William Coffin

• Moved to Boston MA
• 1731-1733 Owner of the "Bunch of Grapes Tavern" in Boston
• Patriarch of the "Boston Coffins"
• The "Boston Coffins" were loyalists, Banished during the Revolutionary War

The Coffins were strong in numbers and near neighbors, along the principal thoroughfare, now Washington street, dwelt t'wenty families, descended from William Coffin, or their near kinfolk, who lived in constant intercourse. The patriarch, at four score, his vigor hardly abated, lived on this street near his son's house. His daughter, Elizabeth, married her cousin, Thomas C. Amory, who had bought the house opposite her father's, at the corner of Hollis street, built by Governor Belcher for his own use. He was one of the organizers of Trinity church in 1734 and was one of the first wardens of same. He lived in honor and affluence till he died in 1774, just before the war broke out, which saved him from witnessing the exile and widespread confiscation that awaited his sons. His children and their children counted about sixty when he died, but of his descendants bearing the name of Coffin, all have died out in Massachusetts. He had four sons, all staunch Loyalists, William, Nathaniel, John and Ebenezer. The daughters, Mrs. De Blois, Mrs. Amory, and Mrs. Dexter, married into the best families of Boston, and through love for their husbands took the other side. The sons were proscribed and banished by an Act of the Massachusetts Legislature.

Source book: The loyalists of Massachusetts and the other side of the American Revolution

By James Henry Stark

GEDCOM Note

of Boston