Memories of the Coes 13: Father Albert Coe

Father had at least two uncles living near us, Harry and Horace Coe. I didn't know them. There were also cousins near us, but the only ones father seemed to associate with was cousin Horace Coe. He married a Ward, an aunt of Sarah, Ezra's wife. They had two daughters, Jennie, Mrs Chilson of Pavilion, and Eva, who married Frank Bryant , Ward C. Bryant's parents. Ward married Ezra's daughter Clara Coe. Also a son Henry, I think. 

My father seemed to us a fine-looking man. He had a rosy complexion, inherited by me, and some of the grandchildren, and now great grandchildren. He had a perfectly formed nose, I never saw a  handsomer. One may laugh at that, but if you stop to think, a nose makes a difference to a face! One of our minister's wives, Mrs Robt. Browlee, was quoted as saying he was the best looking man who came to our church, the Le Roy Methodist. Brother E.F. tells some stories about father on which he got from uncle Hiram and others. He says father was very athletic, not large or fleshy, but wiry and strong. When about 44 he could "chin" himself eleven times. When father was a boy attending district school, there was a colored boy who pick on and bullied the small boys. They would say to him, "You wait till Bert Coe comes!" After the fall work was done "Bert" Coe could go. Observing the ways of the bully, the new comer said to him, "Why don't take some one of your own size?" The bully said "Perhaps you think you are!" Father said he would try, and licked the fellow to the delight of the youngsters who had suffered at his hands. (Mr Albert McVean who has made an intensive study of the history of the neighborhood, has a record of a negro family there.)

One time in later years, - after his marriage a horse father was driving became unruly, kicked and threw him and mother out, and fell on mother. Father jumped on the horse's head, and kept it down while he got mother out from her dangerous position, bruised but not seriously injured. E.Frank says father could probably cradle as much grain as any man. (A cradle was a long blade with a handle, a scythe, with a frame above the blade to hold the grain when it was cut, until laid together on the ground.) E.F tells of one time he set up ten acres of heavy wheat before ten o'clock. Once at a husking bee back of the barn, in wrestling matches Robert Clement and R.C. Walkley, Frank's father, eliminated the others, and father said "Have it out boys, and I'll throw the winner," which he did. E.F. says father was good at almost anything. He had worked at carpentering. He could shoe a horse, tho he hadn't tools to do blacksmithing. Father was a big fellow of twenty going to district school, (he never went to any other, much to his regret,) when a girl of fourteen, a stranger, started to come to school one day. A cousin of father's, whom E.F. and I visited on a trip west in 1880-1, said that father said when he saw her "That's my wife!" When we told this to father he indignately retorted, "I didn't say any such thing. I said 'That's the girl for me' " She said when they began to tease her about Bert Coe, she would ask, "Which one is Bert Coe?" She always called him Albert.

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Patty's notes on this entry 

Father - Albert Coe (1827-1907, son of Ezra Coe and Elizabeth Ann Sornberger)

Albert Coe (1827-1907)

Photo courtesy of Marion Sperry Howe

Marion's blog with Coe photos is at https://mlsperry.blogspot.com/2020/07/coe-family-this-post-presents-pictures.html

Uncle Harry Coe - Harry Henry Coe (1802-1885) son of Jesse Coe (1769-1843) and Olive Roberts (1770-1854), brother of Ezra Coe, Albert's father. He married Jane Sparks (1805-1847, daughter of David Sparks and Mercy Thayer), before 1824, probably in Massachusetts. Harry Coe  settled in Le Roy, Genesee County, New York by 1830. Harry and Jane had four children Horace (1824-1906), Kelsey (1828-1900), Charles Austin (1832-1908) and Sophia (1835-1902). After Jane's death, Harry married Abigail (1813-1885), widow of Andrew Sparks (1811-1844). 

Uncle Horace Coe - Horace Coe (1808-1879) son of Jesse Coe and Olive Roberts. He married Almeda Thope (1799-1872, daughter of Titus Thorpe and Phebe Marvin) in 1829. Horace settled first in Pavilion by 1830 and later in Lima, Livingston County, New York. Horace and Almeda had seven children Mary Eliza (1834-1903), Elizabeth Phebe (1834- bet 1905-1910), Marvin Thorpe (1836-1900), Ezra Wallace (1838-1917), William Henry (1841-1904), Sarah Jane (1843-1905), and Caroline Almeda (1846-1928). 

Horace Coe (1808-1879)

Photo courtesy of Marion Sperry Howe

Marion's blog with Coe photos is at https://mlsperry.blogspot.com/2020/07/coe-family-this-post-presents-pictures.html

Cousin Horace Coe - Horace S. Coe (1824-1906, son of Harry Henry Coe and Jane Sparks) married Mary Ann Ward (1829-1892). They had four children Nancy Jennie (1851-1902), Mary A (1854-1854), Henry Ward (1857-1940) and Eva S (1860-1949). They lived in Pavilion, Genesee County. 

Ward - wife of Horace Coe - Mary Ann Ward (1829-1892), daughter of Levi Ward (1785-1852) and Nancy Whitney (1785-1860). Levi was the son of Reuben Ward and Sarah Kendall. 

Sarah, Ezra's wife - Sarah Frances Ward (1856-1941), daughter of Charles Kendall Ward (1819-1898) and Laura Caroline Davenport (1822-1876). Charles was the son of Daniel Ward (1781-1859) and Lois Whitney (1779-1853). Daniel was the son of Reuben Ward and Sarah Kendall. So Mary Ann Ward was Sarah Francis Ward's first cousin once removed rather than her aunt as Elizabeth Coe Call stated. 

Ezra - Ezra Frank Coe (1853-1942, son of Albert Coe and Deborah Prentice. He married Sarah Frances Ward in 1883.

Jennie Coe - Mrs Chilson - Nancy Jennie Coe (1851-1902, daughter of Horace S. Coe and Mary Ann Ward) married Fred Chilson (1853-1926, son of Nicholas Chilson and Marabelle) in 1875. They had two children Eva (1876-1951) and Howard (1878-1890). 

Eva - married Frank Bryant - Eva S. Coe (1860-1949, daughter of Horace S. Coe and Mary Ann Ward) married Frank E. Bryant (1860-1949, son of Asa Bryant and Maria Howes) in 1858. They had six children Ward Coe (1881-1975), Ernest Frank (1884-1962), Ruth J (1887-1973), Harold Howe (1890-1940), Ethel M (1893-1970) and Lawrence (1896-1900)

Ward C Bryant - Ward Coe Bryant (1881-1975, son of Frank E. Bryant and Eva S. Coe) married Clara Evelyn Coe (1886-1972, daughter of Ezra Frank Coe and Sarah Frances Ward) in 1906. They had four children Frank Ruddy (1907-1934), Charles Warren (1909-1960), Frederick Ward (1913-1991) and Janet Elizabeth (1921-2006). 

Clara Coe - Clara Evelyn Coe (1886-1972, daughter of Ezra Frank Coe and Sarah Frances Ward) married Ward Coe Bryant in 1906. 

Henry - Henry Ward Coe (1857-1940, son of Horace S. Coe and Mary Ann Ward) married Nellie Ellen Noble (1856-1933, daughter of William Noble and Anne Elizabeth) in 1880. They had two children Frederick Noble (1881-1948) and Blanche Ann (1884-1976). 

Mrs Robert Browlee - Mary Jeanette Campbell (1840-1923, daughter of Junius Campbell and Martha McNulty) married Robert Carson Brownlee (1838-1913) in 1864. Robert C Brownlee was a Methodist minister. He served as the minister at the Le Roy Methodist Church from 1876-1878. 

Le Roy Methodist Church - The Le Roy Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1823. The original church was destroyed in a fire in 1884. In 1886, the new church was dedicated.  

Uncle Hiram - Hiram Coe (1833-1919, son of Ezra Coe and Elizabeth Sornberger) married Sarah Fisher (1838-1927, daughter of  Marshall Fisher and Hannah Head) in 1860. They had eight children Hattie H (1860-1943), George Ellsworth (1863-1905), Minnie Josephine (1865-1929), Clinton Hiram (1870-1917), Willie (1871-1871), William Marshall (1874-before 1880), Nora Florence (1876-1940) and a daughter (1879-1879). 

Sarah Fisher (1838-1927) and Hiram Coe (1833-1919)

Photo courtesy of Marion Sperry Howe

Marion's blog with Coe photos is at https://mlsperry.blogspot.com/2020/07/coe-family-this-post-presents-pictures.html

African american family in Pavilion. According to the 1840 census, there were at least 5 free people of color living in Le Roy, including two males about the right age to have been in school with Albert Coe. The two males (ages 10-24) are the only person of color living in the household where they were enumerated, so I don't know what their last names are. By 1850, there were 17 people identified in the Le Roy census as black. 

Albert McVean - Probably Albert Francis McVean (1898-1976, son of William James McVean and Nellie Helen Farley). He was born in Le Roy and lived in Pavilion until at least 1940. 

cradle - Grain cradles were a modification of scythe designed to keep the grain stems aligned. There were multiple patents issued in the United States for grain cradles between 1823 and 1930. Here is a drawing of an 1857 grain cradle from one of them (image from Wikipedia)

Robert Clement - Assuming Robert Clement was of a similar age to Rosman Walkley, then this is probably Robert Clemens (1843-1910, son of Robert Clemens and Martha Twelves). He married Rosalie Cora Nellegar (1841-1903) in 1865. They had two children Cora Rosalia (1866-1903) and Martha Maria (1870-1968). 

Robert Clemons (1843-1910) and Rosalie Nellegar (1841-1903)

Photo courtesy of Marion Sperry Howe

Marion's blog with Hoffman family photos is at https://mlsperry.blogspot.com/search/label/Hoffman

R.C. Walkley - Frank's father - Rosman L Walkley (1838-1930, son of Richard Walkley and Juliette Mills) married Maryetta Peck (1843-1922). They had one son, Frank Lincoln Walkley (1867-1961). 

Frank Walkley - Frank Lincoln Walkley (1867-1961, son of Rosman L. Walkley and Maryetta Peck) married Carrie Evelyn Coe (1864-1948, daughter of Albert Coe and Deborah Prentice) in 1894. They had five children Fred Rosaman (1895-1981), Albert Coe (1896-1983), Clarence Willard (1898-1983), Floyd Frank (1900-1981) and James Henry (1903-1985). 

Article from the Le Roy Gazette, June 27, 1894, p 1 about the Walkley-Coe wedding. 

The girl of 14 who was a stranger at school was Deborah Prentice (1833-1910, daughter of Southwick Prentice and Elizabeth (Betsy) Ann Smith). Albert was 20 in 1847 - when Deborah was 14. Her mother Betsy Ann Smith died in May 1846, leaving seven children, Deborah, Elizabeth Ann (1835-1916), Martin (1837-1925), Caroline (1840-1913), Horace (1842-1901) and infant twin daughter Sarah and Mary who both died on September 21, 1846, not quite four months after their mother died. Following Betsy Ann Smith Prentice's death, her children were separated and went to  live with various relatives. In 1850, Deborah was living in Le Roy in the household of Caroline Mills (born Carolyn Chapin, widow of Lyman Mills, son of Seth Mills and Elizabeth Bennett, brother of Juliette  (wife of Richard Walkley mother of Rosman Walkley) and Phebe Jane (wife of Martin Seekins, mother of Emma Seekins who married Philo Sperry son of Cyrus Sperry and Olive Coe) ). Her sister Elizabeth Ann was living with Cyrus Sperry and his wife Olive Coe. Albert Coe and Deborah Prentice married on December 31, 1850. 

Deborah Prentice (1833-1910)

Photo courtesy of Marion Sperry Howe

Marion's blog with Coe photos is at https://mlsperry.blogspot.com/2020/07/coe-family-this-post-presents-pictures.html

Cousin of father's out west - 1880-81 - Albert Coe had a number of cousins living "out west" by the 1880s so without more information, I'm not able to identify who told this story to Elizabeth and Ezra Frank. My guess is the cousin was on the Coe side, from what I can tell, Albert and his family were closer to his father's family than his mother's family the Sornbergers. 

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