Notes for James Wesley Coker

Notes for James Wesley Coker

!US Census 1870 (1 July) Illinois, Schuyler Co., Birmingham, Birmingham PO, Roll M593_276, Page 20, House No. 52, Lines 30-33: James Coker (b. 1842 - 28 - in IL - Occ: Farming - Property Value $2500 + $530) married to Mary (b. 1842 - 28 - in NC). Children listed (born in IL) are: Ulysses G. (son b. 1866 - 4); and Clayborne N. (son b. 1868 - 2)

!US Census 1900 (6 June) Missouri, Greene Co., Republic Township, Roll T623 856, SD 8 ED 54, Sheet 6A, Page 145A, House No. 124, Lines 23-25: James W. Coker (b. Mar 1842 - 58 - in IL - Occ: Day Laborer - Fa: GA and Mo: IN) married 38 years to Mary E. (b. July 1842 - 57 - in NC - Fa: VA and Mo: VA) having 6 children born and 6 still living. Child listed is: James G. (son b. Feb 1877 - 23 - in IL - Occ: Farmer)

!The Cokers of Carolina by Simpson: James Wesley Coker was one of ten children born to Claybourne Coker and Elizabeth Hale. He was born in Morgan County, Illinois, Mar 15, 1842. He was reared on a farm and he married Mary Elvira Robertson on February 21, 1862, in Jacksonville, IL, by a justice of the peace. Record of marriage is in Morgan County, Illinois. He was nearly 20 years of age and she was nearly 19.
August 7, 1862, he volunteered for service in the Union Army with Regiment 101, Illinois Infantry. Private Company K Volunteers, where he fought until the end of the Civil War in 1865. He was with General Sherman in his "March from Atlanta to the Sea," which included the siege of Chattanooga. General Sherman's men carried supplies from Bridgeport, Alabama, to Chattanooga during the siege in the fall and winter of 1863-64, and James Wesley Coker was hospitalized both at Bridgeport and Chattanooga that winter and next spring, off and on, so he must have become ill due to exposure during that time.
During the period of hospitalization in Chattanooga he became acquainted with a Confederate soldier named Coker, which must have been James Coker of the Coker clan in South Carolina, son of Caleb and Hannah Coker of Darlington County, South Carolina.
In Simpson's book, "The Cokers of Carolina," report is made of this man's injuries, and hospitalization as a prisoner of the Federal Army; his mother, Hannah, secured permission to be with him and nurse him through his hospitalization. A brother of this Coker was killed in his first battle, and another brother was injured, but recover. The Carolina James Coker was wounded in the Battle of Lookout Mountain at Chattanooga.
Around 1800 some of the South Carolina Cokers migrated to Alabama and Georgia, but does not give their names; we believe they were the immediate ancestors of Claybourne Coker, father of our James Wesley Coker, but do not have the names of Claybourne's parents. We know Claybourne had a brother Dennis Coker, but have no further record of him.