John Coe

JOHN COE, son of Henry and Mary (Vincent) Coe, was born about 1588 in Suffolk, England. He married there, but the name of his wife has not been learned. Shortly after 1634 they came to America, with at least two children, undoubtedly joining his brother Robert's family in Wethersfield, CT. The name of the ship on which they came to these shores probably never will be known, and the exact date of their arrival is either hidden among forgotten papers, or lost in records long since vanished. The first mention of him is at Stamford, CT, where he was granted a houselot of two acres and a woodlot of three acres on December 7, 1641.

In September of 1642 his name appears on the Stamford tax list, "Jo Coe his rate due the town 13s 8d." He was not a prominent man, and the sketchy town records are silent concerning his movements during the next few years. In 1647 a mention of John Coe points up his Puritan background, for on the 25th of April "John Coo complayns agt Daniel Fenc for destarbing ye ordnance of God on a Saboth Daye." What poor Daniel did, the entry doesn't say. And again, on May 3, 1649, "at a court: a Complaynt by Humfry Trembe agt Mark Menlove for prophaning ye name of God by oths, swaring 'by God's blood I think the devills in it.' Testimony of John Coo yet Mark Menlov upon ye selling of a shesill sayd before God he would have his paye." Apparently it didn't pay to take the Lord's name in vain with Johnny on the spot. Whether it was his great piety, or his determination to get sweet revenge for real or imaginary injustices that caused him to be so zealous in prosecuting those who were careless with their Biblical language, we can only surmise.

No record of his death has been found, but it is quite probable that he died in the early 1650's. It is also possible that he followed his son John to Greenwich, and even to Rye, although no records have been discovered to indicate that he did so. The following deed, dated May 13, 1651, may have been made by him, or by his son John.

"Witness an agreement or barging bettween John Coo the pty and Ellyas Baylly. ye other pty, the ye said John Coe doth by these presents sell, alinate, assigne, and sett over from him and his to ye sayd Ellias Baylly and his forever, viz: on house and a horn lot situate in Stamford, the said lot contayning an acre arid a half mor or less bounded by Nickles Knap north, the highway west and south, common and goodman Knap east, as alsoe three acres wast land more or less lying in the South field, bounded by Jefery Ferris north, Rich Crabb south, the highway east, the fence west, quietly to enjoy, the Jon to free the foresayd hous arid lands of any bargings, sales, taxes, rates or incombrances whatsoever befor these present deed."

Even for the wealthy a trip across the Atlantic in the mid 1600's was no luxury cruise. After week upon week in a tiny ship on the great expanse of water, sometimes calm and docile, sometimes churned to cold grey fury, land must have looked pretty good. One made the trip, of course, by the providence of God, and even if one drowned, that was by providence, too. So when the dim outline of the Massachusetts cape appeared on the horizon, youthful John Coe and his fellow passengers probably felt like dropping to their knees and thanking the Almighty for safe deliverance, if they didn't actually do so. They had not drowned.

The contrast between the semi-primitive settlements of this strange new world and the comfortable villages of Old England must have caused a wave of homesickness to sweep over them. But youth is fired with enthusiasm for adventure, and John must have envisioned great possibilities in this land he was about to adopt. At any rate, he was destined to become the founder of one of the hundreds of pioneer families whose composite story is the fundamental history of the founding of a great nation. Doubtless that though never occurred to him.

The first mention of him in America is in the records of the town of Stamford, CT. The chill of a dreary New England winter had settled over this newborn town, in the Colony of New Haven. Snow covered the freshly cleared lands where sturdy Puritan hands were wresting a settlement from the wilderness along Long Island Sound. Here, on December 7, 1641, John Coe was granted a houselot of two acres and a woodlot of three acres.

The desire for religious freedom was an important, but not the most important, motive for the great migration to the new world. Practically all the early settlers were of yeoman stock, and America was a land of promise to them, a place where each could have a plot of ground of his own. It was undoubtedly this desire for greener pastures more than Puritan ideals that brought John Coe to Stamford.

In September 1642 John Coe's name appears on the Stamford tax list, "Jo Coo his rate due the town 13s 8d."

During the next few years he spent his efforts toward getting firmly established in his new home. The sketchy town records are silent concerning his movements for this period. Perhaps he married, although his children were not born until some years later, when he was in his late thirties.

Of John Coe's character we have little on which to base our opinions. He was not uneducated, for he could write; at least he didn't sign his name with a cross and a clear, bold signature was an accomplishment in those days.

In 1649 he joined others in Stamford in settling Greenwich, CT. On September 18 of that year a committee consisting of John Coe, Robert Heusted, Thomas Sherwood and Richard Crab wrote to Governor Stuyvesant at Fort Amsterdam under whose jurisdiction that settlement came, that "Our neighbors of Stamford hath aliways desired and endeavored to depoppolate this plase of Greenwich and to leave it without inhabitants so the prophit may dedowne to themselves."

It was in the last days of Dutch rule on this continent that with two other New England men from the town of Greenwich he ventured to establish himself at what is now Rye, NY. The spot they chose was a fertile cultivated section, where important Indian villages stood. The land was purchased from the Indians by this trio - Peter Disbro, JOHN COE, and Thomas Studwell. Change Date: 19 FEB 2016 at 19:49:05

Father: Henry Coe b: 1555 in Great Maplestead,Essex,England Mother: Mary Vincent b: 13 JAN 1564 in Bildeston,Suffolk,England

Marriage 1 Spouse Unknown Married: in Suffolk,England Children Has Children John Coe b: 1620 in Suffolk,England Has No Children Hannah Coe b: in Suffolk,England