The Proeger Family · Generation 4 — Earl's great-grandparents and their siblings

Joseph Franklin Coffman

Son of David Emily "Dee" Coffman · 1884–1966

Joseph Franklin Coffman

Probable

Son of David Emily "Dee" Coffman · 1884–1966

Born
at Abilene, Taylor County, Texas
Parents
David Emily "Dee" Coffman & Mary Jane "Mollie" Wright
Sources
3

Research status

Research status: PROBABLE as a son of David Emily “Dee” Coffman and Mary Jane “Mollie” Wright. The evidence is strong: the index of his Texas death record names both parents, and his obituaries of January 1966 name his sister Mrs. Sue Atchley of Dudley and his brothers J. Lee Coffman of Abilene and Jim Coffman of Dudley, three people with cards here S1742S831. It stays Probable because every record is an index or the machine-read text of a newspaper page: no image has been read.

Evidence: The index of his Texas death record names both parents; his obituaries of January 1966 give his birth on 13 September 1884 and his death on 12 January 1966 at Wichita Falls, and name his sister Mrs. Sue Atchley and his brothers J. Lee and Jim (S1742). The evidence is strong. Weak or missing: Every record is an index or machine-read newspaper text, and no image has been read; the birthplace rests on one phrase of the obituary; his marriages are not documented. Not yet confirmed. Know more? Confirm or correct this →

Life in the order the records give it

Death1966
Joseph Franklin Coffman died on 12 January 1966 at Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas, aged 81. He was born at Abilene, Taylor County, Texas, on 13 September 1884. The dates are in the index of the Texas death records and in his obituary in the Wichita Falls Times of 13 January 1966, which calls him a native of Abilene; that phrase is the only source for his birthplace. The Abilene Reporter-News of the same day prints his age as 82 S1742.
Burial1958
According to the obituary he was a retired packing-company salesman, had lived at Wichita Falls since 1958 and belonged to the 23rd and Grace Street Church of Christ; it gives his burial at Crestview Memorial Park, Wichita Falls, which rests on the newspaper text alone S1742.
Death2026
History of this card. 12 Oct 2026
card written when he was added to the family tree as a son of David Emily Coffman and Mary Jane Wright, from the Texas death index and the three newspaper notices of January 1966 (S1742). 12 Oct 2026 — his wife Lora now has a card; her dates, earlier said to rest on no record, are in the Texas death index (S1748).

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Marriage1888
His wife at his death is printed as Laura in the obituary; she is taken to be Lora Matilda Maxwell Coffman (1888–1970), whose dates are in the index of the Texas death records S1748. The 1940 Kauffman-Coffman family book alone names an earlier wife, Pet Stanley, who has no card. His children are not named here.

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

Probable
Probable confirm or correct → Son of David Emily “Dee” Coffman and Mary Jane “Mollie” Wright. Brother of James David “Jim” Coffman, Lucy C. Coffman Chrane, Jesse Lee Coffman, Sue Mary Coffman Atchley, Dee Carl Coffman and Daisy Hope Coffman Holley.
Weak or missing
What is weak or missing: every record is an index or machine-read newspaper text, and no image has been read; the birthplace rests on one phrase of the obituary; the burial is in the newspaper text only; his marriages are not documented. Know more, or think this is wrong? Use “Add to this record”.

In the record Generation 4 — Earl's great-grandparents and their siblings

Joseph Franklin Coffman · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

3 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. S831FamilySearch indexes naming James David Coffman's parents — Texas deaths and Social Security records of the Coffman brothers. FamilySearch 1:1:VZCR-CLC (Texas death index: James Coffman, died 22 December 1972, Taylor County); 1:1:K3M3-Z4Z (Texas death: Dee Carl Coffman); 1:1:K7DS-V7K (Texas death: Joseph Franklin Coffman); 1:1:6K7G-ZNV2 (Social Security NUMIDENT: Jesse Lee Coffman); 1:1:M238-MGB (1910 census, Abilene). Checked 28 September 2026. Probable The brothers' records give their parents as D. E. Coffman and Mary Jane Wright. Index entries only; no images were read. They agree with James David's own death certificate (S134) and with Mary Jane Wright's certificate (S81). Joseph Franklin Coffman has a card and an entry of his own (S1742).
  2. S1742Index and obituaries — Joseph F. Coffman, 81, Wichita Falls, Texas, January 1966. FamilySearch: Texas death records index (K7DS-V7K). Newspapers.com: Wichita Falls Times, 13 January 1966, p. 18 (image 780825514), printed again in the Times Record News, 14 January 1966, p. 2 (image 775860349); Abilene Reporter-News, 13 January 1966, p. 21 (image 762347021). Index and machine-read text read on 5 October 2026; no image read. Probable Death index: Joseph Franklin Coffman, both parents named. Obituary: Joseph F. Coffman, 81, retired packing-company salesman, died Wednesday 12 January 1966 at Wichita Falls; born 13 September 1884, a native of Abilene; at Wichita Falls since 1958; 23rd and Grace Street Church of Christ; burial at Crestview Memorial Park, Wichita Falls. Survivors include his wife Laura, a sister Mrs. Sue Atchley of Dudley, and brothers J. Lee of Abilene and Jim of Dudley. ⚠ Index and machine-read text only: no image has been read. The Abilene notice prints his age as 82 and his brothers as Jay Lee Coffman and J. D. Coffman. “Native of Abilene” is the only source for his birthplace. His daughters and sons are in the notices and are not named here. Serves the cards of Joseph Franklin Coffman, Sue Mary Coffman Atchley, Jesse Lee Coffman, James David “Jim” Coffman, David Emily “Dee” Coffman and Mary Jane “Mollie” Wright.
  3. S1748Indexes — Lora Matilda Maxwell Coffman, Higginsport, Ohio, 1888, and Wichita Falls, Texas, 1970. FamilySearch: Texas Deaths index (K36S-3GN); Social Security Death Index (J1GK-S3X); obituary index of a daughter (QKWQ-P23C). Kauffman-Coffman genealogy (1940), p. 567. Index text and a compiled book; no image read. Probable Death index: Lora Matilda Coffman, born 25 July 1888 at Higginsport, Brown County, Ohio, died 28 October 1970 at Wichita Falls; parents Joseph Franklin Maxwell and Evalyn Fiscus. The Social Security Death Index agrees on the dates. The daughter’s obituary index names her parents as J. F. Coffman and Lora Matilda Maxwell Coffman; the daughter is not named here. The 1940 book calls her the second wife of Joseph Franklin Coffman, married in 1910; no marriage record has been found, and no obituary of her own was found in a search on 6 October 2026.

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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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