John E. Coffee

John E. Coffee (December 3, 1782 – September 25, 1836) was a military leader and a United States Congressman for the state of Georgia.

Early life

He was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia and was a grandson of Peter Coffee, Sr. (1716-November 1771) and Susannah Mathews (1701–1796). He is sometimes confused by researchers with his first cousin John Coffee, a general in the Tennessee militia.

John E. Coffee moved with his parents and family to a plantation near Powelton in Hancock County, Georgia, in 1800. Coffee later settled in Telfair County, Georgia in 1807, where he developed his own plantation.

Military career

As a general in the Georgia state militia, Coffee cut a road through the state of Georgia, which would be called "Coffee Road," to carry munitions to the Florida Territory to fight the Indians during the Creek War. It is now called the "Old Coffee Road".

Political career

John Coffee's grave at the Congressional Cemetery.

John Coffee served as a member of the Georgia Senate from 1819 to 1827. He was elected as a Jacksonian Democrat to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth U.S. Congresses and served from March 4, 1833, until his death on September 25, 1836. He was reelected to the Twenty-fifth United States Congress on October 3, 1836 after his death; the announcement of his death not having been received.

Coffee died on his plantation near Jacksonville, Georgia, on September 25, 1836, and was buried there. In 1921 his remains were reinterred in McRae Cemetery, McRae, Georgia.

Legacy and honors

In addition to Old Coffee Road, Coffee County, Alabama, Coffee County, Georgia, Coffee County, Tennessee^[1] and General Coffee State Park are named in honor of John E. Coffee.

References

External links

• John E. Coffee at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• History of Old Jacksonville, GA
• Find-A-Grave Memorial for Georgia John E. Coffee, husband of Ann Penelope Bryan
• Find-A-Grave Memorial for Tennessee John Coffee, husband of Mary Donelson