The Proeger Family · Generation 6 — earliest known

David C. Coffman

Father of Dee Coffman · 1812–1883

David C. Coffman

Confirmed

Father of Dee Coffman · 1812–1883

Born
13 December 1812
Died
25 January 1883
Married
Emily M. Thornhill
Children
David Emily "Dee" Coffman, Annie Bettie McKim
Sources
11

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1812
Born 13 December 1812; died 25 January 1883
his gravestone, Page County, Virginia S83
Death1883
The 1883 Page County death register gives his death on 25 January 1883 at Fruitland, of paralysis, and his parents as Saml. & Mary Coffman S364; FamilySearch indexes the entry as 1:1:6ZLN-PCY5. ⚠️ Mary against Susannah is open.
Record1883
🆕 His will, proved in the Page County court on 28 February 1883, a month after his death, names all five children: Susan M. France, Annie B. McKim, Jane C. Chapman, William S. Coffman and David E. Coffman. He left a third of his personal property to his wife Mildred F. Coffman, and made his son-in-law A. W. McKim executor S489. added 25 September 2026.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Children1857
Father of David Emily “Dee” Coffman on Dee's 1857 Page County birth register (as David C. Kaufman) S82 and his 1938 Texas death certificate S20
Marriage1843
Married Emily M. Thornhill on 30 May 1843, Rappahannock County, Virginia S334
Marriage1871
🆕 A second marriage, to M. F. (Mildred F.) Flinn, 40, daughter of Samuel and Judith Flinn, on 17 October 1871 in Page County; he was 58 and widowed, and the register names his parents Saml & Susannah S362. In 1880 the two were farming in Luray Township S363; added 24 September 2026.
Children1848
🆕 His daughter Annie Bettie McKim was born on 12 July 1848 in Page County and died at Luray on 2 December 1937, the widow of Allie W. McKim. Her death certificate names her father as David C. Coffman S617. It calls her mother “Mary” Thornhill; that came from a second-hand informant, and her mother's name stays Emily M. added 26 September 2026.
Children1844
🆕 His eldest daughter, Susan, the first child named in his will, was Sue M. France, widow of Robert Lee France. She was born in Page County on 3 May 1844 and died at Luray on 3 January 1923. Her death certificate names him and Emily Thornhill as her parents Confirmed S959. added 29 September 2026

Open questions what is probable, weak or missing — confirm or correct it

Probable
🆕 Probably his farm in 1870: the agricultural schedule of Luray Township, Page County, read from the image, lists David C. Coffman with 150 acres improved and 150 woodland, worth $8,000, 2 horses, 2 cows, 7 other cattle, 11 sheep and 15 swine; he raised 375 bushels of wheat, 250 of corn and 400 of oats Probable confirm or correct → S1012. Evidence: the name with its middle initial, in Page County, where he lived and is buried S83. Weak: the schedule gives no age or family. Know more? Use “Add to this record”. added 29 September 2026

In the record Generation 6 — earliest known

David C. Coffman · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

11 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S20FindAGrave memorial 53748559, David Emily "Dee" Coffman (1857–1938) — findagrave.com/memorial/53748559.
  2. S82David Emily "Dee" Coffman — Page County, Virginia birth register, 8 August 1857. Virginia, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Birth Records 1853–1896, FamilySearch ARK 1:1:6K1Q-DYSJ, with the same original entry indexed twice more — Virginia, Births and Christenings 1584–1917, ARK 1:1:XT4Y-1S9, and Virginia, Vital Records 1715–1912, ARK 1:1:XSVY-N9PV. Retrieved 15 September 2026. The child is entered as David E. Kaufman; the parents as David C. and Emily M. The register indexes this family as KAUFMAN while every census writes COFFMAN — that spelling split is the whole reason the wall stood, because a search on Coffman against Page County returns nothing but Shenandoah drift. ⚠️ The three indexings disagree on the year: 1857 in the Bureau register, 1858 in the christenings collection. The page follows 1857, which the stated age of 80 on his 1938 death record and the family typescript both support. The register gives the parents by given name and middle initial only; "Thornhill" is not in this record and comes from the censuses and her gravestone.
  3. S83David C. Coffman and Emily M. Thornhill Coffman — gravestones, Page County, Virginia. Two chalked headstones photographed 12 August 2015 and held in the Coffman family tree shared with Earl by his uncle David; read here from the full-resolution images, 16 September 2026. OUR FATHER / DAVID C. COFFMAN / BORN Dec. 13, 1812 / DIED Jan. 25, 1883 / Aged 70 yrs. 1 mo. 12 ds. and OUR MOTHER / EMILY M. COFFMAN / wife of DAVID C. COFFMAN / BORN April 7, 1820 / DIED July 21, 1868 / Aged 48 yrs. 3 mos. Both stones close to the day on their own arithmetic, so the dates are corroborated by the monuments themselves and not only by a tree. Emily's carries the phrase "wife of David C. Coffman" — a contemporary physical object tying the couple together, independent of any index. Her death in July 1868 is also why Dee, born 1857, carries his mother's given name as his own middle name: she died when he was ten.
  4. S334Virginia marriage record — David C. Coffman and Emily M. Thornhill, 30 May 1843, Rappahannock County. Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages (Ancestry collection 60214, records 3071678 and 3071679).
  5. S362Page County, Virginia, Register of Marriages for 1871, p. 217. Ancestry record 710325. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Line 53, 17 October 1871: D. C. Coffman, 58, widowed, farmer, son of Saml & Susannah, married M. F. Flinn, 40, single, daughter of Saml & Judith, by J. W. Watson. Line 7 of the same page: 3 February 1871, A. W. McKim, 24, druggist, married A. B. Coffman, 22, daughter of David C. & Emily. The first image-level statement of David C.'s parents, Samuel and Susannah.
  6. S3631880 U.S. Federal Census — David C. Coffman household, Luray Township, Page Co., Virginia (ED 63, p. 35). Ancestry record 19053196. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed David C. Coffman, 67, farmer, with his second wife Mildred F., 49; Ann Sowers, 60, and a domestic, Emma Judd, 18. Ann Sowers has no relationship entered; the page does not give Mildred's kin.
  7. S364Page County, Virginia, Register of Deaths for 1883, line 16. Ancestry record 449672. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed David C. Coffman died 25 January 1883 at Fruitland, of paralysis, aged 70, a farmer; born Fruitland; parents given as Saml. & Mary Coffman; informant Mary Coffman. The informant gave his mother as Mary. His 1871 marriage register says Susannah, and the tree keeps Susanna; this is left open for Earl.
  8. S489Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records — Page County Will Book P–S, p. 158: will of David C. Coffman, proved 28 February 1883. Ancestry record 2168515. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed “I David C. Coffman of the County of Page”: one third of his personal property, and the income of a third of his land for life, to “my beloved wife Mildred F. Coffman”; the residue equally among “all my children, viz: Susan M. France wife of R. Lee France, Annie B. McKim wife of A. W. McKim, Jane C. Chapman wife of John N. Chapman, William S. Coffman, and David E. Coffman”; executor his son-in-law A. W. McKim. Signed 13 February 188[?], witnesses Samuel Spitler and Wm. L. Hudson; proved 28 February 1883 in the Page County court. The last digit of the signing year is lost at the page edge. The first document to name all five children together, and the third, after S82 and S20, to tie Dee to David C.
  9. S617Virginia certificate of death, state file 30239, 1937 — Annie Bettie McKim, Luray. Ancestry record 600708028. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Annie Bettie McKim, widow of Allie W. McKim, of Court Street, Luray, Page County; born 12 July 1848 in Page County; died 2 December 1937 at Luray; father David C. Coffman, born Page County; mother “Mary Thornhill”, born Rappahannock County; informant R. L. McKim. The informant was a generation removed; the mother's given name is kept as Emily M., from her gravestone and the 1843 marriage.
  10. S959Virginia certificate of death no. 2280 — Sue M. France, Luray, Page County, 3 January 1923. Ancestry record 750178977. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Confirmed Sue M. France, of Broad Street, Luray, white, widow of Robert Lee France, housewife; born 3 May 1844 in Page County; died 3 January 1923 at Luray, aged 78 years 8 months, of pneumonia. Father David C. Coffman, born Page County; mother, maiden name Emily Thornhill, born Rappahannock County. Informant Miss Virgie Chapman, of Luray. Buried at Chicago, Illinois. Sue was born eleven months after David C. Coffman and Emily Thornhill married (S334), and she is the Susan M. France named first among the five children in his will. Rappahannock County was formed from Culpeper in 1833, so a birth in 1820 in that district is Culpeper at the time; the informant was not a named relative. The physician's signature is not legible enough to read. Collection: Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912–2014.
  11. S10121870 United States Federal Census, agricultural schedule — Luray Township, Page County, Virginia, page 1. Ancestry record 3053196. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Probable Line 1: David C. Coffman, 150 acres improved and 150 woodland, farm worth $8,000, 2 horses, 2 cows, 7 other cattle, 11 sheep, 15 swine, 375 bushels of wheat, 250 of corn and 400 of oats. A Benjamin Coffman is on line 40. The agricultural schedule gives no age or family.

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Compiled for the Proeger family

Living adults appear by name and relationship, with the year only: no full date of birth and no home town on any page that search engines index, and a living person’s own page is kept out of search engines. Minors appear by name only — no date of birth, no birth year, no age, no school, no place, no address, no other identifying detail. A minor may be named and may appear in a family photograph; nothing further about them is published. Where it is not established whether someone is an adult or a minor, the minor rule applies.

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