Revolutionary War Years Part 2 • Joel Coffey

Chesley "Joel" Coffey was Salathiel's father (from Part 1).

Joel Coffey

born c1732 in Essex County, Virginia

married 1750 Jane Cleveland in North Carolina

died April 1789 in Wilkes County, North Carolina

Joel Sr. is our 6th Great Grandfather through the Revis line.

The Coffey's plantation house may have looked like this.

No photos or buildings exist that I could find. I searched online to find an image showing a typical plantation home of that area. I did find this plantation home from near Mt. Airy (70 miles from our Coffey family). It had about 18 slaves during most times and a very interesting side story that I did not expect to find.

Land

Joel's land was 10 miles southwest of what is now Wilkesboro, North Carolina. It is located near the area where the 1780 counties of Wilkes, Rowan, and Burke connect. More about that land is in Part 1 of this Revolutionary War series.

North Carolina Counties

Locations for the family vary, depending on when the document was created. The counties and county borders in North Carolina around this time were changing often. Burke, Wilkes, Surrey, and Rowan all occupied the area once known as Rowan County. I've seen both Wilkes and Rowan listed for Chesley Joel Coffey and family.

Slaves

I have been researching the family for many years and this is the first time I've seen documentation of slaves. Our Edwards family line were Quakers around this same time and they became active in the Underground Railroad. You can read more about that in a previous post called Underground Railroad. Seems that we have both abolitionists and slave owners in our family history.

1784 Census

1 white male between the ages of 21 and 60

Joel (aged 52)

4 white males under 21 were probably

Nebuzaraden

Jesse

Nathaniel

William Martin

4 white females

Wife Jane

Daughter Unknown?

Daughter Unknown?

Daughter Mary

4 working age slaves

10 slave children and/or elderly

Revolutionary War

Either Chesley Joel or his son Joel (our Great-Uncle) was a soldier in the American Revolutionary War. Perhaps both were, but I have only found this one document. At the time of service Chesley Joel was 50 and his son Joel was 26.

Joel died in April of 1789, five years after his son Salathiel was killed in the Wilkes County Riot. Another son was arrested during the riot and taken to another county to be tried on a felony charge. I don't know what happened to him (Nathan).

My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.

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