John William Coffey was the second of five children and the eldest son born to Elijah Coffey (1838-1891) and his wife Mary Ann Nelson Coffey (1843-1929). Both parents descended from prominent farming families in the upper Yadkin Valley of Caldwell Co. Elijah Coffey was a Confederate veteran who owned a small farm on the south side of the river near Patterson. He also worked as a cooper. The family prized education and young John was sent to boarding school at the private Globe Academy in Globe, NC. He later worked for the railroad (probably the Chester & Lenoir R.R.) before entering the building trades.
Coffey moved to Raleigh, NC in 1896, drawn by the construction boom in the state's capital city. In 1898 he joined Charles P. Snuggs in the short-lived firm Snuggs & Coffey, contractors, builders and superintendents. A year later Coffey formed a business partnership with George C. Bonniwell which was announced in the local newspaper:
BONNIWELL & COFFEY
General Builders, Contractors and Superintendents. Gentlemen Possessing Long and Ample Experience in this Line.
Each Member an Expert. Thousands of Buildings Throughout the Country Attest Their Ability. One of North Carolina's Leading Firms.
It takes such firms as Messrs. Bonniwell & Coffey to make a city; they put the city high up in the scale of industrial importance.
Messrs. G. C. Bonniwell & John W. Coffey have been contractors and builders for many years. The firm figures and furnishes estimates upon business houses, dwellings, etc. This partnership was formed in March, 1899.
...
Mr. John W. Coffey is a comparatively young man, who has made his mark in his profession. He is a native of this State.
For a period of three years he was foreman of the contracting department of the Morganton Manufacturing and Trading Company, and during that period he erected some of the finest and best residences of that thriving community and at Charlotte.
During the year 1896 he made his advent into Raleigh.
Among the many residences erected by him here I mention the James I. Johnson residence, the Ernest Martin residence, the residence of Mrs. A. B. Capehart, four houses for Mrs. Charles Heartt, two residences for John C. Drewry, one for Captain Alderman, the residence of Dr. M. M. Marshall, the Victor Engine House for the city, etc.
Messrs. Bonniwell and Coffey are not only well-equipped in point of experience, but likewise in every manner, shape and form for the conduct of their extended operations. They have ample means and many resources. Their work is by no manner of means confined to Raleigh, but will extend to any portion of the State, and as in the past so in the future their work will be their best advertisement. In concluding the sketch of these gentlemen I desire to say that in the matter of honor and probity they are known to thoroughly enter the very spirit of the meaning of the words. Their progressive ideas are exponents of their success, and in the construction of their work they are thoroughly conscientious.
[News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), August 24, 1899, 21.]
_______________________________
This partnership was also short-lived. By 1900 Coffey formed his own firm, and was in time joined by his son John Nelson Coffey, Sr. John W. Coffey & Son proved to be a successful and enduring firm, responsible for the construction of many commercial and residential buildings in Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina. In his business and private dealing, Coffey's word was his bond and a handshake was as good as a contract.
In January 1898 a friend introduced John to Frances Elizabeth "Fannie" Little, a lovely nineteen-year-old Raleigh girl. (The friend who introduced them was probably Charles P. Snuggs, John's business partner and Fannie's cousin.) John and Fannie were married on December 14, 1898. They remained together for sixty-one years. To this union were born four children: Natalie Little (b. 1899), John Nelson (b. 1902), Frances Elizabeth (b. 1904), and Mary Lou (b. 1908). The family initially lived in a house at 128 N. Dawson St., owned by Fannie's grandfather Robert Utzman. Around 1914 John moved his family to a new home he had designed and built at 711 McCullock Street in the new neighborhood of Boylan Heights. The house, an eclectic assemblage of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival elements, became the center of a growing family of children, grandchildren and eventually great-grandchildren. (It still stands, expanded and renovated, though no longer in the Coffey family.)
Though raised in the Adventist Church of Caldwell Co., John obligingly joined his wife's church, Edenton Street United Methodist Church. He remained a strict evangelical Protestant throughout his long life, observant of the Sabbath and alien to the pleasures of smoking, drinking, or cards.
Like his father Elijah, John Coffey was devoted to Freemasonry and twice served as Master of Hiram Lodge, A.F. & A.M., Raleigh (1904 & 1909).
At heart, John Coffey was a skilled craftsman and a maker of things. During his long years of retirement he spent many hours in the garage and workshop adjacent to his house where he built indoor and outdoor furniture for his children and grandchildren, as well as canopied sandboxes, sliding boards, see-saws, bench swings, and play tables and chairs for his great-grandchildren. For his grandson John he constructed a wooden sailboat and the wings and fuselage for an airplane.
[Biographical sketch by John W. Coffey II, great-grandson of John William Coffey.]
Coffey moved to Raleigh, NC in 1896, drawn by the construction boom in the state's capital city. In 1898 he joined Charles P. Snuggs in the short-lived firm Snuggs & Coffey, contractors, builders and superintendents. A year later Coffey formed a business partnership with George C. Bonniwell which was announced in the local newspaper:
BONNIWELL & COFFEY
General Builders, Contractors and Superintendents. Gentlemen Possessing Long and Ample Experience in this Line.
Each Member an Expert. Thousands of Buildings Throughout the Country Attest Their Ability. One of North Carolina's Leading Firms.
It takes such firms as Messrs. Bonniwell & Coffey to make a city; they put the city high up in the scale of industrial importance.
Messrs. G. C. Bonniwell & John W. Coffey have been contractors and builders for many years. The firm figures and furnishes estimates upon business houses, dwellings, etc. This partnership was formed in March, 1899.
...
Mr. John W. Coffey is a comparatively young man, who has made his mark in his profession. He is a native of this State.
For a period of three years he was foreman of the contracting department of the Morganton Manufacturing and Trading Company, and during that period he erected some of the finest and best residences of that thriving community and at Charlotte.
During the year 1896 he made his advent into Raleigh.
Among the many residences erected by him here I mention the James I. Johnson residence, the Ernest Martin residence, the residence of Mrs. A. B. Capehart, four houses for Mrs. Charles Heartt, two residences for John C. Drewry, one for Captain Alderman, the residence of Dr. M. M. Marshall, the Victor Engine House for the city, etc.
Messrs. Bonniwell and Coffey are not only well-equipped in point of experience, but likewise in every manner, shape and form for the conduct of their extended operations. They have ample means and many resources. Their work is by no manner of means confined to Raleigh, but will extend to any portion of the State, and as in the past so in the future their work will be their best advertisement. In concluding the sketch of these gentlemen I desire to say that in the matter of honor and probity they are known to thoroughly enter the very spirit of the meaning of the words. Their progressive ideas are exponents of their success, and in the construction of their work they are thoroughly conscientious.
[News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), August 24, 1899, 21.]
_______________________________
This partnership was also short-lived. By 1900 Coffey formed his own firm, and was in time joined by his son John Nelson Coffey, Sr. John W. Coffey & Son proved to be a successful and enduring firm, responsible for the construction of many commercial and residential buildings in Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina. In his business and private dealing, Coffey's word was his bond and a handshake was as good as a contract.
In January 1898 a friend introduced John to Frances Elizabeth "Fannie" Little, a lovely nineteen-year-old Raleigh girl. (The friend who introduced them was probably Charles P. Snuggs, John's business partner and Fannie's cousin.) John and Fannie were married on December 14, 1898. They remained together for sixty-one years. To this union were born four children: Natalie Little (b. 1899), John Nelson (b. 1902), Frances Elizabeth (b. 1904), and Mary Lou (b. 1908). The family initially lived in a house at 128 N. Dawson St., owned by Fannie's grandfather Robert Utzman. Around 1914 John moved his family to a new home he had designed and built at 711 McCullock Street in the new neighborhood of Boylan Heights. The house, an eclectic assemblage of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival elements, became the center of a growing family of children, grandchildren and eventually great-grandchildren. (It still stands, expanded and renovated, though no longer in the Coffey family.)
Though raised in the Adventist Church of Caldwell Co., John obligingly joined his wife's church, Edenton Street United Methodist Church. He remained a strict evangelical Protestant throughout his long life, observant of the Sabbath and alien to the pleasures of smoking, drinking, or cards.
Like his father Elijah, John Coffey was devoted to Freemasonry and twice served as Master of Hiram Lodge, A.F. & A.M., Raleigh (1904 & 1909).
At heart, John Coffey was a skilled craftsman and a maker of things. During his long years of retirement he spent many hours in the garage and workshop adjacent to his house where he built indoor and outdoor furniture for his children and grandchildren, as well as canopied sandboxes, sliding boards, see-saws, bench swings, and play tables and chairs for his great-grandchildren. For his grandson John he constructed a wooden sailboat and the wings and fuselage for an airplane.
[Biographical sketch by John W. Coffey II, great-grandson of John William Coffey.]
John William Coffey was the second of five children and the eldest son born to Elijah Coffey (1838-1891) and his wife Mary Ann Nelson Coffey (1843-1929). Both parents descended from prominent farming families in the upper Yadkin Valley of Caldwell Co. Elijah Coffey was a Confederate veteran who owned a small farm on the south side of the river near Patterson. He also worked as a cooper. The family prized education and young John was sent to boarding school at the private Globe Academy in Globe, NC. He later worked for the railroad (probably the Chester & Lenoir R.R.) before entering the building trades.
Coffey moved to Raleigh, NC in 1896, drawn by the construction boom in the state's capital city. In 1898 he joined Charles P. Snuggs in the short-lived firm Snuggs & Coffey, contractors, builders and superintendents. A year later Coffey formed a business partnership with George C. Bonniwell which was announced in the local newspaper:
BONNIWELL & COFFEY
General Builders, Contractors and Superintendents. Gentlemen Possessing Long and Ample Experience in this Line.
Each Member an Expert. Thousands of Buildings Throughout the Country Attest Their Ability. One of North Carolina's Leading Firms.
It takes such firms as Messrs. Bonniwell & Coffey to make a city; they put the city high up in the scale of industrial importance.
Messrs. G. C. Bonniwell & John W. Coffey have been contractors and builders for many years. The firm figures and furnishes estimates upon business houses, dwellings, etc. This partnership was formed in March, 1899.
...
Mr. John W. Coffey is a comparatively young man, who has made his mark in his profession. He is a native of this State.
For a period of three years he was foreman of the contracting department of the Morganton Manufacturing and Trading Company, and during that period he erected some of the finest and best residences of that thriving community and at Charlotte.
During the year 1896 he made his advent into Raleigh.
Among the many residences erected by him here I mention the James I. Johnson residence, the Ernest Martin residence, the residence of Mrs. A. B. Capehart, four houses for Mrs. Charles Heartt, two residences for John C. Drewry, one for Captain Alderman, the residence of Dr. M. M. Marshall, the Victor Engine House for the city, etc.
Messrs. Bonniwell and Coffey are not only well-equipped in point of experience, but likewise in every manner, shape and form for the conduct of their extended operations. They have ample means and many resources. Their work is by no manner of means confined to Raleigh, but will extend to any portion of the State, and as in the past so in the future their work will be their best advertisement. In concluding the sketch of these gentlemen I desire to say that in the matter of honor and probity they are known to thoroughly enter the very spirit of the meaning of the words. Their progressive ideas are exponents of their success, and in the construction of their work they are thoroughly conscientious.
[News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), August 24, 1899, 21.]
_______________________________
This partnership was also short-lived. By 1900 Coffey formed his own firm, and was in time joined by his son John Nelson Coffey, Sr. John W. Coffey & Son proved to be a successful and enduring firm, responsible for the construction of many commercial and residential buildings in Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina. In his business and private dealing, Coffey's word was his bond and a handshake was as good as a contract.
In January 1898 a friend introduced John to Frances Elizabeth "Fannie" Little, a lovely nineteen-year-old Raleigh girl. (The friend who introduced them was probably Charles P. Snuggs, John's business partner and Fannie's cousin.) John and Fannie were married on December 14, 1898. They remained together for sixty-one years. To this union were born four children: Natalie Little (b. 1899), John Nelson (b. 1902), Frances Elizabeth (b. 1904), and Mary Lou (b. 1908). The family initially lived in a house at 128 N. Dawson St., owned by Fannie's grandfather Robert Utzman. Around 1914 John moved his family to a new home he had designed and built at 711 McCullock Street in the new neighborhood of Boylan Heights. The house, an eclectic assemblage of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival elements, became the center of a growing family of children, grandchildren and eventually great-grandchildren. (It still stands, expanded and renovated, though no longer in the Coffey family.)
Though raised in the Adventist Church of Caldwell Co., John obligingly joined his wife's church, Edenton Street United Methodist Church. He remained a strict evangelical Protestant throughout his long life, observant of the Sabbath and alien to the pleasures of smoking, drinking, or cards.
Like his father Elijah, John Coffey was devoted to Freemasonry and twice served as Master of Hiram Lodge, A.F. & A.M., Raleigh (1904 & 1909).
At heart, John Coffey was a skilled craftsman and a maker of things. During his long years of retirement he spent many hours in the garage and workshop adjacent to his house where he built indoor and outdoor furniture for his children and grandchildren, as well as canopied sandboxes, sliding boards, see-saws, bench swings, and play tables and chairs for his great-grandchildren. For his grandson John he constructed a wooden sailboat and the wings and fuselage for an airplane.
[Biographical sketch by John W. Coffey II, great-grandson of John William Coffey.]
Coffey moved to Raleigh, NC in 1896, drawn by the construction boom in the state's capital city. In 1898 he joined Charles P. Snuggs in the short-lived firm Snuggs & Coffey, contractors, builders and superintendents. A year later Coffey formed a business partnership with George C. Bonniwell which was announced in the local newspaper:
BONNIWELL & COFFEY
General Builders, Contractors and Superintendents. Gentlemen Possessing Long and Ample Experience in this Line.
Each Member an Expert. Thousands of Buildings Throughout the Country Attest Their Ability. One of North Carolina's Leading Firms.
It takes such firms as Messrs. Bonniwell & Coffey to make a city; they put the city high up in the scale of industrial importance.
Messrs. G. C. Bonniwell & John W. Coffey have been contractors and builders for many years. The firm figures and furnishes estimates upon business houses, dwellings, etc. This partnership was formed in March, 1899.
...
Mr. John W. Coffey is a comparatively young man, who has made his mark in his profession. He is a native of this State.
For a period of three years he was foreman of the contracting department of the Morganton Manufacturing and Trading Company, and during that period he erected some of the finest and best residences of that thriving community and at Charlotte.
During the year 1896 he made his advent into Raleigh.
Among the many residences erected by him here I mention the James I. Johnson residence, the Ernest Martin residence, the residence of Mrs. A. B. Capehart, four houses for Mrs. Charles Heartt, two residences for John C. Drewry, one for Captain Alderman, the residence of Dr. M. M. Marshall, the Victor Engine House for the city, etc.
Messrs. Bonniwell and Coffey are not only well-equipped in point of experience, but likewise in every manner, shape and form for the conduct of their extended operations. They have ample means and many resources. Their work is by no manner of means confined to Raleigh, but will extend to any portion of the State, and as in the past so in the future their work will be their best advertisement. In concluding the sketch of these gentlemen I desire to say that in the matter of honor and probity they are known to thoroughly enter the very spirit of the meaning of the words. Their progressive ideas are exponents of their success, and in the construction of their work they are thoroughly conscientious.
[News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), August 24, 1899, 21.]
_______________________________
This partnership was also short-lived. By 1900 Coffey formed his own firm, and was in time joined by his son John Nelson Coffey, Sr. John W. Coffey & Son proved to be a successful and enduring firm, responsible for the construction of many commercial and residential buildings in Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina. In his business and private dealing, Coffey's word was his bond and a handshake was as good as a contract.
In January 1898 a friend introduced John to Frances Elizabeth "Fannie" Little, a lovely nineteen-year-old Raleigh girl. (The friend who introduced them was probably Charles P. Snuggs, John's business partner and Fannie's cousin.) John and Fannie were married on December 14, 1898. They remained together for sixty-one years. To this union were born four children: Natalie Little (b. 1899), John Nelson (b. 1902), Frances Elizabeth (b. 1904), and Mary Lou (b. 1908). The family initially lived in a house at 128 N. Dawson St., owned by Fannie's grandfather Robert Utzman. Around 1914 John moved his family to a new home he had designed and built at 711 McCullock Street in the new neighborhood of Boylan Heights. The house, an eclectic assemblage of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival elements, became the center of a growing family of children, grandchildren and eventually great-grandchildren. (It still stands, expanded and renovated, though no longer in the Coffey family.)
Though raised in the Adventist Church of Caldwell Co., John obligingly joined his wife's church, Edenton Street United Methodist Church. He remained a strict evangelical Protestant throughout his long life, observant of the Sabbath and alien to the pleasures of smoking, drinking, or cards.
Like his father Elijah, John Coffey was devoted to Freemasonry and twice served as Master of Hiram Lodge, A.F. & A.M., Raleigh (1904 & 1909).
At heart, John Coffey was a skilled craftsman and a maker of things. During his long years of retirement he spent many hours in the garage and workshop adjacent to his house where he built indoor and outdoor furniture for his children and grandchildren, as well as canopied sandboxes, sliding boards, see-saws, bench swings, and play tables and chairs for his great-grandchildren. For his grandson John he constructed a wooden sailboat and the wings and fuselage for an airplane.
[Biographical sketch by John W. Coffey II, great-grandson of John William Coffey.]
Family Members
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