Coffee, Indiana, Clay County

Approximately 1880-1900

The town of Coffee, Indiana, was located T9N-R7W (in Township 9 North -Range 7 West) of Lewis Township. The post office was located between Friendly Grove Baptist Church and West of Sanders Cemetery. The following information was compiled from sources at the Genealogy Library in Center Point.

Excerpt from History of Clay County Indiana, 1909 Travis (page 557): “The naming of Coffee post office was wholly circumstantial. The representative petitioners having the matter in hand and con ducting the correspondence with the postal department held their meetings and consultations at the neighborhood country store in which A. J. BABER, then a young man, was a clerk, whose counsel was unusually sought on all matters of home policy and interest. Having been notified by the department of the granting of their petition and requested to suggest the name of the office, they met again at the store to consider and agree upon this point. Appealing to BABER for a suggestion, who was just then at the desk making out an inventory of goods to be ordered, promptly responded “Coffee,” the item he had just written, which was accepted by common consent. That it was not named Pepper or Molasses, Saleratus or Asafoetida, was wholly fortuitous, as these items appeared on the inventory immediately preceding and following coffee.

The postmasters at Coffee were A. J. BABER, Melissa HUNGATE, T. J. FIRES, Benjamin COPPOCK, John WOODROW.”

Ibid. (497): “The old state road crossing Lewis township by way of the Bush corner, the ELLINGTON place, Coffee Hill and Howesville was known as the Louisville road, the route over which Terre Haute merchants traveled on horseback to the wholesale market, twice a year, to purchase their goods, and over which they were wagoned from the banks of the Ohio to the banks of the Wabash.”

WELMAN & THIRLY’s Encyclopedic Directory for Clay County, Indiana, of 1896, lists the following named people receiving mail through the Coffee Post Office. Also, given in the Directory is the number of acres owned, number of acres rented, school district, number of miles and direction from the county seat, number of miles and direction from the post office, appraised value of land, politics, religion, township, where born, date born, when came to the county, and occupation for hundreds of Clay County people in 1896.

Alexander, J.Bemis, J. O. Burger, Benjamin Butler, William Butt, Thomas Butt, N. J. Burris, F. V. Bledsoe, N. G. Burns, John Bledsoe, John R. Briley, F. Briley, O. O. Butler, Ed Burges, Benjamin Chambers, J. M. Chambers, F. M. Chambers, Thos. Chambers, Thos. Craige, James Crosby, M. A. Crable, James crist, H. T. Crist, A. H. Crist, C. C. Crist, L. J. Crist, J. D. Crist, H. W. Crist, T. J. Crist, Mrs. L. J. Crist, Jane Chastine, G. W. Dalgarn, W. M. Daves, Geo. Edmonson, J. G. Edmons, Jno. Fegley, Ed. Fegley, David Fry, Elisha Gates, Walter Garrett, F. M. Griffith, R. H. Goble, John Goodwin, W. H. Griffith, Oliver Griffith, R. H. Holiday, Wm. Hoffa, John Hollins, __ Kirkham, W. H. Kirkham, W. Liston, Rev. D. Liston, Gilbert Love, H. Luther, G. W. Morris, D. W. (b. 1848) Morris, D. W. (b. 1865) Miller, Peter Milligan, Charles Morris, D. W. Marshall, N. W. Marlow, A.

Mattox, Calvin Marlow, J. C. Mattox, Marshal Mc Anally, A. J. (b.1850) Mc Anally, A. J. (b.1856) Nail, Mrs. A. Niglet, W. L. Nicholson, W. L. Neal, J. A. Neal, Rev. S. N. Phipps, W. J. Phipps, Wm. Phipps, George Phipps, A. Phegley, David Puckett, R. Puckett, R. L. Puckett, H. Puckett, W. T. Price, W. L. Purcell, A. H. Rehmel, Henry Reed, Edward. Robinson, A. D. Sanders, Mrs. S. E. Sanders, Jas. Smith, C. Smith, J. E. Stark, A. J. Strome, John Strome, Sam Stoops, W. P. Sills, Henry Stevenson, U. Z. Stark, so. V. Sanders, Jas. Shepherd, D. K. Stephens, William Stark, Rachel Stout, Albert Strahla, William Stout, J. M. Strome, Dave Stark, D. M. Stark, O. F., Jr. Steward, Joe Stewart, J. Straley, William Stark, E. M. Stout, E. T. Trinkle, Lee Turley, F. M. West, Lee West, T. J. West, James Wealch, Albert Woodrow, W. W. Woodrow, J. N. Worley, J. G. Wortey, J. V