| Home Surname List Name Index Sources Email Us | Seventh Generation5743. William Luther "Bill" Coffey was born on 6 March 1850 in North Carolina. He lived with his parents in Haywood Co., NC on 4 July 1860. William died of lung disease on 5 March 1925 at the age of 74 in Meat Camp Twp., Watauga Co., NC and was buried at Old Mount Pleasant Bethel Lutheran-Church Cemetery in Boone, Watauga Co., NC on 6 March 1925.18428,18429,18430 William Luther "Bill" Coffey and Mary Salome "Sallie" Moretz were married circa 1869. They appeared in the census on 4 June 1880 in Watauga Co., NC.18431 They18431 appeared in the census on 1 June 1900 in Watauga Co., NC.18432 Bill and Sallie18432 appeared in the census on 21 April 1910 in Watauga Co., NC.18433 They18433 appeared in the census on 19 January 1920 in Watauga Co., NC.18434 "Although in the 1870 and 1880 census records for Watauga County Sally Coffey is said to be one year older than her husband William and the couple's tombstone in the Old Mount Pleasant Cemetery reads: William L. Coffey, March 6, 1850--March 5, 1925 and Salome Moretz Coffey, August 20, 1850-- March 20, 1940. These dates agree with those in the family Bible. William Luther Coffey was the son of Jesse Calton Coffey (April 21, 1821--Aug.28, 1904) and Nancy Raines Coffey (Sept. 30, 1822--Jan. 14, 1899), who lived below where Tweetsie Railroad now runs and are buried in the Middle Fork Cemetery above the railroad...William and Sally had 12 children... Will and Sally Coffey lived in the Big Hill section of Meat Camp Township on land given to Sally by her parents. Will was a nursery-man who grew, grafted and sold all kinds of fruit trees and grape vines. He is remembered by his granddaughter Georgia Bodenheimer Norris (born June 10, 1908, daughter of Lizzie) as a kind, strict man who would stand for no cutting up at the table. ("He'd give you one look and you knew what he meant.") He worked hard and provided well for his family. He would get up early and go out to work awhile before breakfast, (Georgia recalls her mother saying), but would never ask his children to go out and help him before breakfast. He did not use tobacco in any form, but Sally chewed. She kept the habit a secret at first but finally told her husband, deciding "if he killed me he couldn't eat me". He did neither and after that she could chew with a clear conscience. Around 1912 Will built a new house near the old one in which he and Sally had raised their family. The new house had a unique double staircase so you didn't have to go down the way you went up. Will is said to have been a man of medium height who walked with a limp. He suffered from high blood pressure and heart dropsy. After he died, Sally stayed on in the house for eight years with her daughters Maud and Edna and her granddaughter Rose (Victor's daughter, who had come to live with her grandparents after her mother died). In 1923 the four of them moved to Lenoir where Sally died." Mary Salome "Sallie" Moretz, daughter of Daniel Moretz and Catharine Bolick, was born on 20 August 1850 in Watauga Co., NC. She appeared in the census on 1 June 1930 in Watauga Co., NC.18435 Sallie died of hypostatic pneumonia on 20 March 1940 at the age of 89 at home in Lenoir, Caldwell Co., NC and was buried at Boone, Watauga Co., NC.18436,18437,18438 Information received from Salome's gg-granddaughter Brenda Trivette; sources: Family records, Recollections, and Cemetery records by Betty Moody Coffey and Anne Burgess Ashley "Salome was the daughter of Daniel Moretz (9-24-1812 to 9-12-1868) and Catharine Moretz (9-22-1812 to 10-30-1888). They were members of the Old Mount Pleasant Church and are buried in that church's cemetery. Many of the members of that community are said to have still spoken German at that time and at least one of Salome Moretz Coffey's grandchildren, Ruby Bodenheimer Byers, can recite the German alphabet today, having been taught it by her grandmother". William Luther "Bill" Coffey and Mary Salome "Sallie" Moretz had the following children:
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