father's brothers (Rice Coffey) married a sister of your grandfather Bradford. They moved to Bedford County, Tennessee, where they lived and died at a good old age. My father removed to Kentucky in 1814 when I was ten years old, settled at Monticello in 1823. I went to Central College at Danville and graduated in 1826, went that fall to Tennessee, taught school in an academy close to your Grandpa Bradford's. Your mother was one of my pupils. We were married July 22, 1828. We lived together for 65 years, 3 months and eight days, and during the time if there was ever a hard thought or word spoken between us we had forgotten it. My Grandmother Coffey was a Cleveland and lived to be one hundred years old. She was of the South Carolina family of Clevelands, and was a near relative of Col. Benjamin Cleveland, the terror of the Tories, and he was in command with Shelby and Sevier at King's Mountain. The Clevelands were English and traced their lineage back to Cromwell and the Duchess of Cleveland in English history."

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From the KansasBogusLegislature.org website:

"Asbury M. Coffey was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1804 and moved with his family very early in life to Kentucky with Daniel Boone's party. He graduated from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and in 1826 went to Athens, Tennessee where he married and remained until 1842, when the couple moved to Missouri. Settling in Pettis County, Coffey was elected to the Missouri General Assembly in 1850. [Cockerell, Johnson County, Biographies] During the territorial period, he probably never lived in Kansas.

"Old Centre"

Centre College, 1820

A.M. Coffey entered the college in 1823.

President Fillmore in 1851 appointed Coffey as agent for the "Confederated Tribes," the Miamis, Weas, Piakeshaws, Peorias and Kaskaskias, at the Osage River Agency (Miami County) where he officiated from 1851 to 1855. His successor in the agency was fired for resisting squatters on Indian lands, indicating Coffey's toleration of squatting during his term. [Cutler, History, Miami County] On election day, 1855, Coffey appeared to be the leader of the pro-slavery forces in the area. One free-state writer said:
"A noisy, drunken mob came over from Missouri on horseback and offered to vote. [The judges] challenged them on the ground of non-residence. The mob began to threaten violence, when Colonel Coffey got up and made a speech, in which he said he did not favor violence, but if officers did no do their duty it would lead to violence. What he meant by duty was for Mr. Chestnut to cease his challenges." [Shively, The Pottawatomie Massacre, 178]
Coffey was a Major General in the Kansas Militia and in June 1856 marched on John Brown's camp with about 300 men to release Captain Pate who had been captured. Informed Pate had already been released, Coffey retired the force. Some of his men, however, passing through Osawatomie, "committed gross depredations on the property of the citizens of that place." Governor Shannon thought Coffey was not to blame:

General Coffey is himself a prudent, discreet man; but these irregular forces are liable at any moment to throw off all restraint, and follow the dictates of their own inflamed and excited feelings. [Shannon, Correspondence, 387]

In 1859 Coffey moved to a farm near Knob Noster in Johnson County, Missouri. In 1873 he was elected president of the Missouri State Grange. He served many years on the local school board. One historian wrote that Coffey lived in western Missouri "as late as 1878" [Cutler, History, Coffey County] but another said he died in Dodge City in 1879. [Admire's Handbook, Miami County] Still a third said he was living on his farm near Knob Noster in 1882 and was at that time "above average height, pleasing in his manner, and possessed of rare conversational powers.'" [Cockerell, Johnson County, Biographies]"

Asbury Madison Coffey and Mary G. Bradford were married on 22 July 1828 in Tennessee. They appeared in the census on 29 August 1850 in Pettis Co., MO.⁸⁶⁷ They⁸⁶⁷ appeared in the census on 30 July 1860 in Johnson Co., MO.⁸⁶⁸ Asbury and Mary⁸⁶⁸ appeared in the census on 26 July 1870 in Johnson Co., MO.⁸⁶⁹ They⁸⁶⁹ appeared in the census on 11 June 1880 in Johnson Co., MO.⁸⁷⁰
Thought to have had nine children. Two are yet unknown. Mary G. Bradford, daughter of Henry Bradford and Rachel McFarland, was born on 22 March 1809. Mary died in Missouri on 20 October 1893.⁸⁷¹

Asbury Madison Coffey and Mary G. Bradford had the following children: