Coffey's Mill
It is believed this was the mill of Samuel W. Coffey, the only Coffey family who lived in Otter Township in 1860. According to his biography from 1887 (listed below), the family lived here from 1857 to 1864, then moved on to Decatur County, Iowa. Samuel originated in Vermont, married Louisa Scofield (from New York), on June 19, 1841, in Washtenaw, Michigan, and had 5 out of 6 children in Michigan before coming to Iowa. Samuel Coffey was born November 14, 1813 and died in 1887 in Decatur City, Iowa. His wife, Louisa, born in 1825, had died thirteen years earlier, Aug 28, 1874.
Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and Decatur Counties, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, 1887, p. 617
S.W. COFFEY, section 6, Grand River Township, and one of its pioneers , is a native of Vermont, born in Belvidere, Franklin County, Nov 14, 1808, a son of Samuel and Cynthia (Beals) Coffey, also natives of Vermont. When he was 8 years of age, his parents moved to Essex County, New York.When he was seventeen years old he went to Orleans County, New York, and from there, in 1838, to Wastenaw County, Michigan, where he lived till 1856, when he moved to St. Joseph County, Indiana and thence a year later to Warren County, Iowa, where he lived seven years. In 1864 he moved to Decatur County, and located in Grand River Township, on a farm where he now lives. About 40 acres of land were ready for cultivation, and a plank house had been built. He now has a good story-and-a-half house, and 200 acres under cultivation. His farm is well adapted for livestock raising, having plenty of timber, and Elk Creek running across the land. It is located two and a quarter miles west of Grand River Station, thus making it convenient to a shipping point. Mr. Coffey was married in 1839 to Miss Louisa Schofield, who died Aug 28, 1874. To them were born 6 children - Juliette, wife of Jacob Ross; Levina, wife of Henry Boyd; Samuel, Eugenia, Charles Sumner, and Elmer. Eugenia is acting as housekeeper, and Elmer now has charge of the farm. In politics Mr. Coffey is a Democat , but during the war he was a strong union man.
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