Historically, there were more Black people in Omaha’s history than ever thoroughly explored. Census data, newspaper accounts, and other materials constantly allude to people who are simply forgotten, deviously erased, or otherwise not talked about in Omaha. Many of the city’s early Black leaders were notable for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being their determination to settle in Omaha during it’s pioneer era. One of them was a blacksmith named Smith Coffey, and this is his biography.

Early Life & Family

Smith Coffey was born in Kentucky in 1833. There was a large family of enslavers in that state related to a white Smith Coffee (1832–c1860), and as it was custom for freedom seekers to take the name of their enslavers. There is no information available yet describing whether he was a freedom seeker, a freedman, or born free. But we do know Coffey came to Omaha before 1865, the year the Civil War ended.

Settling in the dusty town of Saratoga just north of Omaha City, he lived there for at least 15 years.

Coffey was married to Catherine Green Coffey (1832-1892). In 1869, they legally adopted Lavina Howard and later raised her along with their daughter, Louvena “Lulu” Coffee (1871-1932). In 1886, Lulu was 15 years old when she married a Pullman porter named Thomas Wheeler (1864-1938). Rev. P. A. Hubbard led a huge wedding with more than 100 guests. Catherine died when she was 60 years old in 1892. Six years later in 1898, Coffey remarried Elvina Hill in Omaha.

Throughout his life, Coffey lived at several places throughout Omaha. In the late 1880s, he and Catherine moved to small Black neighborhood south of the Riverside Park at South 9th and Garfield Streets, and that’s where she died in 1892. Right after that, he moved a one-story house in the future Edgewood Park neighborhood at 242 East Fort Street near Eppley. He only stayed there for two years though, selling that house and moving to a new neighborhood in a far northwest suburb called Omaha Heights, located near North 42nd and Redman. He lived there when he died in November 1899.

His Career as a Blacksmith

In the southern states, enslaved men with of significant physical stature were often forced to do the hardest work. When they showed intellectual stature, they were sometimes trained in more technical work skills. Blacksmithing was one of these jobs, and Coffey was a man of significant physical stature.

For more than 30 years in Omaha, Coffey worked as a blacksmith. He was a well-known expert businessman in the city’s metalworking industry. Starting as soon as he got to the Nebraska Territory around 1860, he immediately went to work in Saratoga.

By the early 1870s, Coffey ran a prominent blacksmith shop on the east side of 16th Street between Douglas and Dodge Streets. He ran this location until 1875, when he sold the business. When that didn’t work out though, he kept going on 16th Street into the mid-1880s when he was around 55 years old.

Coffey hired and managed a lot of employees over the decades, including to assist with broader land and livestock operations tied to his business, including hiring farm hands in the 1870s. By the 1890s, he ran a blacksmith shop by North 16th and Pratt Streets. Despite health setbacks, in the final years of his life Coffey ran his last shop on Cuming Street until his death.

Religious and Social Life

Coffey was really important in Omaha’s Black community for a lot of reasons, including his role in business, politics, and religion.

Almost right after he arrived in the Nebraska Territory, and two years before it was made a state, Coffey was a founding member of St. John’s African Methodist Episcopal Church. He and fellow organizers Granville Thompson, John Thompson, Dan Williams, and John Lewis helped establish the very first African American congregation in both the city and the state. He was devoted to St. John’s for the rest of his life, and in July 1883, when the congregation set out to build a new brick church at North 18th and Webster Streets, he was a member of a special fundraising committee.

Coffey was an important member of the Prince Hall Masons in Omaha. After starting in 1878, he became a leader of the Nebraska Grand Lodge of Colored Masons in April 1879 and helped organize a grand parade and banquet that year. He also led civic festivities too, and in October 1888, he was an event manager for a grand ball hosted by the colored social club at the Dodge Light Guards’ Hall in Council Bluffs.

Big Man in Politics

Politically, Coffey was always a Republican who actively fought for Black political power and representation. He went to a major conference of Black Republicans in downtown Omaha on August 19, 1880, where he was elected as an official delegate representing the Saratoga precinct to the upcoming Nebraska Colored State Convention.

One of the most historically notable things Coffey did was his service as a Black juror in 1881. Official county records show he was paid as a juror, which followed federal legislation and landmark Supreme Court rulings in 1880 that struck down racist jury selection nationwide. That included Nebraska, where they stopped Black people from serving on juries since 1856. Coffey’s service was an early example of a Black citizen sitting on trial juries in Nebraska.

Standing around 250 pounds and renowned for being as strong, Coffey was an powerful figure whose presence was frequently written about in the local newspapers.

In 1876, Coffey was indicted alongside political activist Richard D. “Dick” Curry on charges of assault with intent to commit murder against Edward Rosewater, editor of the Omaha Bee. Testimony revealed that just before the street attack, Coffey had pointed Curry out to a passerby at 15th and Douglas Streets, predicting that lively times were coming. Years later, in December 1882, Rosewater publicly claimed that Coffey and Curry were merely the physical pawns in a deeper conspiracy orchestrated behind closed doors by rival politicians in the local post office—long after Curry was let out of prison for the crime. Coffey never had to go.

Coffey’s fiery nature was real though. In1878, he was arrested after getting into a fight at the polls and knocking down a street commissioner. He pleaded guilty in police court to charges of cursing and disturbing the peace and paid a $5 fine.

He also showed a compassionate side. In August 1876, a severely abused runaway boy fled to Coffey’s house seeking shelter. The boy’s presence triggered a national sensation when neighbors noticed his uncanny resemblance to Charley Ross, a famous kidnapped child from Philadelphia. Though telegraphs between Omaha and Philadelphia police ultimately proved they weren’t the same kid, Coffey’s help proved that the boy was an abducted child caught in a bi-coastal custody battle.

Coffey’s notoriety even spawned colorful rumors across the city. In 1884, after reports swept Omaha that he had drowned during a Sunday fishing trip, a reporter visited his 16th Street forge and found him hard at work, leading the newspaper to publish a lighthearted notice titled “Smith Coffey Still Lives.”

The Death of Smith Coffey

At the end of his life, Coffey ran a blacksmith shop on Cuming Street and lived quietly in Omaha Heights.

He died at his home on the morning of November 15, 1899, following a stroke at the age of 66. Remembered as one of Omaha’s early pioneers, his funeral was held at his house and he was buried at Forest Lawn.

Today, his is an unmarked grave.

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THE LIVES OF BLACK PIONEERS IN OMAHA
Richard D. Curry | Edwin R. Overall | Cyrus D. Bell | Josiah Waddle | Ferdinand L. Barnett | Rev. Annie R. Woodbey | Silas Robbins | Dr. Matthew O. Ricketts | Millard F. Singleton | John Grant Pegg | Rev. John Albert Williams | Comfort Baker | Lucy Gamble Williams | George McPherson | Lewis Washington | Anderson Bell | Smith Coffey

RELATED
Black People in Omaha Before 1850 | The First Black Neighborhood | Black Voting in Omaha Before 1870 | Racist Laws Before 1900

MY ARTICLES ABOUT BLACK HISTORY IN OMAHA
MAIN TOPICS: Black Heritage Sites | Black Churches | Black Hotels | Segregated Hospitals | Segregated Schools | Black Businesses | Black Politics | Black Newspapers | Black Firefighters | Black Policeman | Black Women | Black Legislators | Black Firsts | Social Clubs | Military Service Members | Sports
PIONEER BLACK OMAHA: Black People in Omaha Before 1850 | The First Black Neighborhood | Black Voting in Omaha Before 1870 | Racist Laws Before 1900 |
EVENTS: Stone Soul Picnic | Native Omahans Day | Congress of Black and White Americans | Harlem Renaissance in North Omaha
RELATED: Race and Racism | Civil Rights Movement | Police Brutality | Redlining
NEBRASKA BLACK HISTORY: Enslavement in Nebraska | Underground Railroad in Nebraska | Grand Island |
TIMELINES: Racism | Black Politics | Civil Rights | The Last 25 Years

RESOURCES: Book: #OmahaBlackHistory: African American People, Places and Events from the History of Omaha, Nebraska | Bibliography: Omaha Black History Bibliography | Video: “OmahaBlackHistory 1804 to 1930” | Podcast: “Celebrating Black History in Omaha”