Category Archives: __3. Coastal families

(Coastal families/Gardner branch)

The Gardner family of Nantucket

“The Gardner family of Nantucket descended from Richard and John Gardner, sons of Thomas Gardner, planter, who came from England to Salem, Massachusetts in 1626. The two brothers were originally in the fishing business, but also began accumulating property. Their descendents became captains of whaling ships, land owners and merchants. Anna Gardner (1816-1901), descended from John, had a distinguished career as a schoolmistress and reformer. She taught in Nantucket elementary schools and, after the Civil War, in the schools of the New England Freedman’s Bureau in the south.. She was also active in the causes of temperance and women’s suffrage. In 1841, she called the Anti-Slavery Convention in Nantucket.
Anna Gardner also wrote two books of poems. William Edward Gardner (1872-1965), Episcopal minister, historian and author, is particularly remembered in Nantucket for his biographies of Walter Folger, Jr., John Gardner, the Starbuck family, and the Coffin family. He also wrote memorials of Dr. Roy H. Gilpatrick, George Fawcett, Charles H. Selden, Frederick C. Sanford, Peter Folger and Moses Joy as well as “Rambles in the Historic Nantucket District.”
http://cloldergen.com/page87/page87.html
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1.  Thomas Gardner and Margaret Frier & Damaris Sibley Shattuck
Both of Thomas’ wives are mentioned here because Thomas’ son Richard, by Margaret, married, Sarah, daughter of Damaris by her first husband and my line descends from their union.

*  Thomas GARDNER (ca. 1592 – 1674)  was born 1591 in Dorsetshire, England, and died October 29, 1674, buried in
Gardner burying ground, Salem MA.{1}

Thomas Gardner was born in 1592 to Thomas and Elizabeth Gardner. According to records, his home was Dorsetshire, England. His father may have been a descendant of Owen Tudor whose grand-daughter married a Gardner (ca. 1450s, England). His mother was the sister of Minister John White who was instrumental in the Dorchester Company.

MARRIAGE:
a)  By his first wife Margaret Frier (c 1589 – 1659) he had nine children; six sons (Thomas, George, John, Samuel, Joseph, and ♥ Richard) and three daughters (Sarah, Seeth, and Miriam) of whom two interest us Richard and John.  Margaret died.
b)  He married for his second wife Damaris Sibley Shattuck (1597 – 28 Sep 1674), a widow.  His son, Richard, married Damaris’ daughter ♥ Sarah, by her first husband.

Thomas, wife Margaret and three sons, born in England,  landed at Cape Ann, in 1624 in the ship Charity  to form a the Cape Ann Colony at what is now known as Gloucester; around 1639 he removed to Salem, Mass.
[Image at right: Pioneer Village living attraction, Salem, MA].

LIVELIHOOD:
•  Thomas was named an Overseer in the 1624 party that left Weymouth on its way to Cape Ann.
•  Thomas was known as a ‘planter’.
•  In 1636 he was a member of the First Church.
•  Was elected a deputy to the General Court 26 Sept 1637
•  In 1637 he was appointed to survey all ffences west of the meeting house.
•  He was also engaged by the projectors of Cape Ann settlement to oversee the fisheries.
•  Was an Overseer of the “old planters” party of the Dorchester Company
•  Is considered to have been the Governor (superintendent) of Massachusetts (for a short time), due to his being in authority in the first settlement that became the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
•  He was an innkeeper in Salem and was apparently literate as he signed his name to several petitions and inventories.

Thomas Gardner’s signature at right {2}

At the Cape Ann Colony: Mr. John Tylley was overseer of the fishing and ‘Mr. Thomas Gardner’ was overseer of the planting. After the fishing season had closed, the majority of the men sailed homeward and left Mr. Gardner with thirteen companions to pass the winter and put in a crop in the spring as they had done in the season then closing. But the men did not work well, and the land was unfit for cultivation by any methods known to Englishmen of the day; so at the following summer the Company felt dissatisfied…the Adventurers discharged Mr. Gardner and invited Mr. Conant to take the vacant position.
At the end of a second year the Company was so discouraged that they abandoned the Cape Ann project altogether.

Where Mr. Gardner was for a number of years records do not show; but he appeared at Salem (Naumkeag) which Mr. Conant and some others of the Cape Ann company had founded, when the first records of the town’s proceedings now extant were made. It is certain that he was at this time, 1635, honored as one of the leading citizens; had large grants of land; was a deputy to the General Court in 1637, and in every way received universal respect. The town chose him an officer; the Court made him a ‘freeman’ May 17, 1637; and other honors came to him.

In May 1639, Thomas received the grant of ‘a banke of upland nere the strongwatter brook to his marsh paying 5s per acre.’ In 1677 the statement was made in court that this property ‘was always called Mr. Gardner’s Hill for this thirty years.’ In March 1672 Thomas had leased a house and about thirty acres to John Pudney for sever years. Rent for the house was to be paid in cider, cord wood, butter and cheese, pork, and corn. After Gardiner’s death, Pudney was sued by the executors for falling behind in his rent, but produced an account showing he had paid £19 in produce.

BURIAL:
Thomas was buried on Gardner Hill near present day Boston Street and Grove, in Salem, MA. {4} One hundred and fifty graves, including Thomas Gardner, were moved maybe a few dozen yards in the new, Harmony Grove Cemetery when Grove Street was expanded in the 1840s.

WILL:
The will of “Thomas Gardner of Salem” was written 7 December 1668 and proved 29 March 1675 by
witnesses Robert Pease and Samuel Goldthwaite [EQC 6:31].
“Weighing the uncertainty of man’s life, I do therefore in the time of my health, make this my last will” giving to “my wife Damaris” all the estate she brought with her “according to our agreement” and £8 a year paid by my six sons provided she give up her dower in my housing and lands; to “my daughter Sara Balch” £15; to “my daughter Seeth Grafton” £15; to “my daughter Mirian [sic] Hills two daughters, Miriam Hill, & Susanna Hill,” to each of them £5 at age eight~een or marriage; to “my sons George and John Gardner” salt meadow valued at £20; to “my sons Samuel and Joseph Gardner” the other part of my salt meadow; residue divided in seven equal parts, two parts to my son Thomas, he paying “his mother in law forty six shillings by the year,” the other sons to receive one part each and pay their mother-in-law twenty-three shillings a year; sons George and Samuel
Gardner executors; “my loving friends Mr. Joseph Grafton and Deacon Horne” overseers.

The inventory of the estate of “Mr. Thomas Gardner, taken 4:11m:1674” by Hilliard Veren, Sr. and John Pickering totalled £274 16s., including real estate valued at £201: “an old dwelling house with about 10 acres of land adjoining with the orchard, fences &c.,” £31; ten acres of ground in the Northfield, £27; about 100 acres of upland and meadow, £100; about 20 acres of land lying in the woods, £3; and about 2 3/4 acres of salt marsh lying above the mill,” £40. The inventory also included “2 old barrels of guns” valued at 5s.

Following Thomas Gardner’s probate, at the November 1677 term of Essex court his sons George (“now of Hartford, Connecticut”) and Samuel sued John Pudney of Salem, husbandman, over a farm let to Pudney by lease dated 1 March 1672[/3] and described as Gardner’s now dwelling house in Salem, with all his land in Northfield, about 20 acres, also his 10 acres of meadow …for seven years from Apr. 15, 1672 at £11 per year, and two barrels of cider, said Gardner furnishing the cask, of which £4 were to be paid in wood at 8s. per cord, 40s. in butter and cheese, with one firkin of butter, 40s. in pork, and the remainder in corn. Said Pudney was not to remove any muck, and Gardner reserved the right to take the meadow near Needham’s if he so desired.{5}

Witness: Robert Pease, Samuell Golthrite. Proved Mar. 29, 1675 by the witnesses before Edward Ting, Esq. and Maj. Hathoren, Esq. and Hilliard Veren, clerk of the court at Salem. Copy, Essex County Probate Records, vol. 301, page 62.

The will of Thomas Gardner was dated 7 December 1668 and proved 29 March 1675. He gives wife Damaris all that she brought with her according to their agreement plus eight pounds for which she was to relinquish her dower rights. Daughters Sara Balch and Seeth Graafton received fifteen pounds. Daughter Miriam Hill’s two daughters, Miriam Hill and Susanna Hill, each received five pounds. Sons George and John received the salt meadow on the west side of Capt. George Corwin’s meadow; Samuel and Joseph received the meadow on the east side of Corwin. His housing and lands were to be divided equally among his six sons: Thomas, George, Richard, John, Samuel, and Joseph. George and Samuel were appointed executors. The inventory totalled £274-16-0, including £30 for the homestead and £167 of other land
(Essex County Probate, #10,667, 62:301; Essex Probate Records )

DOCUMENTS:
1. Thomas Gardner Planter and Some of His Descendants, compiled and arranged by Frank A Gardner, MD, 1731, Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., this source mentions the death date as given in the Town Records .
2. The signature’s Internet source:  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Gardner_signature.jpg>
The signature’s original source = <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/Perley/vol1/images/p1-68.html>
3. Source <http://www.e-familytree.net/F254/F254755.htm>
4.  Burial and other information: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gardner_(planter)>
5. http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/c/h/Beverly-J-Schonewolf/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0625.html
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2.  Richard Gardner and Sarah Shattuck

* Richard GARDNER was born in ABT 1626 in England; died on 23 Jan 1688 in Nantucket, MA; buried in Maxey Pond Burying Ground, Nantucket, MA.
Richard GARDNER married Sarah SHATTUCK in 1652 (they were step brother and step sister, not blood relatives). They had the following children: ♥ Richard GARDNER  Jr. (b. 23 Oct 1653), and nine others.

TRAVEL:
Richard Gardner came to America with his brother Captain John Gardner in 1640.

HOME:
Richard’s wife Sarah was a Quaker who had considerable trouble with the Salem authorities on account of her belief.
Richard Gardner and his wife therefore decided to leave Salem and moved to Nantucket in 1666/1667, for more congenial surroundings. In 1666 the following resolution was passed at a meeting of the inhabitants of Nantucket:
A grant was made to Richard Gardner halfe accommodacons according to the grants made to Seamen and Tradesmen upon condition that hee exercise himselfe as a sea man & that hee come to inhabitt here with his ffamily before the end of May 1688 and after that his entrance here not to depart the Island in Point of dwelling for the space of three years upon forfeiture of the grant aforsaid.
Richard moved to Nantucket as a seaman and became a landowner.{D3}  His house was around Wesco, now called Lily Pond, so irregular in form as to be called the ‘Crooked Record’. The house was built on the west end of Sunset Hill (just west of the Coffin house) in 1665, where now is the residence of Eben W. Francis. {D1}
John and his wife, Priscilla Grafton, soon followed.
Source: <http freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com mcronin111gardner.htm>

EVENT:
A feud broke out amongst the early settlers of Nantucket. On one side the Coffin’s and their friends, on the other the Gardner brothers (John and Richard) and their friends. The feud is thought to have developed from the divergent temperaments of Tristram and Capt. John Gardner. Tristram was a natural leader, but had tendencies to be irritable and despotic. Capt. John Gardner was a man of physical courage, rugged honesty and democratic in his dealings, traits that gained him public confidence. {D3}

An event that occurred during the feud which was prompted by the Coffin faction: Peter Folger a friend and marriage relation of the Gardner’s was arrested for contempt of court and ordered held until his bond was met. Richard Gardner’s, wife Sarah, and Peter Folger’s son, Eleazur (whom was married to Richard’s daughter, Sarah), all expressed themselves with indignation at Peter’s arrest. They were consequently ordered to answer for their statements in court, but did not appear. The court stated,”…Sarah, the wife of Mr. Richard Gardner, being legally convicted of speaking very opprobriously and uttering many slanderous words concerning the imprisonment of Peter Folger..the court thinks it fit…she shall be reproved and admonished to have care for the future of evil words to defaming His Majesty’s Court”. “Mr. Richard Gardner being legally convicted of non-appearance at Court, according to summons, the Court perceiving that it was occasioned by his mistake, do acquit him.”  Eleazur and another friend, Tobias Coleman were fined 25 shilling and 20 shillings, respectively.{D3}

Peter and Sarah Folger’s daughter, Abiah, married Josiah Franklin and became the parents of Benjamin Franklin.

The estrangement between the Coffin and the Gardner families ended soon after Tristram’s death in 1681. Tristram’s eldest grandson Jethro and Jethro’s brother, Edward, married, Mary and Anna Gardner. After 1681, James, another grandson of Tristram, married Love Gardner and later married, Ruth Gardner. Six other children of Richard Gardner married grandchildren of Tristram Coffin among these, Tristram’s grandson, Samuel Coffin, married Richard Gardner’s daughter, Miriam and became our direct ancestors.{D4)

* The Coffins are described in old Nantucket records as ‘noisy, fractious and loud’ while the Folgers are ‘knowing but lazy’ and ‘the silent Gardners are called plodding.’

LIVELIHOOD:
Richard Gardner was Chief Magistrate in 1673 and held other town offices.
The early families on Nantucket gained a livelihood primarily by farming and fishing.

EDUCATION:
Richard Gardner appears to have been a man of considerable education and was many times Chief Magistrate and Assistant.{D3}

BURIAL:
Richard Gardner, Tristram Coffin, Edward Starbuck and presumably their wives and others are buried at the old Maxey Pond Burying Ground. A 6+ foot high “Early Settlers Monument”  stands at the site with the inscription: “Erected AD 1881 By A Descendant of the First Settlers of Nantucket in Memory of Those Whose Remains Are Buried on this Hallowed Spot Where stood the First Church Gathered Here 1711 Since Removed to where it Now Stands as the vestry of the First Congregational Society…” The monument is inscribed with the names of ten settlers, including those mentioned above. The settlement and church /burial ground at Maxey Pond/Capum Harbor was, in the early days of the settlement, called “Sherburne”. Sherburne was located about two miles west of the present town of Nantucket.

DOCUMENTS:
1. Nantucket Historical Association, Vol. 2, Bulletin No 1, Nantucket Lands and Land Owners by Henry B. Worth.
2. Richard Gardner’s birth year was taken from a 6+ foot tall grave yard monument at Maxey Pond Burying Ground, Nantucket, MA.
3. Nantucket Lands and Land Owners, Vol. 2., Bulletin No.1., by Henry Barnard Worth, Published by the Nantucket Historical Assn., 1901.
4. Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA., p. 81.
5.  Nantucket Lands and Land Owners Vol. 2, Bulletin No.1., by Henry Barnard Worth, Published by the Nantucket Historical Assn., 1901.

 * Sarah SHATTUCK was born in ABT 1631 in Salem, Essex, MA; died in 1724 in Nantucket, MA; buried in Nantucket, MA. She was the daughter of Samuel Shattuck and Damaris.

DEATH:
Sarah is listed as being 92 years old at the time of her death.

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3. Richard Gardner , Jr.and Mary Austin

 * Richard GARDNER Jr
Richard Gardner, Jr. was born August 23, 1653 at Salem, MA. and died March 8, 1728 at Nantucket, MA.

Richard Gardner Jr. married Mary Austin on 17 May 1674 in Nantucket, MA, they had the following nine children: Peter, Richard, Patience, Joseph, Solomon, Benjamin, ♥ Miriam, Lydia and William Gardner.

LIVELIHOOD:
Sea Captain

Richard Gardner II or III house (ca. 1724 Initial Construction) at 32 West Chester St., Nantucket, Massachusetts (Image from repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA) http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004663808/
Image published Aug 1936.

Died March 8, 1728 in Nantucket,MA

*Mary AUSTIN
Born in 1655 Dover, Strafford, England and died July 1, 1721 at Nantucket, MA.
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Richard Gardner Jr. daughter Miriam Gardner married Samuel “King Sam” Coffin, thereby merging the Gardner branch with the Coffin branch. See following:
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 4.  Samuel Coffin and Miriam Gardner

* Samuel “King Sam” COFFIN was born on 12 Dec 1680 in Nantucket, MA; died on 22 Feb 1764 in Nantucket, MA.{D1}
(See also the post: My family in history/Coastal families/[Tristram, John] Coffin)

Samuel Coffin married ♥ Miriam GARDNER in 1705 in Nantucket, MA. They had the following children: Parnel, Sarah, Libni, John (b. 1708), Deborah (b. 1708), David (b. 1718),  ♥ William Coffin (b. 4 Nov 1720), Miriam (b. 1723), Mary (b. 1724), and Priscilla (b. 1730).

NAME:
Samuel was referred to as “King Sam”. (See also: My Family in History/Coastal families/Coffin branch). According to one source, Samuel was “known as ‘King Sam’ because he as short and feisty, and was compared to a crowing Bantam rooster trying to be king of the yard.
As previously noted: The Coffins are described in old Nantucket records as ‘noisy, fractious and loud’ while the Folgers are ‘knowing but lazy’ and ‘the silent Gardners are called plodding.’

BIRTH:
He was the 6th of 11 children in his family.

RELIGION:
In 1706, Samuel Coffin, and his wife Miriam (Gardner) joined the Society of Friends.

DEATH:
The Friends (Quaker) records give 1763 as the date of his death.

DOCUMENTS:
1. Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA., p. 266.

* Miriam GARDNER
Was born July 14, 1685 at Nantucket, MA and died November 17, 1750 at Nantucket, MA.
Miriam was the mother of 10 children.
(To follow this line, see My Family in History/Coastal families/William Coffin & Priscilla Paddock)

(Coastal families/ Coffin branch)

* Abijah COFFIN was born on 22 May 1760 in New Garden, Guilford, NC; died on 3 Oct 1793 in Guilford, NC; buried in Guilford, NC.

BIRTH:
Records show Abijah was born on 22 May 1760, to William Coffin and Priscilla Paddock, at New Garden, Guilford County, NC.{D1}

MARRIAGE:
Abijah married Elizabeth Robinson 31 May 1791 at New Garden, NC.{D1}They had the following children: ♥ Priscilla COFFIN (b. 29 Jul 1793), Mary COFFIN.

DEATH:
Abijah died young, at 33 years 4 months of age, leaving his wife and two daughters, Mary and  two month old Priscilla.

WILL:
His Will reads, ” Item I give unto my wife my Sorrel Coalt the sattle she rides also one father bed of furnatur also one Cow & one four gallon pot to her heirs & assigns for Ever also give unto her half duson of Puter Plates & one gallon Bason & the largest Plater and all her wareing Cloaths…Item I give unto my daughter Mary all my lands & estate that my father may leave to me and also all my personal [??]…that all my Personal Estate of what name or nature be sold by my Executors hereafter named Either at Private or Publick sale at their Discrestion & the money put at Interest for my daughter Mary and it is my will that she should have it at the age of Eighteen years to her and her heirs…being still of a sound mind this 20 day of (9 or 7] mo 1793 it is my will that all that I gave to my Daughter Mary be equally divided between her & her sister Priscilla in the same manner.” Note. Priscilla was only about three months old when her father died.{D2}

DOCUMENTS:
1. L.D.S. Genealogical Library, Tucson, AZ., No.547, F21, North America, North Carolina, April 1984, IGI.
2. A transcript of the Will was made 24 Jun 1987 by David Coffin from the original (Ws04D00B) which is in the North Carolina Archives, Raleigh, NC.
3. Individual source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.

* Elizabeth ROBINSON was born in 1771; died on AFT 27 Oct 1804.
Dau. of Mary HUNT m. William Robenson  
Individual source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.

(Coastal families/Coffin branch)

John Coffin and Deborah Austin

* John COFFIN, Lieutenant, was born on 13  Oct 1647 in Haverhill, Essex, MA; died on 5 Sep 1711 in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard; buried in Tower Hill Burying Ground, Martha’s Vineyard, MA.

John Coffin married Deborah AUSTIN in 1668 in Nantucket, MA. They had the following children: Hannah COFFIN, Tristram COFFIN II, Deborah COFFIN, Elizabeth COFFIN, Lydia COFFIN (b. 6 Jan 1669), Peter COFFIN (b. 5 Oct 1671), John COFFIN (b. 10 Feb 1673), Love COFFIN (b. 23 Apr 1676), Enoch COFFIN (b. 1678), ♥ Samuel “King Sam” COFFIN (b. 12 Dec 1680), Benjamin COFFIN (b. 28 Aug 1683).

BIRTH:
John was the 8th of 9 children in his family.

HOME:
In 1677, Tristram Coffin gave his son, John, an interest in Nantucket. While at Nantucket, John lived on his father’s lot. Housing lots of the original settlers were approximately 1000 feet on a side (roughly 25 acres), but often quite irregular shaped properties. Tristram’s lot was bordered on the north side by Capum Harbor, now a landlocked pond. After Tristram died, John moved to Martha’s Vinyard, where he lived the rest of his life.{D1}

His move from Nantucket to Edgartown, on Martha’s Vinyard, occurred ca. 1682-83.

DEATH:
John died 5 September 1711 at Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard

BURIAL:
John Coffin was buried at Tower Hill Burying Ground. Directions: Take Katama Road south out of Edgartown. Stay on Katama Rd. at the first fork (Herring Creek Rd goes off to the right), and take the first sand road to the left (east toward Katama Bay) after the fork. Follow it for 0.2 miles and you will be at Tower Hill Cemetery.{D2}

.

OUR COFFIN FAMILY HISTORY
Compiled by Christie Ann (Hill) Russell
http://www.cartar.com/papers/coffinfam/coffinfam.htm

Tristram’s son, John, our second generation ancestor was born 30 October 1647 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was the seventh of nine children born to Tristram and Dionis. John Coffin was the progenitor of most of the Martha’s Vineyard Coffins. He was about 13 years old when his family moved from the mainland to the town of Sherborn on Nantucket. In 1668, a young man of 21 years, he married at Nantucket, Deborah Austin, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Starbuck) Austin of Nantucket. On Nantucket John was a blacksmith and held a few minor offices. In Tristram’s will, he gave John “… his new dwelling house, with all other houses adjoining unto it etc” to be John’s property to be his immediately upon the decease of Tristram and wife, Dionis. We learn, however, that John removed to Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, a year after his father died and two years before his mother died. That was in 1682 when John was 36 years old. Martha’s Vineyard was then a part of New York.

It is believed that Thomas Mayhew asked John to come to Martha’s Vineyard as there was a need for a blacksmith. Mayhew reportedly sold John 8 acres for $1.00 fronting on Edgartown Harbor and running back in a wide swath to Peases’ Point Way. This lot was purchased from Thomas Paine’s estate. Paine, Governor Thomas Mayhew’s stepson and son-in-law, was lost at sea in 1657, along with Thomas Mayhew, Jr., on a voyage to England.

John built his first home on that property in 1682, a one story structure 24′ X 32′ with a shed roof and faced the harbor. The original portion of the house is buried by much enlargement and modification. It was on this property that he had his blacksmith shop. The blacksmithing trade must have been very profitable for John Coffin became the owner of much real estate on Martha’s Vineyard. In the 1700’s, the house was owned by various craftsmen, tailors and coopers among them. Today the address is 55 South Water Street. Looking East from this property today, one sees the Yacht Club, Town Dock, Chappy Ferry, and Chappaquiddick Island.

1.  John and Deborah’s second house on Martha’s Vineyard was built in 1703. Today the address for this house is 22 North Water Street, Edgartown. The house was occupied by John’s descendants for many generations until it was taken over by the North Water Street Corporation in 1946 to preserve it. It, like the Desire Coffin house, is now maintained by the Preservation Society and is occupied by antique and decorator’s shops.

Among the many who have lived in the house was the famed Dr. Daniel Fisher. He married Grace C. Coffin, John’s great-great-granddaughter in 1829 soon after coming to the Island. Her dowry, it is said, was her weight in silver. We don’t know how much she weighed, but no doubt enough to help Dr. Fisher begin his many business enterprises. Dr Fisher built his own sidewalk from the front door to the corner of Main Street so he wouldn’t get muddy shoes. The house sat much closer to the street, then a mere cart path, and when it was widened, the house was moved back and it appears that the rear addition was turned 90 degrees and reattached. There are eight other Coffin homes on the Walking Tour of Martha’s  Vineyard which were built and owned by John’s descendants. [The greatly renovated John Coffin & decsendants house at 22 North Water Street, Edgartown, Martha’s Vinyard. The original house is encased within the much expanded home seen here.]

2.  John and Deborah had eleven children of whom nine grew to be adults. Four sons and three daughters were mentioned in his will dated 1 Sept 1711. In his will probated 17 April 1712, he leaves sheep on Nantucket, now in possession of son Peter, to wife Deborah. (It is wondered if son Peter lived in the house deeded to John by his father?) He also mentions sons, Samuel, Enoch and Tristram and daughters Hannah Gardner, Deborah Macy and Lydia Thaxter. Daughters Love and Elizabeth may have died young or as spinsters prior to 1711. John Jr. and Benjamin probably died young.

After John died 5 September 1711 at Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, Deborah returned to Nantucket where she died 4 February 1718. The will of Deborah Coffin (wife of John ) dated 13 March 1717/18 probated 13 May 1718 names son Tristram who received land in New Hampshire and was executor; and daughters Hannah Gardner and Deborah Macy.  See http://history.vineyard.net/cemetery/th/th29.htm
for a picture of John’s tombstone and genealogy of The Coffin Family of Martha’s Vineyard at http://history.vineyard.net/coffin.htm#john8.

[Internet image Map of Martha’s Vinyard above, from the Massachusetts State Atlas of 1891]

John and Deborah were the parents of our third generation ancestor, Samuel, “King Sam”. In 1706, Samuel Coffin, and his wife Miriam (Gardner) joined the Society of Friends. Two years later his parents (John and Deborah) joined. His sister Deborah joined in 1711 and Samuel’s brother Tristram and wife Mary (Bunker) joined the Friends in 1715. This was in the very early days of the Quaker movement on Nantucket, for it was in 1700 that Tristram’s daughter, Mary (Coffin) Starbuck, sister to John, had become a Quaker.

[Manuscript deed of sale (November 14, 1685) of Nashowamoiasuk, now Neck Point of the Edgartown Great Pond, by “Mr. Harrie, Indian of Nantucket” to John Coffin for six pounds.]

DOCUMENTS:
1.  Nantucket Lands and Land Owners Vol. 2, Bulletin No.1., by Henry Barnard Worth, Published by the Nantucket Historical Assn., 1901.
2.  Epitaph and Icon : A Field Guide to the Old Burying Grounds of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vinyard and Nantucket by Diana Hume George and Malcolm A. Nelson.
3.  The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA.
4.   Nantucket Lands and Land Owners Vol. 2, Bulletin No.1., by Henry Barnard Worth, Published by the  Nantucket Historical Assn., 1901.

* Deborah AUSTIN, died on 4 Feb 1724 in Nantucket, MA; buried in Nantucket, MA.

BIRTH:
Deborah was the 4th of 5 children born to Joseph Austin and Sarah Starbuck.

MARRIAGE:
Deborah produced 11 children during her long marriage to John Coffin.
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Samuel Coffin and Miriam Gardner

* Samuel “King Sam” COFFIN was born on 12 Dec 1680 in Nantucket, MA; died on 22 Feb 1764 in Nantucket, MA, at age 83 years.{D1}

Samuel Coffin married Miriam GARDNER in 1705 in Nantucket, MA. They had the following children: Parnell COFFIN, Sarah COFFIN, Libni COFFIN, John COFFIN (b. 1708), Deborah COFFIN (b. 1708), David COFFIN (b. 1718), ♥ William COFFIN (b. 4 Nov 1720), Miriam COFFIN (b. 1723), Mary COFFIN (b. 1724), Priscilla COFFIN (b. 1730).

NAME:
Samuel was referred to as “King Sam”.

BIRTH:
He was the 6th of 11 children in his family.

EVENTS:
According to one source, Samuel was “known as ‘King Sam’ because he was short and feisty, and was compared to a crowing Bantam rooster trying to be king of the yard. He was a Quaker.”
[Contrubuted by Elaine Coffin Rebori]

John and Deborah were the parents of our third generation ancestor, Samuel, “King Sam”. In 1706, Samuel Coffin, and his wife Miriam (Gardner) joined the Society of Friends. Two years later his parents (John and Deborah) joined. His sister Deborah joined in 1711 and Samuel’s brother Tristram and wife Mary (Bunker) joined the Friends in 1715. This was in the very early days of the Quaker movement on Nantucket, for it was in 1700 that Tristram’s daughter, Mary (Coffin) Starbuck, sister to John, had become a Quaker.

DEATH:
The Friends (Quaker) records give 1763 as the date of his death.

Will of Samuel Coffin, probated March, 1764. Estate given to children John, William, David, Deborah Starbuck, Miriam Pinkham, Mary Barnard, Priscilla Coleman and the heirs of a deceased daughter, Sarah Pinkham.

DOCUMENTS:
1.   Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA., p. 266.

* Miriam GARDNER
Miriam Gardner was born on 14 JUL 1685  at Nantucket, Massachusetts. Died: 17 SEP 1750 at Nantucket Island, Massachusetts 

(Coastal families/Paddock branch)

1.  Paul Paddock and Francoise Traillour

* Paul PADDOC was born in 1507 in Le Cateau, France; died in 1589.
Paul married Francoise TRAILLOUR. They had the following children: ♥ John PADDOCK (b.1550).

NAME:
The family’s official surname changed from Paddoc to Paddock.
Source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.

* Francoise TRAILLOUR was born in 1519; died in 1607.
Source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.
.

2.  John Paddock and Jane Jennings

* John PADDOCK was born in 1550 in Le Cateau, France.
John married Jane JENNINGS. They had the following children: ♥ Robert PADDOCK (b. 1584).
John became a Huguenot and fled to England in 1580, and then to Ireland, settling near Killany, Barony of Ardee, County Louth.{D1}

LIVELIHOOD:
He was a blacksmith.

DOCUMENTS:
Source:  The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.

* Jane JENNINGS was born in France.
Source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.

.

3.  Robert Paddock and Mary Holmes

* Robert PADDOCK was born in 1584; died in 1650.
Robert married Mary HOLMES. They had the following children: ♥ Zachariah PADDOCK (b. 20
Mar 1636). Robert Paddock was the immigrant ancestor.

MARRIAGE:
Robert was married three times, each wife’s name was Mary.

LIVELIHOOD:
Like his father, Robert was a blacksmith and a Huguenot.
Source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.

* Mary HOLMES
Source:  The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.
.
.
4.  Zachariah Paddock and Deborah Sears

* Zachariah PADDOCK was born on 20 Mar 1636 in Plymouth, Plymouth, MA; died on 1 May 1727 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, MA.
Zachariah married Deborah SEARS in 1659. {D2} They had the following children: ♥ Nathanial PADDOCK (b. 22 Sep 1677), Zachariah PADDOCK.

LIVELIHOOD:
He was a deputy of the General Court in 1706.

DOCUMENTS:
1.  The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.
2. Americans of Royal Descent, 1883 by Charles H. Browning, now 7th Ed, 1986 reprint by Genealogical Publishing Co.;., Baltimore, MD, See pedigree of Mr. Theron Royal Woodward and his wife for lineage of Zachariah Paddock back to Emperor Charlemagne.
3. Source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.
4.  Colonial American Genealogical Library, #4 American Pedigrees 751 – 1500, LDS Library.

* Deborah SEARS was born in Sep 1639 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, MA; died on 17 Aug 1732 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, MA.

MARRIAGE:
Deborah Sears, is given as the daughter of Richard Sears and wife of  Zachariah Paddock. {D1}{D2} Deborah’s genealogy was traced in the category post: Genealogy/Old world/ From Royal Grace to frontier colonist.

DOCUMENTS:
1.  The Anderson Story by Mrs. C.J. Davis and others, printed in 1968, a 62 page family genealogy.
2.  Americans of Royal Descent, 1883 by Charles H. Browning, now 7th Ed, 1986 reprint by Genealogical Publishing Co.; Baltimore, MD, See the pedigree of Mr. Theron Royal Woodward.
3.  Colonial American Genealogical Library, #4 American Pedigrees 751 – 1500, LDS Library.
.

[Internet image: Typical American colonial city and environs, ca 1700]

Nathanial Paddock and Ann Bunker

* Nathanial PADDOCK was born on 22 Sep 1677 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, MA to the family of Zachariah Paddock and Deborah Sears{D1}; died in Aug 1756.
Nathanial married Ann BUNKER on ABT 15 Oct 1706. They had the following children:  ♥Priscilla PADDOCK (b. 18 Sep 1722), Paul PADDOCK.

DOCUMENTS:
1.  One Hundred Sixty Allied Families by John O. Austin (1893) Reprinted 1982, Genealogical Pub. Co., Baltimore.
2.  Source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.
3. Colonial American Genealogical Library, #4 American Pedigrees 751 – 1500, LDS Library.

* Ann BUNKER was born in 1686; died in 1767.

MARRIAGE:
The Estate Probate of Thomas Bunker, d. unmarried Sept 1721, names Ann Bunker, dau. of William, as wife of Nathanial Paddock.

Their daughter Priscilla Paddock, married William Coffin.
See category post: Genealogy/Coastal families/Coffin branch,  William Coffin and Priscilla Paddocks’s genealogy and life summary.

(Coastal families/Coffin branch)

Peter Coffin and Mary Boscawen

* Peter COFFIN gent, died in England.

Peter COFFIN married Mary BOSCAWEN. They had the following children: ♥ Nicholas COFFIN, Tristram COFFIN, Phillip COFFIN, Lionel COFFIN, Thomas COFFIN.

HISTORICAL NOTE:
The family,” according to Sylvanus J. Macy, “is one of those which have always  used (a coat of ) arms in this country, inherited from ancestors ranking among the gentry of England. The family sent off branches into different parts of Devonshire, the Coffins of this country  are descended from one such branch. Peter is believed to be the father of Nicholas Coffin and great grandfather of Tristram Coffin.

Individual source:  The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA.

* Mary BOSCAWEN was born ABT 20 Jan 1551 in Penkivel, Cornwall,  England; christened in Penkivel, Cornwall, England; died on 4 Sep 1622 in Penkivel, Cornwall, England; buried in Penkivel, Cornwall, England.
[Image: Smugglers cottage on the Tregothnan estate has been home to the Boscawen family since 1335.]

BIRTH:
Mary was born to the family of Hugh Boscawen and Philippa Carminowe.

HISTORICAL  NOTE:
Mary Boscawen was a 11th  generation descendent of Boscawen’s and Carminowe’s that lead back to a Roger Carminowe. Roger Carminowe held a Knight’s Fee in 1173 AD and was a Witness in 1220.

BURIAL:
Mary was buried at St. Michael’s Church in the rural village of Penkivel, between Falmouth and Truro, and 40 miles from Plymouth, Cornwall. The church is small and usually open and unattended. Mary is buried beneath the floor, her grave marked by a seventeenth century brass  plate, which shows a full body likeness of her and states;

“HERE LYETH THE BODY OF MARIE THE WIDDOW OF PETER COFFIN GENT & 4th  DAVGHTER OF HUGH BOSCAWEN OF TREGOTHNAN ESQ WHO DYED YE 4th DAY OF SEPTEMBER 1622 AGED 71 YEARES” {D1}

DOCUMENT:
1. The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA, p. 84.
.

Nicholas Coffin and Johan ___

* Nicholas COFFIN, died AFT 12 Sep 1613 in Butlass, Brixton Parish, Devon, England.

Nicholas Coffin married Johan (Joan). They had the following children: ♥ Peter COFFIN II (b. ABT 1588), Ann COFFIN, John COFFIN, Nicholas COFFIN.

HISTORICAL NOTE:
The Coffins of Portledge, Alwington parish, Devonshire, near Bideford, 45 miles north of Plymouth and Brixton, have resided at Portledge Manor at least since 1254 AD, and even earlier according to a boundary deed seen by the Rev. John Prince who wrote his treatise on “Worthies of Devon” about 1690.
It was written in Saxon, says Prince, “About the time of the Conquest” by the Abbot of Tavistock, granting certain lands to Richard Coffin. Tavistock is 15 miles directly north of Plymouth and 30 miles south of Portledge.{D1}  Portledge Manor is now owned by the British government and operated as a resort hotel.{D1} [Internet image below: 1907, Portledge manor, Alwington parish, Devonshire, England.] I should point out that although the Coffin family maintained ownership of the manor and its estates, our branch of the family has come down a line that, while propertied, was certainly not wealthy.

WILL:
In his Will, Nicholas mentions son, Peter, and grandson, Tristram, stating, “…Itm I give and bequeth to Peter  Coffyn my eldest sonne my greatest brass pann and my minde is that my Wief shall have the use thereof during her lief. Itm I give and bequeth to Tristram Coffyn my sonnes Sonne one yearling bollock…I give and bequeth to Johan Coffyn my wief one bay nag wch we use to call Rowse…”{D2}

DOCUMENTS:
1.  The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA., p. 82.
2.  Early Settlers of Nantucket by Lydia Swain Mitchell Hinchman. The original Will is to be found in the District Registry attached to the Probate Division of the Court of Justice of Exeter (in the Arcdeaconry Court of Totnes), England. “The Will of Nicholas Coffin.”
Individual  source:  The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA

* Johan (Joan) last name unknown.

Individual source:  The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA.
.

Peter Coffin II and Johan Thember

* Peter COFFIN II was born in ABT 1588 in Brixton Parish, Devon,  England; died BEF 13 Mar 1627 in Brixton Parish, Devon, England; buried in Brixton Parish, Devon, England.

Peter Coffin married Johan (Joan) THEMBER. They had the following children: ♥ Tristram COFFIN (b. 1609), John COFFIN, Johan COFFIN, Deborah COFFIN, Eunice COFFIN, Mary COFFIN.

The family name was spelled Coffyn in England and later Coffin in the America.

BIRTH:
Peter was  the 3rd of 7 children born to his parents, Nicholas Coffin and Johan (Joan).

WILL:
Peter Coffin’s Will , mentions his wife, son Tristram, son John and four daughters, Johan, Deborah, Eunice and Mary, all four under twenty years of age.
The Will is dated 21 Dec 1627 and was proved 13 Mar 1627/8. {D1}.

The Will states, “…Item I give and bequeth unto Tristram Coffyn my Sonne one feather bedd pformed my best brasen panne and my best brasen crocke. Item I give and bequeth unto Johan Coffyn my wife y issues pfitts and comodities of all my lands tenements & hereditaments wth y sayd Parish of Brixton dureing her widdowhood she yeelding & paying therefor yearly unto the said Tristram my sonne his heirs and assignes the summe of Fifty shillings of lawful English money at y four usual feasts of the year and also sufficient meate drinke & clothes and convenient lodgings unto y sayd Tristram according to his degree and calling dureing her Widowhood…Item I doe give unto Sonne Tristram All my lands rents reversions services & hereditamts with the appurtenances whatsoever sett lying & being wth in the sayd Parish of Brixton or elsewhere wthin y sayd County of Devon…Item All y rest of my goods chattels and cattells nor before given nor bequethed I doe give and bequethe unto Johan Coffyn my wife…”{D2}

DOCUMENTS:
1.  The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA.
2.  Early Settlers of Nantucket by Lydia Swain Mitchell Hinchman. The original may be found in the District Registry attached to the Probate Division of the Court of Justice of Exeter (in the Arcdeaconry Court of Totnes), England.
Individual source: The Anderson Story, by Mrs. C. J. Davis, Mrs. Cora May Boots and others, printed in 1968. A 67 page genealogical record of the Anderson family from John & Elizabeth Horney Anderson, ca 1800 to 1968.

* Johan (Joan) THEMBER was born in ABT 1584; died on 30 May 1661 in Boston, MA; buried in Boston, MA.

Johan’s maiden name is variously spelled Thember and Thumber.

DEATH:
Johan died at age 77 years.

Individual source: The Anderson Story, by Mrs. C. J. Davis, Mrs. Cora May Boots and others, printed in 1968.
Individual source:  The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA.

(Coastal Families/ Coffin branch)

* William COFFIN was born on 4 Nov 1720 in Nantucket, MA; died on 10 Nov 1803 in New Garden, Guilford, NC; buried in New Garden M.H. Burying Ground, Guilford, NC.

William COFFIN married Priscilla PADDOCK on 8 Nov 1740 in Nantucket, MA. They had the following children: Deborah COFFIN (b. 31 Mar 1743), Libni COFFIN (b. 7 Oct 1745), William COFFIN Jr. (b. 5 Sep 1747), Samuel COFFIN (b. 8 Oct 1749), Barnabas COFFIN (b. 25 Oct 1751), Matthew COFFIN (b. 23 Feb 1754), Bethuel COFFIN (b. 6 Feb 1756), ♥ Abijah COFFIN (b. 22 May 1760), Levi COFFIN (b. 10 Oct 1763), Priscilla COFFIN (b. 21 Oct 1765).

MARRIAGE: At age 20 years, William, son of Samuel and Miriam Coffin, married Priscilla Paddock, daughter of Nathanial and Ann on 8 Nov 1740.{D3}

TRAVEL: “On 8 april 1773 the William Coffin family would remove from the Nantucket Monthly Meeting to join the 1771-1774 migration to New Garden, Guilford Co., NC.”{D5}
In 1773, William (age 53) and Priscilla settled in Guilford County, North Carolina.{D2}

HOME: William’s home was located about 4 miles west of The New Garden Quaker Meeting House on the East Fork of Deep River. Trying to compare an 18th Century Documentation Map with a 1986 Dept. of Transportation Map of Guilford Co., NC, it appears that where William Coffin’s house once stood, there is now the immediate SE corner of the intersection of US Hwy. #73 and Joseph Bryon Blvd. (?) The highway cloverleaf complex is on what was over 220 years ago, the William Coffin farm.
About 4 miles SW of the William Coffin residence lived another ancestor, the Nicholite, ♥ Paris (Perez) Chipman.{D6} See the Genealogy/Perez Chipman and ♥ William Horney posts for  further information and the location of their farms in Deep River area of Guilford Co., NC.
[Image above: New Garden Quaker Meeting House, Guilford County, NC]

HISTORICAL NOTE: The great-grandchildren (my paternal 2G- grandparents, Harmon Anderson & Margaret Horney) of William Coffin and his neighbor, Perez Chipman, would meet and marry in Ohio about 60 years later.

MILITARY: “COFFIN Wm., born 4 Nov 1720, died 10 Nov 1803, m Priscilla Paddock, Patriotic Service, NC.” {D1} “William Coffin was a Quaker…He was near the Friends’ Meeting House during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, and his house was used for wounded officers. He and his family aided in the care of the soldiers…”{D2}

EVENT: During March 1781 Lord Charles Cornwallis moved his British troops into Guilford County, NC as he and his Colonial opponent General Nathanial Greene maneuvered for military position and advantage. A series of skirmishes were fought between the two armies at the New Garden Meeting House before the great Battle of Guilford Courthouse. On Thursday 15 Mar 1781, during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and for several days afterwards, William Coffin performed a public service for the Continental Army. “At the time of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse William Coffin opened his home for the wounded American officers. He was also one of the trustees of the New Garden Meeting House at that place, gave his consent to use the meeting building as a hospital for the care of wounded American and British Privates. For this service he gained special recognition from the Continental Congress.”{D1}{D7}

HISTORICAL NOTE: A drawing of the original New Garden Friends Meeting House shows a rather large, two-story, cracker box-shaped, white wood frame building on a brick foundation. The building which existed from 1757 to 1872, stood in a stately oak forest. In the 1990s, the site with its more modern church, is located across New Garden Road from Guilford College.

WILL: In his Will, William left a large sum of money to his ten-year old granddaughter, Priscilla Coffin, daughter of his deceased son, Abijah. This portion of his Will states; “8. I give unto my granddaughter Priscilla Coffin daughter of my son Abijah Coffin, dec’d, 150 pounds of the currency aforesaid if she lives to the age of 20 years or marriage, but if she should die in minority or without heir of body, then for it to devolve to my son Libni’s son Abijah and if he should die without heir of body then for it to be as a residue of my estate.” {D4}

BURIAL: William was buried in the New Garden Meeting House Burying Ground. His marker states, “William Coffin. Born in Nantucket 1720. Died 1803”. [Photo, right]

DOCUMENTS:
1. DAR Patriot Index, Vol. 1, Washington, 1966, p. 142. See also Genealogical Records, Misc. Material 1949-1950, Vol. 1, NC Page 144.
2. Daughters of the American Revolution, 1911, Vol. 88, p.215, National No.87704.
3. Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA., p. 266.
4. Will of William Coffin, recorded in Will Book A, p. 52, File .059, Guilford County Court House, Greensboro, NC.
5. Jethro Coffin House Chronology: 1686-1986 by Helen Winslow Chase, Published by Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, MA 02554, 1986.
6. “18th Century Historical Documentation Map” of Guilford County, NC. from the Eastern National Park & Monument Assoc., Guilford Courthouse Natl. Military Park, Post Office Box 9806, Greensboro, North Carolina 27429-0806
7. An account of one of the Colonial and British skirmishes at the New Garden Meeting House and a drawing of the Quaker meeting house can be found in, The Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, by B.J. Lossing, 1859 two volumes, published by Harper Brothers, NY.

Individual source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.

Individual source: Jethro Coffin House Chronology: 1686-1986 by Helen Winslow Chase, Published by Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, MA 02554, 1986.

* Priscilla PADDOCK was born on 18 Sep 1722 in Nantucket, MA, daughter of Nathanial and Ann Bunker Paddock; died on 15 Jul 1803 in New Garden, Guilford, NC; buried in Guilford, NC.

MARRIAGE: Pricilla was married at 18 years of age and produced 10 children in her long marriage to William Coffin.

EVENT: William and Priscilla’s grandson, Levi Coffin, would in the antebellum period gain fame and notoriety as President of the Underground Railroad.{D1}

RELIGION: Priscilla was a Quaker.

* Priscilla (Paddock) Coffin’s pedigree descended from English royalty and aristocracy. See the post: Genealogy/Old World/From Royal Grace to frontier colonist

DOCUMENTS:
1. Jethro Coffin House Chronology: 1686-1986 by Helen Winslow Chase, Published by Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, MA 02554, 1986.
* Individual source: The Colonial Genealogist, pages 195-198.
*Individual source: Jethro Coffin House Chronology: 1686-1986 by Helen Winslow Chase, Published by Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, MA 02554, 1986.

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Historical Account of the Revolutionary War Campaign
In Guilford County, North Carolina, 1781

The first week of March brought the war back to Guilford Co. again. Cornwallis had moved westward from Hillsborough and positioned his army very close to the Regulator battlefield just inside the Alamance Co. line. Greene had moved his army down Country Line Creek to High Rock Ford in SE Rockingham Co., He did not tarry there long, however. With Otho William’s Light Brigade marching ahead and screening his army, Greene suddenly struck southward on the night of March 1st and took position on the “uper side of Little Alamance Creek, ten miles from Guilford Courthouse on the road leading to that place from Hillsborough.
Greene was now dangerously close to the lurking enemy to the east. An offensive skirmish between light troops of both armies occurred the next day at Clapp’s Farm (just inside Alamance line on Beaver Creek) perhaps as a means of covering Greene’s withdrawal to Buffalo Creek. He drew back a further four miles to Boyd’s Mill on March 4th. A couple of skirmishes near the important Alamance road junction took place during this time.
Covered by ground fog and an early morning misting rain, Cornwallis made a sudden dash northward on March 6th. His object was either to destroy Williams or to bring on a major battle before Greene could be reinforced. Col. Williams was warned just in time and a race on parallel roads ensued with the objective of being Weitzel’s mill. The main army at Boyd’s Mill was notified and may have marched to the northeast to succor the light troops. Greene heard the firing at the mill three or four miles away according to one witness. The army was then turned toward Troublesome Creek Iron works in present day Rockingham Co.
The fighting around the ford at Weitzel’s Mill was short but desperate. Heavily outnumbered, Williams would hold until the enemy threatened to lap his flanks, then an orderly retreat was ordered. Pursuit by the British was of short duration and their tired army encamped near the mill for the night. The militia had become quite disgusted with their front line battle role and sacrifices of the past weeks. They left the army in droves. Unfortunately for the rebel cause, the staff officers of the Continental Army did not understand or know how to handle militia; the feeling of mistrust was mutual. Brig General Morgan may have made a difference, but he had left the army one month earlier.
Over the next several days, Lord Cornwallis hooked his way north then back south again. His movements on the northern side of Reedy Fork threatened the rebel lines of communication so Greene had to retreat lest he find the British within striking distance. Cornwallis, for his part, could not subsist his army in this sparsely settled area so he moved into the area between Reedy Fork and Buffalo Creek. On March 9th, he moved to Ralph Gorrell’s plantation to the southeast of Buffalo Creek and remained there to days. On March 11th, the British marched past the southern watershed of Buffalo Creek then camped at McCuiston’s plantation and Dillio’s Mill on the North Buffalo. According to rebel intelligence reports, the British headquarters was 2-1/2 miles from Guilford Courthouse and 1-1/2 miles from Dillon’s Mill. While the British were searching for food and forage, the American army was being heavily reinforced. Green was now ready for battle if only Cornwallis would only quit his present location so that the American general could position his force at Guilford Courthouse—an area whose terrain he knew well.
Lord Cornwallis obliged his enemy and decamped to the south on the 13th, his rear guard being aggressively attacked by their old nemesis, Lee’s Legion, as they were crossing a branch of Deep River. The British encamped at Deep River Friends Meeting House. On March 14th, General Greene moved his army to Guilford Courthouse. The next day, Cornwallis advanced to attack him.
A series of skirmishes were fought at the New Garden Meeting House between Lee and Tarleton as a prelude to the great battle. (It may very well be that Continental officers, wounded in these skirmishes were taken by ancestor William Coffin into his home three miles to the west, while William’s consent as a trustee of the New Garden Meeting House allowed the building to be turned into a hospital for the treatment of wounded American and British Privates.)

The area between Guilford Courthouse and Jamestown, including the New Garden and Deep River settlements were chiefly inhabited by Quakers, the most of them originally from Nantucket and vicinity. As they do not own slaves, nor employ slave labor, except when a servant is working to purchase his freedom, the land and the dwellings presented an aspect of thrift not visible in most of the agricultural districts in the upper county of the Carolinas.
The venerable New Garden Meeting House was still standing in 1859, within the stately oak forest where Lee and Tarleton met. It was a wood frame building with brick foundation.

At the Quaker Meeting House,
“I was introduced to Nathan Hunt, the patriarch of ninety one year’s…He remembered well when the New Garden Meeting House was built, and resided in the neighborhood when the wounded and dying, from the field of Guilford, were brought there.
The vigilant Lee, with his legion, was near New Garden Meeting House on the morning of March 15th as Lord Cornwallis advanced toward Guilford. Leading the British army was a van consisting of cavalry, some light infantry and yager, under Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton.
Desirous of drawing them as far from the royal army, and as near General Greene as possible, Lee ordered a slow retreat. Tarleton, hoping to produce a route had his cavalry press forward on Lee’s rear. Tarleton’s cavalry made a second charge and emptied their pistols. Lee’s troops suddenly wheeled about and in close column advanced on Tarleton. The moment Tarleton saw Lee’s entire cavalry pressing on him he sounded a retreat. Only one front section of the British cavalry met the shock and these were dismounted. Some of the dragoons were killed, and others made prisoner. The Americans lost neither man nor horse. Tarleton with his corps withdrew in great haste toward the main army, but was cut off by Lee in the midst of the lofty oaks at the New Garden Meeting House. The British gave Lee’s cavalry a terrible volley. Lee ordered a retreat when his infantry came running up, and delivered well-directed fire. A general action ensued for a few minutes. When Lee perceived that the main body of the British army was approaching, he ordered a retreat; his cavalry falling in the rear to cover the infantry and riflemen.
During the skirmish, General Greene prepared for battle.

At dawn on Thursday, March 15th, Lord Cornwallis marched to Guilford Courthouse. Soon after midday, his army met advanced rebel troops in thick woods and drove them back quickly to their main lines, formed in long ranks across open fields in front of Guilford Courthouse.
The battle was short-only an hour and a half-but it was fantastically, even fatally, expensive. The British advanced under cover, and under the attack, of heavy artillery fire. Then it was Bunker Hill all over again: repeated bayonet charges despite appalling casualties; great holes carved by rebel shooting in the ranks; orderly withdrawal for reforming; then into the attack again over the bodies of the dead.
At a crucial moment, the advancing Coldstream Guards were attacked by rebel cavalry. According to one account, which does not actually conflict with Cornwallis’ report, the general gave orders for his cannon to open fire with grape on the enemy dragoons, even though they were in close combat with the elite regiment of his infantry.
The colonel of the guards, wounded earlier and near the Earl begged him to countermand the order-since the British guns would be killing his men as well as the rebel horsemen-but Cornwallis, convinced it was vital at that moment to throw back the cavalry, refused to change his orders. The gunners opened fire, spraying metal into the melee of men and screaming horses.
Cornwallis gained a technical victory-the rebels were fought into flight and their guns captured-but the price was more than 500 British casualties, nearly 1 in 3 of Cornwall’s already depleted force. It was far too dear. Because of the care of our wounded and total want of provisions in an exhausted country”, Cornwallis wrote, the British could not even pursue Greene’s troops who moved north 18 miles to the Iron Works on Troublesome Creek.
Lord Cornwallis remained on the gloomy field of battle until Sunday, March 18th when he began his retreat to Wilmington. The American army broke camp on Tuesday, March 20th and proceeded to Guilford Courthouse and New Garden.
Both armies then proceeded in a parallel southern direction out of the county, thus bringing to an end the North Carolina campaign.

Sources:
• Those Damn Rebels © 1972 Michall Pearson, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, N.Y.
• “Historical Documentation Map: 18th Century Map of Guilford County and a narrative entitled, Battle of Guilford County, by Kenneth R. Haynes © 1980, Custom House.
• Genealogical records-Misc. materials 1949-1950, Vol. I. N.C., page 144.
• National Society: Sons of the American Revolution, National Number #118597—the genealogical line from William Coffin to my father, Robert Francis Pierce,

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Ancestors living near Guilford Courthouse during the battle and their involvement in the American Revolutionary War

During March 1781, Lord Charles Cornwallis moved his British troops into Guilford County, North Carolina as he and his Colonial opponent General Nathanial Greene maneuvered for military position and advantage. In the middle of the month, the British were at the Deep River Meeting House where they bivouacked for two days: Tuesday March 13th and March 14th.

At this time, living on their farm, three miles west of the Meeting House were ancestors William and Hannah (Chipman) Horney. William Horney, a Nicholite by faith, had in January 1781, just finished serving as a Private in the Continental Army, 6th Maryland Regiment, Captain Rie Cup’s company. William and his brother John, having served as soldiers in the Revolutionary War, broke the pacifist tenets of the family’s Quaker like religion. As a result of their enlistment, their father, Jeffrey Horney Jr. in 1779 made his last Will, giving his plantation and property to his other children, stipulating, “I give unto son William Horney Ten Pounds current money to be taken and levied out of my estate and no more.”, brother John received the same.

D.A.R. Patriot Index © 1967, pages 343: “Horney, Wm., born ca. 1750/1, died 1829, married Hannah Chipman, Pvt., MD.”

At the same time, living three miles northwest of the Deep River Meeting House was another of the family line, Perez and Margaret (Manlove) Chipman, the parents of William Horney’s wife Hannah Chipman. Perez and son-in-law William had served together in the American Revolution.

Also concurrently, living on their farm, four miles north of the Deep River Meeting House and three miles west of the New Garden Meeting House were ancestors William and Priscilla Paddock Coffin.
On Thursday, March 15th 1781, during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and for several days afterward, William Coffin performed a public service for the Continental Army.
I quote,
“At the time of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse William Coffin opened his home for the wounded American Officers. He was also one of the Trustees of the New Garden Meeting House at that place, gave his consent to use the meeting-house building as a hospital for the care of wounded American and British Privates. For this service he gained special recognition from the Continental Congress”.
“The said William Coffin is the ancestor who assisted on establishing American Independence while acting in the capacity of Public Services Patriot.”