These family markers commemorate the first settlement of Coppages or Coppedges in that state and were originally located near the settlement site. Currently, there are three markers:

• St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Church Hill, Maryland;
• Dancyville Methodist Church in Dancyville, Tennessee; and
• Wicomico Episcopal Church in Wicomico, Virginia.

Maryland Marker

On Saturday, August 23, 1952, the Coppage-Coppedge Family Association realized one of its long-sought aims, when, after a delightful trip by Greyhound bus and private car the members of the Association who had just passed over the new Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis, Maryland, gathered on the site of the old Episcopal Church on the Isle of Kent and after prayer offered by Raney Coppadge of Washington, D. C., dedicated on the old stone donated to the Coppedges by the Episcopal Bishop, raised on a brick foundation constructed under the direction of St. Clair Brooks, the bronze marker to Edward Coppedge. About six years later, the marker was moved from the old church site to the farm of John W. Coppage, then located on US 301, 1.2 miles north of MD 302, 0.8 miles south of MD 300, on the east side of the highway.

EDWARD COPPEDGE
 (ca. 1610 – 1677)

FOUNDER OF THE COPPEDGE FAMILY IN AMERICA CAME FROM CHELWORTH, WILTSHIRE, TO VIRGINIA IN 1648 AND PATENTED LAND HERE AT “INDIAN SPRING” ON 25 FEBRUARY 1650. JOHN, WILLIAM THOMAS, AND BENJAMIN COPPEDGE FOLLOWED HIM TO VIRGINIA.
THEY WERE LOYAL TO KING CHARLES I.
ERECTED 1952

Tennessee Marker

This marker is for John Jackson and Isabella Rhea (Paxton) Coppedge, located in the Dancyville Methodist Cemetery in Dancyville, Tennessee. It identifies John Jackson “Jackie” Coppedge as the “Head of the Haywood County, Tennessee, Coppedges.”

John and Isabella married on 26 October 1820 in Virginia. Shortly after marriage, they migrated to Dickson County, Tennessee, which is now just west of Nashville, where their first child (William Lindsey) was born in 1821. By 1828, they settled in Dancyville, Tennessee. There were a dozen children born to the marriage. Unfortunately, Isabella passed away in 1842. Jackie married Elizabeth Pankey Alexander, who passed away within two years. They had no children. He then married Mary Malessa Barnett. They had three children.

In total, Jackie had 15 children and at least 85 grandchildren, which is why he was considered the head of the Coppedge family in Haywood County.

Virginia Marker

This bronze marker, representing the culmination of ten years of planning by members of the Association, was presented to the membership at the Norfolk reunion held by President Mary Susie Coppedge on August 21-23, 1959. The marker has been taken to Northumberland County, the site of settlement of Edward Coppedge, later of Isle of Kent, Maryland, and of his nephews William Thomas, and Benjamin Coppedge. From Edward Coppedge descended the Maryland Coppages, while the Virginia branch descended from William through his sons John and Charles. This marker, similar in design and casting, matches one dedicated in 1952 at Isle of Kent, Maryland, and is now mounted on Coppedge land there. The Virginia marker is to remain at Wicomico Church, the site of the largest Episcopal church of colonial Virginia. A Kentucky marker, in honor of the Coppage pioneers in forts, one of whom, Alexander was scalped by Indians, would seem now to be in order for the CCFA.

EDWARD COPPEDGE
(ca. 1610 – 1677)

FOUNDER OF THE COPPEDGE FAMILY IN AMERICA CAME FROM CHELWORTH, WILTSHIRE, TO VIRGINIA IN 1648. HE WAS FOLLOWED BY JOHN COPPEDGE OF LOWER NORFOLK AND WILLIAM, THOMAS. AND BENJAMIN COPPEDGE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, WHERE EDWARD OWNED LAND IN CHERRY POINT IN 1653 AND LATER NEPHEWS WERE VESTRYMEN OF WICOMICO PER ANNOS CCCXI.

ERECTED 1959 BY COPPEDGE FAMILY ASSOCIATION