Charles S. Coffey, Sr.

Among the well
known and able representatives of the Bar of Hamilton County is Charles S.
Coffey, a resident of this city, for the most part, since 1900. Mr. Coffey is
a native son of Kentucky, being born on the old home place of his parents near
Monticello, in Wayne county, on the 18th day of June, 1882. He comes of old
and honored families of the Bluegrass state, and his parents being Lewis and
Sophia (Buster) Coffey. His father is now living retired in Danville,
Kentucky. His mother passed away on January 1, 1894. Lewis Coffey was long
numbered among the representative farming men of Wayne county, Kentucky, and
was successful in his lifework, and so conducted himself as to win and hold
the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow men.
Charles S. Coffey gained his early education in the public schools of
Monticello, Kentucky, and was graduated from the high school of that place as
a member of the class of 1898. Thereafter he held a position as bookkeeper in
a bank in Monticello for two years, at the expiration of which time, in 1900,
he came to Chattanooga, where he was for some little time in the employ of the
D. B. Loveman Company, one of the largest department stores in the city. In
January, 1902, Mr. Coffey entered the University of Tennessee, and in 1905 was
duly graduated from the institution with the degree of Bachelor of Science.
The following year he was graduated from the law department of the same
institution with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
After his graduation Mr. Coffey returned to Chattanooga, and for some time
he was supervisor at the real estate loan department of the Chattanooga
Savings Bank, a position that was placed at his disposal soon after he
returned to the city, and he continued in that position until September, 1910,
when he resigned the same to engage in the practices of his profession. About
one year later he formed a partnership with Mr. Paul Campbell, under the firm
name of Campbell & Coffey, and this alliance continued in effect for a year,
at the expiration of which time Mr. James F. Finlay was admitted to
partnership, and the title changed to its present form - Finlay, Campbell &
Coffey. This is known as one of the strong and successful law firms of
Hamilton County, and Mr. Coffey, as one of its principals, has met with a
pleasing degree of success in his profession, the branch which claims his
chief attention being that of civil practice.
Mr. Coffey is unmarried. He is a member of the Chattanooga Bar & Law
Library Association, the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, and the Commercial
Club, and he is affiliated with the Theta Lamda Phi and the Pi Kappa Alpha
college fraternities. Mr. Coffey is a Democrat, and while he is enthusiastic
in the cause of the party, he has no desire for political preferment. He is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and has served for a number
of years as a member of the board of the church of this denomination in his
home city.
It may be mentioned here with all propriety that the father of Mr. Coffey
was a valiant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, and served in the
command of General John H. Morgan. Under this noted leader he participated in
the
famous Ohio raid,
and was captured at that time by the Federal forces. Thereafter he was held a
prisoner at Camp Douglas, in the city of Chicago, until the close of the war.
(Charles Shelby Coffey married Mary Margaret Anderson, daughter of Charles Cravens Anderson and Mary McKinney Bachman, on Nov. 21, 1916. Children to this union are… Charles Shelby Coffey Jr., Mary Catherine Coffey (Rawlings), Jonathan Bachman Coffey, William Milton Coffey and Robert Lewis Coffey. Charles Shelby Coffey passed away on December 31, 1961 and is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga beside his wife who passed away May 5, 1987 and his son Charles Shelby Jr. who passed away in June, 1974.)
A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans …1913
Submitted by Robert L. Coffey