John,
This is not my direct line, so I don't look at postings very often..sorry for the delay. Nellie Cofield was the daughter of Mary Barbee (1854) and Thomas Cofield.
Jefferson and Franklin Counties in Illinois share a border. Several of the families intertwined with the Barbees lived near those borders...including my Harshbarger/Sexton family.
I also have nine children for William and America Harshbarger Barbee. I think what I have is fairly accurate. The problem is the common practice in this area/time period of using middle names instead of first names.
K