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Historical records matching Cornelius Coffey
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About Cornelius Coffey
Cornelius was the son of William Coffey and Margaret "Polly" Robbins. The Coffey and the Robbins families had lived in the upper Yadkin River Valley since the late 18th century. Cornelius was born on the William Coffey farm in the Buffalo Creek area of the Valley in Caldwell Co., NC. He was the fifth of eleven children, including elder siblings Elbert, Elijah, Larkin, and Bartlett; and younger siblings Elizabeth, Thomas, Mary, Sarah, William, and Margaret. (All but Sarah lived to adulthood.) Though his four older brothers served in the Confederate Army (and Elbert and Larkin died in service), Cornelius's war experience is not known. (He is not listed among the soldiers from North Carolina who served in the Confederate forces.)
On Feb. 20, 1868 Cornelius married Ailsey Elizabeth ("Betty") Greenfield (1852-1919), the daughter of William J. and Rosa Kirby Greenfield, and settled on a farm close to his parents. He and Betty had seven children: William Larkin (b. 1870), Elbert Finley (b. 1872), Martha Louisa (b. 1874), John Oliver, (b.1876), Mary Etta (b. 1878), Annie Elizabeth (b. 1881), and George Thomas (b. 1883).
At some point Cornelius Coffey began to show signs of mental illness. According to descendants, his wife reportedly banished him to an outbuilding where he did leatherwork. In 1888 his illness became so severe that he was committed to the State Hospital in Morganton, Burke Co., NC. (The hospital had been founded five years earlier as the Western North Carolina Insane Asylum. It was later renamed Broughton Hospital.) Cornelius recovered briefly and returned to his family in 1890 only to be re-committed a year later, this time permanently. Unfortunately, at this late date it is not possible to determine the nature of Cornelius's problems. The hospital has systematically destroyed patient records from this period. Cornelius Coffey lived the last fifteen years of his life at the State Hospital, dying on June 2, 1906. The family did not come to claim him and he was buried as patient no. 201136 in the hospital cemetery. A small identification plate was added by the funeral home. Sadly, his name is misspelled.
- Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 22 2016, 12:55:27 UTC
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Cornelius Coffey's Timeline
| 1844 |
July 27, 1844
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Yadkin Valley, Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States
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| 1879 |
1879
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| 1881 |
1881
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| 1906 |
June 2, 1906
Age 61
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Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina, United States
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June 2, 1906
Age 61
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Broughton Hospital Cemetery (Plot r12 g2), Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina, United States
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