Re: coody or coodey spelling

Well, you asked.According to Mr. R.S. Phifer of Jackson, MS:

Origin of COODY name: England and Ireland

A Frenchman, whose name was ODO, came to Ireland or England following the Norman conquest. Following the Scottish custom of using the letters "MAC", to indicate 'son of', we have MacOdo, plus a lot of similar names. MacOdo became a Bishop. In stating the place of residence, the French preposition was used, abbreviated to 'y'. For example, it would be: Macodo y Cork. This became corrupted, in various ways, and gave the names Cooley, Coody, Coode, Coote, etc.

In those days, the church words for "Bishop" were often used as "Deacon", both indicating a servant of the church. Thus, we have Archbishop and, in some instances, it was Archdeacon, spelled Archdeakin. The name Archdeakin was used in some branches of the Coody or Coode families, and some Archdeakins are in Georgia today.

The first Coody came to America before 1700, and settled in the tidewater counties of Virginia. Some went to Maryland, and one was a Baptist preacher. Some others went to Kentucky with Daniel Boone. they seemed to have followed the tide of immigration into North Carolina and thence to Georgia.

From Georgia, three brothers came to Mississippi in 1912, coming by ship from Savannah to Fort Nogales, now Vicksburg. One of these brothers went to Arkansas; one went up the Yazoo river and settled in the North of Satartia, MS, at O'Neils Landing, which is a place where the river comes to the hills.

One of these brothers was Archibald (from "Archdeakin" or "Archbishop" maybe?) Coody, who remained near Vicksburg. With him was a son, Archibald Coody II, who was born in 1801.

You probably have all of the genealogy from that point.

Hope this was enlightening, albeit possibly not completely correct.