US Congressman. Elected as a Jacksonian to represent Georgia At-Large in the Twenty-Third and two succeeding Congresses, he served from 1833 until his death. Born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, he moved to Georgia with his planter father at age 18 and acquired his own plantation near Jacksonville, Telfair County, in 1807. During the Creek War (1813 to 1814) he served as a General in the State Militia, and the supply problems he encountered along the Georgia and Florida frontiers led him to propose the construction of a road linking the two. Old Coffee Road, as it is now known, was built under the supervision of Coffee and Thomas Swain and opened in 1823. It ran southwest from Swain's Ferry at the Ocmulgee River near Jacksonville, Georgia to Tallahassee, Florida, and as the region's first vehicular route it was of great aid to settlers. Much of the thoroughfare is still in regular use. From 1819 to 1827 Coffee served in the State Senate. He died at his plantation eight days before the 1836 Congressional elections; news of his death did not reach the Jacksonian Party in time and he posthumously won a third term in the US House. William Crosby Dawson was specially elected to fill the vacancy. Originally buried on his property, Coffee was reinterred at McRea City Cemetery in 1921. There is also a cenotaph for him at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. He is the namesake of Georgia's Coffee County and General Coffee State Park.
US Congressman. Elected as a Jacksonian to represent Georgia At-Large in the Twenty-Third and two succeeding Congresses, he served from 1833 until his death. Born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, he moved to Georgia with his planter father at age 18 and acquired his own plantation near Jacksonville, Telfair County, in 1807. During the Creek War (1813 to 1814) he served as a General in the State Militia, and the supply problems he encountered along the Georgia and Florida frontiers led him to propose the construction of a road linking the two. Old Coffee Road, as it is now known, was built under the supervision of Coffee and Thomas Swain and opened in 1823. It ran southwest from Swain's Ferry at the Ocmulgee River near Jacksonville, Georgia to Tallahassee, Florida, and as the region's first vehicular route it was of great aid to settlers. Much of the thoroughfare is still in regular use. From 1819 to 1827 Coffee served in the State Senate. He died at his plantation eight days before the 1836 Congressional elections; news of his death did not reach the Jacksonian Party in time and he posthumously won a third term in the US House. William Crosby Dawson was specially elected to fill the vacancy. Originally buried on his property, Coffee was reinterred at McRea City Cemetery in 1921. There is also a cenotaph for him at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. He is the namesake of Georgia's Coffee County and General Coffee State Park.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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