Tristram Coffin was 1 of 8 original owners of Nantucket Island in 1659 for 2 beaver hats and 30 pounds sterling (coins). The 8 had purchased Nantucket from The Mayhews. William Parkman, father of Reverend Ebenezer Parkman, married Elizabeth Adams who’s parents were Alexander Adams and Mary Coffin of Nantucket, sister of Tristram Coffin, Sr. co-founder of Nantucket.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8449256

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Generation Thirteen
Dec 1 1627, Peter Coffin – Brixton England, will proved Mar 13 1628, To Joan, land during her life, and at her decease to go to his son and heir Tristam, ‘who is to be provided for according to his degree and calling’. To son John certain property when 20 years of age. mentions daughters, Joan, Deborah, Eunice, Mary. He refers to tenement in Butlers parish called Silverhay. *May 1661- His widow Joan died in Boston Mass. The Rev. Mr. Wilson who preached the funeral sermon spoke of her as a woman of remarkable character. One Hundred Sixty Allied Families by John 0. Austin ** was born in 1584 at Brixton, Devon, England. He married Joan Kember, daughter of Robert Kember and Anne (  ?  ), in 1604 at Brixton, Devon, England. He died in 1628.

Children of Peter Coffin and Joan Kember were as follows:
(1605-1688) Christian; married Thomas Davis.
(1609-1681)Tristam, born at Plymouth, Devonshire, England; married Dionis Stevens. (see bellow)
(1611-1681) Joan; married Joseph Hull; born at Brixton, Devonshire England.
(1613)Peter.
(1616) Deborah; born at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married William Stevens, son of Robert Stevens and Dionis (  ?  ), 25 Jun 1640 at England.
(1617-1648) Eunice; born at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married William Butler after 1642.
(1619) Mary, born at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married Alexander Adams.
(1625)John; born at England; died 1642 at Plymouth Fort.

http://coffinnz.blogspot.com/2012/12/medieval-line-before-tristrams-move-to.html

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Coffin Coat of Arms

This Coat of Arms is considered the correct Armorial Bearings for the Coffins in America. Adopted by Tristram Coffyn (1609-1681), and featured on the front cover of “The Coffin Saga” by Will Gardner. Although the edition I have is a light silvery blue, and the Coat of Arms is blue.

There are any number of versions of Armorial Bearings for the Coffins, but according to the actual rules, the proper awarded version is technically the only one that can be “used” by the appropriate Coffin line. For example, Sir Isaac Coffin, Baronet was awarded a very specific Coat of Arms for his use as well as any of his dependents.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=10904410&PIpi=115547306

1686   Oldest House and Mary Gardner Coffin
This portrait, attributed to the Pollard Limner, depicts Mary Gardner Coffin (1670-1767). Mary Gardner was born on Nantucket and married Jethro Coffin, grandson of Tristram, in 1686. Their home, built later that year, is still standing on Nantucket. Now known as the Oldest House, it is owned and operated by the Nantucket Historical Association. The Coffin/Gardner marriage symbolized the end of an early conflict in Nantucket society involving their families that was known as the “half-share revolt.” John Gardner and Tristram Coffin were key figures in Nantucket’s early governance. Coffin represented the “full-share” men, or original founders of Nantucket, while Gardner was one of a group of tradesmen who came to work on the island but received only half-shares. Bitter debates between the full-share and half-share parties raged on Nantucket about land rights, who could hold public office, and the future directions for the island. A tentative compromise between the two factions was reached in 1678, but it was not until Coffin’s death in 1681 and the eventual marriage of his grandson into the Gardner family that a full resolution of this conflict occurred.

http://www.nha.org/library/hn/HN-winter2000-timeline.htm

Nantucket marker for Tristram Coffin’s Homestead

Tristram Coffin spoon likeness 1642

Tristram Coffin Medallion – 1642

Tristram Coffin (or Coffyn)^{[fn 1]} (ca. 1609 – 2 October 1681) was an immigrant to Massachusetts from England. In 1659 he led a group of investors that bought Nantucket from Thomas Mayhew for thirty pounds and two beaver hats.^[2]He became a prominent citizen of the settlement. A great number of his descendants became prominent in North American society, and many were involved in the later history of Nantucket during and after its heyday as a whaling center.^[3] Almost all notable Americans with roots in Nantucket are descended from Tristram Coffin, although Benjamin Franklin was an exception.^[4]

England, 1605–1642[edit]

Tristram Coffin was born to Peter and Joanna (Kember) Coffin and baptized in the parish of Brixton near Plymouth, England, on 11 March 1609/10.^[1] He belonged to the landed gentry.^[5] He married Dionis Stevens in 1630 and they were to have nine children, the first five born in England. Coffin was a Brixton church warden from 1639 to 1640, and was a constable in 1641.^[6]

Charles I inherited the throne of England in 1625 and initiated a long struggle with his parliament, which wanted to abolish bishops from the House of Lords and limit the king’s powers. Things came to a head when Charles raised his royal standard at Nottingham in August 1642, and England soon descended into Civil War(1642–1651).^[5] Tristram Coffin’s only brother John received a mortal wound at Plymouth fort, although it is not known exactly when or even which side he was fighting on.^[7] Perhaps for reasons associated with these political upheavals, Tristram Coffin decided to leave his estates in England and emigrate to the new world.^[8]

Massachusetts, 1642–1659[edit]

Tristram Coffin sailed to Boston in 1642 with his wife and children, his two sisters and his mother. For a short time he ran an inn in Salisbury, Massachusetts.^[1] He then moved to the new settlement of Pentucket, now Haverhill, Massachusetts. His name appears on a deed dated 15 November 1642 recording the sale of the land for the settlement by the local American Indian people. He is said to have used a plow that he had made himself to cultivate the land.^[9] It was here that his last four children were born.^[6]

In 1648 he left the farm and moved to Newbury, Massachusetts. Here he operated a ferry across the Merrimack River and he and his wife ran a tavern. In 1653 his wife was “presented” for selling beer above the legal price of two pennies per quart. However, she was acquitted when it was found that her beer was much stronger than the ordinary.^[10] Coffin sold the inn and ferry in 1654 or 1655 and moved to Salisbury, Massachusetts, where he signed himself “Tristram Coffyn, Commissioner of Salisbury”.^[11]

Nantucket, 1659–1681[edit]

Tristram Coffin and other Salisbury investors bought Nantucket island from Thomas Mayhew on 2 July 1659.^[12] The purchase price was 30 pounds plus two beaver hats made by his son, also called Tristram. Coffin was the prime mover of the enterprise and was given first choice of land. In 1659 he settled near the western end of the island near Capaum pond.^[6] His sons Peter Coffin, Tristram Coffin Junior and James Coffin also received land on the island.^[13] Soon after settling, Tristram Coffin purchased the thousand-acre Tuckernuck Island at the western end of Nantucket. On 10 May 1660 the sachems conveyed title to a large part of the island to Coffin and his associates for eighty pounds.^[14] He built a corn mill in which he employed many of the local Native Americans, and he employed others on his farm.^[15]

In 1671 Coffin and Thomas Macy were selected as spokesmen for the settlers, going to New York in 1671 to meet withGovernor Francis Lovelace and secure their claim to Nantucket.^[6] As the most wealthy and respected of the settlers, Coffin was appointed chief magistrate of Nantucket on 29 June 1671.^[16] In 1677 he was again appointed chief magistrate for a term of four years.^[17]

Legacy[edit]

Tristram Coffin died on 2 October 1681 at the age of 76.^[1] During the years before his death, he had bestowed much of his property on his children and grandchildren.^[18] He was buried on his property on Nantucket Island.^[6] At his death he left seven children, 60 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. One of his grandchildren calculated that by the year 1728, the number of his descendants was 1582, of whom 1128 were still alive.^[19]

Several of his descendants achieved prominence. His daughter Mary Coffyn Starbuck became a leader in introducing Quaker practices into Nantucket.^[20] A grandson, James Coffin, was the first of the Coffins to enter into the whaling business.^[21] A poem by Thomas Worth written in 1763 says six Captains named Coffin were sailing out of Nantucket.^[3]Sir Isaac Coffin (1759–1839) served during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars and became an admiral in the British Royal Navy.^[22] He founded a school on the island in 1827 to educate descendants of Tristram Coffin – which included almost all the children on the island – with emphasis on nautical skills.^[23]

Some branches of the Coffin family were prominent in New England, grouped among the so-called Boston Brahmins.^[24]For example, Elizabeth Coffin, daughter of a wealthy merchant from Nantucket, was mother of the prominent Massachusetts industrialists Henry Coffin Nevins andDavid Nevins, Jr..^[25] Charles A. Coffin (1844–1926) born in Somerset, Massachusetts, became cofounder and first President of General Electric corporation.^[26]Some retained the family links to Nantucket after the whaling industry had collapsed and many people had left the island. In the eighth generation, Elizabeth Coffin(1850–1930), an artist, educator and Quaker philanthropist, was known for her paintings of Nantucket and for helping revive Sir Isaac Coffin’s school with a new emphasis on crafts.^[27] Among the ninth generation, Robert P. T. Coffin (1892-1955) was an American Poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1936 for his book of collected poems called “Strange Holiness”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristram_Coffin_(settler)

Tristram Coffin signature

Nantucket Early Settlers Monument – Tristram Coffin 1609 – 1681

Tristram Coffin & Dionis Stevens: Nantucket settlers

https://4dtraveler.net/2011/08/14/tristram-coffin-dionis-stevens-nantucket-settlers/

Portledge Manor, The house sits on the edge of Bideford Bay, looking out over the Bristol Channel. The parish of Alwington, Devon, England and the surrounding area was given to the family by William the Conqueror, as part of a reward for loyalty and service during the Norman Conquest. Most of the current house dates from the 17th century, but parts of it have stood since the reign of King Henry III, circa 1234 .

Nantucket whalebone 2007

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Tristram Coffin was the American progenitor of the Coffin Family who was also a co-owner/founder of Nantucket.

Tristram Coffin, Sr. was 1 of 8 original owners of Nantucket Island in 1659 for 2 beaver hats and 30 pounds sterling (coins). The 8 had purchased Nantucket from The Mayhews.

Trystram Coffin Sr.’s sister, Mary Coffin married Alexander Adams, who’s daughter Elizabeth Adams married William Parkman, parents of Reverend Ebenezer Parkman.

William Parkman (Elizabeth Adams & William Parkman, Mary Coffin & Alexander Adams,  are all 4 buried @ Copp’s Hill Cemetery in Boston).

Tristram Coffin, Sr., Mary Coffin Adams and Alexander Adams were both Immigrants from England:

https://www.geni.com/people/Mary-Adams/6000000005232467530

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8449256

1686   Oldest House and Mary Gardner Coffin
This portrait, attributed to the Pollard Limner, depicts Mary Gardner Coffin (1670-1767). Mary Gardner was born on Nantucket and married Jethro Coffin, grandson of Tristram, in 1686. Their home, built later that year, is still standing on Nantucket. Now known as the Oldest House, it is owned and operated by the Nantucket Historical Association. The Coffin/Gardner marriage symbolized the end of an early conflict in Nantucket society involving their families that was known as the “half-share revolt.” John Gardner and Tristram Coffin were key figures in Nantucket’s early governance. Coffin represented the “full-share” men, or original founders of Nantucket, while Gardner was one of a group of tradesmen who came to work on the island but received only half-shares. Bitter debates between the full-share and half-share parties raged on Nantucket about land rights, who could hold public office, and the future directions for the island. A tentative compromise between the two factions was reached in 1678, but it was not until Coffin’s death in 1681 and the eventual marriage of his grandson into the Gardner family that a full resolution of this conflict occurred.

http://www.nha.org/library/hn/HN-winter2000-timeline.htm

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Sir Richard Coffin / Coffyn and Pedigree Charts from the years 1066 – 1101 :

https://www.geni.com/people/Sir-Richard-Coffyn/6000000010757581673

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A Coffin incident

Sir William Coffin (1495-1538) was a Devonshire courtier under King Henry VIII having joined the royal household in 1515 as a gentleman of the Privy Chamber.

That which Coffin became known for was an incident that occurred while he was traveling northwards to Derbyshire, and came by Bideford church and cemetery. In the cemetery there was a group of people standing around, not part of a ceremony of any kind so William Coffin stopped to find out what was happening. The situation was that a corpse had been brought to the church to be buried, along with the people who had come to gather for the ceremony, however the priest was refusing to perform the funeral. In payment for the priest to perform the burial rites they required payment from the deceased’s estate, and in this case it was the cow that belonged to the deceased man as he was poor, but the dead man’s friends would not give the cow up. After being told this William found the priest and ordered him to perform the funeral service as it was his job, but the priest still refused to do it without payment. At this, William ordered the people who were gathered there to grab the priest and put him into the hole that had been dug for the corpse and that dirt be thrown in on top of him. The priest continued in his refusal until the man was nearly fully buried in the earth when at last he conceded.

Such treatment of priests was not acceptable, even during the period of the Dissolution, and William would have expected to receive punishment for this incident, and even perhaps have been executed for such a crime against a man of God. King Henry VIII was informed of the incident and as a result William was summoned before Parliament. For anyone else this would not have ended well, anyone else would have ended up in the Tower or executed. However, Sir William had a number of friends in the House as well as at court and they were loyal to him and he avoided punishment. In fact, he turned it around and brought to Parliament’s attention the negative consequences of priests demanding payment (mortuaries) for church services. He drew the attention of the matter away from his personal actions onto the wider situation of the bad behaviour of clergymen. As a result of this, an Act was passed soon after which stopped practices including mortuaries.

Tomb of Margaret Coffin – 1539 +

His presence at court is first recorded when William attended the King in Guisnes in 1519 and took part in the tournament, and later at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.

In 1529 he became a Member of Parliament for Derbyshire, despite him being born in Devonshire, due to his wife Margaret Dymoke, daughter of the Hereditary Royal Champion Sir Robert Dymoke, having connections to that county; her first husband was Derbyshire man Sir Richard Vernon of Haddon Hall.
In 1533 William Coffin was the Master of the Horse at the coronation of Anne Boleyn and throughout her reign as queen, as well as that of Jane Seymour. He also became the steward of Queen Jane’s manors of Standon and Hitchin in Hertfordshire. In this office, on the 17th October 1357 William received the official surrender to the Crown of the Hitchin Priory from the Prior, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
On the 18th October 1357 William Coffin was knighted, however he did not get to enjoy this position for long as on the 8th December 1538 Sir William had died of the plague.
William and his wife had no surviving children, therefore his heirs were his wife Margaret and his nephews William Coffin the elder, William Coffin the younger and Richard Coffin. Margaret remarried again shortly after to Richard Manners in 1539.

St Mary’s Church, Standon

Sir William is buried in the church in Standon, commemorated by this inscription;

"Here lies William Coffin, Knight, sometime of the privy chamber with his sovereign Lord King Henry the eighth, Master of the Horse unto queen Jane the most lawful wife unto the aforesaid King Henry the eighth, and high steward of all the liberty [and] manor of Standon in the county of Hertford, which William deceased the eighth day of december Anno domini 1538, [in] the thirtieth year of the reign of King Henry the eighth"

http://cupboardworld.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html

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Sir Richard Coffin 1456 – 1523

Details from Easter Sepulchre monument to Richard Coffin: left: arms of Coffin; right: entwined initials “RC”, two sets in spandrels of canopy

Easter Sepulchre monument to Richard Coffin (1456-1523) of Heanton Punchardon and Portledge, Alwington. North wall of chancel, Heanton Punchardon Church

RC initials for Sir Richard Coffin

Sir Richard Coffin 1456 – 1523

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Coffin_(1456-1523)

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Sir James Coffin 1551 –  Detail of James Coffin monumental brass,^[6] Monkleigh Church.

16th century mural monument to a kneeling knight, featuring heraldry of the Coffin family. Monkleigh Church, high up on north wall of chancel. Monumental brass depicting a bearded knight, said to represent James Coffin (d.1566)^[6] kneeling in prayer, surrounded by heraldic escutcheons depicting the arms of Coffin: Azure, three bezants between eight crosses crosslet or

Arms of Coffin family, lords of the manor of Monkleigh: Azure, three bezants between eightcrosses crosslet or, and right as seen on 16th century Coffin mural monument in Monkleigh Church, with a crest of a bird of some variety

Inscribed slate mural monument to Jane Coffyn (d.1646), Monkleigh Church, west wall of north transept. Inscription: “Resurgimus” (we will rise again) “Jane the eldest childe of John Coffyn Esqr wife of Hugh Prust, gent, 13 Mons” “who w(i)th her chrisome son(n)e was buried nere this place the first of July 1646”.
“A mayde a wife in wife and right accord,
She liv’d she di’d true servant of the Lord.
Aetatis suae 27” (of her age 27). At the top is a heraldicescutcheon showing the arms of Prust impaling the arms of Coffyn.^{[nb 1]}

Descent of the manor

The Domesday Book of 1086 records Monkleigh as Lege, the ninth of the 79 holdings in Devon as tenant-in-chief, of Robert, Count of Mortain(c. 1031–1090) the half-brother of William the Conqueror. His tenant at Monkleigh was a certain Alured, modernised to Alfred. Before theNorman Conquest of 1066 it was held by the Saxon Ordulf, thought to represent the Anglo-Saxon name “Ordwulf”.^[1]

During the reign of King Stephen (1135-1154) the manor of Monkleigh was granted by its then holder “Alfred the Butler”, together with his other estates of Frizenham (in the parish of Little Torrington.^[2]) and Densham (in the parish of Woolfardisworthy^[3]), to Montacute Priory.^[4][5]

Coffin

 Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a lease of the manor of Monkleigh was granted by the crown gratis on 26 August 1540 for the term of their lives to James Coffyn of Alwington and Anne his wife^[7] It was valued at £21 11s 6d per annum, but unusually no charge was made for the grant. As is recorded in the text of the royal grant Anne was the widow of Sir George St Leger of Annery,^[8] the chief estate within the manor of Monkleigh.

James Coffin was the second son of John Coffin of Portledge, in the parish of Alwington. He was still living in 1551 when he was mentioned in the will of his eldest brother Richard Coffin (d.1555) of Portledge. The Coffin family is one of the most ancient of Devon families. Tristram Risdon (d.1640) stated: “Alwington…the manor whereof hath been in the name of Coffin even from The Conquest“.^[9]

On 11 June 1544 the crown granted the manor of Monkleigh, subject to the life interest of James Coffin and his wife, to Sir John Fulford of Dunsford and Humphrey Colles of Barton, Somerset, along with other grants of property. For Monkleigh manor they were charged £194 3s 4d, representing 10 years’ purchase of its annual value. They were also granted Monkleigh Woods for £29 13s 6d, representing 20 years’ purchase^[10] Fulford and Coles paid the purchase price in full on 2 June 1544 and just one week later obtained royal licence to alienate to James Coffin of Alwington, the life tenant.^[11]

A small monumental brass of a kneeling knight exists in Monkleigh Church high up on the north wall of the chancel, affixed to a stone tablet on which are sculpted several heraldic escutcheons of the arms of Coffin (Azure, three bezants between eight crosses crosslet or)^[12] impaling arms of their heiresses. Pevsner suggests a date for the brass of 16th. century and that the stone tablet on which it is now affixed was originally part of a now lost 16th. century monument.^[13]

The next member of the Coffin family recorded by the heraldic visitations of Devon to have a connection with Monkleigh Church is John Coffin (1593-1622) of Portledge. John was Richard Coffin’s great-grandson.^[14] Three of John’s daughters were married in Monkleigh Church, between 1645 and 1657.^[15] A mural monument exists in Monkleigh Church, in the north transept, to his eldest daughter Jane Coffin (1593-1646),^[16] who in 1645, aged 26, married in Monkleigh Church to Hugh Prust^[17] (1614-1650)^[18] of Annery,^{[citation needed]} within the parish of Monkleigh. She died the next year, as her mural monument records,^{[citation needed]} and her husband died five years later without progeny,^[19] when his heir to Annery became his younger brother Lt-Col.Joseph Prust (1620-1677) of Annery.”^[20]

John Coffin’s son and heir was Richard Coffin (d.1700) of Portledge, Sheriff of Devon in 1683, who in 1648 married his third wife Dorothy Rowe in Monkleigh Church.^[15] His son and heir by this third wife was John Coffin (1649-1704) of Portledge, who was baptised at Monkleigh. He left no progeny and eventually his heir became his heir became his great-nephew Rev. John Pine-Coffin (1735-1824), the grandson of his eldest sister Dorothy Coffin (b.1651) and her husband Edward Pyne of Eastdowne.^{[21][nb 2]} Later in about 1823 his son and heir Richard Pine-Coffin (1770-1833)^[23] sold some land in his manor of Monkleigh to John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (d.1842) for part of the course of the Rolle Canal between about the Ridd limekilns to the Beam Aqueduct, following the left-bank of the River Torridge.^[24] Colonel Richard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin (1908-1974) DSO & Bar, MC, born at Portledge, was a parachute officer of the British Army during World War II. The Pine-Coffin family until recently still possessed the advowson of Alwington Church, making it one of the most ancient lineages in Devon, albeit more recently via a female line, although the mansion of Portledge was converted into a hotel some time before 1959^[25]and the estate of Portledge was sold in 1998, due to a dispute with the Inland Revenue.^[26]

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Manor_of_Monkleigh

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There are 2,079 COFFIN immigrants through Ellis island search:

http://libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger-result

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Peter Coffin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin – 3,000 Slaves passed through this house know as The Underground Railroad’s Grand Central Station

Levi Coffin House

A part of the legendary Underground Railroad for fleeing slaves of pre-Civil War days, this registered National Historic Landmark is a Federal style brick home built in 1839.

Hidden Room

Escaping slaves could be hidden in this small upstairs room and the beds moved in front of the door to hide its existence.

Levi and Catharine Coffin were legendary in helping many former slaves escape to freedom in the North. Levi is often referred to as the President of the Underground Railroad.

Life for a runaway slave was full of hazards. The journey to freedom meant traveling only a few miles at night, using the North Star as a map and trying to avoid search parties. Often, escaped slaves would hide in homes or on the property of antislavery supporters. These stops to freedom were called Underground Railroad stations because they resembled stops a train would make between destinations. “Underground” refers the the secret nature of the system.

To the thousand of escaped slaves, an eight-room Federal style brick home in Newport (Fountain City), Indiana, became a safe haven on their journey to Canada. Undergound Railroad RoutesThis was the home of

Wagon with hiding place.

Escaping slaves were well hidden for their travels in this wagon when grain bags were piled around the hiding area.
Levi and Catharine Coffin, North Carolina Quakers who opposed slavery. During the 20 years they lived in Newport, the Coffins helped more than 2,000 slaves reach safety.

In their flight, slaves used three main routes to cross into freedom: Madison and Jeffersonville, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio. From these points, the fugitives were taken to Newport. African-American Rag Doll – Click for larger view.Once in the house, the presence of the runaway slaves could be concealed for up to several weeks, until they gained enough strength to continue their journey.

So successful was the Coffin sanctuary that, while in Newport, not a single slave failed to reach freedom. One of the many slaves who hid in the Coffin home was “Eliza”, whose story is told in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In 1847, the Coffins moved to Cincinnati so that Levi could operate a wholesale warehouse which supplied goods to free labor stores.

The Coffin house was purchased in 1967 by the State of Indiana. The house was restored and then opened to the public in 1970. The site is a registered National Historic Landmark and is operated by the Levi Coffin House Association.

Levi Coffin

Catharine Coffin

http://www.waynet.org/levicoffin/

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Tubman 1920-1913

Dean & Brenda Parkman, founders

https://m.facebook.com/pages/Parkman-Cattle-Co/225166754173715

Brenda Parkman of The Parkman Cattle Company, Montgomery, AL & I at the Parkman Reunion, Rocky Point Farm, Salem, AL.

The Parkman Line & Parkman Reunion at Robert Parkman’s Rocky Point Farm, Salem, AL 2006 (Daniel & Theresa Parkman are front row @ right side with light blue and black shirts).

Francis Parkman Branch Library
Detroit Public Library

1766 Oakman Boulevard

This attractive Tudor-style library building was opened on April 16, 1931.  The Detroit Public Library located it here to serve the rapidly growing upper middle class neighborhoods that lined Oakman Boulevard near Linwood.  It was designed during Detroit’s decade of most substantial population growth.  The interior is timbered consistent with its Tudor exterior. A great deal of attention was paid to locating this building on its site and to landscaping its campus. It was the eighteenth branch library opened by the Detroit Public Library system.

This library honors the accomplishments of Francis Parkman who was, arguably, the nation’s most prominent Nineteenth Century historian studying the contest between the English and the French to dominant North America.  Since the Detroit area was a major theater for that conflict, it is appropriate to recognize his achievements in the Motor City.

Parkman’s great grandfather graduated from Harvard in 1821.  His grandfather became a highly successful merchant and that was the source, I believe, of the family’s fortune.  Francis Parkman’s father, also a Harvard graduate, was a prominent Boston Unitarian minister. Born in Boston in 1823, Parkman graduated from Harvard in 1844 with a very strong interest in history.  He immediately traveled to the West Coast and wrote a book about the overland trails that then connected California and Oregon to the rest of the United States.  Then he took up the endeavor that occupied much of the rest of his long life—the study of how the English were able to eventually expel the French from North America.  He wrote at least seven volumes on this topic, but I believe that the individual volumes are often seen as distinct books addressing specific issues such as the French exploration of the Great Lakes. Parkman spent time in and around Detroit interviewing people whose ancestors had first-hand information about the contest between the European powers.  He also recognized that Indians could contribute to his understanding since various tribes were recruited as allies by both the French and English.  He interviewed Indians in Michigan and in western states to augment his knowledge of what had happened a century or more earlier.  In 1851, he published A History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac, describing the briefly successful efforts of Pontiac and his warriors in the early 1760s.  Parkman also published a volume describing LaSalle’s expeditions in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River valley.

Parkman had an interesting career.  He published at least one novel but it was not acclaimed.  He became interested in roses and published about them.  Indeed, he amassed so much knowledge that he was appointed to teach horticulture at Harvard for several years in the 1870s.  He also had an interest in photography.  In the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century, there was much agreement that American Indians would quite soon disappear.  Their death rates appeared to be very high and those who observed them saw their population steadily decrease in size.  Quite a number of photographers, including Francis Parkman, sought out Indians to photograph in their native dress and habitat.  I believe that many of his photographs have been preserved.  Although Parkman was seriously ill at several points in his life, he reached age 70.

Twentieth-century historians who specialize in the history of the colonies write extensively about Parkman’s work.  Almost every decade, a large new book is published reviewing Parkman’s endeavors.  It is not that his work is seen as inaccurate.  More recent scholarship may lead to different interpretations of some of the events and people that Francis Parkman described.  Some critics, writing from the perspective of the Civil Rights era, presume that Parkman was too strongly influenced by the cultural values of the Nineteen Century that deprecated the abilities and contributions of Roman Catholics and American Indians.

The Parkman Library was shuttered on March 31, 2010 for a renovation.

Architect: Marcus Burrowes and Frank Eurich
Date of construction 1930 and 1931
Architectural style:  Tudor
Use in 2010: This branch of the Detroit Public Library is temporarily closed for remodeling.
City of Detroit Designated Historic District: Not listed
State of Michigan Registry of Historic Sites: Not listed
National Register of Historic Places: Not listed
Photograph: Ren Farley; July 22, 2010
Description prepared: August, 2010

http://detroit1701.org/Detroit%20Public%20Library,%20Parkman%20Branch.html

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The Parkman Branch opened at its present location on April 16, 1931. It is named in honor of the American historian, Francis Parkman. This branch was the eighteenth in the Detroit Library system and the second to be designed according to a regional plan. The building is situated on a triangular site and the interior features the half-timbered early Tudor style.

Some of the special services and programs this branch offers include a computer lab, a substantial African-American collection for children and adults, popular fiction and non-fiction books, and the Friends of Parkman Branch, which has been active for several decades.

http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/branch/parkman

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Parkman, Wyoming & Parkman, Saskatchewan Canada are both named after Francis Parkman:

Parkman, Wyoming:

Parkman is located at 44°57′19″N 107°17′37″W (44.955199, -107.293584).^[4]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 9.6 square miles (24.9 km²), of which, 9.6 square miles (24.8 km²) of it is land and 0.02 square miles (0.05 km²) of it (0.20%) is water.^[5]

The Crow people called the place Awaasúuachiikaxiia, “house that leans,” because “the original bar in Parkman had a roof that had one side longer than the other.” ^[6]

Parkman Daze is a one-day annual summer event featuring a parade, chuckwagon feed, live music, and a poker-style horse race.^[7]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkman,_Wyoming

Parkman, Canada:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Parkman,+SK+S0C+2E0,+Canada/@49.7088965,-101.911512,14z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x52e06046d185a973:0x98ef931436caa17

Parkman parsonage history:

https://books.google.com/books?id=3OsWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=hannah+breck+parkman&source=bl&ots=OatkynuRW3&sig=ib50CLShSZVpNtDhGgY4ZorHwAM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjiP2Q14DWAhVrrVQKHbq4CTMQ6AEIWjAO#v=onepage&q=hannah%20breck%20parkman&f=true

Parkman parsonage photo 2015

Parkman Parsonage Historic District

Westborough’s Historic District, known as the Parkman Parsonage Historic District, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

It was officially the third of three boundary extensions to the original West Main Street Historic District which was listed in 1987. This significant and interesting area extends the district to include the cohesive collection of well-preserved historic homes important to the community development of the historic center of Westborough. This particular area is significant for its association with the development of Westborough Center from a rural agricultural village to the commercial, industrial, and civic focus for the town. As the community developed and experienced a large economic change from farming to manufacturing, there was dense development around the town center. The area of the Parkman Parsonage Historic District was definitely part of that aspect of Westborough’s history.

The Parkman Parsonage Historic District includes portions of East Main Street, High Street, Lincoln Street, Milk Street, Prospect and Spring Streets. A plaque at the corner of East Main Street and High Street marks a southeastern boundary of the area. Within its boundaries, there are 75 properties, and all but one of the principal buildings are currently residences. In addition to the historic houses, there are also many historic barns and garages in the area.

The large majority (80 percent) of the buildings were built in the second half of the 19th century, reflecting the rapid development around the bustling town center. The houses in the area were primarily for the business owners, merchants, factory workers, tradesmen, and others in the emerging industrial and manufacturing businesses of Westborough. By the end of the century, most of the lots had been developed and construction slowed.

Based on the architecture, the significance of the area spans the period from 1750 to 1959. There are examples of a wide range of architectural types, from Colonial to Bungalow/Craftsman.

The oldest building, a colonial era dwelling, is the Rev. Ebenezer Parkman Parsonage, for which this district is named. It is the only 18^th century structure in the area. Built for Rev. Parkman after the new meetinghouse was erected in 1749, it was located near the meetinghouse on the corner of High Street and East Main Street. The parsonage was built in 1750. Dr. William Curtis moved it to its current location, up the hill to 11 High St., in 1867. The photo shows the Parkman Parsonage today at its present location. Rev. Parkman was the first ordained minister for Westborough, and ministered from 1724 until his death in 1789. He is noted for two published works in his lifetime and a short account of the town. It is recognized that the community prospered under his guidance, and he was truly a significant figure in the history of Westborough.

http://westborough.wickedlocal.com/article/20150617/news/150617118

The Parkman parsonage at 11 High St, Westborough, MA is a single family home that contains 3,313 sq ft and was built in 1750. It contains 8 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. This home last sold for $252,000 in August 1995. The Zestimate for this house is $594,284 in 2017.

https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-370411831/parkman-genealogy?rootIndivudalID=2027883&familyTreeID=2

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/103040045/family?cfpid=290024880537

Direct link to Parkman Genealogy with 55,599 Ancestors on my GEDCOM / PAF searchable database:

https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-370411831/parkman-genealogy?rootIndivudalID=2027883&familyTreeID=2

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/103040045/family?cfpid=290024880537

Parkman Progenitors totaling 55,599 ancestors in GEDCOM format with Pedigree Charts and Family Groups click on the ParkmanPAF.paf GEDCOM file uploaded:

Tristram Coffin, Jr. House, 14 High Street, Newbury (Newburyport), MA

Coffin House – now a MUSEUM

1678-1712: Tristram and Judith: First Generation

The significance of the Coffin House lies partly in the age of the original building but more importantly in the way in which it reveals how a home, built in 1678, grew and changed over the years to accommodate the needs of six generations of one family. The earliest part of the house, the southwest ell, is an example of what is known in New England as First Period or Post-Medieval style.

When Tristram Coffin Jr. came to Newbury with his parents, siblings, aunts, and grandmother in 1643, it was a frontier settlement with Indian tribes nearby, wild animals, few roads, and most travel by water. In 1642 there were only 455 people living in Newbury. The town’s economy was primarily a combination of agriculture and husbandry. There was a limited number of artisans and manufacturers. Some of the earliest were weavers, tanners, and shoemakers.

The Coffin family was originally from Devonshire, England, and was somewhat prominent there. Tristram Coffin Sr. was a royalist during the English Civil War. He chose to leave England when the king was deposed and Oliver Cromwell installed. In 1646, the family, with the exception of the two older sons, Peter and Tristram, emigrated, eventually settling on Nantucket. Peter, the eldest son, left for New Hampshire, leaving fourteen-year-old Tristram Jr. the only remaining Coffin in Newbury. It is possible that Tristram was indentured to a local tradesman, as was common. It is also possible that his master was Henry Somerby, whose twenty-eight-year-old widow Judith married the twenty-one-year-old Tristram in 1654.

It was long believed that Tristram brought his young bride to the Coffin House in 1654. However, conclusive dendrochronology has since proven this house to date from 1678. Because we know that Judith inherited a substantial house and many possessions from her first husband, it is assumed that the Coffins set up housekeeping in another house on the lower green near the Parker River. It was in the other house that Judith and Tristram raised their ten children and her three Somerby children as well.

Thus the question remains – why would forty-six-year-old Tristram and fifty-three-year-old Judith move house to the upper green? We know that she still owned the Somerby house in 1705, the year she died. The clue may lie in the death of three of her sons, all in adolescence or early adulthood, in the years preceding the 1678 building of this house. Enoch and Joseph Coffin died in 1675 and 1677 respectively, and her only surviving male Somerby child, Daniel, was killed by Narragansett Indians during King Phillip’s War in 1676. Because Daniel stood to inherit a substantial portion of his late father’s estate, his death made a great deal of land available to the Coffins. With only four children still at home, devastated by the loss of three of their sons, the Coffins left the house in which they had begun their married life, and moved to a small house on the upper green, to land that was most likely slated to pass to Daniel Somerby. We also know that two of the Coffin daughters began married life on October 31, 1677, further reducing the household.

The upper green in Newbury grew rapidly in the 1660s and 1670s as the sons and daughters of the first settlers built homesteads on what had been their parents’ pasture land. Stephen Swett built the house at 4 High Road in 1670, and the Atkinson house on the upper green was built in 1664. The carpenters who built all of these houses adapted the Post-Medieval building style and methods of England to the growing population of Newbury and the more severe climate of New England.

The original Coffin House, or part of it, survives today as the back section, except for the small addition on the southwest corner, which was added in the nineteenth century. Typical of early New England buildings, the main facade faced south to take maximum advantage of the sun’s warmth in winter. There may have been a porch with a chamber above off the south side of the house originally.

1712-1785: Nathaniel, Joseph, and Joshua: Growth and Change

Tristram Jr. and Judith lived in the house until they died in 1704 and 1705 respectively. The house and land were inherited by their youngest son, Nathaniel, who had remained at home with his aging parents. In 1693 he had brought his bride, Sarah, to live in the house. Nathaniel and Sarah had eight children (all but one lived to adulthood), five of whom were born before the deaths of Tristram and Judith. In 1712, the Coffins added the front range to the house. This large and imposing addition faced the High Road and also demonstrates important changes in Newbury in the eighteenth century. The road out front was so developed by this time that houses were reoriented to face it, clearly not the case when the older part of the house was built in 1678. It included refinements such as plaster between the ceiling joists in the southeast chamber and a chamfered roof frame. The house may well have also had a plaster cove cornice along the High Road facade. This elegant feature, introduced in the 1690s, was found in several other substantial Newbury houses built in the period, including the Benaiah Titcomb house and the Pillsbury house. At the time the addition was created, the chimney bay in the ell was made wider and the chimney rebuilt to include fireplaces facing both ways.

Nathaniel, like his father, appears to have combined a variety of activities in order to support his family. On many documents, such as land deeds, Nathaniel is listed as a merchant-tailor, as was his father. However, family account books indicate that he started the tanning business that would sustain the family into the 1800s. Like his father, he was prominent in Newbury affairs. He was a deacon of his church, he served the colony beyond the town as a representative to the General Court in 1719-1721, was Councillor to the Province in 1730, and Justice of the Peace in 1734.

In 1725, Nathaniel’s son Joseph brought home his bride Margaret to set up housekeeping, and the house saw the start of another generation. When Joseph and Margaret moved in, Joseph’s parents and three of his siblings were still living there. Margaret and Joseph had eight children (six survived to adulthood). Joseph and his son, Joshua, like the generations before them, engaged in a variety of activities to sustain the family. They continued in the tanning business, but also maintained tillage land, orchards, pasture, and livestock.

Both Nathaniel and Joseph were active in the local community. They held the office of Newbury town clerk consecutively from 1711 to 1773. The town’s population continued to grow. The first census, taken in 1765, indicates that the town’s population had reached 2,960. The town was an important agricultural community, but manufacturing enterprises were growing.

In 1755, Joseph’s son Joshua married Sarah Bartlett and brought his bride back to the house where his parents continued to live. Joshua and Sarah had twelve children (eight survived to adulthood). Joshua and Sarah also took in apprentices. Historic New England has a copy of the 1772 indenture between a Daniel Mitchell of Wells, Maine, and the Coffins. The agreement is that the Coffins will teach Daniel “the art, trade, and mastery of a tanner…during the term of 5 years, seven months, and 75 days..and also to learn him to read and write legibly…and at expiration of term give him 2 good suits of apparel for all parts of his body, one for the Lord’s day, the other for working days.”

In 1785, the house which had for so many years seen three generations living as one family was legally divided. Edmund Coffin, one of Joshua’s two sons, reached twenty-one and wanted his share of his deceased father’s estate. Consequently, a division was made first between the two sons and their widowed mother, and after her death in 1798, between the two sons. Each had exclusive use of certain rooms, stairways, and cellars with right of passage through some of the other rooms. The “families” lived separately under one roof, using different kitchens and entertaining rooms. The house remained divided this way through the last generation of Coffins to occupy the house.

1785-1893: Lucy and Joshua: Divided Spaces

Edmund and Joseph Coffin legally divided the Coffin house in 1785, and it was their children, Joshua (1792-1864) and Lucy (1811-1893), who lived in their separate spaces through most of the nineteenth century. Joshua graduated from Dartmouth College in 1817 and taught school for many years, numbering among his pupils the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who addressed to him a poem entitled “To My Old School-Master.” Coffin was ardent in the cause of emancipation, and was one of the founders of the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1832, serving as its first recording secretary.

He published A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury from 1635 to 1845, genealogies of the Woodman, Little, and Toppan families, and magazine articles. As an adult, Coffin lived for a time in the downstairs southwest room of the house. Meanwhile, Joshua’s first cousin Lucy lived her whole life in the front range of the house, becoming the sole resident after the marriage of her mother in 1858.

1929-Present: Becoming a Museum

After Lucy Coffin’s death in 1893, the house passed to her sister Elizabeth’s children. The family was well aware of the importance of a house that had remained so unchanged and in the same family for so many years, but was not interested in living in the house. A series of tenants and family members lived in the house for brief periods, but in 1929, Lucy’s niece, Margaret (Coleman) Merriam, who had inherited both sides of the house, made the decision to give the house to Historic New England.

http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/coffin-house/coffin-house-photo-gallery#

http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/coffin-house/coffin-house-history

http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/coffin-house/collections-on-display

http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/coffin-house

The Coffin House is a historic Colonial American house, currently estimated to have been constructed circa 1678. It is located at 14 High Road, Newbury, Massachusetts and operated as a non-profit museum by Historic New England. The house is open on the first and third Saturday of the month from June through October.

The house began in 1678 as a simple structure of two or possibly three rooms on land owned by Tristram Coffin, Jr. About 1713 the house was more than doubled in size, with new partitions added. In 1785, two Coffin brothers legally divided the structure into two separate dwellings, each with its own kitchen and living spaces. The property remained within the Coffin family until acquired by Historic New England in 1929.

Although the house was traditionally dated to 1654 (by Joshua Coffin, author of the 1845 history of Newbury), recent scientific studies have provided more accurate estimates. In 2002, the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory^[1] analyzed wooden beams from the structure and ascertained that donor trees were felled in winter 1676–1677 and 1677–1678 for the original structure, and winter 1712–1713 for the addition. This revised dating means that the Coffin House may no longer be the earliest example of the principal rafter/common purlin roof, although even so it is certainly one of the oldest extant examples. Coffin House is owned by Historic New England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_House

Roger Conant, founder of Salem, MA

My father-in-law of sister-in-law of 3rd cousin 7x removed.

Henry Hudson Kitson created this Roger Conant statue and The Minuteman statue in Lexington.

Birth:	1592, England
Death:	Nov. 19, 1679 Beverly Essex County Massachusetts, USA
Roger Conant founded Salem, Massachusetts in 1626. On June 17,1913 a statue was built and dedicated to him and is still standing in Salem today. Conant built the first Salem house on what today is Essex Street.Son of Richard Conant and Agnes Clark(e) Conant Christianed 09 Apr 1591 in East Budleigh, Devonshire, England Husband of (1) unknown and (2) Sarah Horton, married 11 Nov 1618 at St. Ann, Blackfriars, London, England Father of Sarah (died young), Caleb, Lott, Sarah, Joanna, Roger, Joshua, Mary, Elizabeth and Exercise (a son) Sailed 1623 on ship “Ann” from England to Plymouth, MassachusettsHis suspected burial place is Burying Point Cemetery, Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts, but it has never been determined with certainty.

Family links:
Parents:
Richard Conant (1548 – 1630)
Agnes Clarke Conant (1548 – 1630)

Spouse:
Sarah Horton Conant (1598 – 1670)*

Children:
Sarah Conant (1619 – 1620)*
Caleb Conant (1622 – 1633)*
Sarah Conant Leach (1623 – ____)*
Lot Conant (1624 – 1674)*
Joanna Conant (1626 – ____)*
Roger Conant (1628 – 1672)*
Joshua Conant (1630 – 1659)*
Mary Conant Dodge (1631 – 1688)*
Elizabeth Conant (1635 – ____)*
Exercise Conant (1636 – 1722)*

*Calculated relationship
Burial:
Burying Point Cemetery
Salem
Essex County
Massachusetts, USAEdit Virtual Cemetery info [?]Created by: Mindy Alarcon
Record added: Aug 29, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 5725134

Salem Witch Hunt Statue of Elizabeth Montgomery from tv show “Bewitched”

Salem was founded in 1626 by Roger Conant and a group of immigrants from Cape Ann. At first the settlement was named Naumkeag, but the settlers preferred to call it Salem, derived from the Hebrew word for peace. In 1628, they were joined by another group, led by John Endecott, from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Salem, located at the mouth of the Naumkeag river at the site of an ancient Native American village and trading center, was first settled by Europeans in 1626, when a company of fishermen from Cape Ann led by Roger Conant arrived. Conant’s leadership had provided the stability to survive the first two years, but he was immediately replaced by John Endecott, one of the new arrivals, by order of the Massachusetts Bay Company. These “New Planters” and the “Old Planters” agreed to cooperate, in large part due to the diplomacy of Conant and Endicott. In recognition of this peaceful transition to the new government, the name of the settlement was changed to Salem, a hellenized form of the word for “peace” in Arabic سلام (salaam) and Hebrew שלום (shalom). Samuel Skelton was the first pastor of the First Church of Salem, which is the original Puritan church in North America.

Salem included much of the North Shore, including Marblehead. Most of the accused in the Salem witch trials lived in nearby “Salem Village”, now known as Danvers, although a few lived on the outskirts of Salem. Salem Village also included Peabody and parts of present-day Beverly. Middleton, Topsfield, Wenham and Manchester-by-the-Sea were once parts of Salem.

William Hathorne was a prosperous businessman in early Salem and became one of its leading citizens of the early colonial period. He led troops to victory in King Philip’s War, served as a magistrate on the highest court, and was chosen as the first speaker of the House of Deputies. He was a zealous advocate of the personal rights of freemen against royal emissaries and agents.

1630 (Signified A Desire To Take The Oath)

• Allen, William
• Archer, Samuel
• Balch, John
• Clerke, William
• Conant, Roger
• Gott, Charles
• Graves, Thomas
• Harwood, Henry
• Herrick, Henry
• James, William
• Leach, Lawrence
• Palfrey, Peter
• Phillips, George
• Sharp, Samuel
• Skelton, Samuel
• Trask, William
• Williams, Roger
• Woodbury, John

https://www.geni.com/projects/Early-Families-of-Salem-Massachuetts/7146

Among those who arrived with Endecott on the Abigail in Salem, 1628:

Brackenbury, Brown, Davenport, Elford, Endecott, Gott, Laskin, Leach, Maurie/Morey, Puckett, Scruggs, Trask.

http://winthropsociety.com/settlers.php

18. Captain William Trask immigrated from England & was Militia Captain of the Pequod War.

My 9th Great Grandfather.

https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-370411831/parkman-genealogy?rootIndivudalID=2027883&familyTreeID=2

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/103040045/family?cfpid=290024880697

Birth:	1585 East Coker South Somerset District Somerset, England
Death:	May 16, 1666 Salem Essex County Massachusetts, USA
He was a fisherman who came with the Dorchester Company to Cape Ann in 1624. He came on the Zouch Phenix from Weymouth, England. When the Dorchester Company folded they offered the fisherman the opportunity to return to England. He, along with others moved down the Massachusetts coastline to a place the Indians called “Maumkeg.” It later became a charter for the settlement. It became known as “The Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.” In 1629, he was a member of the First Church in Salem. On October 19, 1630, he petitioned the court to be a freeman. On November 7, 1632, he appointed, along with seven others, to set boundaries between Roxbury and Dorchester. In 1634 he was made a Captain in the Militia.Family links: Children: Henry Trask (1630 – 1683)**Calculated relationship
Burial: Burying Point Cemetery Salem Essex County Massachusetts, USA GPS (lat/lon): 42.52049, -70.89235
Edit Virtual Cemetery info [?]
Maintained by: Find A Grave Originally Created by: Anonymous Record added: Jul 08, 2016 Find A Grave Memorial# 166645167

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=166645167

128.William Trask^{427,428,429,430}, born 1589 in East Coker, Somerset, England^431,432; died May 16, 1666 in Salem, Massachusetts⁴³³.He was the son of 256. Nicholas Traske.He married 129. Sarah ? 1636 in Salem, Massachusetts⁴³⁴.
129.Sarah ?^434,435, born Abt. 1608⁴³⁶; died Abt. 1667 in Salem, MA⁴³⁶.

Notes for William Trask:
The descendants of Captain William Trask, of Salem, Mass. form another branch of the Harris Family Tree.Bessie Trask (1844-1919), who married Arthur Welsford Harris (1871-1941), is a direct descendant of Capt. Trask.
Captain William Trask came to North America in 1624 as a passenger on the Zouch Phenix out of Weymouth, England.This ship was commissioned by the Dorchester Company to establish a community at Cape Ann, Mass.A group of fourteen had remained one year earlier, and the Zouch Phenix left another thirty-two, including William Trask.Cape Ann was not a good site, and the following year a new settlement was established down the coast at Salem.William Trask was one of the founders of Salem, and closely identified with the growth and development of its early settlement.He was active in the civil, military and church life of his community.
Apparently, his wife Sarah was living at the time of his death in 1666, although this doesn’t seen to be consistent with reference to a second wife.
They had six children, and it is through their fourth, William Trask, that we trace our family.He seems to have married a second time, and had two other children.
The Historical Context
In the early years of the seventeenth century England was state of turmoil.Circumstances in the reign of James I (1603-1625) were such that the King and the people were in constant opposition.This antagonism rose from religious, financial and military friction.Parliament no sooner convened than it was dissolved by the King when he didn’t get his own way.Men chafed under such rule and this in part resulted in the emigration of thousands of Puritans and the eventual flight of the Pilgrim Fathers to Holland and America.Despite high hopes when Charles I (1625-1639) succeeded his father, and the prevailing optimistic view that things would improve, Charles proved to be devious indeed and things went from bad to worse for the merchants, the military and the professional men of the towns.
There were problems in New England as well.The trek of English fishermen all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and back every season became more unsatisfactory as their facilities on the New England coast became more sophisticated.It was proving to be expensive to abandon small boats, drying flakes, salting and smoking apparatus, not to mention the enormous amount of time spent on the Atlantic coming and going.Therefore a permanent year-round colony with a settled population, which in addition would give proper attention to religious and civil matters, was regarded as a desirable solution by both businessmen and the liberal element of the Puritan Party in England.
The Dorchester Company
Great emphasis was placed on religion and this was really the incentive which compelled the energetic and far-sighted Rev. John White of Dorchester, England to devote his efforts to the organizing of this new colony.His concept differed from that of the Plymouth Colony as he considered separation from the Church of England to be evil and his colony was to be a place of refuge for men of moderate views.The Dorchester Company was the result of his successful promotion of this idea among the clergy and merchants.It was founded under a grant (or patent) from the Council for New England.Cape Ann was selected for the location of the new settlement.
The Dorchester Company was a joint stock company with a capital of some three thousand pounds.It had 121 members: 50 gentry from Dorset, 6 from Devon, 30 merchants mostly from Dorchester, 20 clergy, several widows and small businessmen, all with Puritan tendencies.It was responsible for sending out the people who would grow corn, hunt for venison, fish and foul and provide a settlement for the fishing industry.Roger Conant was the first governor.No doubt the company was the talk of the whole west country due the publicity circulated on the subject by its booster John White.
Since William Trask’s home was in Somerset near the border of Dorset, he would have heard of the Dorchester Company very easily.He was in his early thirties and no doubt already established by the time he heard of the Company’s plan to take Englishmen to Massachusetts.Evidence exists that he that he may have gone to Delft in Holland in 1623, perhaps to size up the Pilgrims.He made sure that he became part of that early phase of the Dorchester Company.Had he remained in England he would have had a rough time of it in view of what we know of his subsequent activities in Salem.He emerges as an outspoken citizen, soldier, politician and petitioner for all sorts of things.Today he would probably be writing letters to the editor.
Although the fishing connection was not very successful, the nucleus of a colony was nevertheless planted in New England.Ships had left 14 men at Cape Ann in 1623, 32 men in 1624, including William Trask.He came in the spring along with 14 others on the Zouch Phenix from Weymouth, England.
After a year, however, the original company back in England (often called the Adventurers) became discouraged to the point of dissolving the Dorchester Company, thus ending their connection to the Cape Ann Colony.All wages were to be paid and anyone who desired would be brought home to England.At this point Roger Conant and several others including William Trask moved to a more congenial site located slightly down the Massachusetts coast.Fortunately this proved to more suitable for farming and for a permanent settlement.It was called Maumkeg by the Indians.We know it as Salem.
Back in England John White was determined to continue his support and wrote promising a new patent to the group if they would stay on. For awhile the new name was the Joint Adventurers for Settling of Plantation in New England. Those who remained in Massachusetts were henceforth designated ‘the Old Planters’ and eventually were granted choice farm lands.
By the summer of 1627 the new community was thriving but the promised patent had not arrived.So John Woodberry (or Woodbury) and William Trask returned to England to obtain it.This explains why William travelled to New England twice.John Woodberry brought his family on his return, but there is no evidence as to when Sarah Trask, William’s wife, came to Salem.
John Endicott was chosen as the new agent to succeed Conant who nevertheless remained in Salem.The Company’s new name evolved into “New England Company for a Plantation in Massachusetts Bay” but this did not seem to catch on so they tried “The Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England”.This list of titles may thus be recognized as really the same company in different guises and need not cause confusion.
The writings of Gwen Trask provide a chronology of events of William Trask, which are incorporated into the above notes, or as follows.
In 1629 William was member of the First Church of Salem, and on 19 October 1630 petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to be made a freeman.He took the oath the following May.That he was literate becomes apparent as many papers written and signed by him are accessible.He seems to have been a responsible citizen and as early as 7 November 1632 he was appointed (with several others) by the general court to set boundaries between Dorchester and Roxbury.1634 found William Trask on the committee to superintend the construction of fortifications and he was made captain of the Militia this year, in charge of the military defence of Salem.He was always regarded as a military man and was called Captain.
In 1635 Roger Conant, William Trask and three others were appointed overseers of land to set the boundaries of Newbury.This was also the year, the first of four, that he was elected Deputy from Salem to the General Court of Massachusetts.Also in 1635, five farms of 200 acres each at Bass River were granted to the ‘old planters’, one of whom was William Trask.He was sent to ‘apprehend rogues’ and overtook them at Piscataqua.He figured conspicuously in the Piquod War and served in the then wilds of Connecticut with the Eastern Regiment under the command of John Endicott, Col. andJohn Winthrop, Lieut. Col.; asWilliam Trask, Muster Master.
In 1637 William Trask laid out a farm for Mr. Humphrey, Deputy Governor.
He held the position of Captain of Militia in charge of the defence of Salem for ten years when the following directive was set down: “The chief military officer of the band should inhabit in or near the harbour and considering Captain Trask who hath been many years their chief officer dwells so remote from that part of the town as he cannot be helpful upon any such suden occasion, doth hereby discharge him of that office with due acknowledgement of his faithfil and former good service to the country.”This ties in with information regarding his homestead being being in what is now Danvers and a good way inland from the harbour side of Salem.
Captain Trask had several grants of land from the town in addition to the one of 200 acres.In 1636 he erected a mill for grinding corn on the North River at a place later called Frye’s Mills.In 1640 he had permission from the town to set up a tide mill and a fulling mill near his grist mill.On 6 June 1639 William Trask was specially mentioned and received 200 acres “in regard of much service”.Then in 1658 he was granted 400 acres in Pequod County (Pequot or Pequod is now New London, Connecticut).
On 8 June 1657 seats in the Meeting House were assigned to prominent persons for the first time : “Sergeant Porter should sit in the same seat with Captain Trask.”On 22 March 1658: “The foreseat in the gallery apart for William Trask (among several others).”
In 1661 in his 74th year he sent a petition on behalf of his associates in the Pequod War for recompense.This and many other legal papers related to William’s extremely full life are preserved in the Massachusetts Archives in the State House, Boston.His handwriting and style of expression could easily defeat even his most eager descendant at first reading but once one gets the key, the archaic spelling and structure become relatively readable.
At age 77, William died on 16 May 1666 and was buried with military honours.The Trask Burying Grounds was so called because it was next to the Trask Homestead and Captain Trask was probably buried in it (attempts to locate it in recent years have been unsuccessful).
He was survived by his wife, Sarah, whether the first Sarah, mother of the first five or six children or a second Sarah who may have been the mother of the last two or three is not certain.It is sure, however, that the first Sarah was the mother of William, thus the ancestor of the Nova Scotia Trasks.
More About William Trask:
Baptised: Dec 14, 1585, East Coker, Somerset, England⁴³⁶
Burial: The Trask Burying Grounds
More About William Trask and Sarah ?:
Marriage: 1636, Salem, Massachusetts⁴³⁷

Children of William Trask and Sarah ? are:

http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/a/r/Andrew-G-Harris/BOOK-0001/0008-0013.html

This one-drawer chest descended in the Trask family of Salem and was probably originally commissioned by John Trask (1678-1737) around the time of his marriage to Hannah Osborne (1679-1721). It descended through three generations of their family to William Blake Trask (1812-1906), who donated the piece to the New England Historical and Genealogical Society in 1902. An article by William published a year earlier shows the chest in the Boston Street house in Salem of his great-great-great grandfather, William (1640-1691), one of the founders of Salem. Another one-drawer chest attributed to the Symonds shop may have originally been owned by Hannah Osborne Trask or her brother John Osborne (1671-1744) (see Willoughby, fig. 9, p. 177). A genealogical chart showing possible lines of descent for these two chests is illustrated in Willoughby, fig. 6, p. 175.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/important-americana-including-american-stoneware-assembled-by-mr-and-mrs-edwin-hochberg-n08710/lot.225.html

A Flag, a Cross and a Sword

by Robert F. Huber

When the Howland Society’s shallop sailed from Plymouth to Maine in August 2003 the tiny ship was flying the flag of St. George — the flag created a furor in the early days of New England.

It wasn’t a pretty flag — a red cross emblazoned on a field of white — but it did belong to the king of England and was used by the Royal Navy. The trouble was that it had been given to the king by the Pope as a talisman of victory.

The trouble erupted on a cold October day in 1634. Captain William Trask was drilling his train-band in the fundamentals of military operations. Onlookers in Salem saw the men carrying the flag proudly.

John Endecott who had been the first governor of the settlement at Salem saw it and was horrified.

He believed that the red cross… “was a superstitious thing and a relic of antichrist.”

Roger Williams, the outspoken Plymouth preacher, supported Endecott’s contention that the flag “savored of popery” and was “a badge of superstition.”

John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, agreed that the cross in the banner “was the image of an idol, and the greatest idol in the church of Rome.”

Many others in Salem, Plymouth, Boston and other colonies echoed these sentiments, but it took bold action by a bold man to face the issue squarely.

John Endecott cut the offending cross from the flag with his sword.

The emperor Constantine started using the flag with the cross as a military emblem and was intended to ward off hostile forces. Church leaders felt the “superstitious belief” that the emblem had power to protect troops made its use “unacceptable.”

Some more moderate leaders such as Thomas Dudley and Thomas Hooker expressed the belief that the reformation “had succeeded in weaning people from the idolatrous use of such symbols and that the cross on the flag could be accepted as a national emblem.”

The men in power were worried, fearing the London authorities would consider Endecott’s action a slap in the king’s face. An investigation was begun and the results were turned over to the General Court. Endecott was “admonished” and banned from holding public office for a year. He was then jailed. But Endecott was no dumb bunny. He was released the same day after admitting his errors.

As for Roger Williams, the General Court ordered him to “depart out” of our jurisdiction with in six weeks.

This little tempest in a teapot had a happy ending.

Endecott was elected governor of Massachusetts Bay several times and died in office. And Roger Williams fled to Rhode Island and founded Providence. He too became a governor.

And more than 400 years afterward, when the Elizabeth Tilley sailed with her crew of Howland descendants the flag of St. George was flying proudly.

http://www.pilgrimjohnhowlandsociety.org/john-howland/articles/45-a-flag-a-cross-and-a-sword

Essex

The Essex colony started at Cape Ann in 1623 with a party led by Thomas Gardner and John Tylly. For this party, there were two ships with 32 people who were to settle the area commercially. About a year later, this party was joined by a group from Plymouth led by Roger Conant. These efforts, funded by the Dorchester Company, which withdrew its funding after 1625. In 1626, some of the original party, as many left to return to England or to go south, moved the settlement, in hopes of finding more success, to Naumkeag. This settlement worked out and became Salem.^[3]

According to the Essex Institute, the list of old planters, in 1626, who were in Cape Ann before the move were as follows:

Roger Conant – Governor, John Lyford – Minister (went to Virginia, instead of Naumkeag), John Woodbury, Humphrey Woodbury, John Balch, Peter Palfray, Walter Knight, William Allen,^[4] Thomas Gray, John Tylly, Thomas Gardner, Richard Norman (and his son), William Jeffrey, and Capt. William Trask.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Planters_(Massachusetts)

https://www.geni.com/people/Captain-William-Trask/6000000007329877061

The Alliance Between Pilgrim and Puritan in Massachusetts: An Address…

https://books.google.com/books?id=H53sGNJH94YC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=william+trask+a+pilgrim&source=bl&ots=31fi8JFTlY&sig=x7vSsYqJ9_wAZFoChBxzfvv7LHg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX_M6mq93OAhVL5WMKHeHECmkQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=william%20trask%20a%20pilgrim&f=false

The Pilgrims of Boston and Their Descendants: With an Introduction by Hon…

https://books.google.com/books?id=RwspAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA205&lpg=PA205&dq=william+trask+a+pilgrim&source=bl&ots=Nyy0SxMzMK&sig=o_k6lNVAld9IVCTdJadqc03NkdY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX_M6mq93OAhVL5WMKHeHECmkQ6AEIKjAD#v=onepage&q=william%20trask%20a%20pilgrim&f=false

The Pilgrim Republic: An Historical Review of the Colony of New Plymouth

https://books.google.com/books?id=EYMTyhSXv7YC&pg=PA274&lpg=PA274&dq=william+trask+a+pilgrim&source=bl&ots=Ue_XBk29od&sig=UWk-htZ-XWERExnlxBFJNKKAIBw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX_M6mq93OAhVL5WMKHeHECmkQ6AEINTAG#v=onepage&q=william%20trask%20a%20pilgrim&f=false
https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-370411831/parkman-genealogy?rootIndivudalID=2028047&familyTreeID=2

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/103040045/family?cfpid=290024880697

***

John Hathorne kinfolk who was a magistrate judge during the Salem Witch Hunt trials. Folk Figure. Born the son of Anne Smith and William Hathorne, a magistrate and merchant. He married Ruth Gardner about 1675, and became book keeper for his father’s business. He expanded his interests and bought a ship, a wharf, and a liquor license, and became a wealthy man. In 1681, he was granted a tract of land along the wharf to build a warehouse, his business traded to England and the West Indies. He was also appointed a justice of the peace of Essex County. In 1687, he was appointed a member of the council of assistants, a body meant to mediate disputes. In early 1692 when accusations of witchcraft began in Salem Village, he and magistrate Jonathan Corwin were called in to interrogate both accusers and accused to determine if there was cause for a trial. He was said to have been harsh and accusative in his questioning. In May 1692, he was appointed to the panel of the Special Court, and was regularly in favor of convicting those accused. His questioning always seemed to begin with a presumption of guilt. In a departure from tradition, he was known to badger those under examination to confess and to name others as well. The special court was replaced in 1693 by the Superior Court of Judicature, on which he was not seated; it cleared most of the accused. In 1702, he was appointed to the Superior Court, and sat for ten years. His career also included a role in the militia, in which he was promoted to colonel in 1711. He died at the age of 76. His great-great-grand son was author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/103040045/person/292031929728/facts

Medieval line before Tristram’s move to USA

“The Coffin Family may be traced back to William called the Conqueror, who was King of England. In his army he had a General by the name of Coffin. After the conquest he gave an estate to General Coffin, which was entailed and at this; time it is held by a descendant by the name of Coffin, in the town of Rrixam (Brixham) in the county of Devonshire, England.” (From a latter record)

1066, Sir Richard Coffin: Our First Recorded Ancestor. Like all the Nobility of Normandy he would have been of Scandinavian decent. The Vikings were settling in Normandy around the 800’s AD through conquest, they were given the “Duchy of Normandy” by the French King “Charles the Simple” as a defense against other Viking Armies. The First “Duke of Normandy” was Hrolf or Rollo 911AD (an ancestor of “William the Conqueror”).
Sir Richard fought as a General for “William the Conqueror” (formally “William the Bastard”) at the Battle of Hastings, during the Norman invasion of England and Williams successful claim for the English Crown.

“Sir Richards Estate in Normandy was called Courtition, near Falaise which is 20 Miles south of Caen a Large City near the coast. About Half way between La Havre and Cherbourg (this estate stayed in French Coffin hands until 1796, “the present owner, Mons. Le Clerc, being the grandson of the last of that line of Coffins, she having in 1796 married a Le Clerc. The Normandy home and the ancient Portledge manor house ( which in part has existed for centuries ) must ever be object of great interest to the American Branch”.

His land “Gifted” in England for his valuable service to the new King was the Estate of the Manor of Alwington a few miles from Bideford, Devonshire southwestern England.
Coffins are also in the Williams “Doomsday book” (1080) as current inhabitants of England, probably settlers from France at an earlier date. The Coffins spread out to Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Cornwall. By 1252 the name in its different forms (Colvin, Corvin, Cophen and Coffyn) are frequently found in records. The name is disputed in its origins. Welsh “Coffyn” meaning hill top boundary, English and French: metonymic occupational name for a basket maker, from Old French cof(f)in ‘basket’ (Late Latin cophinus, Greek kophinos). The modern English word coffin is a specialized development of this term, not attested until the 16th century.
and the most likely to me is the meaning of “Coffer” or treasure box.

Some of the Recorded Coffins.
1154-1189 Sir Richard Coffin under the Reign of King Henry II
1199-1216 Sir Elias Coffin during King Johns Reign
1216-1272 Sir Jeffrey Coffin and Combe Coffin – King Henry III
1307-1327 Sir Richard Coffin – King Edward II
1399-1413 Sir Richard Coffin – King Henry IV
1509-1547     Sir William Coffin – King Henry VIII, “Sheriff of Devonshire”, “Master of the Horse” For the Queens Coronation. One of 18 men who accompanied the King to a Tournament in France. When he died his estate was large and he even left his prize Hawks and Horses to the King. He left land to his two nephews one was Sir Richard of Portledge who received the Manor of East Higgington, Devonshire.

Direct Line
The medieval part is disputed through to Tristram of Nantucket’s own Family.

Generation One
circa 1280, Richard Coffyn was born  at Alwington, Devonshire, England.

Generation Two
circa 1301, John Coffyn was born  at Alwington, Devonshire, England.

Generation Three
circa 1332, David Coffyn was born  at Alwington, Devonshire, England. He married Thomasin (  ?  ) circa 1361. He died after 1370.

Generation Four
circa 1361, David Coffyn was born  at Alwington, Devonshire, England.

Generation Five
circa 1392, John Coffyn was born  at Alwington, Devonshire, England. He married Thomasin Hartley in 1406 at Alwington, Devonshire, England. He died in 1427.

Generation Six
circa 1420, William Coffyn was born  at Alwington, Devonshire, England. He married Margaret Cockworthy Giffard circa 1453 at Alwington, Devonshire, England. He died on 11 Sep 1486.

Generation Seven
circa 1425, Richard Coffyn was born  at Portledge, Devonshire, England. He married Alice Gambon, daughter of John Gambon, in 1462 at Merston, Shropshire, England.
Children of Richard7 Coffyn and Alice Gambon were:

Generation Eight
1450, John Coffyn was born   at Portledge, Devonshire, England. He married Phillippa Elizabeth Hingston, daughter of Philip Hingston, in 1496. He died on 15 Dec 1566 at Devonshire, England.

Generation Nine
circa 1475 Richard Coffyn was born  at Portledge Manor, Brixton, Devon, England. He married Wilmont Chudleigh, daughter of Sir Richard Chudleigh (1468-1535)son of Sir Knight William Chudleigh (1445-1515) and Joan Hody (1446) and her mother Maria Wadham (1470-1535) daughter of Sir Nicholas Wadham (1444) and Jan Hill (1452), in 1510 at Merifield, Cornwall, England. He died on 24 Dec 1555 at Alwington, Devon, England.

Generation Ten
1514, James Coffyn was born at Portledge Manor, Brixton, Devon, England. He married Mary Cole (1513) in 1534. He died on 15 Dec 1566.

Generation Eleven
1535, Peter Coffin was born  at Portledge Manor, Brixton, Devon, England. He married Mary Boscawen, daughter of Hugh Boscawen and Phillippa Carminowe, in 1560. He died on 8 Oct 1613 at Portledge Manor, Brixton, Devon, England.
Children of Peter11 Coffin and Mary Boscawen were as follows:
1560 Nicholas, born  at Chateau Courtiton, Fallaise; married Joan Advant. (see bellow)
1563-1602 Tristram Coffin
Lionel
Philip;

Generation Twelve
1560-1613, Nicholas Coffin – Brixton, Devonshire England The name in early times was written Coffyn was born in 1560 at Chateau Courtiton, Fallaise.
He married Joan Advant (1550)daughter of John Advant (1522-1554) son of John Advent Dudley (1490) and Jane Guildford (1504-1555), her mother Anne Seymour (1529-1588) daughter of Sir Edward Seymour (1506-1552) 1st Duke of Summerset and the Earl of Herford and Anne Stanhute (1497-1536)in 1580 at Butlers, Brixton, Devon, England. He died in 1613 at Brixton, Devonshire, England.

Children of Nicholas Coffin and Joan Advant were as follows:
(1582-1610) John
(1582-1627) Nicholas.
(1584)Tristram
(1584)Peter, born at Brixton, Devon, England; married Joan Kember (Thember)(1578-1661). (see bellow)
(1585-1627) John
(1588) Ann; married Thomas Wynston,
(1590) Joan

Generation Thirteen
Dec 1 1627, Peter Coffin – Brixton England, will proved Mar 13 1628, To Joan, land during her life, and at her decease to go to his son and heir Tristam, ‘who is to be provided for according to his degree and calling’. To son John certain property when 20 years of age. mentions daughters, Joan, Deborah, Eunice, Mary. He refers to tenement in Butlers parish called Silverhay. *May 1661- His widow Joan died in Boston Mass. The Rev. Mr. Wilson who preached the funeral sermon spoke of her as a woman of remarkable character. One Hundred Sixty Allied Families by John 0. Austin ** was born in 1584 at Brixton, Devon, England. He married Joan Kember, daughter of Robert Kember and Anne (  ?  ), in 1604 at Brixton, Devon, England. He died in 1628.

Children of Peter Coffin and Joan Kember were as follows:
(1605-1688) Christian; married Thomas Davis.
(1609-1681)Tristam, born at Plymouth, Devonshire, England; married Dionis Stevens. (see bellow)
(1611-1681) Joan; married Joseph Hull; born at Brixton, Devonshire England.
(1613)Peter.
(1616) Deborah; born at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married William Stevens, son of Robert Stevens and Dionis (  ?  ), 25 Jun 1640 at England.
(1617-1648) Eunice; born at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married William Butler after 1642.
(1619) Mary, born at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married Alexander Adams.
(1625)John; born at England; died 1642 at Plymouth Fort.

Coffin Links

• A Coffin Family tree link
• Coffin History Site
• My Family tree is here
• Nantucket Link
• Tristram Coffin
• Wiki Coffin name
• Wiki Coffin Whalers
• Wiki Portledge Manour

Tristram Coffin was 1 of 8 original owners of Nantucket Island in 1659 for 2 beaver hats and 30 pounds sterling (coins). The 8 had purchased Nantucket from The Mayhews. William Parkman, father of Reverend Ebenezer Parkman, married Elizabeth Adams who’s parents were Alexander Adams and Mary Coffin of Nantucket, sister of Tristram Coffin, Sr. co-founder of Nantucket.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8449256

Coffin Coat of Arms

This Coat of Arms is considered the correct Armorial Bearings for the Coffins in America. Adopted by Tristram Coffyn (1609-1681), and featured on the front cover of “The Coffin Saga” by Will Gardner. Although the edition I have is a light silvery blue, and the Coat of Arms is blue.

There are any number of versions of Armorial Bearings for the Coffins, but according to the actual rules, the proper awarded version is technically the only one that can be “used” by the appropriate Coffin line. For example, Sir Isaac Coffin, Baronet was awarded a very specific Coat of Arms for his use as well as any of his dependents.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=10904410&PIpi=115547306

Mary Gardner Coffin (1670-1767)

1686   Oldest House and Mary Gardner Coffin
This portrait, attributed to the Pollard Limner, depicts Mary Gardner Coffin (1670-1767). Mary Gardner was born on Nantucket and married Jethro Coffin, grandson of Tristram, in 1686. Their home, built later that year, is still standing on Nantucket. Now known as the Oldest House, it is owned and operated by the Nantucket Historical Association. The Coffin/Gardner marriage symbolized the end of an early conflict in Nantucket society involving their families that was known as the “half-share revolt.” John Gardner and Tristram Coffin were key figures in Nantucket’s early governance. Coffin represented the “full-share” men, or original founders of Nantucket, while Gardner was one of a group of tradesmen who came to work on the island but received only half-shares. Bitter debates between the full-share and half-share parties raged on Nantucket about land rights, who could hold public office, and the future directions for the island. A tentative compromise between the two factions was reached in 1678, but it was not until Coffin’s death in 1681 and the eventual marriage of his grandson into the Gardner family that a full resolution of this conflict occurred.

http://www.nha.org/library/hn/HN-winter2000-timeline.htm

Nantucket marker for Tristram Coffin’s Homestead

Tristram Coffin spoon likeness 1642

Tristram Coffin Medallion – 1642

Tristram Coffin (or Coffyn)^{[fn 1]} (ca. 1609 – 2 October 1681) was an immigrant to Massachusetts from England. In 1659 he led a group of investors that bought Nantucket from Thomas Mayhew for thirty pounds and two beaver hats.^[2]He became a prominent citizen of the settlement. A great number of his descendants became prominent in North American society, and many were involved in the later history of Nantucket during and after its heyday as a whaling center.^[3] Almost all notable Americans with roots in Nantucket are descended from Tristram Coffin, although Benjamin Franklin was an exception.^[4]

England, 1605–1642[edit]

Tristram Coffin was born to Peter and Joanna (Kember) Coffin and baptized in the parish of Brixton near Plymouth, England, on 11 March 1609/10.^[1] He belonged to the landed gentry.^[5] He married Dionis Stevens in 1630 and they were to have nine children, the first five born in England. Coffin was a Brixton church warden from 1639 to 1640, and was a constable in 1641.^[6]

Charles I inherited the throne of England in 1625 and initiated a long struggle with his parliament, which wanted to abolish bishops from the House of Lords and limit the king’s powers. Things came to a head when Charles raised his royal standard at Nottingham in August 1642, and England soon descended into Civil War(1642–1651).^[5] Tristram Coffin’s only brother John received a mortal wound at Plymouth fort, although it is not known exactly when or even which side he was fighting on.^[7] Perhaps for reasons associated with these political upheavals, Tristram Coffin decided to leave his estates in England and emigrate to the new world.^[8]

Massachusetts, 1642–1659[edit]

Tristram Coffin sailed to Boston in 1642 with his wife and children, his two sisters and his mother. For a short time he ran an inn in Salisbury, Massachusetts.^[1] He then moved to the new settlement of Pentucket, now Haverhill, Massachusetts. His name appears on a deed dated 15 November 1642 recording the sale of the land for the settlement by the local American Indian people. He is said to have used a plow that he had made himself to cultivate the land.^[9] It was here that his last four children were born.^[6]

In 1648 he left the farm and moved to Newbury, Massachusetts. Here he operated a ferry across the Merrimack River and he and his wife ran a tavern. In 1653 his wife was “presented” for selling beer above the legal price of two pennies per quart. However, she was acquitted when it was found that her beer was much stronger than the ordinary.^[10] Coffin sold the inn and ferry in 1654 or 1655 and moved to Salisbury, Massachusetts, where he signed himself “Tristram Coffyn, Commissioner of Salisbury”.^[11]

Nantucket, 1659–1681[edit]

Tristram Coffin and other Salisbury investors bought Nantucket island from Thomas Mayhew on 2 July 1659.^[12] The purchase price was 30 pounds plus two beaver hats made by his son, also called Tristram. Coffin was the prime mover of the enterprise and was given first choice of land. In 1659 he settled near the western end of the island near Capaum pond.^[6] His sons Peter Coffin, Tristram Coffin Junior and James Coffin also received land on the island.^[13] Soon after settling, Tristram Coffin purchased the thousand-acre Tuckernuck Island at the western end of Nantucket. On 10 May 1660 the sachems conveyed title to a large part of the island to Coffin and his associates for eighty pounds.^[14] He built a corn mill in which he employed many of the local Native Americans, and he employed others on his farm.^[15]

In 1671 Coffin and Thomas Macy were selected as spokesmen for the settlers, going to New York in 1671 to meet withGovernor Francis Lovelace and secure their claim to Nantucket.^[6] As the most wealthy and respected of the settlers, Coffin was appointed chief magistrate of Nantucket on 29 June 1671.^[16] In 1677 he was again appointed chief magistrate for a term of four years.^[17]

Legacy[edit]

Tristram Coffin died on 2 October 1681 at the age of 76.^[1] During the years before his death, he had bestowed much of his property on his children and grandchildren.^[18] He was buried on his property on Nantucket Island.^[6] At his death he left seven children, 60 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. One of his grandchildren calculated that by the year 1728, the number of his descendants was 1582, of whom 1128 were still alive.^[19]

Several of his descendants achieved prominence. His daughter Mary Coffyn Starbuck became a leader in introducing Quaker practices into Nantucket.^[20] A grandson, James Coffin, was the first of the Coffins to enter into the whaling business.^[21] A poem by Thomas Worth written in 1763 says six Captains named Coffin were sailing out of Nantucket.^[3]Sir Isaac Coffin (1759–1839) served during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars and became an admiral in the British Royal Navy.^[22] He founded a school on the island in 1827 to educate descendants of Tristram Coffin – which included almost all the children on the island – with emphasis on nautical skills.^[23]

Some branches of the Coffin family were prominent in New England, grouped among the so-called Boston Brahmins.^[24]For example, Elizabeth Coffin, daughter of a wealthy merchant from Nantucket, was mother of the prominent Massachusetts industrialists Henry Coffin Nevins andDavid Nevins, Jr..^[25] Charles A. Coffin (1844–1926) born in Somerset, Massachusetts, became cofounder and first President of General Electric corporation.^[26]Some retained the family links to Nantucket after the whaling industry had collapsed and many people had left the island. In the eighth generation, Elizabeth Coffin(1850–1930), an artist, educator and Quaker philanthropist, was known for her paintings of Nantucket and for helping revive Sir Isaac Coffin’s school with a new emphasis on crafts.^[27] Among the ninth generation, Robert P. T. Coffin (1892-1955) was an American Poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1936 for his book of collected poems called “Strange Holiness”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristram_Coffin_(settler)

Tristram Coffin signature

Nantucket Early Settlers Monument – Tristram Coffin 1609 – 1681

Tristram Coffin & Dionis Stevens: Nantucket settlers

https://4dtraveler.net/2011/08/14/tristram-coffin-dionis-stevens-nantucket-settlers/

Portledge Manor, The house sits on the edge of Bideford Bay, looking out over the Bristol Channel. The parish of Alwington, Devon, England and the surrounding area was given to the family by William the Conqueror, as part of a reward for loyalty and service during the Norman Conquest. Most of the current house dates from the 17th century, but parts of it have stood since the reign of King Henry III, circa 1234 .

Nantucket whalebone 2007 w Daniel Parkman

****************************

Tristram Coffin was the American progenitor of the Coffin Family who was also a co-owner/founder of Nantucket.

Tristram Coffin, Sr. was 1 of 8 original owners of Nantucket Island in 1659 for 2 beaver hats and 30 pounds sterling (coins). The 8 had purchased Nantucket from The Mayhews.

Trystram Coffin Sr.’s sister, Mary Coffin married Alexander Adams, who’s daughter Elizabeth Adams married William Parkman, parents of Reverend Ebenezer Parkman.

William Parkman (Elizabeth Adams & William Parkman, Mary Coffin & Alexander Adams,  are all 4 buried @ Copp’s Hill Cemetery in Boston).

Tristram Coffin, Sr., Mary Coffin Adams and Alexander Adams were both Immigrants from England:

https://www.geni.com/people/Mary-Adams/6000000005232467530

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8449256

1686   Oldest House and Mary Gardner Coffin
This portrait, attributed to the Pollard Limner, depicts Mary Gardner Coffin (1670-1767). Mary Gardner was born on Nantucket and married Jethro Coffin, grandson of Tristram, in 1686. Their home, built later that year, is still standing on Nantucket. Now known as the Oldest House, it is owned and operated by the Nantucket Historical Association. The Coffin/Gardner marriage symbolized the end of an early conflict in Nantucket society involving their families that was known as the “half-share revolt.” John Gardner and Tristram Coffin were key figures in Nantucket’s early governance. Coffin represented the “full-share” men, or original founders of Nantucket, while Gardner was one of a group of tradesmen who came to work on the island but received only half-shares. Bitter debates between the full-share and half-share parties raged on Nantucket about land rights, who could hold public office, and the future directions for the island. A tentative compromise between the two factions was reached in 1678, but it was not until Coffin’s death in 1681 and the eventual marriage of his grandson into the Gardner family that a full resolution of this conflict occurred.

http://www.nha.org/library/hn/HN-winter2000-timeline.htm

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Sir Richard Coffin / Coffyn and Pedigree Charts from the years 1066 – 1101 :

https://www.geni.com/people/Sir-Richard-Coffyn/6000000010757581673

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A Coffin incident

Sir William Coffin (1495-1538) was a Devonshire courtier under King Henry VIII having joined the royal household in 1515 as a gentleman of the Privy Chamber.

That which Coffin became known for was an incident that occurred while he was traveling northwards to Derbyshire, and came by Bideford church and cemetery. In the cemetery there was a group of people standing around, not part of a ceremony of any kind so William Coffin stopped to find out what was happening. The situation was that a corpse had been brought to the church to be buried, along with the people who had come to gather for the ceremony, however the priest was refusing to perform the funeral. In payment for the priest to perform the burial rites they required payment from the deceased’s estate, and in this case it was the cow that belonged to the deceased man as he was poor, but the dead man’s friends would not give the cow up. After being told this William found the priest and ordered him to perform the funeral service as it was his job, but the priest still refused to do it without payment. At this, William ordered the people who were gathered there to grab the priest and put him into the hole that had been dug for the corpse and that dirt be thrown in on top of him. The priest continued in his refusal until the man was nearly fully buried in the earth when at last he conceded.

Such treatment of priests was not acceptable, even during the period of the Dissolution, and William would have expected to receive punishment for this incident, and even perhaps have been executed for such a crime against a man of God. King Henry VIII was informed of the incident and as a result William was summoned before Parliament. For anyone else this would not have ended well, anyone else would have ended up in the Tower or executed. However, Sir William had a number of friends in the House as well as at court and they were loyal to him and he avoided punishment. In fact, he turned it around and brought to Parliament’s attention the negative consequences of priests demanding payment (mortuaries) for church services. He drew the attention of the matter away from his personal actions onto the wider situation of the bad behaviour of clergymen. As a result of this, an Act was passed soon after which stopped practices including mortuaries.

Tomb of Margaret Coffin – 1539 +

His presence at court is first recorded when William attended the King in Guisnes in 1519 and took part in the tournament, and later at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.

In 1529 he became a Member of Parliament for Derbyshire, despite him being born in Devonshire, due to his wife Margaret Dymoke, daughter of the Hereditary Royal Champion Sir Robert Dymoke, having connections to that county; her first husband was Derbyshire man Sir Richard Vernon of Haddon Hall.
In 1533 William Coffin was the Master of the Horse at the coronation of Anne Boleyn and throughout her reign as queen, as well as that of Jane Seymour. He also became the steward of Queen Jane’s manors of Standon and Hitchin in Hertfordshire. In this office, on the 17th October 1537 William received the official surrender to the Crown of the Hitchin Priory from the Prior, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
On the 18th October 1537 William Coffin was knighted, however he did not get to enjoy this position for long as on the 8th December 1538 Sir William had died of the plague.
William and his wife had no surviving children, therefore his heirs were his wife Margaret and his nephews William Coffin the elder, William Coffin the younger and Richard Coffin. Margaret remarried again shortly after to Richard Manners in 1539.

St Mary’s Church, Standon

Sir William is buried in the church in Standon, commemorated by this inscription;

"Here lies William Coffin, Knight, sometime of the privy chamber with his sovereign Lord King Henry the eighth, Master of the Horse unto queen Jane the most lawful wife unto the aforesaid King Henry the eighth, and high steward of all the liberty [and] manor of Standon in the county of Hertford, which William deceased the eighth day of december Anno domini 1538, [in] the thirtieth year of the reign of King Henry the eighth"

http://cupboardworld.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html

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Sir Richard Coffin 1456 – 1523

Details from Easter Sepulchre monument to Richard Coffin: left: arms of Coffin; right: entwined initials “RC”, two sets in spandrels of canopy

Easter Sepulchre monument to Richard Coffin (1456-1523) of Heanton Punchardon and Portledge, Alwington. North wall of chancel, Heanton Punchardon Church

RC initials for Sir Richard Coffin

Sir Richard Coffin 1456 – 1523

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Coffin_(1456-1523)

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Sir James Coffin 1551 –  Detail of James Coffin monumental brass,^[6] Monkleigh Church.

16th century mural monument to a kneeling knight, featuring heraldry of the Coffin family. Monkleigh Church, high up on north wall of chancel. Monumental brass depicting a bearded knight, said to represent James Coffin (d.1566)^[6] kneeling in prayer, surrounded by heraldic escutcheons depicting the arms of Coffin: Azure, three bezants between eight crosses crosslet or

Arms of Coffin family, lords of the manor of Monkleigh: Azure, three bezants between eightcrosses crosslet or, and right as seen on 16th century Coffin mural monument in Monkleigh Church, with a crest of a bird of some variety

Inscribed slate mural monument to Jane Coffyn (d.1646), Monkleigh Church, west wall of north transept. Inscription: “Resurgimus” (we will rise again) “Jane the eldest childe of John Coffyn Esqr wife of Hugh Prust, gent, 13 Mons” “who w(i)th her chrisome son(n)e was buried nere this place the first of July 1646”.
“A mayde a wife in wife and right accord,
She liv’d she di’d true servant of the Lord.
Aetatis suae 27” (of her age 27). At the top is a heraldicescutcheon showing the arms of Prust impaling the arms of Coffyn.^{[nb 1]}

Descent of the manor

The Domesday Book of 1086 records Monkleigh as Lege, the ninth of the 79 holdings in Devon as tenant-in-chief, of Robert, Count of Mortain(c. 1031–1090) the half-brother of William the Conqueror. His tenant at Monkleigh was a certain Alured, modernised to Alfred. Before theNorman Conquest of 1066 it was held by the Saxon Ordulf, thought to represent the Anglo-Saxon name “Ordwulf”.^[1]

During the reign of King Stephen (1135-1154) the manor of Monkleigh was granted by its then holder “Alfred the Butler”, together with his other estates of Frizenham (in the parish of Little Torrington.^[2]) and Densham (in the parish of Woolfardisworthy^[3]), to Montacute Priory.^[4][5]

Coffin

 Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a lease of the manor of Monkleigh was granted by the crown gratis on 26 August 1540 for the term of their lives to James Coffyn of Alwington and Anne his wife^[7] It was valued at £21 11s 6d per annum, but unusually no charge was made for the grant. As is recorded in the text of the royal grant Anne was the widow of Sir George St Leger of Annery,^[8] the chief estate within the manor of Monkleigh.

James Coffin was the second son of John Coffin of Portledge, in the parish of Alwington. He was still living in 1551 when he was mentioned in the will of his eldest brother Richard Coffin (d.1555) of Portledge. The Coffin family is one of the most ancient of Devon families. Tristram Risdon (d.1640) stated: “Alwington…the manor whereof hath been in the name of Coffin even from The Conquest“.^[9]

On 11 June 1544 the crown granted the manor of Monkleigh, subject to the life interest of James Coffin and his wife, to Sir John Fulford of Dunsford and Humphrey Colles of Barton, Somerset, along with other grants of property. For Monkleigh manor they were charged £194 3s 4d, representing 10 years’ purchase of its annual value. They were also granted Monkleigh Woods for £29 13s 6d, representing 20 years’ purchase^[10] Fulford and Coles paid the purchase price in full on 2 June 1544 and just one week later obtained royal licence to alienate to James Coffin of Alwington, the life tenant.^[11]

A small monumental brass of a kneeling knight exists in Monkleigh Church high up on the north wall of the chancel, affixed to a stone tablet on which are sculpted several heraldic escutcheons of the arms of Coffin (Azure, three bezants between eight crosses crosslet or)^[12] impaling arms of their heiresses. Pevsner suggests a date for the brass of 16th. century and that the stone tablet on which it is now affixed was originally part of a now lost 16th. century monument.^[13]

The next member of the Coffin family recorded by the heraldic visitations of Devon to have a connection with Monkleigh Church is John Coffin (1593-1622) of Portledge. John was Richard Coffin’s great-grandson.^[14] Three of John’s daughters were married in Monkleigh Church, between 1645 and 1657.^[15] A mural monument exists in Monkleigh Church, in the north transept, to his eldest daughter Jane Coffin (1593-1646),^[16] who in 1645, aged 26, married in Monkleigh Church to Hugh Prust^[17] (1614-1650)^[18] of Annery,^{[citation needed]} within the parish of Monkleigh. She died the next year, as her mural monument records,^{[citation needed]} and her husband died five years later without progeny,^[19] when his heir to Annery became his younger brother Lt-Col.Joseph Prust (1620-1677) of Annery.”^[20]

John Coffin’s son and heir was Richard Coffin (d.1700) of Portledge, Sheriff of Devon in 1683, who in 1648 married his third wife Dorothy Rowe in Monkleigh Church.^[15] His son and heir by this third wife was John Coffin (1649-1704) of Portledge, who was baptised at Monkleigh. He left no progeny and eventually his heir became his heir became his great-nephew Rev. John Pine-Coffin (1735-1824), the grandson of his eldest sister Dorothy Coffin (b.1651) and her husband Edward Pyne of Eastdowne.^{[21][nb 2]} Later in about 1823 his son and heir Richard Pine-Coffin (1770-1833)^[23] sold some land in his manor of Monkleigh to John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (d.1842) for part of the course of the Rolle Canal between about the Ridd limekilns to the Beam Aqueduct, following the left-bank of the River Torridge.^[24] Colonel Richard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin (1908-1974) DSO & Bar, MC, born at Portledge, was a parachute officer of the British Army during World War II. The Pine-Coffin family until recently still possessed the advowson of Alwington Church, making it one of the most ancient lineages in Devon, albeit more recently via a female line, although the mansion of Portledge was converted into a hotel some time before 1959^[25]and the estate of Portledge was sold in 1998, due to a dispute with the Inland Revenue.^[26]

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Manor_of_Monkleigh

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