Amanda (Martha) Coffee - Eastland County, TX
N 32° 20.014 W 098° 38.849
14S E 533175 N 3577464
Modern headstones at the final resting place of Amanda ("Martha") Coffee in historic Alameda Cemetery, south of Ranger in rural Eastland County, TX, note that hers was the first grave in the cemetery. She was murdered and scalped by natives in 1866.
Waymark Code: WM1002X
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/31/2019
Views: 3
Today, only modern monuments mark Mrs. Coffee's final resting place. An upright headstone has a flower above the inscription, which reads:
Amanda Henshaw Cofer
1840 -- Illinois
Aug. 20, 1866 -- Texas
She married Lewis Tolton Cofer in 1856
in Texas. Their children were
Pernina Jane, Samuel Sales,
Joseph William and Sarah Gordia.
Below is Her Story
A modern flat headstone has replaced the original grave marker, and it continues the narrative, maintaining the original inscription:
Martha Coffee
Given in honor of Mrs. Coffee, killed and
scalped by Indians in 1860, on the Duffer Ranch.
The first grave in the Alameda Cemetery
Donated by Alameda Cemetery Assn.
There are actually two Findagrave pages for Mrs. Coffee. The first (see Website, below) provides some details about the original grave marker and its replacement, and note how "1860" is provided instead of "1866." Some accounts refer to her as "Amanda", others as "Martha", and it's interesting that both names are used on the two stones. "Coffer" is an alternate version, presumably a regional spelling that reflects the name's pronunciation. The second Findagrave page provides a little more detail, indicating that Mrs. Coffee went to retrieve a filly she had staked out some four hundred yards from the house. She inadvertently stumbled upon a group of natives whose goal was to steal the horse, and despite her being armed with a pistol and firing five shots, they managed to get the weapon away from her, slinging her upon the back of another horse. Something unseen occurred to change the rustlers's minds about taking Mrs. Coffee with them, as they shot, killed, and scalped her within earshot of her in-laws. Her family retrieved her body, and she was buried here four days later on August 24, 1866.
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