Cumberland Co., KY
Coe Ridge Family Tree
Courtesy Barren’s Black Roots
Volume 3, Michelle Gorin Burris,
Gorin
Genealogical Publications,
(c) Sept 1993. Information taken from the files of the late Eva
Coe Peden and abstracted also from William Lynwood Montell’s “The
Saga of Coe Ridge.”
Located in the foothills of the
Cumberland Mountains in Cumberland County near the Tennessee line.
It was known as Coe Town, Coe Colony and Zeektown. The African
American colony began thusly; abstracted.
Betty: An African American slave
and her Master Stove, a Cherokee Indian. She accompanied him from
North Carolina with her two sons – Ransom and Ezekiel.
Sukey: Possibly Betty’s sister,
African American also came from North Carolina. Sukey had the
following children by her master Lynch, white:
1 – Patsy Ann. Born on
Kettle Creek in Monroe County about 1822, married Ezekiel Coe, son
of Betty and Stove.
2 – Riley – an escaped slave
3 – Bill Burress – born on
the Coe plantation about 1845
4 – Tom Softly
Betty’s Ezekiel and Sukey’s Patsy
Ann had the following children:
1 – Mary Coe. Married Tom
Wilburn. She died 8 Feb 1907; her birth date seems to be 29 Oct
1848. Thomas Wilburn came from the head of the Obey
River, a descendant of slave parents. Tom and Mary were
supposedly moonshiners. Their children:
(a)
Charlie Wilburn
(married, spouse not known). They had:
(1)
Ruie Wilburn who
married Joe Coe
(b)
Shirley Wilburn
(c)
Sherman Wilburn
(d)
Billy Wilburn
(e)
Garfield Wilburn
(f) Oleson
Wilborn
2 – Ezekiel (Crippled Zeke).
Single. Lived with his parents until his death in the 1950’s.
3 – Thomas Coe married Lucetta
(Sett) King. Lucetta’s mother, Mary, lived in the Obey Riger area,
just north of Celina, TN. Lucetta had a sister Fertilda who
lived with she and Thomas Coe all her life. Thomas and Lucetta’s
children:
(a)
Robert Coe. Married
Lucy Anders. He was born 21 Sept 1874; died 7 Dec 1946 on Coe Ridge.
Lucy was a 16 year old daughter of slaves from Monroe Co.
Also known as Lucy
Robert Coe. Her mother was Jennie. Jennie’s father was Isom Stephens
(white). Lucy’s father was Mat Anders, property of master Varney
Anders/Andrews of the Turkey Neck Bend area. Robert and Lucy’s
children:
(1)
Joe Coe. Married
Ruie Wilburn
(2)
Clay Coe
(3)
Jack Coe
(4)
Annie Coe
(5)
Ollie Coe
(6)
Ivie Coe
(7)
Willie Coe
(8)
Grace Coe
(9)
Kate Coe
(10)
Mattie Coe
(11)
Ruthie Calvin Coe
born 14 June 1898, died 21 Oct 1918
(12)
Mary Susie Coe born
5 Mar 1900; died 22 Oct 1918
(13)
Lucie Coe
(b)
Josephus (Sephus)
Coe. Married Lou Williams. Moved to Indianapolis IN. Lou was
Daughter of Billy Williams who lived in the Meschack section of
Monroe Co. Their
Children:
(1)
Hazel Coe. Died in
Indianapolis in 1956
(2)
Frank Coe – lived in
Indianapolis
(3)
Tom Coe
(c)
Sarah Ruth Coe.
Married Frank Anders
(d)
Molly Coe. Married
Wilse Holman. Wilse was from Monroe Co, the son of Danny Holman and
Mime Coe. He had a sister, Mary Ellen, who married Molly’s
first cousin, Little John Coe. Wilse and Molly spent most of
their married life on the Johnny Overstreet place in Celina TN.
After his death, Molly returned to Zeketown. Molly and Wilse
had:
(1)
Lawyer Holman
(2)
Henry Holman
(3)
Esau Holman
(4)
Calvin Holman
(5)
Oscar Holman
(6)
Tom Holman
(7)
Isabella Holman
(8)
Lizzie Holman
(9)
Cassie Holman
(10)
Lucy Holman
(11)
Fannie Holman who
married Roy Anders
(12)
Lottie Beatrice
Holman
Children of Ezeliel and Patsy Ann
continued:
4. Jemima (Mime) Coe married Danny
Holman. Their children:
(a)
Wilse Holman who
married Molly Coe
(b)
Bob Holman
(c)
Frank Holman
(d)
Mary Ellen Holman
married Little Joe Coe. Their children:
(1)
Minnie Coe
(2)
Ida Coe who married
Cornelius Allen
(3)
Levie Coe
(4)
Ulah Coe
(5)
Samuel Coe Jr
(6)
Laura Coe
(7)
Beulah Coe
(8)
Lois Coe
5
William (Bill Zeke)
Coe married Mandy Kirkpatrick. Mandy was a slave girl who could read
and wirte. She was born on the Chism Kirkpatrick plantation,
north of Celina, TN. Bill died 9 Feb 1913. Their children:
(a)
Little John Coe.
Married Mary Ellen Holman. He killed Simp Smith. Mary Ellen was a
sister to Wilse Holman. After Little Joe was imprisoned, she took
all the children and moved to Indianapolis and never returned.
When Little Joe was freed in 1928, he too Went to Indianapolis and
died shortly thereafter.
(b)
Thomas Ezekiel (“E”)
Coe. Married Lucy Wilburn. Lucy was his first cousin. She was a
school teacher. He died shortly before his wife – both are
buried on the ridge. Their children:
(1)
Leslie Coe Jr
(2)
Charlie Coe
(3)
Otley Coe
(4)
Beulah Coe
(5)
Jewell Coe
(6)
Dimple Coe
(7)
Glaydelle Coe
(c)
Jesse Coe. Single.
Killed two policemen in Indianapolis IN 1906, escaped and hid out in
Zeketown for 18 months. He was shot to death in an ambush.
(d)
Cassie Coe. Married
Bill Raspberry, married (2) a Wagner? Bill’s real last name was
Asberry, usually called Raspberry. He was a drifter from VA who
came to Coe Ridge. In the 1890’s. They married about 1870 and
moved to Indianapolis. At his death, he Confessed that his real last
name was Esselman. Children had their names changed to Esselman.
Cassie became a preacher known as “Mother Wagner” – returned to live
in Zeketown.
(e)
Ada Coe married
Hance Williams. Hance was from the Martinsburg area of Monroe Co
(f)
Samuel F. Coe. Born
12 Sept 1879, died in Kansas City KS 12 May 1897. He was Married to
an unknown spouse but had no children.
(g)
Ora Coe married
Chester Coe. They lived their lives on Coe Ridge, she died at age
42.
Children:
(1)
Tim Coe
(2)
Big Les Coe
(3)
Marjorie Coe
(4)
Wallace Coe
(5)
Prentice Coe
(6)
Tabitha Coe
6
John (Old or Yaller
John) Coe married first Tennessee Black; married second Virginia
Warren. After marrying to Tennessee; they moved to her place
of birth at Mud Camp in Cumberland Co. His second wife was a
white woman, Virginia, who died of TB. John died in his 90’s at
Zeketown. His
children:
(a)
Chester Coe
married Ora Coe
(b)
Cora Coe
(c)
Willie Coe.
Born right before Virginia’s death.
7
Joe Coe married
Tilda Black. She was from the Mud Camp section of Cumberland Co. Joe
was killed by an assassin’s bullet during a visit to Zeketown
in 1888. They had no children.
8
Sarah Coe married
first Joe Kirkpatrick; married second a Lewis. Her first husband was
a cousin from the Meshack section of Monroe County. After
her marriage to Mr Lewis, Sarah moved to Glasgow, Barren Co
KY, where she died about 1956.
9
Frank Coe
10
Sue (Suze) Coe. Died
of TB while at school on the Ridge.
11
Calvin Coe married
Sue Ann Barton. He was born 20- May 1861, died 21 April 1955 at age
93. He attempted to elope once with a white girl, Molly
Ballard. His wife Sue Ann was also white, She stayed with him
the rest of her life as a common-law wife, and lived in the jail
where he was
a prisoner. They had a
“houseful” of children which were not named. Sue Ann was supposedly
a Black who passed herself off a white.
12
Unnamed daughter
Coe.
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