Peter Coffin

Peter Coffin was born about 1580 in Brixton, Devonshire, England. He married Joane KEMBER in Brixton. His parents were Nicholas COFFIN and Joan AVENT. Peter died in 13 Mar 1628 in Brixton, Devonshire, England.

His widow Joanna came to America in 1642 on the Hector with her son Tristram, his wife Dionis Stevens and their five children and her daughters Eunice and Mary. Two other daughters remained in England where they married and lived out their lives.

The Coffins were of Haverhill in 1642, of Salisbury, MA about 1644/45, of Newbury 1648, and then to Nantucket in 1659. The Coffin family in England were of the “Landed gentry”. They were not Puritans. Joan died in May 1661 in Boston, Mass.

Peter was a church warden.

Family

From http://jacksonsweb.org/coffin.htm#id1119

Peter Coffin was born in 1584 at Brixton, Devon, England and died Dec 1 1627.

Parents were Nicholas Coffin and Joan Avent

He married Joan Kember, daughter of Robert Kember and Anne (--?--), in 1604 at Brixton, Devon, England.

Children of Peter Coffin and Joan Kember were as follows:

• 1. Christian; married Thomas Davis; born 1605; died 1688.
• 2. Tristam, born 1609 at Plymouth, Devonshire, England; married Dionis Stevens.
• 3. Joan; married Joseph Hull; born 1611 at Brixton, Devonshire, England; died 2 Oct 1681 at England.
• 4. Peter; born 1613.
• 5. Deborah; died at England; born 1616 at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married William Stevens, son of Robert Stevens and Dionis (--?--), 25 Jun 1640 at England.
• 6. Eunice; born 1617 at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married William Butler after 1642; [NO] died 1648.
• 7. Mary, born 1619 at Brixton, Devonshire, England; married Alexander Adams.
• 8. John; born 1625 at England; died 1642 at Plymouth Fort

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 O. Austin.

Will

In the name of God, Amen, ye 21st day of December in ye third yeare of the raigne of our Sovraigne Lord Charles... I peter Coffyn of the Parish of Brixton in ye County of Devon being sick of body but in perfect minde and memory (thanks be to God) doe make and ordaine this my last Will and Testament...

Item I give and bequeath unto Tristram Coffyn my Sonne one feather bedd... my best brasen panne and my best brasen crocke

Item I give and bequeath unto Johan Coffyn my Wife ye issues pfitts and comodities of all my lands tenements & hereditaments wth in ye sayd Parish of Brixton dureing her widdowhood she yeelding and payinge therefor yearly unto the sayd Tristram my Sonne his heirs and assignes the summe of Fifty shillings of lawfull English money at ye four most usual feasts of the year and also sufficient meat drink & clothes and convenient lodgings unto ye sayd Tristram according to his degree and callinge dureing her Widdowhood onely And if it happen ye sayd yearly rent of Fifty shillings or any part thereof to be behinde and unpayd that then and from thenceforth itt may and shall be lawfull to and for the sayd Tristram Coffyn his heirs and assignes unto all and singular the said prmises to enter and distraine and the distress so there taken from thence to lead drive carry away & empound and impound to detaine and keepe untill ye sayd rent of Fifty shillings with the arrearages of the same (if any bee) shall bee to him or them fully answered and payd. And further it is my Will that if the sayd Johan my Wife shall happen to marry that she shall immediately thereupon loose all ye pfitts commodities and right of that one tenement called Silferhey lying in Butlers in ye parish of Brixton aforesayd which duringe her Widdowhood by my Will she is to have and ye same to redound & be immediately in the possession of my Sonne Tristriam his heirs and assignes

Item I doe give and bequeath unto my Sonne Tristriam All my lands rents reversions services & hereditamts with the appurtenances whatsoever sett lying & being wthin ye sayd County of Devon To have and to hold ye same and every part and parcel thereof to ye sayd Tristriam Coffyn his heirs and assignes forever to ye only pfitt & behoof of the said Tristriam Coffyn his heirs and assignes to be holden of the chiefe Lord and Lords of the Fee thereof by the rents and services therefor yearly due and payable and my Will farther is that if the said Tristriam my Sonne shall chance to dy without an heir male lawfully begotten or to be begotten of his body that then all the prmisses last mentioned I given to him shall redound unto John Coffyn my Sonne his heirs and assignes accordingly and in ye same manner that it should to ye said Tristriam my Sonne

Item I doe give and bequeath unto Johan Coffyn Deborah Coffyn Eunice Coffyn and Mary Coffyn my four Daughters to each of them severally Thirty pounds in money that is to say amongst them CXX£ to be payd when they or each of them severally shall be of the full age of twentie years

Itm I give and bequeath unto John Coffyn my Sonne Fourty pounds in money to be payd him when hee shall be of the age of twenty years.

Item I give & bequeath unto the child wc my Wife now goeth withal the sume of Thirty pounds in money to be payd when he or she shall be of the age of twentie years. Provided always & my mind & will is that if either Johan Coffyn Deborah Coffyn Eunice Coffyn Mary Coffyn John Coffyn of ye child my Wife goeth withal happen to dy before he she or they doe come to ye age of twenty years that then his her or their portion or portions shall be equally divided amongst the survivors

Item All ye rest of the goods chattels and cattells not before given nor bequeathed I doe give and bequeath unto Johan Coffyn my Wife whome I make constitute and ordaine my full and whole Executrix...I doe intreat... my brother in law Phillip Avent and my Brother Niclas Coffyn to ye Overseers..."

Proved on 13 March 1627/8. The inventory amounted to £236/5/17.

Coffins in France

Ancient Coffins in France

Coffins in England

link to THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART .ANCESTRY.

The name of Coffin is so widely spread over our continent, so many thousands of men and women of other patronymics take pride in their descent from Tristram, its first American patriarch, that what concerns them all, any considerable branch or distinguished individual of the race, seems rather history than biography.

Space forbids my repeating here, as I well might wish, all that has been recorded of their existence in the new world, or that beyond the sea. But what sheds light on Sir Isaac and his immediate progenitors is too germane to my subject to be wholly overlooked. To trace back Tristram to Alwington, follow his fortunes from Plympton in old England to the Merrimack in the new, bring his checkered career to its honored close at Nantucket; to pay due homage to his son James, the upright judge; to his son Nathaniel, the dauntless master mariner, and his wife, Damaris Gayer, the eloquent preacher; to their son William, the much-loved merchant of Boston, senior warden of Trinity; to his son, another Nathaniel, graduate of Harvard and Yale, King's treasurer, and father of Sir Isaac—six generations with Tristram of admirable men, with much to praise and little to censure, is our legitimate purpose, so far as our limits prescribed will permit, before proceeding to our more immediate subject.

Though unlike in character, and of very different experiences from his ancestors, Sir Isaac was too remarkable a man to pass into oblivion. His long life, commencing in 1759 m Boston, and ending eighty years later in Cheltenham, England, was crowded with events, many of historic importance. By his native vigor, doughty deeds, and eminent services he rose to distinguished rank in the British navy, became captain of a line-of-battle ship at the age of twenty-two, and was created a baronet at the age of fortyfour. This not from large means, family influence, or court favor, but that his character and conduct afloat and ashore entitled him to such preferment. Throngs of heroic officers won glory in the same wars that he did, attracted attention by more conspicuous achievements; but his fearless daring, zeal, and ability, and what he accomplished, inscribes his memory high up on the roll of honor, if not on the scroll of fame.

How far life and character are moulded by circumstances, how far by heredity, is a complicated problem, and the horoscope is too largely affected by maternal influences for these to be disregarded. Though bearing all the marks of his paternal stock, Sir Isaac doubtless owed something to the blood mingling in his veins from other sources, and it has been my endeavor to discover these infusions where I can, and one instance should be preserved for the criticism of coming genealogists—a supposed link that may be of use.

Nicholas, father of Peter and grandfather of Tristram, has been regarded as their most remote paternal ancestor ascertained. According to tradition, their line was an offshoot of Alwington, but how, continued a puzzle. Many years ago I bought an old edition of Collins (1758), and while seeking some other information, my eyes fell on the name of Peter Coffin, who about 1560 married Mary, fourth daughter of Hugh Boscawen. Hugh died 1559, at the age of eighty. As the homes of the Boscawens, Tregothnan and Penkeville, lay near Brixton, the home of Tristram, this awakened curiosity, the more that Peter's name was not in the index, and might have escaped the notice of previous genealogical inquirers.

Hugh Boscawen, of one of the most affluent and influential families of Cornwall, married Phillippa Carniinow, of large possessions and royal descent, inheriting, through Philip Courtenay, the unfortunate Marquis of Exeter, Plympton, and other estates near Plymouth, part of which we find the inheritance of Tristram. Hugh had seven sons and seven daughters. The third son, Nicholas, eighty-six when he died in 1626, was the successor of his parents in their estates. His sister Mary, who married Peter Coffin, must have been born about 1545, as there were nine younger children than herself born before 1559, when her father died at the age of eighty. Her brass at Penkeville gives her death in 1622. Her age is not very clearly stated, but apparently as seventy-seven. Her son Nicholas, if grandfather of Tristram, would have been of an age, in 1582, to have been father of Peter, who died 1628, and whose wife Joanna, mother of Tristram, died in Boston, 1661, aged seventy-seven, having been born in 1584.

If thus, or in any other way, connected with the Coffins, the house of Tregothnan is too historical, and associated with too many important events in our colonial annals, not to make it worthy of note. Lord Falmouth, under Queen Anne, Edward, the commander of the British fleet in the second reduction of Louisbourg, in more recent days, have added to the lustre of a name prolific in naval heroes and eminent statesmen. The importance we attach to this supposed connection is that it affords clews to ascertain the relation of Tristram to Alwington, and as Petronel, the sister of Mrs. Peter Coffin, married Peter Mayhowe, a possible explanation how Thomas Mayhew and Tristram Coffin here together planted Nantucket. Tuckett's Devon Visitations, full as to the main male line of Alwington, are being carried back, extended out, and brought down by Colonel Vivyan, who is approaching the Coffins. My suggestions may help his researches, and they are given for what they are worth.

But who was the father of Peter Coffin, who married Mary Boscawen? He must have been born about 1500. If among the recorded members of the family are found individuals whose dates or other known circumstances are inconsistent with the parentage of Peter, that reduces the field of investigation. Sceptical minds reject hypothesis in such researches, but often hypothesis, fairly tested, is the only path to the truth. At Monkley, about ten miles east from Portlege, one of the homes of its junior branches, dwelt at the time James, son of Richard and Miss Chudleigh, whose brother John married Mary Cary. His wife, Mary Cole, was the near kinswoman of William, who married Radigan, daughter of Nicholas Boscawen. Tristram named his sons after his ancestors. James was his fourth son. These circumstances amount to nothing as proof, but may lead to it, or perhaps confirm the conclusion of Mr. Allen Coffin, that the connection with Alwington, if any, is much more remote. Near the close will be found an article on this and other kindred topics, portions of which by his permission I insert.

In the sequel will be found the visitation of the Coffins of Portlege. Its examination will show other grounds on which we rest our faith as to the parentage of Peter. It will be seen that in the sixth generation John Coffin married Philippa, daughter and co-heiress of Phillip Hingston. His eldest son Richard, Sheriff of Devon in 1511 (2 Hen. VIII.), married Wilmot, daughter of Sir Richard Chudleigh, famous in legal annals as party in a leading case which bears his name. This marriage took place about 1510. The Sheriff had three sons, John, James, and Edward. The second, James, born as late as 1512, might well have been father of Peter, who, about 1562, married Mary Boscawen. Their son Nicholas, if born in 1563, would have been old enough in 1585 to have been father of Peter, who, the father of Tristram, died in 1628. Wedlock came early when there were few other distractions. Under favorable circumstances life was often prolonged beyond the average limit; but war, exposure, perhaps inferior medical skill, backwardness of medical science, sufficiently explain why so many failed to live out their allotted span. As the line consists mainly of eldest sons, less time embraced these several generations.

The best known of the brothers of the Sheriff, Sir William, born about 1480, going to Court, stood high in the estimation of Henry the Eighth. Like Raleigh, later from the same province, he won his way by his wit and courage. He was selected in 1519 by the King as one of the eighteen English knights to take part in the tournament before Guines, in France, with a like number of French gentlemen, practised in arms and renowned for prowess. He was Master of Horse at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, and appointed one of the gentlemen of the King's Privy Chamber, filled to the monarch's satisfaction a position of distinction and influence much coveted at Court. He married Margaret, the daughter of Sir George Dimock, the champion of England, and from her, after his death the wife of Richard Manners, descended the later Dukes of Rutland. Sir William took a prominent part in the Parliament, one ecclesiastical abuse being done away with at his instance.* At Standon, a royal manor, of which he was high steward when he died in 1538, stands his monument. He left no children, and by his will devised his lands to his brother Richard's sons, bequeathed his hawks, hounds, and hunting gear to the King. His brothers James and Thomas had children, but the dates confirm the view that his nephew, James, and Mary Cole were the parents of Peter, who married Mary Boscawen.

Doubtless there were other branches of the name, from among which we might look for the ancestry of Tristram. His earliest progenitors in England came over with the Conqueror in 1066. Captain Henry Coffin, in his memoir of General John Coffin, 1880, says that several years before he had visited Falaise, in Normandy, and near that place lay estates owned eight centuries earlier by the Coffins, before they crossed over the Channel to the land of promise. These estates were still the property of their descendants in the female line. Falaise will be remembered as the birthplace of the Conqueror. It is said that the name of Coffin was a corruption or translation of Colvinus, signifying a basket or chest, and that from

• This act, limiting the amount of mortuaries, the fees of the parish priest for burial, has been counted one of three statutes mentioned by the historians as ecclesiastical reforms which, from the abuses done away and the debates they provoked, helped to bring about the Reformation.

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From http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=86394078

Peter Coffin

• Birth: Jan., 1580 Brixton Devon, England
• Death: Mar. 13, 1628 Brixton Devon, England

Son of Nicholas Coffin b.1561 and Joan Babaut Coffin b.1560. Married Joanna Kember 3-1608 in Brixton, Devon, England.b Children were Tristram b.1605, Joane b.6-1611, Peter b.abt 2-20-1613, Deborah b.abt 1613, Deborah b.3-1616, Eunice b.abt 3-22-1617, Mary b.2-1620, Ruth b.9-10-1623 d.11-11-1623, John b. 11-1625, Child Coffin b.12-21-1627 d.12-21-1627

Family links:

Parents:

• Nicholas Coffin (1561 - 1613)
• Joan Avent Babaut Coffin (1560 - 1614)

Spouse:

• Joanna Kember Coffin (1584 - 1661)*

Children:

• Joanna Coffin Hull (1602 - 1632)*
• Tristram Coffin (1609 - 1681)*
• Calculated relationship

Burial: Unknown Specifically: Unknown

Created by: Robert Dunbar Austin Jr Record added: Mar 07, 2012 Find A Grave Memorial# 86394078

GEDCOM Note

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Coffin-199 February 2029

Biography

Peter Coffin, was a resident of Brixton, co. Devonshire, in 1628, when he made his will. "The Coffin Family." New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 24:149. (1870)

Birth

Date: ABT 1580:: Place: Portledge, Parish of Ilwington, England

Marriage

Peter Coffin married Joana Thember

Children listed in will:

• Tristam Coffin b. in England 1609; d. in Nantucket 2 Oct 1681
• Johan/Joan Coffyn, prob. d. in England
• Deborah Coffyn, who probably died in England
• Eunice Coffin b. England; m. William Butler of New England. [NO]
• Mary Coffin b. in England; m. Alexander Adams; had five children; Samuel b. 1656, John, Mary, Susannah, and Elizabeth, who m. William Parkman, of Boston.
• John Coffyn b. England; d. in Plymouth-Fort
• ye child my Wife goeth with. No further record.

Marriage

• Date: BEF 1610 DATE 31 DEC 1609:: Place: EnglanD

Death

His will was proved 13 March 1628

Will

Summary: Bequests to: wife Joan, son and heir Tristram, son John not yet 20 years of age, daughters Joan, Deborah, Eunice and Mary under 20,mentions brother Nicholas.<ref name=CoffinF />
In the name of God, Amen, ye 21st day of December in ye third yeare ofthe raigne of our Sovraigne Lord Charles... I peter Coffyn of the Parish of Brixton in ye County of Devon being sick of body but in perfectminde and memory (thanks be to God) doe make and ordaine this my lastWill and Testament... Item I give and bequeath unto Tristram Coffyn my Sonne one feather bedd... my best brasen panne and my best brasen crocke Item I give and bequeath unto Johan Coffyn my Wife ye issues pfitts and comodities of all my lands tenements & hereditaments wth in ye sayd Parish of Brixton dureing her widdowhood she yeelding and payinge therefor yearly unto the sayd Tristram my Sonne his heirs and assignes thesumme of Fifty shillings of lawfull English money at ye four most usual feasts of the year and also sufficient meat drink & clothes and convenient lodgings unto ye sayd Tristram according to his degree and callinge dureing her Widdowhood onely And if it happen ye sayd yearly rent of Fifty shillings or any part thereof to be behinde and unpayd thatthen and from thenceforth itt may and shall be lawfull to and for thesayd Tristram Coffyn his heirs and assignes unto all and singular thesaid prmises to enter and distraine and the distress so there taken from thence to lead drive carry away & empound and impound to detaine and keepe untill ye sayd rent of Fifty shillings with the arrearages ofthe same (if any bee) shall bee to him or them fully answered and payd. And further it is my Will that if the sayd Johan my Wife shall happen to marry that she shall immediately thereupon loose all ye pfitts commodities and right of that one tenement called Silferhey lying in Butlers in ye parish of Brixton aforesayd which duringe her Widdowhood by my Will she is to have and ye same to redound & be immediately in the possession of my Sonne Tristriam his heirs and assignes Item I doe give and bequeath unto my Sonne Tristriam All my lands rents reversions services & hereditamts with the appurtenances whatsoever sett lying & being wthin ye sayd County of Devon To have and to hold ye same and every part and parcel thereof to ye sayd Tristriam Coffyn his heirs and assignes forever to ye only pfitt & behoof of the said Tristriam Coffyn his heirs and assignes to be holden of the chiefe Lord and Lords of the Fee thereof by the rents and services therefor yearlydue and payable and my Will farther is that if the said Tristriam my Sonne shall chance to dy without an heir male lawfully begotten or to be begotten of his body that then all the prmisses last mentioned I given to him shall redound unto John Coffyn my Sonne his heirs and assignes accordingly and in ye same manner that it should to ye said Tristriam my Sonne Item I doe give and bequeath unto Johan Coffyn Deborah Coffyn Eunice Coffyn and Mary Coffyn my four Daughters to each of them severally Thirty pounds in money that is to say amongst them CXX£ to be payd when they or each of them severally shall be of the full age of twentie years Itm I give and bequeath unto John Coffyn my Sonne Fourty pounds in money to be payd him when hee shall be of the age of twenty years. Item I give & bequeath unto the child wc my Wife now goeth withal the sume of Thirty pounds in money to be payd when he or she shall be of the age of twentie years. Provided always & my mind & will is that if either Johan Coffyn Deborah Coffyn Eunice Coffyn Mary Coffyn John Coffyn of ye child my Wife goeth withal happen to dy before he she or they doe come to ye age of twenty years that then his her or their portion or portions shall be equally divided amongst the survivors Item All ye rest of the goods chattels and cattells not before given nor bequeathed I doe give and bequeath unto Johan Coffyn my Wife whome I make constitute and ordaine my full and whole Executrix...I doe intreat... my brother in law Phillip Avent and my Brother Niclas Coffyn toye Overseers..."

Proved on 13 March 1627/8.

The inventory amounted to £236/5/17.

Sources

• Archdeaconry of Totnes (Exeter), 1627.
• Nantucket County, Island and Town by Alexander Starbuck, publ. 1924
• Barney Genealogical Record, Nantucket Historical Association ResearchLibrary. Personal page - 362 (https://www.nantuckethistoricalassociation.net/bgr/BGR-o/p262.htm#i...)
• Coffin Lineage: A Family Living History Worksheet from Richard Coffyn(c1280-??) to Sallie Coffin (1773-1850) [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1APRvBVCsrzN9ABMBJpqbgdsda0xJ6y8...]
• Findagrave memorial Peter Coffin No Burial, no Stone
• https://www.google.com/amp/s/minerdescent.com/2012/02/07/peter-coff...