Mary and the African American church

[Steve]

To add just a little more confusion to the "Mary Coakley being Mary Lincoln's dressmaker" matter, I checked the 1870 census record and Mary Coakley is only listed as a housewife and she's not listed in any city directories as a dressmaker either. But there is a different Coakley family of dressmakers. There's a Martha Coakley dressmaker listed in the 1863 Washington Directory. So it's possible the author of the 1999 book confused Mary Coakley nee' Calloway, wife of Gabriel with a 1974 oral history of this other Coakley family. (Or it could be one of those weird little coincidences of life; but if that is what happened there's still that delay until 1974 before the dressmaker for Mary Lincoln story is recorded.) Either way, a copy of the original 1974 interview should be found to be sure.

Here's images from 1862 and 1863 District of Columbia directories:

   

   

   


Martha Coakley Find A Grave page:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142784284