Seventh Generation

5025. Henry Boone Coffey¹⁶³¹⁵ was born on 20 June 1872 in North Carolina. Henry died of chronic myocarditis on 16 September 1938 at the age of 66 in Watauga Co., NC and was buried at Coffey Cemetery in Shulls Mill, Foscoe community, Watauga Co., NC.^{16316,16317,16318}

Henry Boone Coffey and Virginia Frances "Jennie" Brown were married on 8 October 1905 in Watauga Co., NC.^{15302,16319,16320} They^{15302,16319,16320} appeared in the census on 22 April 1910 in Watauga Co., NC.¹⁶³²¹

There was a Henry Coffey with wife Jennie in Lower Creek, Burke Co., NC in the 1920 census, ED16, Sheet 3B. They have many of the same children. Jennie is alleged to be Jinnie Branch.

Who is Jinnie Branch and is this the same family as Henry Boone Coffey and Jennie Brown?

They¹⁶³²¹ appeared in the census on 5 April 1930 in Lower Creek Twp., Burke Co., NC.¹⁶³²² Virginia Frances "Jennie" Brown¹⁶³²³, daughter of Samuel Walker Brown and Nancy Jane Joyce, was born on 25 September 1878 in Watauga Co., NC. She appeared in the census on 11 April 1940 in Watauga Twp., Watauga Co., NC.¹⁶³²⁴ Jennie died of cerebral thrombosis on 1 July 1962 at the age of 83 at Alexander County Hospital in Taylorsville, Alexander Co., NC and was buried at Coffey Cemetery in Shulls Mill, Watauga Co., NC.^16325,16326

From notes written by Mary Ellen Brown Price dated July 1987:

"Virginia Frances Brown was the 11th child of Samuel and Nancy Jane (Joyce) Brown. (Jennie) as she was called was born in Surry County North Carolina and spent part of her youth there.

"'I am told that around 1890 Samuel left Surry County and went to the Shulls Mills [sic], North Carolina area to work. Daughter Jennie begged to go with her father so he let her go with him and they boarded at the Robbins Hotel while Grandfather followed his trade of painting.

"During this time Jennie met Arch E. Coffey and on September 20, 1900 Jennie and Arch married. According to census records, Jennie was 21 years old.. My cousin Glenn took me to her first home. Pictures are shown later in the Brown Book. It was a lovely white frame house nestled next to a stream in the Shull's Mills area. To this union was born one son Paul Arch Coffey. Arch died three years after their marriage and later on October 7, 1905 Jennie married Henry Coffey (no known relation to Arch) and to this union 4 children were born.

"The Shull's Mills area at this time was a boom town with lumber mills as one of their chief industries and I am told Jennie and a daughter ran a boarding house near one of the lumber camps. I am told she also worked in their post office at one time and that on occasion she would write short stories of which several were published.

"Grandfather had left Shull's Mills before this and had been in the home of his son Will but a few years before his death had come back to the area and lived with Jennie and Henry until his death in 1914. He is buried in the Coffey family cemetery.

"Aunt Jennie was a hard working woman and stayed in close contact with her brothers and sisters. I remember her visiting in our home on many occasions."

This letter signed

Mary B. Price
July 1987

Henry Boone Coffey and Virginia Frances "Jennie" Brown had the following children: