COFFIN & STEPHENS LINES continued

INDEX

THIRTEENTH GENERATION

4816. Tristram Coffin (Coffyn)

"COFFIN, (4816) TRISTRAM, Nantucket, b. it is said, at Brixton, near Plymouth, Co. Deron, a. 1605, or by ano. rept. 1609, s. of (2408) Peter and Joanna, m. Dionis Stevens, had Peter, b. 1631; (4817ii) Tristram, 1632; (4817iii) Elizabeth; (4817iv) James, 12 Aug. 1640; and (4817v) John; after d. of his f. came, 1612, to N. E. bring. beside the bef. ment. childr. his mo. (wh. d. May 1661, aged 77), two sis. (9633v) Eunice, wh. m. (9633v[1]) William Butler, and (9633vii) Mary, wh. m. (9633vii[1]) Alexander Adams of Boston; sat down, first, at Salisbury, soon rem. to Haverhill, where his youngest ch. d. had (4817vii) Mary, b. 20 Feb. 1645; and (2412) John, again, 13 Dec. 1647; rem. a. 1618, to Newbury, where (4817ix) Stephen was b. 10 May 1652; again rem. to Salisbury, there was a county magistr. and finally rem. 1660, to Nantucket with his aged mo. w. and four ch. and d. [[vol. 1, p. 420]] 2 or 3 Oct. 1681. His d. Elizabeth m. 13 Nov. 1651, and d. 19 Nov. 1678; and Mary m. at Nantucket (4819iii) Nathaniel Starbuck, had six ch. and d. 1717. "
-- James Savage, "A Genealogical Dictionary of The First Settlers of New England, Before 1692" c/o http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/newengland/savage/

4817. Dionis Stephens

REF: http://data.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=gedfam&ti=0&f0=15614&f1=1151; http://www.familysearch.org/Search/af/ancestral_file_frame.asp?recid=7254570


 
 
"(4816) Tristram Coffin was the eldest son of (9632) Peter Coffin and his wife (9633) Joan Kember, and was born at Brixton, a parish near Plymouth in Devon; he was baptised on 11 March 1610. He became a churchwarden of the parish church (where his customary pew in the front of the chancel was marked on a plan made in 1638) and also a parish constable - holder of one of the offices created under the Elizabethan reforms of parochial administration. In 1630 or thereabouts he married (4817) Dionis, daughter of (9634) Robert Stevens of the same parish.

"Tristram may have inherited some property from his father, as he was the executor both of Peter and of his uncle John, whose will was proved in 1628. Records of Devon Quarter Sessions show that he had a legal dispute with a Thomas Maynard, also of Brixton, which in midsummer 1641 was referred for arbitration to Robert Savery and Henry Pollexfen. The subject of the dispute and the outcome of the arbitration are not known. But they may have had a bearing on Tristram's decision in 1642, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War in England, to embark for America - taking with him his wife and 5 small children, his mother and two unmarried sisters. None of them ever returned. It is thought that they sailed in one of four ships owned by Robert Clement (the Hector, Griffin, Job Clement and Margaret Clement)."

-- http://www.ecoffin.freeserve.co.uk/tristram.htm

The above was contributed by Cyril Coffin. He omits an obvious good reason for Tristram to have emigrated in 1642 -- that the family backed the losing side in the Civil War, and that his nearest brother, (9633iii) John, died of wounds fighting against Oliver Cromwell's men.
 
The Haverhill (formerly Pawtucket) settlement began in 1640 and a deed from the Passaconnaway Indians was obtained in 1642. (4816) Tristram Coffin was a witness to the deed, the signing of which was attended by the sachems Passaquo and Saggahew. The land was purchased for three pounds and ten shillings:

Know all men by these presents, that wee Passaquo and Saggahew wth the consent of Passaconaway; have sold unto ye inhabitants of Pentuckett all ye lands wee have in Pentuckett... And wee ye said Passaquo and Saggahew wth ye consent of Passaconnaway, have sold unto ye said inhabitants all ye right that wee or any of us have in ye said ground and Ileand and Rivver: And wee warrant it against all or any other Indeans whatsoever into ye said Inhabitants of Penuckett, and to their heires and assignes forever Dated ye fifteenth day of november Ann Dom 1642.

Witnes our hands and seales to this bargayne of sale ye day and year above written (in ye presents of us) we ye said Passaquo & Saggahew have received in hand, for & in consideration of ye same three pounds & ten shillings: John Ward, Robert Clements, Tristram Coffyn, Hugh Sherratt, William White, Thomas Davis. [Norfolk Co. Deeds- book 2, p.209]
 
In 1644 Tristram obtained a license to "keep an ordinary, sell wine, and keep a ferry" in Newbury [Essex Co., MA], where the family had moved. In 1647 he got another license to do the same. The pub, "Coffin's Ordinary," was run by his wife Dionis; at the time brewing beer was a common occupation for women. In 1653 Dionis was charged with violating a law, passed in 1645, which said that beer could not be sold for more than two pence a quart. Her case was presented and dismissed when she showed that she was putting more malt in her beer than was usual, and that the beer should be sold for a proportionately larger fee. Her pub became known as "the place where the best beer was sold." For more information about Tristram and Dionis's early life in Massachusetts, see http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/9210/COFFIN.htm.

-- http://ucs.orst.edu/~gildenj/coffin.html

 

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