The
Coffey / Chenault Connection:
I have recently exchanged a number of notes with Rev. John Chenault, who lives in Frankfort, KY. The topic has been
mostly about our connections involving the family of Edward Coffey, the early
American from whom many of the Coffey Cousins descend. And most specifically,
the focus has been on two of Edward's daughters, Annister
and Anstes, and also on Annister's
base born son, James.
I am not an expert on the family of
Edward. I invite any reader to PLEASE help me out with comments or corrections
on the following – my interpretations may need some adjustments!
This package will link together several
exhibits and documents. Please click on any hyperlinks that interest you:
First, if he has not already done so,
the reader is invited to examine a fairly lengthy document that discusses the
son James Coffee, and his connection to Annister, and her parents Edward Coffey and Ann (Powell)
Coffey.
Marvin
D. Coffey wrote a book, and later added a supplement, on his ancestor James Bluford Coffey. That book has several references to Annister Coffey, the presumed mother of this James Coffey.
Click here to link to an extraction from Marvin's Book (Attachment I).
I
have also been corresponding with John Chenault, who
believes he is descended from Annister through her
later marriage to Stephen Chenault II. He sent me a
note, and a letter, explaining his view. Click here to link to John Chenault's
Notes (Attachment II).
Additional
information on the Chenault family history, and
connections to the Coffey family, can be found on The Chenault
Family National Association web page at http://www.chenault.org/ . This source believes that Stephen Chenault
Jr. first married Annister's sister Anstes, and they had four sons. He later married Annister, and they had one more son named William.
In support of his interpretation (that
James' mother Annister later married Stephen Chenault II, and had had a son William Chenault
in 1749 who was his ancestor), John provided a copy of a Merchant Account for King and Queen County,
Virginia, dated August 7, 1749, showing the name Annester
Chinault, at about the time his ancestor William Chenault was born.
John gave me this copy on two pages,
which where obviously once opposite each other in the account Folio. I have
assembled them into a single sheet, as shown in the above link.
(The Folio seems to offer a form of
double-entry bookkeeping. I'm not sure I interpret it correctly, but it appears
that on the left side Annester paid a previous bill
for sundries, which had been recorded in the shopkeeper's Journal for a total
of 4£, 6s, 7p. On the right side it appears that the account was settled with a
hogshead of tobacco, based on a weight and price shown. The tobacco was worth
more than the outstanding Journal account, so Annester
took the difference in 43 shillings of cash and 2 shillings worth of brown
sugar. The 45 shillings translate as 2 pounds, 5 shillings.)
(A tobacco hogshead typically weighed
about 1000 pounds. This particular hogshead contained 994 pounds, and only 769
pounds were needed to cover the Journal balance due. The remaining 225 pounds
was valued at 2 pounds, 5 shillings, which the lady took in cash and sugar. It
appears that the tobacco price used for settling the Journal account was lower
than the price used to give cash, and this may reflect a contractual
understanding, that credit would be given subject to payment in tobacco at a
previously agreed price?)
John Chenault
also did some additional digging on this transaction, and adds the following
note: "I went to the Virginia Historical Society last week to trace Annester Chinault's Merchant's
Account, which is the only proof we have that she married Stephen Chenault, Jr. I found that the Book A, which was the one
she was recorded in on August 7, 1749, was in the library of William and Mary
University, so I went there last Thursday, and held the actual book in my
hands, written in 1749, the year my 4th great grandfather, William Chenault was born, 249 years ago. I am confident now that
William was the son of Stephen Chenault and Annester, born when she was possibly close to 40 years of
age, and when Stephen was possibly 47. The market was run by
a man named Ninian Boog for
a Liverpool, England firm of Buchanan and Hamilton. She paid for her
order with tobacco from Ocupatia Creek* in Essex
County. The market was in King and Queen County. (So) your "James"
and my "William" are half-brothers, aren't they?"
*(May not be correct. In a subsequent
note in December 2008, John says: "É several trips to the Essex County
Court House and visits with Susan Derieux have shown
conclusively that Stephen Jr. and the Cofeys were not
on the occupacio CreekÉ but were on Gilsons Run near Jones Millpond, whichÉ became Mt. Landing
Creek of today.)
Now, the previous work by Marvin Coffey
(above) suggested that he thought it likely that the marriage was not between
Edward's daughter Annister Coffey and a male Chenault, but was between Edward's son Austin Coffey and a
female Chenault. So, the question becomes whether
Marvin is correct in reading the name of one child as "Austin", or
whether it should be a daughter, "Anstes"
or "Austes". So that brings us to the
question of exactly what name is shown in Edward's will.
So, John gave us two versions of the original
1715/16 Edward Coffey Will, which we will call Version
I and Version II. You are invited to look at these, and maybe print them as an
aid to the following discussion.
We think Version I may be a Xerox copy
the original draft, and Version II may be a Xerox of what was later hand copied
into the Essex County Virginia Will Book. The copies are not very good, but
even more difficult is that they are written with a quill pen, in an 18th
century style, using extremely "flexible" spelling.
To help with this, I offer a link to a
document showing how I arrived at my reading of the name as ANSTES. This is the same interpretation as
suggested by John Chenault.
Edward's
"Mark":
If you look at the above will copies,
you will see that
Edward signed with a "mark", per the adjacent strange M-like figure.
One guess is that this mark was chosen because he had a vested interest in the
plantation "Mosley's
Quarter", or maybe it went back to when he was a servant of Mosley?
This mark is taken from the above
"Version I" will, which I suspect contains the real mark of Edward,
in his own hand. It is rather shaky, consistent with the hand of a man who
declares he is "being in bedd of sickness".
From
"CHENAULT: A Family Lineage, by R. Stanley Harsh, July 1996:"
John
Chenault lent me a copy of this 1996 book, which I
have now returned. Most of it of course deals with the Chenault
family, but there are several references that are relevant to the Coffeys. I have copied several pages, and include them here
for possible future reference. Please note John's margin notes on many of the
following pages:
HarshPage23, HarshPage24, and HarshPage25 deal with the question of
whether Stephen Chenault II married Anstes Coffey, or married Annester
Coffey. The Harsh report concludes that Stephen probably married Anstes, but it was written before the above Merchants
Account was found. John Chenault now believes Stephen
married Annester.
HarshPage29 and HarshPage30 discusses
where Edward Coffey lived relative to various neighbors. I had not seen this
map before.
HarshPage72 has some landowner notes about Edward.
I think I have most of these, but decided to make a copy to be sure.
HarshPage75 is the inventory of Edward Coffey's
estate.
HarshPage76 and HarshPage77 contain a transcript of
the will of Edward Coffey's wife, Ann (Powell) (Coffey) Dulin.
HarshPage84 shows the inventory of the estate of
Thomas Powell, the father of Ann, Edward Coffey's wife. (I had previously found
Thomas Powell's will, but had not seen his inventory.)