Tag: Baptist

Minnie Baylor Cofer’s roots trace back to her parents, Robert Emmett Cofer and Martha Ann Davis—my third great-grandparents. While much of their story comes from scattered records and family notes, they were both born in Virginia and married at 23 in Norfolk.

Martha Ann Davis: A Life of Privilege and Transition

Martha was the third of eleven children, coming of age during the tumultuous Civil War era. By 1863, President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and battles like Chancellorsville raged nearby. Martha’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Cofer Reed, recalled stories of her grandmother’s privileged upbringing: a private finishing school education, her own carriage with two horses, and never dressing herself until adulthood. Despite this sheltered life, Martha later worked as a professional nurse, as listed in the 1900 census at age 59—quite an accomplishment for a woman of her time.

Martha lived until 78, passing away from heart disease, and was laid to rest beside her husband in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Norfolk City, Virginia.

Robert Emmett Cofer: A Skilled Tradesman

Robert was one of ten children, later gaining four half-siblings after his father remarried. Growing up in Surry County, Virginia, Robert learned the craft of carriage making as a teenager, later becoming a wheelwright—a trade that was invaluable to the Confederate Army.¹ After 43 years of marriage, Robert succumbed to dysentery at 67.

The Cofer Family’s Antebellum Roots

Robert’s father, Isaac Cofer, owned a plantation in Surry County with a fluctuating number of enslaved individuals, peaking at fifteen by 1860. Following the Civil War, Isaac filed a claim for the loss of his enslaved worker, John, highlighting the entanglement of family history with America’s dark past.

Isaac’s wealth diminished significantly by 1870, and he passed away a few years later. His second marriage to Sarah Jones (possibly related to his first wife, Mary C. Jones) adds another layer to the family tree puzzle.

Isaac’s father, Reverend Joseph Cofer, was a Baptist minister and a patriarch of thirteen children. His first wife, Jerusha Lancaster, died young, leaving behind ten children, while his second wife, Martha Wrenn, added three more. Joseph’s plantation was substantial, with 25 enslaved individuals and connections to significant events like the crafting of samplers commemorating family deaths.

Innovations and Legacy

Isaac’s half-brother, Thomas Wrenn Cofer, stands out for his inventive spirit. During the Civil War, Thomas patented the Cofer revolver, a weapon used by the Confederate Army. ²Today, these rare firearms fetch thousands of dollars and are a testament to the family’s historical imprint.

Tracing Back to England

The Cofer line extends to John Coker, who arrived in America in 1635 aboard the Plain Joan.³ He earned his land through the headright system and eventually settled in Surry County, Virginia.⁴ Records tie the family to influential figures, including Richard Bennett Jr., and suggest English origins in Dorsetshire.

The video below shows an old grist mill owned by the Wrenn family, which stood on Route 677, north of Smithfield.  The video is made from scans of a roll of medium format film taken in the late 1960s with a Yashica Model “D” camera. The mill was demolished in 1989 after a pickup went off the road and crashed into it.⁵

The below article was something I found in my research while writing this blog.  A person from my Isle of Wight Facebook page owns the book and supplied the missing page 90 in order for me to complete my notes. 

The book title is In the Neatest Manner: The Making of the Virginia Sampler Tradition
By Kimberly Smith Ivey

Southampton, Surry, and Isle of Wight Counties
Unity A. Delk and Elizabeth M. Cofer worked almost identical samplers to honor the deaths of their respective parents, Wiley Jones Delk and Jerusha Lancaster Cofer (figs. 123 and 124). An earlier sampler, which was worked by Unity’s older sister, Martha, is not shown here, commemorating their father’s death. In 1824, four years after the death of Wiley Delk, his widow, Martha Wren Delk, of Southampton County, married Joseph Cofer, a Baptist minister from the Isle of Wight and Surry Counties. One year earlier, Joseph’s first wife,

I discovered this information on the Colonial Williamsburg website about a sampler created by Elizabeth M. Cofer, which includes the exact date of Jerusha’s death.⁶ It would be wonderful to have this, and I am thrilled to have found it! The sampler was passed down in the family to Mary Wrenn Cofer Ballard and was donated to Colonial Williamsburg by her husband, Mr. L. W. Ballard.

A Living History

The Cofer legacy is a tapestry of privilege, hardship, and resilience. From Martha’s cherished stories to the craftsmanship of Robert and Thomas, every thread connects to the broader narrative of Virginia’s history. Artifacts like Elizabeth M. Cofer’s 1834 sampler—now at Colonial Williamsburg—offer tangible links to these ancestors, reminding us of the enduring impact of their lives.

1. “Historic Trade: Cooper & Wheelwright” http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/locations/wheelwright/. ↩︎
2. Black, Daryl. “10 Facts: Confederate Manufacturing” American Battlefield Trust, http://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-confederate-manufacturing. Accessed 2024. ↩︎
3. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8) ↩︎
4. “Southside Virginia Families” Google Books, http://www.google.com/books/edition/Southside_Virginia_Families/a7tx6lhj-CkC?q=Nancy+Abraham+Jones,+Isle+of+Wight+Virginia&gbpv=1&bsq=headright. A ↩︎
5. YouTube, youtu.be/fUixvmtnfXs?si=h-7cFxlt93oSqfDj. ↩︎
6. “Sampler by Elizabeth M. Cofer” emuseum.history.org/objects/49200/sampler-by-elizabeth-m-cofer;jsessionid=AA0F539A77F4C2FD5579DE424B4775AA. ↩︎

While the majority of the writing is my own, I used ChatGPT to help with some minor formatting and edits.

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