Michael Coffeen, I

Marriage: http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Essex/Salem/Images/SalemV3_M579.shtml

Lake, Lydia, and Michael Coffeen, both of Topsfield, Feb. 20, 1726-7.

Children born:

http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Essex/Topsfield/Images/Topsfield_B026..., p. 26

• Coffeen, Mary, d. Michael and Lydia, Sept. 3,1747.
• Mary, d Mical,"on account of Eliezer Lake & his wife, ye grand Parents, who took it as yr own," bp Nov. 20, 1748. *C.R.
• John, s. Michael and Lydia, July 28, 1727.
• Michael, s. Michael and Lydia, Dec. 13, 1728.
• Robert, s. Miall, bp Feb. 15, 1729-30. C.R. ________________________________

COFFEEN".

Families bearing this name were early in Rindge. They were not related to the more numerous Coffin family, of Newbury, and, later, of other New England towns. This name, on Topsfield and Lunenburg (Mass.), Rindge, Jaffiey, and Acworth (N. H.), Cavendish, and other Vermont records, has been spelled Coffeen, Coffien, Coffein, Coffen, and CoflBn, and more rarely as Cuffeen ; but the orthography here adopted invariably appears in original signatures of the family while resident in this town.

Michael Coffeen, the father of those who resided in Rindge, was a native of Ireland, and of wealthy and respectable parentage. Emigrating to America at the age of sixteen, four years later he md., and settled in Topsfield. In 1738, he and his wife Lydia were admitted to the church in Lunenburg, where they continued to reside for several years. They subsequently were found in Winchendon; but no record of their death, or removal from thattown, has been discovered.

John Coffeen, the eldest son of Michael, was b. in Topsfield. After following the seas for a few years, he md., about 1752, Susanah Goldsmith, of Boston, and came to Rindge in 1758, and possibly a year or two earlier.

In 1755 he was in Middletown, Conn., but he did not long remain there, nearly a year. He resided upon the farm now of Thomas and Charles G. Buswell, and was an active, enterprising citizen. In 1769 he removed to Cavendish, Vt., and was the first settler in that town.

Mr. Coffeen was subsequently prospered in his worldly estate, and was honored with many promotions in civil affairs. He was the first representative from Cavendish in the Assembly, and held the office several years. There were several children, but the names of only two can be given.

I. Eleazer, bap. in Rindge 1766.

II. Xake, b. in Rindge about 1762. A graduate of

Vide page 358.

http://www.archive.org/stream/historyoftownofr00stea/historyoftowno...

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• D: I22454
• Name: Michael Coffeen
• Sex: M
• Birth: ABT. 1702 in Dublin, Ireland
• Death: BEF. 1758 in Massachusetts

Note:

Michael was probably a native of Dublin, Ireland, where he was born ca 1702, and said to have descended from a respectable and wealthy family. At the age of sixteen, while attending college at Dublin (so one story goes), he with thirteen other lads, were enticed or kidnapped, brought aboard a ship that sailed to America.

Another story is that he was worked-out for a sum equivalent to his passage money, and still another story states that he was impressed aboard a British man-of-war and when the vessel was at New Bedford, Massachusetts, he ran away to Boston. He settled at Topsfield and there to Kingstown, New Hampshire, and then to Lunenburg, Massachusetts in 1730. It is believed that he was in Winchendon during the early settlement of that town, being one of the original proprietors, but remained there only a short time. The History of Lunenburg tells us, "He seems to have been a nervous impulsive, good-hearted Irishman, a great part of the time in "hot water" with his neighbors, but soon getting out of it. The church found him to be an unruly member, and on several occasions subjected him to its discipline, but he minded it no more than the blowing of the wind, replying to its grave admonitions with a laugh, or a joke. or both".

Michael and Lydia lived in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. We have no record of Michael's death, but his will was probated in early 1758. There is no doubt that the Coffeen Family and the Baldwin Family were neighbors and friends while living in Townsend, Massachusetts. This friendship remained constant through subsequent generations and shows itself predominately in Cavendish with the Baldwins and Coffeens living together as neighbors and sharing their lives in harmony and kinship. RE: Linda M. Farr Welch via internet

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=winch&id=...