BIO: JOHN COFFEY, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
   
  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson
  OCRed by Judy Banja

  Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
  _____________________________________________________________

  >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania,
  Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 479-480
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  NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios:
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/


    JOHN COFFEY is one of the prominent farmers and live stock dealers in
  Cumberland county. He is engaged in general farming on his fine farm of 200
  acres, all under a high state of cultivation, and is a man of large
  experience in business transactions, and, being a good judge of character, he
  has been wise in the management of his affairs, and in the selection of
  business as-
    
    480  CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
    
  sociates. He was born in Southampton township Feb. 9, 1830, a son of James
  and Mary (Highlands) Coffey, and grandson of William Coffey, a native of
  Pennsylvania.
    
    James Coffey was born in Delaware county, Pa., in 1811, of Irish descent.
  He became a farmer and distiller, and was a prominent man in his locality. In
  his religious belief he was a strict Presbyterian, in which faith he died at
  the advanced age of eighty-six years, in 1897. He was three times married.
  The name of his first wife is not known. For his second wife he married Mary
  Highlands, who was born in Southampton township in 1812, daughter of James
  Highlands, whose father emigrated to America from Ireland prior to the
  Revolution and was a soldier in the Colonial army. She died in 1836, the
  mother of five children, namely: William A., of Carlisle; John; George W., of
  Kansas; Julia A., who married Levi Strohm, of Leesburg; and Mary, wife of John
  Noaker. By his third marriage, James Coffey became the father of Robert J., of
  Colorado; Elizabeth, of Carlisle; and Margaret.
    
    John Coffey was but six years of age when his mother died. His early years
  were all spent on the farm, and as he began life for himself with little or
  no means, he is pre-eminently a self made man. His school days taken
  altogether did not exceed a period of two months. He was employed by his
  father and other parties until he was twenty-four years old, when he leased
  the old Samuel Adams farm, where he is found today - having remained here for
  the long period of fifty years. The land is all under a fine state of
  cultivation, and with it Mr. Coffey has engaged extensively in buying and
  selling horses, cattle,, sheep and hogs. In politics Mr. Coffey is a
  Democrat, after the kind of Thomas Jefferson, and for several years he has
  been a member of the school board, and he has also served as treasurer and
  assessor of his township. He has taken an active part in local politics, but
  has never sought any of the honors for himself. His judgment in public
  matters is greatly relied upon, and he is often called upon by the party's
  leaders for advice and counsel.
    
    In 1862 Mr. Coffey recruited a company for service in the Union army, and
  took them to Harrisburg. Upon the organization of the company the men elected
  a captain, and Mr. Coffey, feeling that he himself was entitled to the office,
  quietly returned home.
    
    In 1854 Mr. Coffey married Elizabeth Rank, daughter of Samuel and Mary
  (Koser) Rank; she died in 1889, leaving the following children: Ella, wife of
  George A. Reese, a farmer of Southampton township; James Bernard; Charles
  William, in the clothing business in Shippensburg with his brother James B.;
  and Della E., housekeeper for James B.