John Coffee - Research Notes

Research Notes

Researchers often confuse this General John Coffee with his first cousin John E. Coffee (1782–1836), who was a general in the Georgia militia and elected as the U.S. Congressman from Georgia. Links for each of their Find-a-Grave Memorials are included below, with additional state and spouse information, to help distinguish more clearly between them.

This John Coffee is sometimes referred to as John R. Coffee. Some researchers are attempting to document the use of this middle initial in original sources. To date, he has been found to have signed his name John Coffee in original papers examined. Scholars do not believe he used the initial "R". General John (R.) Coffee is buried in the Coffee Cemetery off SR 157 northwest of Florence, Alabama.

The legendary Texas Ranger, John Coffee Hays, was his nephew. Hays became the greatest Texas Ranger in history, leading troops in battle from 1836–1848, against the Comanche Tribe and the Mexican Army during the Mexican–American War. He surveyed the West, founding Oakland, California. In 1850 Hays was elected as the first Sheriff of San Francisco. Hays was born in Tennessee and raised at The Hermitage where Andrew Jackson resided.