"Elder John Clark - Dear Brother: - By request of relatives I send you, for publication in Zion's Advocate, an obituary of our beloved brother Joseph W. Coffman. He was born in Page Co., Va., March 31, 1829 and died at his residence in Logan Co., Ill., January 13, 1878. He was aficted (sic) with Cancerous Tumor, and after death Physicians extracted it. It weighed forty-two pounds. Notwithstanding the great suffering attending the disease, he bore it all with patience, longing for the change to come. The deceased joined the Regular Baptist Church at Luray, Va., and was baptized by Elder A. C. Booton, Nov. 23 1845. He emigrated to Ohio in 1854, aad (sic) in 1856 to Illinois, where he was an esteemed member of the Lebanon Church, near Lincoln, in Logan county, to which little body his death is a severe blow. He leaves a widow and four children - one daughter and three sons - to mourn his departure from them. He leaves behind him every evidence of a christian, so we sorrow not as those who have no hope, but look forward to a meeting where sorrow never comes. He leaves many friends, who followed him to his last resting place. May the grace of our God comfort and support the widow and children, is the prayer of a well-wisher. James H. Ring, Mt. Pulaski, Ill, Jan. 29, 1878"

believed to be from Zion's Advocate
submitted by great-great-grandson Harold Young