Willis Coffey Last Will and Testament

Last week, I told you how there may be some conflict surrounding the estate of Willis Coffey, my 3rd great-grandfather.  You can read about it here.

Today, we will look at what is causing the fuss.  There are a few items to cover before we read the will. Willis Coffey was born in Russell County, Kentucky on May 2, 1804.  He married Velotty (Lotty) Haynes on March 23, 1828.  They had nine children: Louisa, Nebuzaradin B., Teckly, Sara Tiller, Mary Frances, Jackson, Lotty Emeline, Nancy, and James C. Coffey. Lotty Coffee passed away in October 1869 and is buried in the Stewartsville Cemetery, DeKalb, Missouri. Willis was remarried seven months later on June 15, 1870 to Susan Pickett Laffern.  Susan was much younger than Willis (born 1832) and then had a son together (Willis Franklin) in 1874 when Willis was 70 years old. Now that we know the family structure, the will will make more sense.

The lawsuit that follows the death of Willis Coffey will focus on the Will he wrote in 1885, 8 years before his death.

Transcription of the Last Will and Testament of Willis Coffey:

I, Willis Coffey, of the county of DeKalb, and State of Missouri, do make and publish this, my last will and testament.

1st, I give and devise and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Susan Coffey, during her natural life the following real estate (lands), situated in the county of DeKalb and State of Missouri, to wit:

the East half (1/2), of the North west quarter (1/4), of section thirty four, (34); township fifty eight (58); of range thirty three (33).

The above described lands to belong to my wife during her natural life; and at her death, the said lands to become the property of my son, Willis Franklin Coffey.

2nd, I bequeath to my beloved wife, Susan Coffey, a sufficient am’t of provisions for the support of herself and my son Willis Franklin Coffey for the period of one year; said amount to be determined by the Judge of the Probate court.

3rd, I devise and bequeath unto my beloved wife , Susan Coffey, on horse, one milk cow, four pork hogs, and five sheep.  The above personal property to be selected by my said wife, and delivered to her by my executor.

4th, I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Susan Coffey, two hundred (200) bushels of corn; and twenty (20 bushels of wheat, and if there be no a sufficient amount of corn and wheat on hand at my death, my executor is hereby directed to pay to my said wife the value of the deficiency, out of my estate.

5th, I will and bequeath to my beloved wife, Susan Coffey, all of my household and kitchen furniture of every description, whatever.

6, And as to the remainder of all my real estate (lands), I hereby direct my executor to sell the same at public or private sale, as he may think best, and to such person or persons as he may think proper and just, and I hereby direct my executor to divide the proceeds of said sale of my real estate as follows: to wit said proceeds to be equally divided between my children and grandchildren as follows:

To the children of my deceased daughter, Eliza Warner one ninth (1/9) part, and to each of my other children as follows: N.B. Coffey, Sarah Clark, Tecka Rippeto, Jackson Coffey, Mary Mitchel, Lotta E Carter, Nancy Stepp, and Willis Franklin Coffey, one ninth (1/9) part.

7th  And as to all debts due and owing to me; I hereby direct my executor to sell the same at public or private sale, as he may think best and to divide the proceeds thereof, as above mentioned in the distributions of proceeds of real estate,

8th,  And lastly, as to all the rest, residue, and remainder of my personal estate, whatsoever, after paying all my just debts, I give  and bequeath to my son Willis Franklin Coffee three hundred $300.00 dollars, then the remainder is to be equally divided between my children and grandchildren as above described.

9th,  And I hereby appoint William M. Stigall, of DeKalb county Missouri as guardian and ensator(??) of my son Willis Franklin Coffey.

10rd[sic], I do hereby appoint William M Stigall, of DeKalb county and State of Missouri as the executor of this my last will and testament; hereby revoking all former wills and testaments by me made.

In witness whereof I have presented my hand, this the 26 day of January, A.S 1885,

Willis Coffey

Signed and declared by the above named Willis Coffey, to be his last will and testament, in the presence of all who at his request have signed as witnesses to the same, in his presence, and in the presence of each other.

Wm T Thornton

James Adams

 

Willis Coffey – A Probate Story

Willis Coffey is my 3rd great-grandfather.  I recently found his probate papers on Ancestry.com.  I am super excited about this find because the file contains 174 digital images.  With this much paperwork there must be a story!

Me to Willis Coffey

The story begins with a flurry of paperwork between 28 September 1893 and 9 October 1893.  On the 28th of September a receipt was written by the manager of the Clarksdale, Missouri office of the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad for sending a telegram announcing the death of Willis Coffey.

A week and a half later, several people appeared at the county courthouse in Maysville, Missouri (the county seat).  Several documents were signed and witnessed on October 9, 1893.  First, the will of Willis Coffey was presented to the court.  I was very disappointed to realize one page of the will was not digitized.  Of course it was the page that was to lay out how part of the estate was to be divided among his heirs.  The last page of the will had a sheet of paper attached that stated the will had officially been recorded in DeKalb County.  This was signed by the local probate judge, W.A. Thornbaugh.

Next, W.F. Thornton appeared before the judge to swear he was present and signed as a witness on Willis Coffey’s will.  He also stated that James Adams (the other witness) was now deceased and his signature was true.  This was all signed to in the Proof of Will and witnessed by Judge Thornbaugh.

Another form was signed by the Probate Judge which states the will of Willis Coffey appoints W.M. Stigall as executor.  This was followed by a signed Executor’s Bond for $2000 for W.M. Stigall.  Also on the same form was an Oath for W.M. Stigall to sign.  The oath states that the executor will truly perform his duties as executor, including a perfect inventory.  Apparently W.M Stigall took this oath very seriously as most of the digital images in the Probate packet are receipts for every detail.

The last sheet in the Will papers was my favorite.  It is an undated hand written notice that says: “The court instructs the jury that the only issue in this case is whether or not the paper writing offered in evidence (and hereto attached) purporting to be the last will of Willis Coffee deceased, is his last will and testament.

Coffey, Willis Will page 7

It is starting to get good!!  My next blog post will take a look at the Will in question.

A Day at the DAR Library

During Spring Break this year my family traveled back East to visit with my family.  One day my family hopped on the Metro into Washington,DC.  We split up as we came into the city.  My husband and kids played tourist for the day enjoying the beautiful cherry blossom festival.  I walked a couple of blocks off of Constitution Avenue to spend the day researching at the Daughters of the American Revolution Library.

I had spent a good deal of time before my visit combing the Genealogical Research System (GRS) database.  Most of my direct ancestors were either too young or too old for service in the Revolutionary War. I was not looking at the GRS for direct ancestors but rather any men who could be brothers, cousins, or uncles of my known ancestors.  My hope was to find information in the supporting documents that would connect my ancestor to the family.

In the Seimes Technology Center, researchers can access the applications and supporting documents for the people found in the GRS.  I tackled my to-do list and began checking each candidate.  A few of the possible contenders were quickly crossed off the list since none of the information matched location or known dates.

I hit my first Jackpot with Lt. John Berry.  As soon as I saw his applications and supporting documents I started hitting the ‘print’ button.  The digitized documents tied right into the information I had found in the DAR Library in a book called A Berry History: an Account of John and Jane Campbell Berry of Washington County, Virginia compiled by John Berry Nolan.  I have evidence that Jane Berry is my 4th great-grandmother.  The book and DAR supporting documents show that she is the granddaughter of Lt. John Berry.  This makes John Berry my 6th great-grandfather.

I then hit a triple Jackpot for my ancestor Mary Frances Coffey.  I have documentation proving her parents are Willis Coffey and Violetta “Lotty” Haynes.  First up is the find on Mary’s maternal line.  My first jackpot hit was to connect Lotty as the daughter of James Haynes who served in the Revolutionary War.

Mary Frances Coffey’s paternal line had two additional surprises.  The first surprise was to tie Willis Coffey into the family of Eli and Mary Coffey by looking at the application for Nathan Coffey. The probate records attached to the application show Willis as the executor of his father’s estate.  It also names his mother as Mary ‘Polly’ Coffey, and the names of some of his siblings in the guardianship paperwork.  It was also exciting to see John Haynes (father in-law of Willis) named in one of the documents.

The third surprise was how Nathan Coffey tied into the family.  When I looked at the application, I was hoping he was an uncle.  Turns out he was Willis’ great uncle and grandfather.  Bible records were attached to the application which showed Eli Coffey married his first cousin, Mary Coffey on 22 March 1801.  Nathan is the uncle of Eli and the father of Mary.  Nathan Coffey (1760-1823) is supposedly the great-great grandson of John Coffey.  John Coffey is alleged to have come to the United States about 1637 from Ireland.  Once again a discovery has added many to-do items to my list to now prove prior research.

My last discovery was to confirm that Johannes Klinger is the father of Maria Clinger.  Maria married into my Lawbaugh line.

The day was super successful.  I know can prove a connection to five Revolutionary War ancestors. A great day ended on an even higher note.  After leaving the DAR Library, I met my family at the Lincoln Memorial where we each enjoyed a lemonade popsicle before commuting home together.