Coffeen Family.

The lineage and history of Henry Asa Coffeen's family has been traced back to Michael Coffeen (1706-1758) who came to America from the Isle of Man in 1723.

Henry Asa Coffeen was born in 1841. He graduated from Abingdon College in 1864 and became a teacher. He moved his family to Big Horn, Wyoming Territory, in 1884, where he ran a general store. When it became known that the railroad was going to run through nearby Sheridan rather than Big Horn, Coffeen moved his store and his family there in 1887. He became a prominent businessman in Sheridan and was chosen to be a member of the constitutional convention that framed the constitution of the new State of Wyoming in 1889. Later, he was elected to the 53rd Congress (1893-1895) of the United States. Coffeen died in 1912.

Henry Coffeen's oldest daughter, Harriet (Hallie), was born in 1866. She was a founder and the first president of Colonial Dames for Wyoming. She was married in 1893 to Edward Gillette, pioneer railroad surveyor and the town of Gillette, Wyoming's namesake. They lived in Sheridan and also owned the Absaraka Ranch located at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains outside of Sheridan.

From the description of Coffeen Family papers, ca. 1880s-1999. (University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center). WorldCat record id: 62294208