Fifth Generation

274. Gen. John Reid Coffey^909,910,911 was born on 27 March 1814 in Wartrace, Bedford Co., TN.⁹¹² He was mustered out of the service in Mobile, Mobile Co., AL on 16 June 1846⁹¹³ John Reid died on 22 May 1896 at the age of 82 in Jackson Co., AL and was buried at Cross Cemetery in Scottsboro, Jackson Co., AL.^914,915

Notable Deaths - The Age-Herald, Birmingham, AL, Sat., May 23, 1896, Vol. 22, Issue 165, Page 5

Gen. John Coffey.

Chattanooga, Tenn., May 22.-Gen. John Coffey, one of the largest and wealthiest planters in Alabama, died this morning at his home near Wannaville, Ala., aged 81 years. He was a distinguished man in his day, ranking as a brigadier general of militia previous to the Mexican war, which he entered as a colonel. His death was due to old age. He was a native of Tennessee.

COFFEY, JOHN R, of Fackler, Jackson County, son of Rice and Sallie (Bradford) Coffey, was born at Wartrace, Bedford County, Tenn., March 27, 1814.

Rice Coffey was born in Pennsylvania in 1766. When a young man he removed to North Carolina and became a gunsmith. He married and again removed to Tennessee about 1801, and settled on a farm of a thousand acres of land which he bought of General Jackson, and on which his son, John R. Coffey, was born. He died in 1853, and his wife in 1840. He was a son of James Coffey, of early times, who raised a large family, all of the older sons of whom served as soldiers in the Revolutionary War. The Coffey family are Baptists.

John R. Coffey spent his early days on a farm attending the common old-field schools. When he was thirteen years of age he went to a high school at Shelbyville, Tenn., and remained there twelve months. After this, he came to Bellefonte without an acquaintance in the county or a dollar in his pocket, and became a clerk in a store. At the age of twenty-two, he established a mercantile business of his own in that village, and continued it until 1846. In 1840, he was elected Sheriff of Jackson County. At the breaking out of the Mexican War, he enlisted in the army in a company commanded by Capt. Richard W. Jones. He afterwards acted as lieutenant, lieutenant-colonel, and major-general in the militia; went to Mobile and organized the First Alabama Regiment and was elected its colonel, and as such, participated in the siege of Vera Cruz. After the war with Mexico, he became a general of the militia.  He had now returned to his farm and devoted his attention to its cultivation until 1853, when he moved to Stevenson and engaged in the mercantile business, which he prosecuted with considerable success until the beginning of the late war, when he again closed his store and returned to his farm of 4,000 acres, on the banks of the Tennessee River.

In 1861 he was elected a delegate to the convention which passed the ordinance of secession. He was bitterly opposed to that ordinance, but, being overpowered, he submitted with the best possible grace, and thereafter gave moral and substantial support to the Confederacy. (General Coffey's grandmother was a sister to Col. Ben, Cleveland, who commanded a regiment at the battle of King's Mountain.)

General Coffey was married January 21, 1849, to Miss Mary Ann Cross, daughter of Col. Chas. and  Eliza (Clark) Cross, of Jackson County. They were natives of North Carolina and came to Alabama about 1826. He was a soldier in the Indian wars, and was drowned in the Tennessee River about 1848. (His wife's great-grandfather, Col.Wm. Maclin, and her grandfather, Robert Clark, were in the Revolutiouary War; the latter was wounded in battle at Eutaw Springs, from which he died. Her grandfather, Maclin Cross, was in the battle at Nick-a-Jack, Indian Nation.) 
 
General Coffey is the father of six children, of whom four grew to maturity, namely: Eliza, wife of Wm. J. Tally; Sallie B., wife of C. W. Brown, chief clerk in the office of the State Superintendent of Education; John B. and Clark Maclin. General Coffey's wife died September 6, 1887. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Masonic order. General Coffey is a man of commanding presence, being over six feet in height and having apparently the vim and energy of a youth. He is one of the best known men of the State and one of the most influential men in Northeastern Alabama.

Gen. John Reid Coffey and Mary Ann Cross⁹¹⁶ were married on 21 January 1849 in Alabama.⁹¹⁷ They⁹¹⁷ appeared in the census on 18 November 1850 in Jackson Co., AL.⁹¹⁸ They⁹¹⁸ appeared in the census on 6 June 1860 in Jackson Co., AL.⁹¹⁹ John and Mary⁹¹⁹ appeared in the census on 17 August 1870 in Jackson Co., AL.⁹²⁰ They⁹²⁰ appeared in the census on 11 June 1880 in Jackson Co., AL.⁹²¹ Mary Ann Cross, daughter of Charles Maclin Cross and Eliza Clark, was born on 29 December 1831 in Stevenson, Jackson Co., AL. Mary Ann died on 6 September 1887 at the age of 55 in Jackson Co., AL and was buried at Cross Cemetery in Scottsboro, Jackson Co., AL.⁹²²

Gen. John Reid Coffey and Mary Ann Cross had the following children: