Mary Jane "Mollie" Wright

Mary Jane "Mollie" Wright

TexasConfirmed

1859–1934

🆕 A face, at last. Added 18 September 2026. This is a detail cut from the Dee Coffman family group photograph, not a portrait sitting of its own: she is seated beside her husband, spectacles, light blouse, a small child at her shoulder. Virginia "Ginger" Coffman, Earl's aunt, returned a copy of that photograph with names typed onto the faces and placed Mollie in it S108. She has had no established photograph anywhere in this record until now. The identification is family testimony — a relative naming relatives she knew — Probable; the photograph itself and its attribution to her family are unchanged and stay Confirmed. The link opens the full labelled frame, because the frame is the evidence and this crop is a derivative of it.

Born

23 October 1859, Dallas County, Texas

Died

6 December 1934

Buried

Dudley Cemetery

Parents

James W. Wright & Lucy Brooks

Married

David Emily "Dee" Coffman

Children

James David "Jim" Coffman

Sources

17

Images

2

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1859

Born 23 October 1859, Dallas County, Texas S21S81

Death1934

Died 6 December 1934 at 7:20 p.m., two miles south of Potosi, Taylor County, aged 75, of cerebral haemorrhage; buried Dudley Cemetery on the 8th

her Texas death certificate no. 56943, read from the image S81

Census1860

🆕 In the 1860 census, read from the image, she is Mary J., 9/12, born Texas, in the Dallas County household of Jas. W. Wright, 35, physician and farmer, with L. C., 28, Sally, 8, and Jas. B., 4 Confirmed S1004. Her parents appear here in a record made in her infancy. Thomas Wright, 67, born North Carolina, and Martha, 65, lived next door; they may be her grandparents, but that rests on adjacency alone. Know more? Use “Add to this record”. added 29 September 2026

Record1935

🆕 She left a will. On 19 June 1935 the Taylor County Court admitted the will of Mary Jane Coffman to probate, case no. 2282, and named David E. Coffman executor, as the will asked; her husband was David Emily “Dee” Coffman, but the page does not say how the executor was related to her Confirmed S1099. Only the first page of the will has been read

Census1870

🆕 In the 1870 census she is Mary J., 10, born in Texas, in Dallas County with her father, Dr James W. Wright, 45, a physician, and her mother Luciana, 38, both born in Tennessee. W. A. Brooks, 35, also born in Tennessee, lived with them Confirmed S1132.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Children1881

🆕 Mother of James David “Jim” Coffman (1881–1972): his Texas death certificate names her as Molly Jane Wright S134, and FamilySearch indexes of his death, of the deaths of his brothers Dee Carl and Joseph Franklin, and of his brother Jesse Lee's Social Security record all give the parents as D. E. Coffman and Mary Jane Wright S831. added 28 September 2026.

Parents1937

🆕 Her parents, James W. Wright and Lucy Brooks, now have cards of their own Confirmed. Her brother J. B. Wright's 1937 Texas death certificate, read from the image, names the same parents, James Wright and Lucie Brooks, both born Tennessee, and its informant was her son J. D. Coffman S1074. added 30 September 2026

Parents1892

Parents Dr. James W. Wright and Lucy C. Brooks, both born Tennessee

named on that certificate S81, and confirmed from the other direction by History of Dallas County (1892), pp. 687–688, which lists "Mary J., wife of David E. Coffman, of Taylor county" among Dr. Wright's six children S85

Marriage1878

Married David Emily "Dee" Coffman on 27 October 1878 at Dallas

three months after her father signed his will, which leaves the estate to his two youngest children, Jessee and Kate S72S84

Children2026

🆕 Her son's death certificate names her Molly Jane Wright, 21 September 2026. James David "Jim" Coffman died at Abilene in December 1972 and the informant was his own son, Jesse J. Coffman

her grandson, writing her name as the family said it S134. This is an addition to her record, not a correction of it. Mollie is what her family called her and what her son's record gives; the formal Mary Jane on her own certificate S81 and in the 1924 photograph's caption S108 is the same woman, written formally. Nothing here demotes either name

Parents2026

🆕 Her parents on a census, added 24 September 2026. In 1880 Dr James W. Wright, 55, physician, and Lucy C., 48, lived with Jesse, 10, and Kate, 7, four dwellings from the newlyweds in Precinct 7, Dallas County S345. Her brother James B. Wright lived with her and Dee in 1920 and 1930 S348S349. In 1910 she was the mother of 10 children, 7 then living S347; her daughter Daisy Holly died at Abilene on 17 March 1934 S350.

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

Open question

⚠️ Her gravestone and her memorial give 1935 S21; the state certificate and the family typescript S72 both say 1934, and the certificate is followed here. The stone's year is most likely the registrar's filing stamp, JAN 10 1935, on the certificate itself.

Photos & documents 2 photos · 0 documents

Photos (2)

Open photo

Open photo

In the record Generation 5 — the immigrants and the frontier

1. S21FindAGrave memorial 53116935, Mary Jane "Mollie" Wright Coffman (1859–1935) — findagrave.com/memorial/53116935.
2. S72Coffman and Bowles family record — typescript, undated. Four typed sheets compiled within the family and kept by Robert William Coffman (1906–1990), Earl's grandfather; passed to his son David and photographed 16 September 2026. Covers David Emily "Dee" Coffman & Mary Jane Wright, William Anderson Bowles & Iona Belle Brock and their eighteen children, and James Daniel Bowles & Lydia Williams and their ten. Family testimony, not a vital record — weighed as such. It agrees with the registers on Lydia Mae Bowles's birth to the day and on Iona Belle Brock's dates exactly, and it supplies two marriage dates and twenty-two names that no record here had. It also contradicts itself on William Anderson Bowles's birth year (1858 on one sheet, 1859 on another) and gives Mary Jane Wright's death as 1934 against 1935 elsewhere. Those conflicts are recorded, not resolved.
3. S81Mary Jane Wright Coffman — Texas death certificate, 6 December 1934. Texas State Department of Health, Standard Certificate of Death, file no. 56943, Taylor County; Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Read from the certificate image 16 September 2026. Mary Jane Coffman, wife of D. E. Coffman; born 23 October 1859, Texas; died 6 December 1934 at 7:20 p.m., two miles south of Potosi, Taylor County, of cerebral haemorrhage; buried Dudley, 8 December 1934; father James W. Wright, born Tennessee; mother's maiden name Lucy Brooks, born Tennessee; informant D. C. Coffman of Abilene. It settles a death year and it names two ancestors. Her gravestone and her FindAGrave memorial give the death a day later and a year later, in December 1935 [S21]; the certificate says 6 December 1934 and the family typescript [S72] independently says 1934 as well. A state certificate written five days after the death outranks a stone transcription, and it is followed on this page. The likeliest source of the wrong year is the state registrar's filing stamp, JAN 10 1935, on the face of the same document.
4. S84Dr. James W. Wright — last will and testament, Dallas County, Texas, 9 July 1878. Dallas County probate records, two manuscript pages, transcribed from the images 16 September 2026. Devises the estate to his children Jessee Wright and Kate Templeton Wright, subject to the homestead and community interest of his wife Louisiana C. Wright, whom he appoints sole executrix and guardian. ⚠️ A name variant, recorded rather than adjudicated. The will calls his wife Louisiana C., the printed county history [S85] calls her Lucy C. Brooks, her daughter's death certificate [S81] calls her Lucy Brooks, and FindAGrave calls her Luciana Catherine. Same middle initial and same role as surviving widow in every one. This page uses Lucy Brooks, the form on the two primary records, and prints the others rather than hiding them.
5. S85History of Dallas County, Texas (1892), pp. 687–688 — the biography of James W. Wright, M.D. Two printed pages, read from the images 16 September 2026. Gives his birth near Nashville, Tennessee, 4 February 1825, son of Thomas and Martha A. (Tate) Wright; service in the Mexican War; medical study at Louisville and a degree at Nashville; his marriage 28 October 1848 to Lucy C. Brooks, of Davidson County, Tennessee, daughter of Moses T. and Nancy (Tate) Brooks; the family's emigration to Texas in 1850; and, on p. 688, his children — among them "Mary J., wife of David E. Coffman, of Taylor county." A subscription county history is a paid-for family account, not a vital record, and is weighed that way here. Its value is that it reaches the same couple from the opposite direction to the 1934 death certificate [S81]: the certificate names Mary Jane's parents, the history names Dr. Wright's daughter. Neither was derived from the other. The G6 generation it supplies — Thomas & Martha A. (Tate) Wright, Moses T. & Nancy (Tate) Brooks — rests on this book alone and stays Probable.
6. S108Dee Coffman family photograph, circa 1924 — names supplied by Virginia "Ginger" Coffman. A copy of the group photograph already published here, with names typed onto fourteen of the faces and captioned in the image itself “Dee Coffman Family / Circa 1924.” Compiled by Virginia "Ginger" Coffman (Earl's aunt, daughter of Robert William Coffman) and relayed by Earl on 18 September 2026. The labelled image is on this page. Names given: James Burton Coffman, Robert William Coffman, Sue, Lucy, Lydia Mae, Lee Coffman, James David Coffman, Dee Coffman, Mollie Wright Coffman, Lydia Francis Coffman, Ila Belle Coffman, Horace Glenn Coffman, David Coffman, Jesse Coffman. FAMILY TESTIMONY, and graded as such. A relative naming relatives she knew is good provenance; it is not a record, and no document here names a face. This is an addition, not a correction — the photograph's attribution to Dee and Mollie Coffman's family was never in question, and is unchanged. Its weight is that it answers a question this page had been carrying since 16 September: which figures are Dee and Mollie. Ten of the fourteen names are new; four agree with the identifications Earl's uncle David Coffman gave two days earlier. Mary Jane "Mollie" Wright has no other photograph anywhere in this record, so the detail on her card is cut from this frame and labelled as a detail. ⚠️ Her circa 1924 is the family's attribution and sits inside this page's earlier 1923–1930 estimate; the photograph still carries no date of its own.
7. S134James David "Jim" Coffman — Texas death certificate, 22 December 1972. Texas State Department of Health, Standard Certificate of Death, state file no. 95942, local file 911, Taylor County, filed 8 January 1973; Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Read from the certificate image at full resolution, 2842 × 2393 px, 21 September 2026. Died 22 December 1972 at the West Texas Medical Center, Abilene, of arteriosclerotic heart disease with congestive heart failure, gradual onset, certified by S. B. Estes of 1502 N. 2nd, Abilene; usual residence Rt. 2, Abilene, Taylor County, rural, on a farm; born 3 September 1881, age 91, male, white, married; occupation stock farmer, cattle. Father David E. Coffman; mother's maiden name Molly Jane Wright. Informant Jesse J. Coffman, his son. Buried Dudley Cemetery, Dudley, Texas, 23 December 1972, Elliott's Funeral Home. It expands his mother's record; it does not correct it. Her grandson gave her name as Molly Jane Wright, which is what the family called her; the formal Mary Jane stands on her own certificate [S81] and in the 1924 photograph's caption [S108]. Same woman, two registers of the same name, and neither displaces the other. ⚠ The certificate gives his birthplace as Dallas, where this page carries Buffalo Gap [S18]; a birthplace recalled ninety-one years later by a son is weak evidence and the conflict is recorded, not resolved. ⚠ It does nothing for the Page County, Virginia Coffman/Kaufman spelling wall — this is a Texas birth three generations below it.
8. S3451880 U.S. Federal Census — Precinct 7, Dallas Co., Texas: David E. and Mary J. Coffman. Ancestry record 7452380. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed David E., 23, farmer, b. Va.; Mary J., 21, b. Tex. of Tennessee parents — twenty months after the wedding. Four dwellings up the same page: Dr James W. Wright, 55, physician, Lucy C., 48, and their children Jesse, 10, and Kate, 7. The first census to show the Wright family itself.
9. S3471910 U.S. Federal Census — Abilene Ward 3, Taylor Co., Texas, ED 266, sheet 16B. Ancestry record 28640074. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed David E., 52, farmer, renting; Mary Jane, married 31 years, mother of 10 children, 7 living; at home Jessie Lee 19, Sue 16, Daisy 14 and Dee Carl 12. Mary Jane's age is written 58, an enumerator slip; her 1859 birth stands.
10. S3481920 U.S. Federal Census — Justice Precinct 7, Taylor Co., Texas, ED 272, sheet 14A. Ancestry record 13175075. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Enumerated 26 Jan 1920, one sheet before the Bowles household (S188). David E., 62, farmer, owns a mortgaged farm; Mary J., 60, b. Tex.; James B. Wright, 64, single, entered as “Brother” — Mollie's brother. The index's “Mary S” is a misread of J.
11. S3491930 U.S. Federal Census — Precinct 7, Taylor Co., Texas, ED 221-31, sheet 4A (RFD 2 Abilene). Ancestry record 60799483. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed David E., 73, owns his home, first married at 21; Mary J., 70, first married at 19; James B. Wright, 74, brother-in-law, widowed. The index's “working on own account” is wrong; the image gives Dee's occupation as None.
12. S350Texas, U.S., Death Certificates — no. 15321, Daisy Holly, 1934. Ancestry record 81672982. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Daisy Holly, born 5 Apr 1896, Texas, died 17 Mar 1934 at 834 Ambler Ave., Abilene, of lobar pneumonia after influenza; husband and informant Owen Holly; father D. E. Coffman, b. Va.; mother Mary J. Wright, b. Tex.; buried Abilene, 18 Mar 1934. A daughter's certificate, attached to her father's hint. The stated age of 36 is the clerk's arithmetic.
13. 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).
14. S10041860 United States Federal Census — Dallas County, Texas, Precinct 2, post office Palace Hill, page 107, dwelling 688 (20 August 1860). Ancestry record 34979679. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed Jas. W. Wright, 35, physician and farmer, born Tennessee; L. C., 28, born Tennessee; Sally, 8, born Tennessee; Jas. B., 4, born Texas; and Mary J., 9/12, born Texas. Next door, dwelling 687: Thomas Wright, 67, born North Carolina, and Martha, 65. 1860 states no relationships. Thomas and Martha Wright next door may be Dr. Wright's parents; that rests on adjacency alone.
15. S1074J. B. Wright — Texas death certificate, 11 September 1937. Texas State Department of Health, Standard Certificate of Death, file no. 47820, Taylor County; Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903–1982, Ancestry record 82243541. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed J. B. Wright died 11 September 1937 at Potosi, Taylor County; born 18 December 1855, Texas; divorced; father James Wright, born Tennessee; mother's maiden name Lucie Brooks, born Tennessee; informant J. D. Coffman, Potosi; buried at Potosi, 12 September 1937. The informant is Mary Jane Wright's son, which ties this J. B. to her family rather than to a namesake. A second child's certificate names the same parents as her own certificate [S81]. FamilySearch indexes this certificate as 1:1:K3HP-2GG; that is the same document, not further evidence.
16. S1099Texas, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1833–1974 — Taylor County Court probate minutes, page 361, case no. 2282, Estate of Mary Jane Coffman, deceased. Ancestry record 1905095. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed June Term 1935, 19 June: on the application of David E. Coffman, the will of Mary Jane Coffman, “of the county of Taylor, and State of Texas”, is admitted to probate and letters testamentary issue to him as the named executor, without bond; appraisers T. O. Massey, Roy C. Fuller and M. M. Meeks; John Camp, judge. The will begins on the same page. Only the first page was read; the rest of the will, including any bequests to her children, is on page 362 and has not been seen. The page does not say how David E. Coffman was related to her.
17. S11321870 U.S. census — Precinct No. 1, Dallas County, Texas, p. 265, dwelling 1706 (29 September 1870). Ancestry record 5099456. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed Wright, James W., 45, physician, real estate $1,800, personal estate $969, born Tennessee; Luciana, 38, keeping house, born Tennessee; Jones B., 14, Mary J., 10, and Jesse, born in August, all born in Texas; in the same household W. A. Brooks, 35, farm worker, born Tennessee, and Gibson, 5.