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About Hugh William (Will) Caffey:

THE TRIBUTE OF A FRIEND. from: Confederate Veteran By Confederated Southern Memorial Association
In memory of his friend of many years, Joe H. Bowman, of Franklin, Tenn., writes this of Dr. Hugh William Caffey, whose death is recorded in the Last Roll this month :

"I first became acquainted with Dr. Caffey in the winter of 1864, when he came home on furlough. I was at that time an inmate of his home in Alabama, being one of a number of soldiers who were wounded on the 22d of June, 1864, near Marietta, Ga., and sent to Montgomery. Finding all hospitals in that city full, we were sent out to a field hospital on the banks of the Alabama River. The good people of Collirene, the wounded for them to take care of. The last night in June about twenty-five of us were put on a boat, and when we reached Benton the next morning we were met with carriages and other pleasure vehicles and taken ten miles through the country to one of the prettiest hamlets one would wish to see. A great round hill with a level top was where the Dunklins and Pierces lived, while Dr. Carrey's mother, two sisters, and his three children lived on the north side at the foot of the hill, and Mr. Robert Rives on the south side. Mrs. Lizzie Pierce gave the use of her handsome home as a hospital, each and all of the good citizens contributing toward keeping up the home, for such in truth it was. The elderly ladies took week about as matrons. Some of the wounded boys went out in the neighborhood, but most of us stayed at the home, so Dr. Clay Dunklin, who gave his services as surgeon, would not have to ride so much. It was an ideal home. Close by were the schoolhouse and the Baptist church, and such an elegant and cultured citizenship ! Is it any wonder, then, that a man growing up with such surroundings should be a model Christian gentleman? "Our friendship has lasted all these years. He and his good wife, his children and grandchildren have been guests at my home in the days since the war, and it has always been my pleasure, as it has been my privilege, to entertain them. "A more elegant Christian gentleman one does not often meet. I last saw him this fall when he and his wife were on a visit to their daughter, Mrs. G. R. Buford, in Franklin. I shall never forget the last evening we spent together. He talked of dying just as if he were going on a journey to visit a friend. "A few years ago Dr. Caffey made request of an old friend, Dr. W. B. Crumpton, of Montgomery, Ala., to conduct his funeral services, telling him that he was admonished by rapidly growing infirmities that he could not remain here much longer. He chose as bis funeral text : 'I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.' He selected the hymn, 'My faith looks up to thee, thou Lamb of Calvary,' to be used at his funeral, and his wishes were carried out to the letter. All business houses in the town were closed, as were the schools, and the entire citizenship attended the burial, every one realizing that a friend of humanity had passed. "Thcre were three of the Caffey boys. Thomas and Hooper belonged to the 3d Alabama Infantry. Thomas was wounded several times, but survived the war and died in 19x14. [Readers of the VETERAN will remember the interesting letters written by him to his mother and sisters during the war which appeared in the VETERAN duririg 1918.] Hooper was wounded at Gettysburg, July 3, and died from his wounds September 13, 1863. So it is evident they 'were all good Confederates. And while this was so, during our recent World War Dr. Caffey did everything he possibly could to aid the government. He had two grandsons in France, who gave good account of themselves, and his entire family did their part in aid of the cause. "He has left an honorable record as citizen, soldier, and, best of all, as a sincere Christian. As one of his children said to me : 'My feeling is more of thankfulness that my father was spared so long than of sorrow that he has gone. In his long, useful, happy life he has left me the best heritage that was possible." "He leaves to mourn their loss his devoted wife, three children of the first marriage ? Mrs. Carrie Dudley, of Pleasant Hill, Ala. ; Mrs. May Catts, of Verbena, Ala. ; Dr. Hugh T. Caffey, of Leeds, Ala. ? and the children of the second marriage ? Francis G. Caffey, United States District Attorney Southern District, New York; William T. Caffey, of Knoxville, Tenn., General Passenger Agent of the Southern Railway; Mrs. G. W. Buford, of Franklin, Tenn.; and Guy H. Caffey, of Verbena, Ala. ? and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. "May the sod of thy native State rest lightly above thy breast, my true friend!"

Hugh was 14 when his widowed mother moved to Collirene. When he was 19, in 1852, he traveled along with his cousin, Edward Clayton Dunklin, to Charleston, South Carolina, to enter medical school.
Dr. Hugh William Caffey enlisted as a private in Company G, 44th AL Inf., in May 1862, but was soon transferred to the medical department and served as assistant surgeon in Virginia and North Carolina. Family tradition says he was on General Longstreet's staff.

Information on this family from 1860 census for , Lowndes Co, Al. His occupation was a doctor.
Value of Real estate $6,784.
Value of Personal estate $18,080.
1860 Slave census for , Lowndes Co, Al Northern Division shows H.W. Caffey as the owner of 28 slaves with 6 slave houses on his property.
Some info for this family taken from book "Collirene"

Military service: Bet. 1861 - 1865, CSA Asst. Surgeon

Confederate Veteran, Vol. XXVIII, 1920

Dr. H. W. Caffey died at his home, in Verbena, Chilton Co, Ala., on October 15, 1919, aged eighty-six years.

He was the oldest child of Hugh Patrick and Jane Caroline (Dunklin) Caffey and was born near Lowndesboro. Lowndes County, Ala., on February 20. 1833. His father removed to Montgomery in 1836, and on his death, in 1847, the family went to Collirene, in Lowndes County, where Hugh Caffey grew to manhood. At eighteen years of age he united with the Bethany Baptist Church and during the years since he had held important connections with his Church, of which he was ordained deacon in 1859. He graduated in medicine at Charleston, S. C. in 1855 and in January, 1856, he was married to Miss Jerusha May Rives, daughter of Green Rives, of Collirene. His wife died in September, 1861, leaving a son and two daughters. On April 18, 1862, Dr. Caffey enlisted as a private in Company G, 44th Alabama Infantry, Capt. Thomas C. Daniel, with Col. James G. Kent in command of the regiment, which was sent immediately to Virginia. Dr. Caffey was then derailed to work in the hospital at Drewry's Bluff, and when his regiment went to Maryland he was sent with the sick to Richmond, where in the fall of 1862 he was promoted to assistant surgeon with the rank of captain. Failing to get approval of his request to be assigned to service with his regiment, he served until the end of the war in the surgeon-general's department and was paroled at Salisbury, N. C., after the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston's army.

Returning home, Dr. Caffey took up the practice of his profession and the management of his farm. His second wife, who survives him, was Miss Alabama Gordon, a daughter of Maj. Francis Gordon,of Gordonsville, Ala. They were married October 23, 1865, and to them were born three sons and one daughter, All living. He was county superintendent of education of Lowndes County from 1868 to 1871; Worshipful Master of Masonic Lodge, 1870; Chairman Lowndes County Democratic Executive Committee, 1872 to i875; Judge of Probate and County Court Lownndes County, 1880 to 1886.

Removing to Verbena, Ala., in December 1886, Dr. Caffey united with the Baptist Church there and was made deacon. In late years he had been a member of the Chilton County Board of Revenue, Chairman of the County Confederate Pension Board, and a member of the Board of Control of the Confederate Soldiers' Home at Mountain Creek. Ala., and he was also justice of the peace of Chilton County for ten years. There was no U. C. V. Camp convenient for him to join, but Dr. Caffey was always ready and willing to help his old comrades or their widows and orphans, and many of them owe their pensions to his work in getting up their records. Next to his Church, there was nothing he enjoyed more than being with the "boys of the sixties."

1880 Census,Collirene Beat 3, Lowndes, AL
Hugh W Caffey , Head, 47,al,nc,nc,
Alabama Caffey , Wife, 38,al,Tn,Tn,
Hugh T Caffey , Son,20,al,al,al,
Francis G Caffey , Son, 11,al,al,al,
William H Caffey , Son, 11,al,al,al,
Evelyn Caffey , Daughter, 7,al,al,al,
Guy H Caffey , Son, 1,al,al,al,
Thomas Caffey , Brother , 49,al, al,al,

HUGH WILLIAM, physician, was born at Lowndesboro, February 20, 1833, and died at Verbena, October 15, 1919; son of Hugh Patrick and Jane Caroline (Dunklin) Caffey (q. v.) ; grandson of William and Ann Hendrick (Hamilton) Dunklin, both natives of South Carolina who removed to Alabama in 1819, first settled in Butler County and later near Collirene Hill, Lowndes County; great- grandson of Joseph and Jean (Wathin) Dunklin, the former an emigrant to America from England, the later from Wales, who met on the ship and were married shortly after their arrival at Charleston, S. C., and the former appointed, January 16, 1777, inquirer and collector of St. Mathews Parish, including Orange- burg Township, and of Thomas and Temperance (Arnold) Hamilton, the former a native of Belfast, Ireland, who emigrated at the age of four with his parents to America: great-great-grandson of David and Margaret (Carlisle) Hamilton, of Belfast, Ireland, who emigrated to America in 1762, and settled in South Carolina, and of Benjamin and Ann (Hendrick) Arnold, of South Carolina. Dr. Caffey received his early education in Lowndes and Montgomery Counties, and in March, 1855, graduated with the degree of M. D. from the Medical college of South Carolina, at Charleston. He practiced medicine at Collirene, 1855- 62, at the later date enlisting in the C. S. Army as a private in Co. G., 44th Alabama volunteers, was later put in charge of the hospital at Drewrys Bluff, transferred to Hollywood hospital, Richmond, and finished the remainder of his service as surgeon general, with the rank of captain, in North Carolina. After the War he returned to Lowndes County and resumed the practice of medicine; WMs county superintendent of education, 1870-73; justice of the peace of Collirene, 1876; judge of the county court, 1880-86; and judge of probate and ex-ofilcio chairman of the board of revenue of Lowndes County, 1880-86. He removed to Chllton County in 1886 where he practiced medicine; was a member of the Chilton County board of revenue, 1890-1896: chairman of the Chilton County Confederate pension board, 1880-86; member of the bonrd of control of the Confederate soldiers' home. Mountain Creek, 1910-12, and justice of peace from 1906 for many years. He was a Democrat; a Baptist; and a Mason. Married: (1) January 2, 1856, to Jerusha May, daughter of Green and Jerusha May (Paisley) Rivers, of Lowndes County; granddaughter of Green Rivers and of John and Jerusha (May) Paisley, of Savannah, Ga. ; great granddaughter of William Rivers of English descent, who lived in Virginia and later in South Carolina; (2) to Alabama, daughter of Francis and Eliza (Caperton) Gordon (q. v.). Children: by first wife: 1. Caroline May, m. Francis Gordon Dudley, of Pleasant Hill. 2. Lela Mae, m. John Smyly Catts, of Verbena; 3. Hugh Thomas, m. Lillian Minter, of Leeds; by second wife: 4. Francis Gordon, (q. v.) ; 5. William Hooper, division passenger agent. Southern railway, Charleston, S. C., m. Elizabeth Olive Hunt; 6. Evelyn, m. Gaston Reedy Buford, of Atlanta, Ga.; 7. David Hamilton, d. in infancy; 8. Guy Hamilton, m. Mamie Barber, of Verbena. Last residence: Verbena.

About Jerusha May Rives:

Jerusha May, daughter of Green and Jerusha May (Paisley) Rivers, of Lowndes County; granddaughter of Green Rivers and of John and Jerusha (May) Paisley, of Savannah, Ga. ; great granddaughter of William Rivers of English descent, who lived in Virginia and later in South Carolina;

Cause of Death: brain congestion