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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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F.
J. Coffey Frank
J. Coffey was born January 10, 1871, in Kansas, and is the son of W. G. and
Cynthia (Williams) Coffey, the father being a native of Kentucky and the mother
of Tennessee. Mr. Coffey's parents
came from Kentucky to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1859 and engaged in farming near
there. This they continued until
1861, when the father enlisted in the Thirty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry,
which was recruited at Des Moines. The
father served for nearly four years in the great civil conflict, being mustered
out at the close of the war. He
served under Sherman and took part in some of the most important battles of the
war. After the end of the great conflict, he came back to the farm, where he
remained until 1870, when he with his family went to Kansas, where the subject
of this review was born. While in
Kansas the family took up a homestead and farmed for five years, after which
time they returned to Iowa. The
father now lives retired at Monroe. In
1905 the mother died and later the father remarried, his second wife being Mrs.
J. N. Shaw. In politics Mr. Coffey's father is a Republican. The
subject of this review is one of eight children, five of whom are living:
Susan, the eldest, died in infancy; W. E., born in 1861, died at the age
of thirty; Ella, wife of Adam Hoxel, a retired farmer, resides at Indianola,
Iowa; D. W., born in 1868, is in the grocery business at Iowa City; F. J., the
subject, is next in order of birth; Mary E„ born in 1873, died in 1889; Lottie,
wife of James McMichael, a farmer, resides at Carlisle, Iowa; Tennie, wife of
John Custer, a merchant, resides in Monroe, Iowa. The subject of
this sketch began working for himself at the age of twenty-four on a farm near
Monroe. Later he went into the grocery business at Monroe, which he continued
for six years. At the expiration of
that period he sold out and engaged in the hardware business at Monroe, which he
continued for three years. After
that he came to Reasnor and purchased the general store of Fred Roberts, which
business he has continued ever since. He deals in groceries, dry goods, notions, shoes and sundries
of all kinds. On June7, 1896,
Mr. Coffey was united in marriage with Leo Pomeroy, daughter of W.K. and Amanda
(Smith) Pomeroy, her father being a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of
Illinois. Mrs. Coffey's father
still lives, being in the soldiers' home at Marshalltown, Iowa, her mother dying
when Mrs. Coffey was but a child. Mrs. Coffey's father was a Union soldier
during the Civil War. To Mr. and Mrs.
Coffey have been born four children, all of whom are living, namely: Ruth, born
May 28, 1897; Tennie, born January 26, 1906; Carl, born March 26, 1908, and
Mary, born August 16, 1911. All are at home, the eldest being in high school at Monroe.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Coffey are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of
Reasnor. Mr. Coffey is a member of
Monroe Lodge No. 277, Knights of Pythias, at Monroe, of which lodge he is a past
chancellor. He is also a member of the Woodmen of the World at Reasnor. Mr. Coffey has always been a man of public spirit, interested in the progressive movements of his country. The Past and Present
of Jasper County, Iowa, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-in-Chief, 1912, B. F.
Bowden & Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. |
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