r^"
'-£.
4j^
M:.
w..
^
y^^
Given By
_3lH'C£i^*£iiUl
._3J
iji^:.
I
v^^
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
1377 TO 1879.
WITH SOME SKETCHES OF THEIR
MATERNAL ANCESTORS,
THE SLINGSBYS, OF SCRIVEN HALL
1135 TO 1879.
BY
JAMES HEJSTRY COGHILL.
CAMBRIDGE:
^dntcti at tgc 0itjcr^ilie S)i:cM
1879.
C^ ( /
C67T
l^i
r/^
A
To
MY CHILDREN,
SARAH ADELINE AND HOWARD,
THESE
FRAGMENTARY SKETCHES OF THEIR ANCESTORS
AEE
Mast ^licdiamttl^ JBtaicukn.
PREFACE.
Could I have foreseen the difficulties to be encoun-
tered, the large outlay of money, and the amount of labor
to be expended upon this work, it would probably never
have been undertaken by me. But now that it is fin-
ished I cannot say that I regret the impulse which first
prompted me to engage in it.
When I first entered upon this work it was with no
thought of extending my researches beyond the limits of
our own country, and with but little hope of tracing the
family very far back here. I was fortunate, however, at
the beginning, in having the assistance and cooperation
of a gentleman (A. R. Micou, Esq., of Tappahannock, Vir-
ginia) whose qualifications and position enabled him to
render me valuable aid. To his patient and thorough
examination of the old and musty records of Essex
County, in that State, I am indebted for many links of
the family chain ; these, and others which came to me
through family records and members now living, were,
by carefully examining and comparing the different rec-
VI PREFA CE.
ords, put each in its place, and properly connected,
forming, when finished, an unbroken chain from 1664 to
1879.
Encouraged by success, I determined to extend my
inquiries beyond the seas. This new field was hardly
entered, when so many obstacles presented themselves
that I was more than once on the point of abandoning
the work in despair. I was held to it, however, by the
encouragement and assistance given by friends, and, I
may add, strangers also, for many kind letters and much
valuable information were from persons with whom I had
not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance. It is a
most pleasant duty to mention and thank them here, as
well for their uniform kindness in answering my numer-
ous letters, as for the assistance I received from them.
I am under special obligations to Sir John Jocelyn
Coghill, Bart., of Belvedere House, Drumcondra, in the
County of Dublin, and Glen Barrahane, Castle Town-
send, in the County of Cork, Ireland, for the pedigree of
the eldest branch of the family, which was invaluable as
a basis of further research, and also for other useful in-
formation.
I am hardly less indebted to Henry Hucks Gibbs,
Esq., of Aldenham House, County of Hertford, and of
St. Dunstans, Regents Park, London, former Governor of
the Bank of England (who is the present representative
PREFACE. vu
of the principal estates of the Coghills of Hertfordshire,
and the representative of the family of Hucks, through
whom these estates descended to him), for records from
the family papers now in his possession, and for revising
and correcting the pedigree of the junior branch of the
family, and also for photographs of the old family por-
traits of John Coghill, and Sir Thomas, his son, from
which their pictures in this book were made.
My thanks are also due to Henry Coghill, Esq., of
Brampton Tree House, Newcastle, Staffordshire, Eng-
land, for much of the information relating to the Scot-
tish branch, a part of which is from a manuscript " His-
tory of the County of Caithness," not yet published,
which the author permitted him to use. Other informa-
tion, referring to the same branch, was given me by Miss
Jane Coghill, of Castletown, in the County of Caithness,
Scotland, and John Coghill, senior magistrate of Thurso.
Miss Martha Coghill, of Ivy House Farm, West Uxbridge,
County of Middlesex, and Mr. Anthony Coghill, her
uncle, of Notting Hill, London, gave information relating
to the unconnected branch.
To my valued friend, Capt. Charles H. Townsend, of
New Haven, Connecticut (a cousin of my wife), I am un-
der obligations for copies of records from York, Knares-
borough, London, and other places which he visited at
no little personal inconvenience, to obtain for me.
viii PREFACE.
I have had the services of professional gentlemen in
examining records in each of the countries, and take spe-
cial pleasure in expressing my thanks to Joseph L.
Chester, LL. D., of London, member of the council of the
Historical Society of Great Britain, for valuable informa-
tion, and also for suggestions and advice which were of
great service to me.
With the exception of two or three books which had
to be obtained from England, most of those consulted
were found in the Astor Library of this city.
It may be necessary, in our country, where there is a
feeling of real or assumed prejudice against all concern
about family descent, to offer an apology for printing a
pedigree. I cannot better communicate to my numer-
ous relatives the reasons for so doing, than by the fol-
lowing extracts from Burke's "Family Vicissitudes:" —
" I am well aware that to many the genealogical tree appears to be
little better than a barren trunk, producing no fruits, or none of any
value. Such, however, is not my conviction. If it be a natural and
laudable feeling for the living to glory in the fame of their dead ances-
tors — if such recollections seem as a spur to the good, and a check to
evil in ourselves — genealogy is a valuable and important science.
Can any one for a moment doubt the influence, the beneficial influence
exercised upon most minds by the noble pride of lineage ? If I have
not exaggerated — as I trust I have not — the uses to be drawn from
genealogical pursuits, little apology will be needed for the following
work."
PREFA GE. IX
In such a spirit I would give to the members of the
family connection the results of my labor, trusting that
they may not be without some benefit, especially to the
young. The present moment is ever fleeting, and we
all live mainly in the past and the future. May these
records of the past stimulate our young kinsmen to seek
for themselves a noble future, and in their turn leave a
worthy example. J. H. C.
New York, January, 1879.
CONTENTS.
Tace
Part I. KNARESBOEOUGH 1
Part II. THE ELDEST BRANCH OF THE FAMILY ... 12
Appendix to Part II 36a
Part III. THE JUNIOR BRANCH OF ENGLAND .... 37
Part IV. THE UNCONNECTED BRANCH IN ENGLAND . . 66
Part V. THE SCOTTISH BRANCH 73
Part VL THE AMERICAN BRANCH 86
Appendix to Part VI. 144
Part VII. THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBY OF SCRIVEN HALL.
THE ANCESTORS OF THE COGHILLS ON THE
MATERNAL SIDE ICl
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
TO FACE PAGE
COGHILL HALL. Eiver Front. From Photograph . Frontispiece
KNARESBOROUGIL From an Engraving. Made from a Drawing by
J. M. W. Turner, R. A 1
SIR JOHN JOCELYN COGHILL, Bart., of Glen Barrahane, Castle
TowNSEND. From Photograph, 1878. (See page 32.) .... 12
FAMILY ARMS 16
COGHILL HALL. Main Front. From Photograph 18
MARMADUKE COGHILL, LL. D., Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Privy Councillor, and M. P. From a Statue in Drumcondra Church i 25
LIEUT. NEVILL JOSIAH AYLMER COGHILL. From a Woodcut in
London "Illustrated News," 1879. Made from Photograph taken in 1873 32
LIEUT. NEVILL JOSIAH AYLMER COGHILL. From a Photograph
taken in 1878 36A
JOHN COGHILL, of London. From a Portrait in Aldenham House, painted
in 1624. (See note on page 38.) 37
SIR THOMAS COGHILL, Knight, of Blechingdon. From a Portrait
in Aldenham House, painted in 1637. 38
ALDENHAM HOUSE. The Seat of Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq.
From a Lithograph for Cussan's " History of Hertfordshire," 1878. (This
was the chief seat of the Hertfordshire Coghills from 1624 until the fam-
ily became extinct; the last descendant died in 1844, when it descended to
Mr. Gibbs, through the family of Hucks) 44
HENRY COGHILL, of Brampton Tree House, 1878. (See page 78.) . 73
JAMES HENRY COGHILL, of New York, 1879. (See page 127.) . . 86
HOWARD COGHILL, of New York, 1879 133
SCRIVEN hall. The Seat of the Slingsbys. From Photograph . 160
1 This picture may not be ready in time to be bound in tliis Tolume, in wliich case it will be sent
afterwards to those to whom the book has been presented.
Q
<:
o
w
o
o
>«
H
D
O
U
O
O
o
<:
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
PART I.
KNARESBOROUGH.
npHE ancestors of the Coghill family had their homes in
-*- the county of York in England, and are traced back
in a direct line to Knaresborough, a. d. 1378, on the pater-
nal, and A, D. 1135, on the maternal side. The name as
above written was first assumed there. It may not then
be inappropriate to preface the pedigree and outline his-
tory of the family with a few allusions to that county,
and a brief historical sketch of Knaresborough.
The section of country comprehended by the present
boundaries of Yorkshire was inhabited by the Brigantes,
the most numerous and powerful of all the British tribes
that possessed the island before the Roman Conquest.
In A. D. 71 they were overpowered and passed under the
Roman yoke. From that period until the abandonment
of England by the Romans, a. d. 426-7, there were occa-
sional revolts, but comparative quiet continued. Many
2 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
fine roads, some of which continue to the present time,
and other improvements, were made. After the depart-
ure of the Romans the country sunk into a state of an-
archy ; civil discords terminated in the estabhshment of
miUtary tyrannies ; " kings appointed, but not by God,
who in their turn gave way to men more ferocious than
themselves."^ The standards of the Picts and Scots, the
Saxons, the Danes, and the Normans were successively
carried over its territory, and later those of the barons,
the Houses of York and Lancaster ; and the Parliament
and the royal banners were here raised, and drew around
them men of the same country and blood to engage in
fraternal strife.
Within the present boundaries of this county some of
the world's rulers have resided : amongst them the Ro-
man Emperors, Adrian, Severus, Caracalla and Geta (sons
of the latter, and joint-emperors), Constantius, and Con-
stantino the Great. These all resided in Eboricum, after-
wards York. The Imperial Court of Rome was for three
years held at this place by Severus, who died there. Con-
stantino arrived from Rome in time to be at his father's
death-bed, and was inaugurated emperor there. Marcus
Aurelius Lucius, a British king, said to have been the first
crowned head in the world who embraced Christianity,
was born there, and also John Wickliff, " the morning star
^ Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons.
THE FAMILY OF CO GRILL. 3
of the Reformation," in 1324. In 1160, Henry IT. held
in York the first Parliament mentioned in English his-
tory by that name. In 1298, another Parliament was
held there, when the barons attended, and the king's
confirmation of Magna Chai'ta, and also Charta de For-
resta, was read to them. Charles I. assembled his great
council of all the peers of England in York, and Charles
11. was proclaimed there. York in the ninth century was
the seat of letters, as well as of trade and commerce.
The library collected by Archbishop Egbert, and placed
in the cathedral, ranked among the first in Christendom.
The town of Knaresborough is situated on a rocky
eminence on the northeast bank of the river Nidd, which
runs here between precipitous banks, and through a ro-
mantic valley in the parish of the same name, in the
Wapentake of Claro, West Riding, Yorkshire. It is
eighteen miles from York, and two hundred and three
from London. Hargrove supposes its name was derived
from its situation, as Knares, in the German lang-uao^e,
signifies a hard knot, and, when applied to situation, a
rocky mountain. He also conjectures that this may have
been a fortified place of the Romans, as it is easy to trace
the remains of a ditch, or ramparts ; and numerous Ro-
man coins have been found here, particularly some of the
Emperors Claudius and Constantine. It is one of the
ancient burghs that were part of the demesnes of the
4 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
crown, found under the title of Terra Regis in Dooms-
day Book and other records, all of which, and the lands
belonging to them, were held by royal grant. ^ Little-
ton observes that burghs are the most ancient towns in
England ; such situations were chosen by the Saxons, as
being already places of strength, to erect their castles
upon.
For some centuries after the departure of the Romans
this part of the country in particular was dreadfully har-
assed by contending armies. Malmesbury states that it
was always exposed to the fury of the northern nations,
receiving the barbarous shocks of the Danes, and groan-
ing under repeated depredations. The Saxons finally
prevailed, rather by exterminating than subduing the
ancient inhabitants, in consequence of which they pre-
served unaltered all their civil and military institutions.
Whatever may have been the condition and privileges
of Knaresborough before the Conquest, we find at that
period a complete Saxon manor, that is, one township
presiding over ten others. Knaresborough and its vil-
lages suffered in the general devastation made by the
ruthless and cruel Norman, who, after the siege of York,
in the year 1070, laid waste all the country between that
city and Durham. Malmesbury, writing half a century
afterwards, says : " Thus the resources of a province, once
^ Brady on Burghs.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 5
flourishing, were cut off by fire, slaughter, and devasta-
tion; the ground for more than sixty miles, totally un-
cultivated and unproductive, remains bare to the present
day."
Hume finishes this sad story with these words : " The
houses were reduced to ashes, the cattle seized and driven
away, and many of the inhabitants perished in the woods
from cold and hunger : the lives of one hundred thou-
sand persons were computed to have been sacrificed to
this stroke of barbarous policy." More than two cent-
uries afterward came the long and bloody struggle be-
tween the houses of York and Lancaster, in which more
than fourscore princes of the blood royal, and nearly
the whole body of the ancient nobility, perished ; and
later still, the war between Charles I. and the Parlia-
ment, causing cruel disasters to the best families in the
realm. A writer has truly remarked : " York County
seemed a land of destiny, echoing on every side with
the solution of fearful problems. What were the assured
advantages accruing from so many changes ? What were
the promptings of so many sad events ? Why should
one portion of a people become so vividly alive to a need
of defense from another portion ? It could only have
been a strong faith that in the issues involved was a rem-
edy for all social wrong, bad laws, and abuses. The test
of war was a final solution of the political problem."
6 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
At the time of the Conquest, the manor of Knares-
borough, which comprehended the town and ten sur-
roundmg villages, formed a part of the demesnes of the
crown. The castle, celebrated in history from its very
founding to its dismantlement by order of Parliament in
1646, once the ornament and security of the town, and
of which the venerable though scanty remains recall the
recollection of other times, was built by Serlo de Burg,
Baron of Tonesburg, in Normandy, who accompanied the
Conqueror into England, and received this, with several
other lordships, as a reward for his services. In 1170,
Hugh de Morville, Reginald Fitz-use, William de Tracey,
and Richard Brito, the four knights who slew Thomas
a Becket, fled to this castle, where they remained shut
up for a year, but, submitting to the church, were par-
doned, on condition of performing a pilgrimage to Jeru-
salem. In 1319 the Scots, entering England, burnt both
Knaresborough and Skipton. In 1337 the castle was
taken by John de Lilburn, an officer of the great Earl
of Lancaster, the chief and most powerful of the discon-
tented barons. It was, however, soon invested by the
king's troops, and De Lilburn surrendered, after having
destroyed all the records, and with them every memorial
of the liberties, customs, and privileges of the place. In
1371 the castle, honor, and manor of the town, with the
house and cell of St. Robert, were granted by the king
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 7
(Edward III.) to his fourth son, John of Gaunt, Duke of
Lancaster ; and from that time they have belonged to
the Duchy of Lancaster. About 1400, Richard II. was
imprisoned in this castle, as appears from the following
lines in Hardyng's " Chronicle : " —
" The Kyng then sent Kyng Richard to Ledis,
There to be kepte surely in privitie ;
Fro thens after to Pykering went he nedis,
And to Knaresburgh after led was he,
But to Pontefrete last, where he did de."
The place of confinement is supposed to have been
in that part of the ruins still called " the king's cham-
ber." In 1590 the castle was repaired under the di-
rection of Henry Slingsby, Esq., who held it as barbican,
by lease from the queen. In 1616 it was granted by
James I. to his son Charles, before that prince ascended
the throne of England, in the troubles of whose unhappy
reign the town had a considerable share. In the early
part of the civil wars, till after the reduction of York
by the Parliamentarians, the royal garrison of Knares-
borough, consisting of a great number of horse and foot,
was a terror to the surrounding country. In 1642 Lord
Fairfax arranged to place a garrison in the castle, but
was prevented from doing so by Sir Henry Slingsby, who
occupied and held it until reinforcements arrived. In
November, 1644, after the battle of Marston Moor, Lord
8 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Fairfax, with a division of Scotch forces, appeared before
the town, and on the 12th of that month bescan the
attack. The garrison defended their works with spirit,
but at last were obhged to retreat within the castle -,
Lord Fairfax being now master of the town, the castle
was closely invested, and bravely defended by the reso-
lute garrison, who prolonged the siege to the 20th of
December, when they surrendered upon honorable terms.
Oliver Cromwell was in Knaresborough soon after this,
and lodged in a house on High Street, which was after-
wards rebuilt, but the chamber in which he slept was
preserved, as we learn from the " Gentleman's Maga-
zine " for March, 1791.
The castle contained two and a half acres within its
walls, which were flanked with eleven towers. The front
room on the ground floor has been from time immemo-
rial the repository of the ancient court records, where
Hargrove says they were still preserved in 1798, and
the keys were then in the custody of the steward of the
honor, and the chief of the Slingsby family.^
In 1758 a human skeleton was discovered by a man
digging for limestone, on Thistle Hill, near the town,
which led to the discovery of the murder of Daniel Clark
1 The present stewards are Messrs. Samuel and Charles Powell, — one of
whom, for the time being, as bailiff of the borough, is the returning officer of
the members of the borough to Parliament. We are under obligations to
these gentlemen for copies of records and other valuable information.
THE FA3IILT OF COGHILL. 9
by Eugene Aram, a schoolmaster of Knaresboroiigh, and
others, committed fourteen years before. Aram was tried,
convicted, and executed. He employed no counsel, but
conducted his own defense, and made a very able and in-
genious argument, attacking, with great acumen, plausi-
bility, and curious erudition, the doctrine of circumstan-
tial evidence. His name was afterwards immortalized by
that intellectual monarch of fallacious reasoners, Bulwer,
who seized upon the strangely opposing elements in the
moral character of this curious man, and the facts con-
nected with the murder committed by him, as the text of
his " Eugene Aram," into which story, by his vivid and
powerful fancy and capacity, his fine, subtle reasoning
and impassioned eloquence, he has so insidiously inter-
woven his own dark and dangerous views of fate and des-
tiny. It is a grand and sublime work, so far as language
and power of reasoning are concerned ; beautiful and
plausible, as only a man of his rare powers can make
error appear ; but, like the fabled Upas-tree, giving poi-
son and death to all who seek rest and repose under its
bright and inviting foliage.
A writer near the close of the last century, after de-
scribing the ruins of the castle at Knaresborough, says :
"Placed on an eminence projecting into the river, and
from its towers commanding all advances into the town,
it possesses all the advantages of strength and situation
2
10 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
that could be desired before the introduction of artillery ;
and, even after that period, was found to be a place not
easily reduced. From these mouldering remains of pride
and dominion the eye is relieved, and the mind cheered,
by the romantic beauty of the adjacent vale ; a delicious
compound of enclosures, woods, and rocks, at the bottom
of which a fine river takes its bending course, shaded
in many places with hanging wood ; on one side the
houses and trees, ranging along the edge of the preci-
pices, with parts of the town, the church, the bridge,
and CogJiill Hall ; on the other side, Bellmont, with its
woods and enclosures, the more elevated situation of Bel-
ton Hall, with a distant view of Brimham rocks, complete
the beautiful scene."
Hargrove, writing in 1798, remarks : " Considerable
manufacture of linen has been carried on here for many
ages, and is at present in a flourishing condition." In
that year there were " two hundred looms employed for
cotton goods, averaging four hundred pieces each week."
The population in 1821 was 5,283.
One of the peculiar customs observed in Knaresbor-
ough is that on Easter Sunday, the men take off the
women's shoes, which are only to be redeemed by a
present on the day following. The women retaliate, and
treat the men in like manner by taking their hats. This
is supposed to be the remains of a festival called Hoke-
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
11
tide, instituted at the sudden death of Hardi-Canute, and
the downfall of the Danes, in 1042.^ There are many
places and things of interest in and around Knaresbor-
ough, but they cannot be mentioned in this short sketch.
It was once a place of fashionable resort for its mineral
springs, but was succeeded by Harrowgate, some two or
three miles distant, which, during the summer months, is
a great resort of the nobility and gentry of Great Brit-
ain and Ireland, who come to drink the waters and to
enjoy the pure and healthful air. The waters are cha-
lybeate and sulphur. We spent a night there in Septem-
ber, 1866.
^ Hargrove.
PART 11.
THE ELDEST BRANCH.
"pLAYFAIR, in his " British Family Antiquity," vol. vii.,
-^ page 226, says: "The origin of this name' (Coghill)
was most probably derived from a place anciently called
Cockel-halV but now Coghill-Hall, in the hundred of
Claro, in the West Riding of Yorkshire ; or perhaps from
the residence of one of the family on a hill near the river
Cock, which runs through a part of that county." ^
As the greater part of the English family names were
derived from local residences, it is safe to infer that the
^ We learn from The Book of Family Crests, tenth edition, London, 1862,
that there was once living in England a family of Cockell, whose arms were
*' on a mural coronet, or a cock; gules, seme of roundles, resting on the
dexter claw on an escalop shell; and in the beak a sprig of laurel."
2 On Teasdale's map of Yorkshire, which we received from London after
these sketches were written, and on which are all the principal family seats
in the county, we find a place situated about seven miles from York, and one
mile from the Red House (one of the seats of the Slingsbys, a description of
which will be given in the last section of this book), called Cock-Hill. This
was most probably the residence of some member of this family, — possibly
of John, prior to his going to Knaresborough. It is eight to ten miles in a
straight line from the river Cock, a small rivulet, in most places about twelve
feet wide.
SIR JOHN JOCELYN COGHILL, Bart.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH, 1878.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 13
author of " Family Antiquity " is correct in his conject-
ures.
The first ancestor, as appears by records formerly in
the Castle of Knaresborough, in the same county in
which he resided during the reigns of Richard 11. and
Henry IV. (1378 to 1413), was—
1. John Cockill, or CocJchill, Esq., Gent., of Cockhill. It
further appears that either he, or his only son and heir
of whom we find any mention, changed the name to
Coghill, and that all who have borne this latter name
descended from him. In our researches we find that in
all of the baptisms, marriages, and burials recorded in
Knaresborough Church the name is spelt Coghill, In
the Diocesan Register of York, we find between 1544
and 1650 the wills of Thomas Cockhill, 1549, Edward
Cockhill, 1612, Stephen Cockhill, 1618, Thomas Cockhill,
1620, George Cockhill, of Leeds, 1635, Grace Cockhill, of
Lower Hall, 1637, and Henry Coggill, 1637; and in the
records of the Archdeaconry of Richmond, where search
was made for Coghill only from the earliest period to
1700, but two wills were found (abstracts of which are
given at the end of this section), that of Thomas Coghill,
of Tentergate, in the township of Scriven and parish of
Knaresborough, eldest son of Marmaduke Coghill, dated
9th October, 1585, and that of Jane Coghill, daughter of
Thomas of Knaresborough (spinster), dated 22d February,
14 THE FAMILY OF COG HILL.
1626-7. In the Consistory Court of London, the will
of Phoebe Cockhill, 1665. In the Prerogative Court of
Canterbury, the will of Richard Cockill, 1582, and a
large number of wills and administratorships of Coghill.
In the Consistory Court of Oxford, and in numerous
church and parish records in London, Hertfordshire, and
Oxfordshire, we find the name of Coghill; all the persons
thus indicated, with three exceptions, can be traced back
to the first of that name, at Knaresborough. In the
Fairfax Correspondence, Charles I., vol. ii., page 376, we
find the following paragraph in a letter written by
Thomas Stockdale to Lord Fairfax, dated at Knares-
borough, February 25, 1641 : " Mr. Cockill, of London
Bridge, wrote the last week to some friends of his to
make way to get himself elected Burgess of Knares-
borough; for he writ Dearlove was absolutely rejected
by the House, and that a writ would presently come for
a new election." ^ The person here referred to most
1 In 1641, Sir Henry Slingsby, like the rest of the loyal party, finding that
he could no longer perform his legislative duties in Parliament with safety to
his life, was compelled to absent himself. His seat was declared vacant, and
at an election held at Knaresborough in 1641, William Dearlove was chosen
in his place; but his election was contested, as illegal, by Sir William Consta-
ble, his opponent, on the grounds of his being deputy steward and judge of
the court, and therefore the " burghers durst not give their voices for fear
of him." Instead of another election, we learn from the Journal of the House
of Commons, under date March 19, 1642, that William Dearlove's election was
decided void, and Sir William Constable was duly elected.
THE FAMILY OF GOG BILL. 15
probably belonged to, or was a descendant of, the Cog-
hills of Knaresborough. Mr. Stockdale may not have
spelt the name correctly, and this is made more probable
as we learn from records that there were Coghills living
in that part of London about the date of his writing.
The records examined leave it no longer a matter of con-
jecture, but of certainty, that a part of the family, com-
mencing with the John Cockhill mentioned, or else his
son and heir, changed the name to Coghill, which has
been borne only by his descendants, while another part
adhered to the original. We have no way of learning
why the change was made, but it was probably the re-
sult of the great freedom exercised in all matters of or-
thography at that early period.^
The crest indicates that it was adopted by the family
prior to the change of name. The arms of the eldest
branch are : Quarterly ; 1st and 4th, erm, a chevron, be-
tween three cocks, gu. for Coghill ; 2d and 3d, or, on a
chief, indented, az., three fleurs-de-lis of the field, a canton
er, for Cramer. Crest on a mount, vert, a cock, wings ex-
panded, or. Motto, Non dormit qui custodit (the guard-
ian sleepeth not).
The arms of the youngest branches are gules on a
^ In a Gazetteer and Directory of Yorkshire, publislied in 1822, we find the
names of one Cockell, four Cockills, three Cockhills, and but one Coghill, —
Eichard Coghill, gentleman, residing in York.
16 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
chevron ; argent, three pellets, a chief, sable. Crest and
motto same as those of the eldest branch. An engrav-
ino" of the latter is given on the opjDOsite page.
The only child of John Cockhill that we find any rec-
ord of was —
2. Thomas Coghill (once we find it spelt Coughyll),
his successor, who married Marjory, daughter of John
Slingsby, Esq., of Scriven (chief forester of Knaresbor-
ough), by his wife Joan, daughter of Walter Calverly,
Esq., of Calverly.^
By this marriage he had issue two sons, besides other
children of whom we find no record : —
3. Thomas Coghill.
3. Robert Coghill. We find no other mention of the
latter than his name.
Thomas, the eldest son and heir, was twice married:
first to Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Tempest, Knight,
of Bracewell in Craven, a descendant of John Tempest,
Lord of Bracewell and Waddington, who descended from
Roger Tempest, who lived during the reign of Henry I.,
when his name is subscribed to several charters, cited in
the Monasticon.
By this marriage he had issue —
1 By this intermarriage the Slingsbys became the ancestors of all who have
borne the name of Coghill ; this Thomas Coghill being the first who presents
the name as it is now spelled. We shall devote some space in the latter part
of this book to a notice of the distinguished family of Slingsby.
COGHILL ARMS.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 17
4. Peter Coghill, who died at the age of twenty-four
years.
4. Catherine Coghill, a nun in Nun-Monkton.
4. Ellen Coghill, a votaress; and other children of
whom we find no mention, probably dying young.
His second wife was Anne, daughter of • Nettle-
ton, Esq., of Roundegrange (by his wife, who was sister
to Sir Robert Suttle, or Sothill, Knight, of Suttle, or
Sothill Hall, in Yorkshire), by whom he had issue —
4. Marmaduke Coghill.
4. Thomas Coghill.
4. Elizabeth Coghlll.
4. Margery Coghill.
We can find no further mention of the last three than
their names.
MarmadiiJce, eldest son and heir, succeeded his father,
and in 1555 rebuilt the present Coghill Hall, near
Knaresborough, which was for several centuries the seat
of the heads of the family. The frontispiece in this
book was engraved from a photograph of the place
taken in 1878. It shows the south, or river front, and
a part of the east, or main entrance front. The helio-
type shows the main front. The building is of stone.
The following description of the place is taken from
Hargrove's " History of Knaresborough," published in
1798.
18 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
CONYNGHAM-HOUSE.
Formerly called
COGHILL HALL.
" Situated on a small elevation above the river Nidd ; the length of
the south front is one hundred and thirty feet, and that of the east
eighty feet. In the course of the buildings are five projections, form-
ing so many large bow-windows, from which the Town and Church of
Knaresborough, the stately ruins of the Castle, the Bridge over the
river, with Belmont Wood and Bilton Park, compose a most beautiful
landscape.
" The Dining Room is thirty-two feet by eighteen.
" The Drawing Room is thirty-one by twenty-four.
" The Music Room is twenty-four by sixteen.
" The Library is twenty by twenty.
" The Lawn falls gently towards the river, on the bank of which a
fine gravel walk winds through a thick grove, to a retired and pleas-
ing spot called the Hermitage, where a rustic cell, buUt of stones and
moss, is placed near a natural cascade, which the river forms by falling
over a ridge of rocks ; from hence the walk is carried up the hill,
winding through a variety of flowering shrubs and evergreens, to the
front of the house. The meadows, wood, and water, which lie below
and opposite the shrubbery, afford some views scarce to be equaled in
the extensive lawns of Studley, or amidst the wild and Alpine scenery
of Hagfall."
This house for several centuries belonged to the Cog-
hill family, but was purchased of Sir John Thomas Cog-
hill, Bart., with fifty-one acres of land, by the Right
Honorable the Countess of Conyngham, in the year
1796.-^ Later it came into the possession of Sir Fran-
^ Various other properties in Yorkshire, belonging to the Coghill estate,
were sold about the same time.
(**-. .''■■':'^yiT*\':---~- v-'
<
^"
o
o
>
O
u
O
O
u
s
mikr^A
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 19
cis Nathaniel Burton, as heir to the Countess of Co-
nyngham, and in 1831 was sold by him to Marcus Wors-
ley, Esq., who in 1856 sold it to the present owner,
Basil Thomas Woodd, Esq., the present M. P. for Knares-
borough.
This MarmadtiJce married Maude, daughter of John
Pullein, Esq., of Killinghall, steward of Knaresborough
and Ripon, by his wife Jane (daughter of Thomas Roos,
Esq., of In gman thorp), and Playfair incorrectly states
that twenty-one children were the result of this mar-
riage. He was probably led into the error by including
with his issue the children of his son Marmaduke, and
possibly those of a grandson bearing the same name.
The will of Thomas Coghill, the eldest son of Marma-
duke (an abstract of which may be seen at the end of
this section), mentions his brother Marmaduke and his
youngest brother John (William, another brother, died
young). In entailing his estate at the end of the will,
he would certainly have named other brothers if there
had been any. We learn from the records of Knares-
borouo-h Parish that one Marmaduke Cos^hill was buried
September 27, 1577, and another April 14, 1607. We
also find on the same records the marriages of three
Marmaduke Coghills, one to Jane Thornton, July 21,
1569, one to Anna Gervis, October 20, 1578, and one
to Alice Thornton, October 22, 1593. The first was
20 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
probably a son of Marmaduke and Maude, who may have
married twice, and the last was probably his son. We
find reference to only four children of the first Marma-
duke : —
5. Thomas Coghill.
6. William Coghill.
5. Marmaduke Coghill.
5. John Coghill.
William died young. John was a merchant in London,
and will be referred to under the head of the Junior
Branch of the Family in England. We have no other
record of 3farmaduJce than the mention of him in his
brother Thomas's will, unless it is in the records of mar-
riages and burials referred to. Thomas, the eldest son,
succeeded his father, and in the twenty-second year of
the reign of Queen Ehzabeth (1580) married Isabel,
daughter of Talentyre, Esq., of Carlisle, sister of
William Talentyre, incumbent of Kirby Overblows, in
Yorkshire, and Routhbury, in Northumberland. He had
issue two sons and three daughters : —
6. Thomas Coghill, eldest son.
6. Henry Coghill.
6. Frances Coghill.
6. Mary Coghill.
6. Jane Coghill.
Frances must have died young, as no mention is made
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 21
of her in her father's will. Henri/ ^^^ born after the will
was executed, and was baptized 8th December, 1585, as
is seen by parish records. We have no other record of
him than his baptism and that made in his sister Jane's
will. 3fari/ married Richard Andrews, Esq., and had a
daughter, Ilaude Hargrove, mentioned also in Jane's will.
Jane died unmarried, as will be seen from the abstract
of her will at the end of this section.
Thomas, who succeeded his father, married Beatrice,
daughter of William Halley, Esq., of York. This lady
was buried at Knaresborough, July 9, 1623. They had
issue —
7. John Coghill, baptized at Knaresborough, March
11, 1615.
7. Thomas Coghill, baptized same place, September
18, 1617.
7. Isabella Coghill, baptized same place, February 2,
1619.
We find no further record of Thomas than the mention
of his name, with that of his brother John and sister Isa-
bella, in the will of his aunt, Jane Coghill. Isahella mar-
ried William Mann, Esq., of Thorp Hazelwood, York, of a
very old and distinguished family.
John, the eldest son, married Lucy, daughter of Charles
Tancred, Esq., of Whixley, a family both ancient and
honorable. The name was originally Tankred, which
22 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
" Le Nerve " says was a great name among the Danes.
There is a full pedigree of the family in Hargrove's
" History of Knaresborough," taken from a painting on
the side of the grand staircase at Whixley Hall, the seat
of the family.
Charles Tancred, father of Lucy who married John
Coghill, was the eleventh in descent from the first in the
pedigree. He died 1644. Against the wall in the
Whixley Church is a monument with the following in-
scription : —
" In this Chancel is buried Charles Tancred [the same mentioned
above], Sir Richard Tancred, his son, Kn't, Charles Tancred, Esq.,
his grandson, and Christopher Tancred, Esq., his great-grandson. Mas-
ter of Harriers to King William III., all Lords of the Manor of Whix-
ley. He was the youngest son of Thomas Tancred, Esq., of Borough-
bridge, by Jane, co-heir of Mr. Paver, of Branton, and married Barbara,
daughter of William Wyville, Esq., by vphom he had two sons and four
daughters. Sir Richard, bis eldest son, was knighted by Charles I. for
his services and great sufferings in the Civil Wars. But though his
posterity may have found the effects of his loyalty by the diminution it
made in their fortune, yet it was lost in espousing the Royal Cause."
This monument and inscription were probably placed
there by Christopher Tancred, Esq., son of the one last
named on the monument. He died August, 1754, un-
married, left Whixley Hall and his estate there for the
maintenance of twelve decayed gentlemen, four in each
of the learned professions, who must be fifty years of age,
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 23
or upwards, and unmarried. A separate apartment is as-
signed to each of them, and the whole company, if in
health, dine together every day.
Attached to the mansion is a chapel, and an annuity is
provided for clergymen who officiate. In a vault under
the chapel, it is said, the noble founder is interred.^
We are inclined to the opinion that James Coghill, the
first American ancestor, who came over to Virginia in
1664, and died in 1685, was a son of this John Coghill
or of his brother Thomas ; but about the probable date
of his birth the civil war had commenced, and during
its continuance and the time of the Commonwealth there
is in many of the parishes a hiatus in the records of bap-
tisms, marriages, and burials, which renders it very diffi-
cult to trace and connect pedigrees. The only issue of
John Coghill and Lucy Tancred of whom we find record
is —
8. Sir John Coghill, LL. D., who succeeded him, and
died in 1699. He was Master in the High Court of Chan-
cery in Ireland, and an advocate of the Ecclesiastical
Court in that kingdom -, was knighted in the Castle of
Dublin, June 6, 1686, by Henry, Earl of Clarendon,
Lord Lieutenant of that kingdom. Sir John was proba-
bly sent to Ireland by his government, and took up his
residence in Dublin, still, however, retaining Coghill Hall,
* Allen's History of Yorkshire.
24 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
He and his successors are always mentioned in the vari-
ous works in which we have seen their names, as of the
latter place. He married Hester, daughter of Tobias
Cramer, Esq., of Ballyfoile, who, for his services in the
reduction of Ireland under Cromwell, had the lands of
Ballyfoile assigned him, was Sheriff of Dublin in 1653,
and died 1655. He was the eldest son of Belthazar Cra-
mer, a high German born, colonel of a regiment in Ire-
land, and made a denizen of that country 28th May, 1639.
By this marriage Sir John had issue nine children : —
9. Thomas Cogmll.
9. John Coghill.
9. Toby Coghill.
9. Henry Coghill.
9. FoRRARD Coghill.
9. Mary Coghill, died unmarried.
9. Hester Coghill.
9. Marmaduke Coghill.
9. James Coghill.
We have not the dates of the births of any of the
children, and they are probably not mentioned here in
their regular order.
Marmaduke, the eldest son and heir, died unmarried in
1739. The following sketch of him is copied from the
"History of the University of Dublin," by W. B. S. Tay-
lor, F. M. a. ; London edition, p. 419.
These five sons died young.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 25
'' Marmaduke Coghill was a native of Dublin, born in the year
1673. At fifteen years of age he was admitted as a student of the Uni-
versity. Here he graduated and eventually took the degree of Doctor
of Civil Law ; soon after which the College elected him to the rank of
one of its rej^resentatives in Parliament, and this very distinguished
honor was continued to Mr. Coghill at every general election whilst he
lived. Having filled several important offices in the State, he was in the
year 1721 appointed Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer. This office he
held during the remainder of his life. He died 1738.^ In the per-
formance of his public duties he was a man of unwearied diligence and
clearness of judgment ; he combined the very rare qualities of being an
honest Councillor of the Crown and an independent representative of
the people. Among the many benefits that this learned and excellent
man conferred on society is, that being one of the original commissioners
of the ' board of first fruits ' he in a great measure organized that body,
and thus became the great and indeed principal cause of the numerous
benefits which have arisen to the Established Church of Ireland from
this circumstance. In private life he was greatly esteemed for his be-
nevolence and all the social virtues. He wrote several able papers on
finance, etc., which have been published in the Transactions of the
learned Societies."
In the same work, and on page 222, under the head
of " Returns to ParUament," we find : —
"In 1713, Sir Marmaduke Coghill, J. U. D., and John Elwood,
J. U. D., were returned. In 1715, Sir Marmaduke Coghill was again
returned, along with Samuel Dopping, Esq., LL. D. In 1727, the
Right Honorable Marmaduke Coghill was again returned, along with
the Right Honorable Samuel Molyneux. In 1739, Alexander MacAu-
ley was elected in the room of Mr. Coghill, deceased."
1 Musgrave's Obituary gives his death as 11th March, 1739, which is prob-
ably correct.
26 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
In a letter from Sir John Jocelyn Cogliill to the com-
piler of this book, dated January, 1878, referring to Mar-
maduke Coghill, he says : " I have a full-length oil paint-
ing of him among the family portraits, from which 1 am
forced to the conclusion that any good looks which are
to be found in the family were not derived from him.
He is a fat, apoplectic-looking old gentleman, clad in
chancellor's robes, with very short legs and a shorter
throat ; and the large marble statue of him in Duncon-
dra Church tells the same story." James, the brother of
Marmaduke, was a Doctor of Law and Register of the
Prerogative Court. He died in 1734, having married
Anne, daughter of Pierson, Esq., by whom he had
one child, a daughter : —
10. Hester Coghill. She married, first, in 1737, Lord
Tullamore,^ afterwards created Earl of Charleville, who
died 1764 ; and secondly. Major John Mayne, who as-
sumed the name of Coghill by sign-manual, and was cre-
ated a baronet in 1781.^ He died 14th, and was buried
at Aldenham Church in Hertfordshire. England, 22d No-
vember, 1785. His wife, as Hester, Countess Dowager
of Charleville, died without issue, and was buried in the
1 Charles Moore, a deacendant of the Moores, Earls and Marquesses of
Drogheda.
2 Sir John Coghill purchased of the Duke of Northumberland Richings
Park, in Buckinghamshire, where he afterwards resided.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 27
same church, 1778. She bequeathed her property to
her cousin, the issue of Belthazar John Cramer.
Of the two sisters of Marmaduke and James, Mary
died unmarried. Hester married Ohver Cramer, a cousin,
and had three sons : —
10. Belthazar John, Oliver, and John. Belthazar John
married Judith, daughter of Brinsley Butler, Viscount
of Lanesborough, and fourth in descent from Lord Aber-
gavenny, who was a Neville, and had three sons and one
daughter, — John, Oliver, Marmaduke, and Catherine, who
married Ralph Smith. Pursuant to the will of his great-
uncle, Marmaduke Coghill, OHver, the second son, was
made his heir upon his assuming the name of Coghill,
and by so doing he became —
11. Oliver Coghill. He married, first, Anne, daughter
of Robert Hucks, Esq., by his wife Sarah, daughter of
Henry Coghill, Esq., of Aldenham House, in the County
of Hertford, England ; ^ she died leaving no issue, after
which he married Jane, daughter of' Holl, Esq., by
whom he had issue one daughter : —
12. Jane Coghill, who married George Mowbray, Esq.,
of Ford, Co. Durham, and Mortimer, Co. Bucks. Oliver
died in 1774, leaving no male issue, when, in conformity
to the conditions of the aforesaid will of Marmaduke Cog-
hill, and the will of his cousin Hester Coghill, Countess
1 Kef erred to in Part III., Junior Branch.
28 TEE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
of Cliarleville, John Cramer, the eldest son and heir, be-
came his brother's successor by assuming the name of
Coghill, which he did by sign-manual, was made a bar-
onet, and became —
11. Sm John Coghill. He married, in 1754, Mary,
daughter of Josiah Hort, Archbishop of Tuam (whose
wife was the granddaughter of WilHam, 20th Lord Kerry),
and had issue —
12. John Thomas Coghill.
12. Josiah Coghill.
12. Mary Cramer Coghill, died unmarried.
12. Judith Coghill, married Rev. Dr. W. Forrard.
12. Elizabeth Coghill, married Rev. N. Hinde.
12. Frances Coghill, married E. Sankey, Esq.
12. Charlotte Priscilla Coghill, married Rev.
Offley.
12. Sophia Coghill, married Lieutenant-General Sir
Charles Doyle.
12. Theodoscia Cramer Coghill, died unmarried.
Sir John died in 1790, and was succeeded by Sir John
Thomas Coghill, Baronet, his eldest son, who was born in
1766. We learn from Play fair that he was residing at
Coghill Hall in 1789.
From records in the Castle of Knaresborough (ex-
tracts of which were furnished us by Messrs. Samuel and
Charles Powell, stewards of the castle), we find that in
THE FAMILY OF 00 G HILL. 29
1796, Coghill Hall was purchased of hiin by the Right
Honorable the Countess of Conyngham, and thus the
place which for centuries had been the seat of the heads
of the family passed mto other hands. Sir John Thomas
never married. We hear of him some years later as vis-
iting Italy, and spending some time in Naples. While
there he purchased a very fine collection of Greek vases,
which had been made by M. de Lalo, and afterwards
owned by M. le Chevalier de Rossi, wdio had thirty-nine
of the most valuable vases carefully engraved on large
plates. When the collection came into the possession of
Sir John Thomas Coghill, he largely augmented it by
purchases made in Naples, and added thirteen new plates
to the thirty-nine which came to him with the collection.
In 1817 these engravings, with several letters from M. de
Rossi and full explanations of the plates, were published
in Rome by James Millingen, of the Society of Antiqua-
ries of London, and of the Academy of Archaeology of
Rome, in a work entitled " Peintures Antiques des Vases
Grecs de la Collection de Sir John Coghill, Bart." (Impl.
folio.) This work is now very rare. We obtained a
copy by advertising for it in London. Sir John Jocelyn
Coghill, in a letter to the compiler, says : —
" My uncle, Sir John Thomas, lived pi-incipally abroad, and was a
great dabbler in art matters. He spent a large sum in bringing out the
work on Grecian and Etruscan vases. I recollect hearing that after the
30 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
war my father had a good deal of trouble in getting all my uncle's art
treasures over into England. My father, who was a thorough sailor of
the old school, although one of the finest fellows and most lovable of
characters, cared little for such matters. The vases were most of them,
if not all, sold to the British Museum, and the marbles and a quantity
of the pictures were reserved as heirlooms. I am sorry to say that in
my father's time these works of art did not receive the fairest of play,
but came to me in a very knocked-about condition, statues minus noses,
fingers, and arms, and pictures with holes in them and paint off. I have
done what I could in the way of judicious restoration, but some of them
were as battered and weather-beaten in appearance as the dear old ad-
miral himself. My uncle, while detained in France during the war with
the first Napoleon, became acquainted with Lafayette, and through him
was induced to purchase a large amount of land at New Orleans. I be-
lieve a large part of that city is now built over this very land, and had
my father kept possession of it, I have no doubt that it would now be of
immense value, and have added largely to our estate ; but he did not
foresee what was to happen, and sold it in the full belief that his brother
had been very well swindled by Lafayette, as in taking possession it was
found that at a.few spades' depth there was nothing but water."
Sir John Thomas died in 1817 without issue, and was
succeeded by —
12. Sir Josiah Coghill, Baronet, his brother, vice-ad-
miral in the Royal Navy, — born 1773. He was twice
married, — first in March, 1803, to Sophia, daughter of
James Dodson, Esq. This lady died in Normandy in
1817. By her he had issue three daughters : —
13. Caroline Mary Coghill.
13. Emeline C. E. Coghill, married Rev. Chas. Bushe,
1839.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 31
13. Josephine Coghill, married George de Morgan,
1844.
He next married, 27tli January, 1819, Anna Maria,
eldest daughter of the late Eight Honorable Charles
Kendal Bushe, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of
King's Bench in Ireland (who died in 1848), by whom
he had issue —
13. John Jocelyn Coghill, born 11th February, 1826.
13. Kendal Josiah William Coghill, born August, 1832.
13. KosANNA Louisa Coghill.
13. Sidney Catherine Coghill.
13. Anna Georgiana Coghill.
13. Alice E. Judith Coghill.
13. Adelaide Eliza Coghill.
13. Florence Charlotte Coghill.
13. Sylvia Maria Coghill.
Kendal Josiah is an officer in the army.
Bosamia L., married, 1849, to John Harrison Aylmer,
Esq., of Walworth Castle, County Durham. Sidney 67.,
married in 1854 to Rev. Samuel Allen Windle. Anna G.,
married in 1860 to Rev. William Izon Chevasse. Alice
E. J., married in 1850 to Rev. George Henry Ray.
Adelaide E., married, 1857, to Major Thomas H. Som-
merville, late 68th Light Infantry. Sylvia M., married
to Thomas Greene, Esq.
Sir Josiah died 20th June, 1850, and was succeeded
by his eldest son —
32 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
13. Sir John Jocelyn Coghill, present Baronet. He
married, 18tli February, 1851, Catherine Frances, second
daughter of John, third Lord Plunket, and has issue —
14. Neville Josiah Aylmer Coghill, born 1852.
14. Egerton Bushe Coghill, born 1853.
14. Gerald Cramer Coghill, born 1854, died 13th
July, 1873.
14. Ethel Charlotte Coghill.
14. Claude Plunket Coghill.
14. Beatrice Anna Coghill.
14. Violet Alice Penrose Coghill.
Neville Josiah Aylmer ^ is a lieutenant in the 24th Regi-
1 We had barely finished reading the printer's proof of this very page, when
the news of the death of Lieutenant Coghill reached us. He fell on the 22d
January, 1879, in the disastrous engagement between a column of the British
army, numbering eight or nine hundred men, and twenty thousand Zulus, at
the village of Isandula, near the Buffalo River, in South Africa.
Referring to a letter received from his father in June last, we find the fol-
lowing mention of him: " My eldest boy has just come back to us on a short
leave from the Kaffre war, where he has been serving as aid-de-camp to the
general, and at which he has had the good fortune to be mentioned in dis-
patches.
" It seems to have agreed with him wonderfully, and he looks brown and
hardy. He expects that the war will not close without a sharp battle with the
Zulus on the Transvaal border, who are a much more warlike nation, and will
show better fight than the other Kaffre tribes; but he thinks it the intention
of the government to make this war a final one, and settle the black question
for once and for all. My son will probably be off there again by the next
draft of troops."
LIEUT. NEVILL JOSIAH AYLMER COGHILL.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH, 1873.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 33
ment, and at the present time (1878) is aid-de-camp to
Gen. Sir A. Connyngliame at the Cape of Good Hope.
We are indebted to Sir John Jocelyn Coghill for the
pedigree of the eldest branch of the family, which has
aided us very much in our researches.
In looking at the pedigree of Lord Plunket, we no-
ticed that one of his sons, born before the marriage of
his daughter to Sir John Jocelyn Coghill, bore the name
of Patrick Henry Coghill. Sir John, in answer to a let-
ter from us inquiring if there was any relationship be-
tween the families before his marriage, writes : —
" Patrick Henry Coghill Plunket is my godson and first cousin. He
was christened ' Coghill ' in compliment to me. I married my first cousin,
Miss Plunket, and my connection with that family is easily explained.
My mother was a Miss Bushe, daughter of the celebrated Chief Justice
of that name, and her sister married Mr. John Plunket, afterwards
Lord Plunket, who was a son of the still more celebrated Lord Plunket,
Chancellor of Ireland, and the first possessor of the title. His eldest
son, Bishop of Tuam, died without male issue, and the title went to
his second son, John, my father-in-law, fi-om whom it descended to my
brother-in-law, the present peer, who is also Bishop of Meath. On the
same day I received your letter, I got another announcing the approach-
ing marriage of the very Patrick Henry Coghill Plunket, about whom
you inquire, to a Miss Murray, a match very agreeable to all parties."
Having followed the eldest branch of the family down
to the present time, we will close this section of our work
by giving the few records of the courts and parishes re-
34 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
lating to it which have come directly to us. Some of
them may be of service in any future investigations which
may be undertaken.
ABSTRACTS OF WILLS RECORDED AT THE ARCHDEACONRY
OF RICHMOND.
Thomas Ooghill, of Tentergate, in the township of Scviven, in the par-
ish of Knaresborough, Gentleman ; dated 9th October, 1585. To be buried
in my parish church, near where my father lyeth. To Jane and Mary
my daughters, and to such child as my wife goeth with, sundry closes of
lands, (fee. (described in will), when twenty-one years of age, and I appoint
my wife and my brother, William Talentyre,^ tutors and governors of
my said children. To my wife certain lands, &c. (described), for life, and
sundry household stuff. To my brother, Marmaduke Coghill, the house
he now occupies, and sundry lands, &c. (described). All my other
lands, tenements, &c., to Thomas, my son, when twenty-one years old,
and the heirs of his body, and in default thereof, to my said brother
Marmaduke, and his heirs male, and in default thereof, to John Coghill
my youngest brother, and his heirs, &c.
There is no probate act attached to the will of Thomas
Coghill ; it was probably a copy deposited in the office
for safe keeping.
Jane Coghill, of Knaresborough, County York, spinster ; dated 22d
February, 1626-7. To be buried in the church-yard among my friends.
To John and Thomas Coghill, sons of my late brother, and to Isabella
their sister, each twelve pence. To my brother, Henry Coghill,^ half a
crown ; to Maude Hargrove, daughter of my brother Richard Andrews
^ William Talentyrc was a brother-in-law.
^ Henry Coghill was the unborn child referred to in his father's will.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 35
[her brother-in-law, husband to her sister Mary], of Scriven, five pounds.
To Jane Pearson, daughter of John Pearson, of the Bond End, in
Scriven, twenty shillings. All the residue of my estate to my brother,
Richard Andrews, and Mary his wife, and I appoint them executors.
The will was proved 6th May, 1628, by Richard An-
drews, power being reserved to his wife Mary.
From Knareshorough Parish Register}
BAPTISMS.
May 24, 1563. Richard Coghill.
Sept. 14, 1584. Maria Coghill.
June 5, 1585. Jane Coghill.
Dec. 8, 1585. Henry Coghill.
Feb. 21, 1595. Frances Coghill.
Dec. 29, 1596. Thomas Coghill.
June 14, 1598. Anna Coghill.
July 12, 1599. Maria Coghill.
March 1, 1600. Jane Coghill.
Nov. 12, 1603. Thomas Coghill.
1 " Church registers were first enjoined to be kept by Cromwell, the kind's
vicegerent in spiritual affairs, in 1538, just upon the dissolution of religious
houses. In 1547, Edward VI. enjoined the same ; as did EUzabetb in 1559 ;
from which last period these parochial records were generally kept with tol-
erable regularity ; and since the abolition of inquisitiones post mortem, by
Charles II., are the best evidences of family descents." (Cullum's Hawsted
and Hardwicl; page 73, note.) These records were obtained from the par-
ish clerk, who probably made a loose examination, and omitted a number of
names, as there must have been many more under each head than are given
here. We wrote on two occasions, asking him to make a more thoroucrh
search, but could get no reply.
36 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
April 3, 1605. William Coghill.
March 11, 1615. John Coghill.
Sept. 18, 1617. Thomas Coghill.
Feb. 2, 1619. Isabella Coghill.
MARRIAGES.
Dec. 18, 1564. William Simondson and Jane Coghill.
June 23, 1565. John Kirkman and Dorothy Coghill.
Jan. 21, 1569. Marmaduke Coghill and Jane Thornton.
Oct. 20, 1578. Marmaduke Coghill and Anna Gervis.
Oct. 22, 1593. Marmaduke Coghill and Alicia Thornton.
Jan. 28, 1605. Richard Andrews and Maria Coghill.
June 8, 1613. Matthew Gibson and Ellen Coghill.
BURIALS.
May 29, 1563. Richard Coghill.
Aug. 25, 1565. William Coghill.
Sept. 16, 1568. Matilda Coghill.
Sept. 27, 1577. Marmaduke Coghill.
. Nov. 6, 1585. Thomas Coghill.
Dec. 31, 1586. Jane Coghill.
Feb. 26, 1595. Frances Coghill.
July 18, 1606. Alice Coghill.
April 14, 1607. Marmaduke Coghill.
July 9, 1623. Beatrice Coghill.
Aug. 30, 1627. Jane Coghill.
Aug. 4, 1665. Thomas Coghill.
APPENDIX TO PART U.
The copies of records and other matter contained in
this Appendix were received after Part II. had gone
through the press. As they refer exclusively to the eld-
est branch of the family, we have deemed it best to in-
sert them here, even at the expense of disturbing the
uniformity in paging the book.
a
GRANT FROM MARMADUKE COGHILL
TO HIS YOUNGEST SON JOHN,^ 1575.
Be yt knowne unto all men to wliome this p'sent wryting shall come
to be sene harde or Rede that I Marmaduke Coghill of Tentergate within
the Towneshipe of Scrivinge in the Countye of Yorke th elder Gentil-
man, Sendyth greting in our Lorde God ev'lasting. Knowe ye me the
saide Marmaduke th elder for divers good causes and consideracions me
specially movinge to have closely and absolutelye Geven, granted bar-
gained solde assigned and sett over and by this my present wrytinge
doith clerelye fullye and absolutelye geve grannt bargaine sell assigne and
sett over unto John Coghill my youngest sonne all that my estait Right
Tytle Interest possession tearme of yeres clames and demanndes that I
the said Marmaduke Coghill th elder nowe hath holdyth or by any weyes
or meanes clamyth or of ryght ought to have of and in the several closes
and acres of grounde hereafter in this p'sent wryting named and ex-
pressed That is to say, of and in one close of medowe called Sandhills
conteynyng fower acres of Land and medowe scytuate lying and beinge
w'hin the terrytories and feildes of fFeringbie nowe in the holding and
occupacion of Wilton Wreye, m'chant one other close lying and being
w*hin the saide feild of fferingbie called Symson close, contenyng acres
of lande pasture and medowe nowe in the occupacion of Thomas Horner
m'chant two other closes of medowe and pasture ther the one called
Netherbutterells contenyng acres and the other called calfe close
1 The London merchant whose portrait appears in this work.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 36 c
contenyng acres wh'' two severall closes ar nowe in the occupacion
of Thomas Palliser and others, all which said closes and acres of lande
ar p'cell of the Quenes ma''" demaines of her Highnes castle of Knares-
burgh To have and to hold the said closes and all other the premisses
with all and singuler th appurtenances unto the said John Coghill his
heires and assignes for ever. Yeildinge and paying to the said Soveraigne
Ladye, her heires and successors all suche Rentes as ar yerely paide to
her Highnes for the premisses In witnes whereof I the saide Marma-
duke Coghill to this my p'sent wrytingand grannt have putt my scale and
subscribed my name the ffyfteynth day of November in the seaventeanth
yere of the Rayne of our saide soveraigne Ladye Elizabeth by the grace
of [God?] Quene of England France and Ireland defender of the IFayth
&c. 1575.
ABSTRACT OF THOMAS COGHILL's WILL, 1624.
With a facsimile of his signature ; original in the possession of Henry
Huchs Gibbs, Esq.
March 21 22 Jac : I. 1624 I, Thomas Coghill of Tentergate co :
York, doe make this my last will . . in manner afor following : . . For
my personal estate Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to
bless me with three children viz : two sonnes and one daughter, & since
my owne kindred are all for the moste p*^ for theire owne endes & prof-
itts soe as I doe much feare to repose soe greate a truste in them as the
care & charge of my children, I have therefore left them to the . .
care of such worthye . . frends as I shall heareafter name.
. . I . . bequeathe to John Coghill my eldest sonne, all my . .
Mansion House called Coghill Hall . . with all other tenements «fcc
lease or copyhold thereunto annciently belonging & descended to me
SQ d THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
from my ancestors ; all freeholds hereunto belonging & all copyholds
as I have purchased. To Thomas Coghill my youngest sonne one capi-
tal messuage . . called . . Spittle Crofte . . neare Knaresborough, and
sundry closes of meadow, & a house & land bought of one Richard Cra-
ven of Tentergate. Also for his better mayntenance and advancement
during his mynoritye £100.
I give and bequeathe to my daughter Issabell Coghill £300.
I nomynate and apointe John Coggen & Thomas Coggen,^ my two
sonnes, Executors.
I bequeathe to Henry Coggen ^ my brother the yearely annuity e of
twentye nobles p. annum out of the rent of a certayne close called fFerris-
bye close & one close called Sandhills. Then to my ho^''' & worthye
master Sir Rich*^ Hutton Kn*. £10 in memoriall of my dutye «& servyse.
Then to my Ho^^^ good lady, £5 in mem^ [as above]. Then unto my
worthy ifreinds Sir H^ Goodricke K' and R*^ Hutton & John Dawuey
Esq & Tho^ Losse, clarke ffeoffers and overseers of this my . . will . .
40p a peece.
Then to . . sonne John all my household stufFe . . in Coghill Hall,
and the Books that were my Grandfathers, & half my other books ; &
the other half to my sonne Thomas [Said books to be delivered to
them on their coming to " full yeares "]
To my daughter Issabell tenne poundes of old gould which . . was
her mothers.
. . Unto Thomas Hutton £5, unto Henry Hutton 40p, unto M""^
Katheryne Hutton & to M" Judith Hutton 40p a peece.
Item I give unto my poore sister Jane Coghill ^ twenty nobles.
Item . . unto my sister Mary Andrew fyve [. . . .]. Item . . unto
1 Evidently an error of the scribe.
2 The same whose will is on page 34,
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 36 e
Maud Andrew daughter of my sister Andrew, tenne poundes whereof her
father owes me seaven poundes ten shillinges.
[Legacies to his servants, and to the poor of the parishes of Knares-
borough and Wythern ffrary.^]
A marriage license was granted in 1639, by the Ecclesiastical Court
of York Minster, to John Coghill, Gent., bachelor, age twenty-four years,
of the Parish of Monkton, and Lucy Tancred, spinster, age twenty-three
years, of the Parish of Whixley. H. H. Gibbs, Esq., writes : " I have
the man-iage settlement of John Coghill, of Coghill Hall, and Lucy,
daughter of Charles and sister of Richard Tancred, of Whixley, dated
September 28, 15th Charles L
In looking through Nichols' " Collectanea Topographica et Genealo-
gica," which we found at the Astor Library, vol. i., p. 126, we saw that
Sir Thomas Waddrington and Thomas Coghill, in March, 1648, were the
purchasers of the manor of Crake, in the County of Durham, being a part
of the lands of the bishopric sequestrated by the Parliament. Price
1 We find no such parish as Wythern fFrary in the County of York. The
Priory of Wythernfey was founded in the seventeenth year of the reign of
King John (1216).
36/ THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
paid, £1163. 8. 2|. And in the same volume, page 290, it is stated that
on July 27, 1G49, the manor of Howdens, in Yorkshire, being a part of
the lands of the Bishopric of Durham, also sequestrated by the Parlia-
ment, was purchased by William Underwood, Thomas Coghill, and Mat-
thew Bigg, for £5192. 5. 0.
This Thomas Coghill was probably the brother of John, who married
Lucy Tancred, and was spoken of in the early part of this section as pos-
sibly being the father of the American ancestor.
We have very recently come into possession of a copy of the " Visita-
tion of Yorkshire" made in 1584-5 by Robert Glover, to which is added
the subsequent visitation made in 1612 by Eichard St. George, Norroy
Icing of arms, edited by Joseph Foster, and privately printed for him in
London, 1875.
On page 398 of this work we find the name of Thomas Coghill, Gent.,
amongst those of the Libertas de Knareshurgh, who, in 1584-5 and 1612,
were summoned to appear and enter their pedigrees.
On page 505, we find a partial pedigree of the family, beginning with
Thomas Coghill who married Marjory Slingsby, and ending with Thomas
who married Beatrice Halley. Only two of the first Thomas' children
are given in this pedigree, — Thomas and Nicholas. In our pedigree an-
other son, Robert, is mentioned, but the name of Nicholas does not
appear.
We also learn from this work that coats of arms were granted to
Thomas Coghill, of Knaresborough, and John Coghill, of London, his
brother, 10th May, 1612, by Richard St. George, Norroy. Two differ-
ent coats are given, one corresponding with that borne by the eldest
branch (without the Cramer impaling), the other with that of the younger
branches,-^ differing only in the crest of the latter, which is given as a demi
lion rampant argent, crowned or, holding a cross crosslet fitchee, and is
^ These arms are given on page 15.
THE FAMILY OF COGHTLL. 36^
evidently a mistake, as that crest belongs to the Earl of Essex. All the
branches of the family used the cock as a crest, differing only in position
and color. Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq., informs us that among the family
papers in his possession are deeds sealed with both of these coats. The
portrait of John Coghill, painted in 1624 (a heliotype of which may be
seen farther on), has in one corner the arms of the junior branch, im-
paling the arms of Viell, argent, a fesse reguly between three amulets
gules.
MAJOR KENDAL JOSIAH WILLIAM COGHILL (l3).
We learn from " Hart's Army List," 1878, that " Major Coghill, of
the 19th Hussars, was appointed Second Lieutenant in 1851, Lieutenant
in 1855, Captain in 1863, and Major in 1877.
" He served with the 2d European Bengal Fusileers in Burmah,
1853-55. Served as Adjutant 2d E. B. Fusileers throughout the In-
dian Mutiny campaign of 1857-58. Was present at the battle of Bud-
leekeserai, and storming the heights in front of Delhi on 8th June, 1857.
Served throughout the siege of Delhi from 8th June, 1857, to its capt-
ure. Present in all the actions in front of the city, including the re-
pulse of the sortie on the 10th; capture of the Metcalf position on the
12th; repelling sorties 19th and 20th; capture of Subzimundy on 24th;
repelling sortie on the 27th and 30th June, and 8th, 9th, and 14th July;
captui-e of Paharypore, under Gen. Sir John Jones ; repelling sortie
of 30th July, and 1st and 2d August ; present with the storming
column during the assault on the Cashmere Bastion breach, and during
the capture of Delhi, from 14th to 21st September, 1857.
" Served with General Showers' pursuing column from 1st October
to 10th November, 1857, and was present at the taking of the forts
Rewarrie Jujjher, Eanaude, Furrucknugur, and Bullumbghur, and the
capture of the heights of Sonah. He received a medal with clasp."
36 ^ THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
LIEUT. NEVILL JOSIAH AYLMER COGHILL.
FIDELIS AD MORTEM.
Of that deed of noble daring,
In its chivalry sublime,
Vivid, grand, historic pages
Shall descend to future ages ;
Poets, painters, hoary sages
Shall record it for all time.
The death of this gallant young officer was mentioned
in the foot-note on page 32. Since that was printed some
of the details of the disaster to the British arms at Isan-
dula, and also the particulars of the desperate courage
and energy displayed by Lieutenants Coghill and Melvill
in cutting their way through the dense lines of savages,
and bearing off the colors of the regiment from that
bloody field, have reached England and become a part of
history. Every London journal has given a leading ar-
ticle in praise of that act of heroism, and poets have
already woven it into song. The names of Coghill and
Melvill will ever be held in proud and grateful remem-
brance by their countrymen, and honored by those of
every nationality who respect courage and appreciate
noble daring.
Our young kinsman has proved himself no degenerate
scion of his house, but added new lustre to the old name.
Before the memory of his gallant deeds we hang our
humble wreath of immortelles.
LIEUT. NEVILL JOSIAH AYLMER COGHILL.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH, 1878; OB. 1879.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 36 i
The following: sketch of Lieutenant Coo-hill was at our
request sent to us by a member of his family : —
Lieut. Nevill Josiah Aylmer Coghill was born in Dublin, January
25, 1852, and wanted but two days to be twenty-seven years old when
he met his death. He was educated at Hailebury College, in Hertford-
shire, England, and passed his examination for the army and received
his commission in 1873. He went through the Gaika and Gallka war
in 1877 as aide-de-camp to General Sir Arthur Cunnynghame, Bart., and
was mentioned by him in dispatches for efficiency and coolness under
fire. In the spring of 1878 he returned with that general to England,
but went out again almost immediately, and on his arrival at the Cape
was appointed aide-de-camp to the Lord High Commissioner, Sir Bartle
Frere, Bart., and accompanied him to the Transvaal. Upon the decla-
ration of war against the Zulus, at his own request, he was allowed to
go to the front as extra aide-de-camp to Colonel Glyn, commanding the
column.
A few days before the battle of Isandula he unfortunately twisted his
knee, which he had injured some years before at foot-ball, so that when
Lord Chelmsford marched out of camp on the 22d January, he was
obliged to remain behind.
In the afternoon of that day the small force left at the camp were
surrounded and attacked on all sides by Cetewayo's army, and when
the ammunition was all expended, and the six or seven hundred were
overwhelmed by twenty thousand Zulus, Colonel Pulleyn ordered
Melvill, the adjutant, and Lieutenant Coghill (they being mounted of-
ficers), to take the colors of the regiment, and endeavor to get through
the enemy's lines and notify the posts in the rear of the disaster.^ They
1 Mr. Young, who escaped, described how, when looking back, he saw these
two officers with the colors, trying to force their way through the ring of yell-
36/ ' THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
succeeded in cutting their way through dense masses of the enemy,
but were hotly pursued to the banks of the Buffalo River, which at a dis-
tance of twelve miles from the battle-field separates Natal from Zulu-
land. Here they attempted to cross the river, which was in a dangerous
state of flood. Lieutenant Coghill got over in safety, and was breasting
the hill on the opposite side, quite out of danger, when he perceived that
Melvill's horse was shot under him in the river ; he immediately turned
and rode back into the river to his assistance, when unfortunately his
horse too was shot. In this struggle with the swollen river and the
Zulus, the colors escaped them. They managed with difficulty to reach
the bank, and, though much exhausted, continued to stagger on for about
a quarter of a mile, when they were again attacked by a party of Zulus
who had crossed the river, and were both killed ; not, however, without
one more desperate struggle, for their bodies were found, and around
them ten dead Zulus.
On Lieutenant Coghill's body were found his diamond ring, a small
Zulu bangle that he used to wear, and his boots and spurs, — everything
else had been taken. The party who discovered their bodies also found
the colors which they had died to save, among the bowlders in the river
on the Natal side.
We learn from a letter written by Lady Bartle Frere
that the articles found on the person of Lieutenant Cog-
hill were forwarded by her to Sir J. J. Coghill, his father.
The following official letter of condolence was sent to
Sir John Jocelyn Coghill, after his son's death : —
ing savages. Coghill, he said, was wounded, and he saw no chance of escape
for him ; but the gallant young fellow cut his way through, and crossed the
river in safety ; but on looking back and seeing his companion disabled, true
to the instincts of a noble and unselfish nature, he returned to rescue or to die
with him. — Compiler.
THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL. 36/i:
" Sir, — I am directed by the Field Marshal Commanding in Chief to
inform you that his Royal Highness perused with melancholy interest
the report forwarded to hira by Lord Chelmsford from Colonel Glyn,
showing how the Queen's colour of the 1st Battalion 24th Foot would
have fallen into the hands of the enemy but for the gallant behaviour of
your son, Lieutenant Coghill, and Lieutenant and Adjutant Melvill, of
that regiment. His Royal Highness in communicating this dispatch de-
sires me to assure you of his sincere sympathy with you in the loss of
your son, whose gallant death in the successful endeavour to save the
colour of his regiment has gained the admiration of the army. It is
gratifying to his Royal Highness to inform you that if your son had sur-
vived his noble effort it was her Majesty's intention to confer upon him
the Victoria Cross, and a notification to that effect will be made in the
London Gazette.
" I have the honor to be, sir,
" Your obedient servant,
" M. A. Dillon,
" Major General.
"To Sir JosCELYN Coghill, Bart."
From the many tributes to the memory of Lieutenants
Coghill and Melvill now before us, we liave selected for
preservation with these family records two poems. The
first was written by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, who was
one of England's greatest diplomatists some thirty years
since. He is now upwards of ninety years of age. The
other is from " The Battle of Isandula," a poem of thir-
teen stanzas, by Robert Buchanan, published in the " Con-
temporary Review" (London) of April, 1879.
36/ THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
ISANDLANA,^ JANUARY 22, 1879.
It was a fearful battle, a dread, ill-omen'd day.
When sudden, as by swoop of storm, in the pride of their array,
Full half the gallant Twenty-fourth to a man were swept away.
A brotherhood in arms were they, surpassed in fame by none ;
And even on the battlefield, when all but hope was gone,
The beat of the surviving hearts was as the beat of one.
Their blazon'd colours proudly told of many a glorious fight,
And when from thickest of the fray they shed their meteor light.
There was not, and there could not be, a thought of fear or flight.
The column doomed to move apart trod firm a hostile land,
And all at ease the tents were spread, when from his rocky stand
The watcher's cheery voice declared no enemy at hand.
But soon a word of ruder tone thi'oughout th' encampment rang;
" They come, in swarms, they come ; our lives on instant action hang."
Not one but hurries to his post, and, swift as lightning's flash,
The line is formed and all in place to meet the tempest's crash.
From the hills
Down, downward pouring.
Streams to sight the swarthy flood,
Dark as clouds,
Which, thunder storing,
O'er a wilder'd city brood.
^ Spelt Is'andlana, Isandusana, and Isandula; the last has been adopted
by the press.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 36 m
Alert to fight, athirst to slay,
They shake the dreaded assegai,
And rush with blind and frantic will
On all, when few, whose force is skill.
E'en so; but while they gather strength to strike the fatal blow.
Their front sustains a deadly shock, which lays a thousand low.
Yet thousands more replace the slain, and what can hundreds do.
But bravely face their doom, and die, to fame and duty true?
A whisper! — hark ! The guns, the guns ! — No ready voice replies;
But lo ! each gun in silence spiked, the captor's grasp defies;
A brave and meritorious act; alas! who does it dies.
Far, far away, at fearful risk, a nobler charge was moved,
And those in trust right well achieved what more than valour proved;
Both still were young, and firm in minds that ne'er from duty I'cved.
Quick, quick, they mount the bridled steeds, while near each loyal breast
The colours lie, from ill secured, as in a miser's chest.
What could be done in haste they did ; to faith they gave the rest.
In fast succession forth they passed along the straggling host;
On, gallant youths I ye may not heed the peril or the cost.
Oh ! speed them Heav'n ! direct their course ; what shame if such were lost !
A stare of silent brief surprise, and then a deaf 'ning yell ;
As if the imprison'd souls below had burst the bonds of hell ;
On dash'd the dauntless riders still ; who dares to cross them fell.
Soon clear of foemen, side by side, athwart the pathless wild,
Conveyors of a precious charge, by capture ne'er defiled.
On, boldly on, they stretched with speed, by youthful hope beguiled.
SQn THE FAMILY OF COGfflLL.
Alike through pools of rotten marsh, o'er beds of flint they rode ;
They cross'd^the dell, they scal'd the hill, they shunn'd the lone abode,
Nor ceased to urge the foaming beasts their weary limbs bestrode.
At length the frontier sti'eam appears ; hurrah ! What need of more ?
Oh, fate ! They plunge, the waters flash, the rushing waters roar,
Unseated, wounded, all but drown'd, they touch, they clasp the shore.
A few brief hours of calm succeed, they share the joy of those
Who, purpose gained and danger past, from anxious toil repose :
But nature sinks — too great the strain, and wounds are slow to close.
One slept — nor woke again ; like him too soon the other slept ;
And those who sought and found them dead, the colours near them kept,
In pity — doubt not — stoop'd awhile, and o'er the bodies wept.
Melvill and Coghill ! honour'd names ! ye need no verse of mine
To fix the record of your worth on memory's faithful shrine ;
To you a wreath that may not fade shall England's praise assign.
Ye crown the list of glorious acts which form our country's boast,
Ye rescued from the brink of shame what soldiers prize the most,
And reached by duty's path a life beyond the lives ye lost.
Stratford de Redcliffe.
THE FA3IILT OF COGHILL. 36 o
FROM " THE BATTLE OF ISANDULA."
" Save the colours I " shi-ieks a dying voice, and lo !
Two horsemen breast the raging ranks, and go. —
(In thy sacred list, O Fame 1
Keep each dear and noble name.) ^
See, they flash upon the foe,
Fierce as flame —
And one undaunted form
Lifts a British banner, warm
With the blood-rain and the storm of Isandiila !
" Save the colours ! " and amidst a flood of foes,
At gallop, sword in hand, each horseman goes —
Around the steeds they stride
Cling devils crimson-dyed.
But God ! through butchering blows,
How they ride !
Their horses' hoofs are red
With blood of dying and dead.
Trampled down beneath their tread at Isandiila !
" Save the colours ! " — They are saved — and side by side
The horsemen swim a ra^ino; river's tide —
They are safe — they are alone —
But one, without a groan,
After tottering filmy-eyed.
Drops like stone ;
1 Lieut. Nevill Josiah Aylmer Coghill (24th Regiment), Lieut. Teignmouth
Melvill (24th Regiment), both killed while escaping with the colours, January
22, 1879.
SQp THE FABIILT OF COGHILL.
And before his comrade true
Can reach his side, he too
Falls, smitten through and through at Isandiila !
Bless the Lord, who in the hollow of his hand.
Kept the remnant of that little British band I
But give honour everywhere
To the brave who perish'd there,
Speak their praise throughout the land
With a prayer —
More than sorrow they can claim :
They have won the crown of Fame 1
They have glorified the name of Isandiila !
Robert Buchanan.
JOHN COGHILL.
FROM OIL PORTRAIT, 1624 ; OB. 1625.
PART III.
THE JUNIOR BRANCH OF ENGLAND.
TTAVING completed the pedigree of the family by de-
"■"*- scent from the eldest sons, with occasional sketches
of some of its members, we next proceed to state what
we have been able to learn with reference to the junior
branches, confining this section of our history to those of
them who remained in England.
It will be remembered that MarmaduTce Coghill, fourth
in descent, had only four sons of whom we could find any
record : William, who died unmarried ; Thomas, the eld-
est surviving son, who succeeded his father; MarmaduJce,
mentioned in the will of his brother Thomas ; and John,
a merchant in London, — all of whom were referred to
in the preceding section. If Marmaduke had other chil-
dren, we have no means of ascertaining why they were
not mentioned in the will of his eldest son, or in any of
the numerous books we have examined.
5. John Coghill, the youngest son of Marmaduke, was
a merchant in London, and, as we learn from the records
of St. Bartholomew's by the Exchange, London, was mar-
38 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
ried on the 20th January, 1588-9, to Susannah, daughter
of Denis Viell, Esq., of Charleval, in Normandy ; and the
records show that he was buried in the chancel of St.
Michael's, Bassishaw, London, 28th March, 1625.^ He left
two sons : —
6. Henry Coghill, the eldest son.
6. Sir Thomas Coghill, of Blechingdon (a large lord-
ship near Oxford). These two brothers, as will be seen
further on, married sisters. We will refer to Sir Thomas
and his descendants first, and then return to Henri/. The
records of St. Bartholomew's the Less, London, show that
"Thomas Coghill of this parish, London, Gent.," and
" Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of John Sutton, mer-
chant, of the same parish," and Aldenham, Co. Hertford,
youngest son of John Sutton of Horsell, Co. Surrey, and
heir to his eldest brother Thomas, were married Octo-
ber 20, 1622. He was knighted at Woodstock in 1633,
and died June 2, 1659. The records of the Blechingdon
church show that he was buried there June 5, 1659.
^ Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq., writes under date of October 23, 1878, from
his country seat, Aldenham House, County Hertford (once the residence of
Henry Cogbill, Esq., son of John, and which descended to Mr. Gibbs through
the family of Hucks; Robert Hucks, Esq., having married Sarah Coghill, a
great-granddaughter of Henry Coghill, Esq.) : " I have a portrait of this
John Coghill, in a panel in the hall, with an inscription saying that he was
seventy years old in 1624. Also the portrait of Denis Viell, his father-in-law.
I have portraits of his two sons, Henry and Sir Thomas Coghill, and their re-
spective wives."
SIR THOMAS COGHILL.
FROM OIL PORTRAIT, 1637 ; OB. 1659.
THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL. 39
By tins marriage Sir Thomas had eleven children : —
7. An abortive child, buried May 17, 1623, at St.
Bartholomew's the Less, London.
7. John Coghill, died September 19, 1628.
7. Thomas Coghill, baptized September 17, 1626, at
Blechingdon.
7. Elizabeth Coghill, baptized December 28, 1628»
at Blechingdon.
7. Susan Coghill, baptized December 26, 1630, at
Blechingdon.
7. John Coghill, baptized April 28, 1633, at Blech-
ingdon.
7. Sutton Coghill, baptized July 17, 1634, at Blech-
ingdon. •
7. Faith Coghill, baptized March 24, 1636-7, at
Blechingdon.
7. Anne Coghill, baptized January 30, 1637-8, at
Aldenham.
7. Catherine Coghill, baptized January 20, 1640-1,
at Blechingdon.
7. Mary Coghill, baptized January 16, 1644-5, at
Blechingdon.
All of these children except the first John, and Anne,
are named in their father's will. He also makes a be-
quest to his grandchild, Thomas Coghill, who was most
probably a son of Thomas. The records at Blechingdon
40 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
show that Thomas Coghill, son of Thomas Coghill, Esq.,
was buried September 19, 1665, and the inference is that
this is the grandchild referred to in Sir Thomas's will.
Susan married George Pudsey, Gent., as we learn from
her father's will, but we find no record of any of her
descendants.
John married, but when, and to whom, we have not
been able to learn. The Blechingdon records show that
he was buried there February 20, 1694-5, and the rec-
ords of the Consistory Court of Oxford, that letters of
administration were granted to Mary, relict of John Cog-
hill, November 2, 1695. Mary, relict of John Coghill,
was buried at Blechingdon, as the records there show,
February 22, 1702-3. They had issue two daughters,
living July 28, 1698: —
8. Elizabeth Coghill, married John Knapp, Esq.
8. Mary Coghill, married Hernson, Esq., as we
learn from their renouncing their father's estate to his
sister, and their aunt, Mary Courtney (John's widow,
Mary, renouncing at the same time). We find no records
of any other children.
Mary (7) married Peter Courtney, Esq., as we find
from the records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury,
where letters of administration were granted to Mary,
wife of Peter Courtney, on the estate of her brother, John
Coghill, July 28, 1698 ; and the same records show that
THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL. 41
she died prior to May 14, 1703, when letters of admin-
istration on John Coghill's estate were granted to his
eldest daughter, Elizabeth Knapp, said Mary Courtney
(his sister) being dead.
Sutton married, but we could not learn to whom, fur-
ther than that her name was Jane, and that she lies
buried at Blechingdon. The only issue that we can find
any record of are —
8. Sutton Coghill, eldest son, died May 15, 1708,
buried at Blechingdon.
8. John Coghill, died January 31, 1716, buried at
Blechingdon.
8. Elizabeth Coghill.
8. Thomas Coghill, baptized at Blechingdon July 30,
1681.
Sutton we hear of only once. Henry Hucks Gibbs,
Esq., writes that " Sutton Coghill the younger was trustee
to a post-nuptial settlement of Henry Coghill and Sarah
Blythe in 1699," as he learns from family records and
papers now in his possession. Thomas we have placed
as the son of the eldest Sutton, but it is possible that
he may have been the son of Sutton the younger. John
we trace by two monuments in Blechingdon Church,^
one to his grandfather, father, and two uncles, his two
brothers, and his mother and grandmother, and the other
^ See reference to these monuments in Appendix to Part III.
6
42 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
to his sister Elizabeth, who married Charles Collins, Esq.,
of Betterton, in the County of Berks, and died in 1713,
as we learn from the monument just referred to, and
which bears the following inscrijDtion : —
" Elizabeth ux. Charles Collins of Betterton, Co. Berks, only daughter
of Sutton Coghill of Blechingdon, died in childbed, 19th October, 1713:
Erected by her surviving brother, John Coghill, Esq."
Faith (7) married Sir Christopher Wren (the cele-
brated architect of St. Paul's, London) December 7, 1669 ;
she died, and was buried September 4, 1675, at St. Mar-
tin's in the Fields, leaving an only son, Christopher Wren,
born 1675. (After her death Sir Christopher married, in
February, 1676-7, Jane, daughter of Viscount Fitzwilliam,
by whom he had other children.) Christopher, the son,
was a member of Parliament for Windsor from 1712 to
1714. He wrote the memoirs of his family, entitled
*' Parentalia," and also several other works, which are
mentioned in Allibone's " Dictionary of Authors." In
1710 the topmost stone of St. Paul's, London, was with
fitting ceremonies laid by him. He died in 1747, leaving
one son.
Of the other children of Sir Thomas, or any of their
descendants except those mentioned, we know nothing
definitely. We shall insert at the end of this section the
baptisms and burials at Blechingdon and Aldenham, so
far as we have been able to obtain them. Most of those
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 43
of the name who were buried at Blechmgdon, and some
few at Aldenham, were doubtless his descendants. The
authorities consulted state that the male line has been
extinct for more than a century. A copy of Sir Thomas's
will may be seen at the end of this section.
We now return to Henri/ Coghill, Esq. (6), of Aldenham
(eldest son of John and brother of Sir Thomas). He was
born in London in 1589 ; was first a merchant in that
city, but afterwards resided at Bushey, and later at Al-
denham, both in the County of Hertford, and in 1632
was sheriff of that county. There is some uncertainty
as to whether he resided at the older house which once
stood on the land still called Penne's Place} and the foun-
1 Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq., in a letter to the compiler, says : " Pennes Place
is always spoken of in our title deeds in the same terms as are used to de-
scribe it in the deed of conveyance from Fitzwilliam Coningsby to Henry
Coghill, of the 27th November, 1640, namely, 'The Site of the Mannor or
Capitall Messuage commonly called Aldenham Hall, alias Pennes Place, to-
gether "with all houses, edifices, buildings, barnes, stables, outhouses, cottages,
dovehouses, gardens, orchards, fishponds, courts, yards, and folds to the said
Site or Capitall Messuage belonging or in any wise appertaining; ' so that it is
possible that even in those early days the manor-house was not in existence,
mention being always made of the site; but, on the other hand, the buildings,
etc., should be the house, and it seems most probable that it was for some
generations at least the chief residence of the family.
"The house in which I am now writing is distant about a furlong from
Pennes Place, and is now and was in 1815 known by the name of Aldenham
House, but was, when it descended to Henry Coghill in 1G14, called Wig-
bournes, and bore that name even in the days of his great-granddaughter.
44 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
dations and moat of which are still visible, or at another
place, called Wighoiirnes. Chauncy speaks of a " fair
house of brick built by H. Coghill." It is not quite clear
whether this was the old house of Penne's Place, perhaps
modernized by him about 1630 under the name of Alden-
ham Hall, or the conversion of this house of Wigbournes
(which dated from the previous century, and was inher-
ited by Henry Coghill from his father-in-law, John Sut-
ton) into the shape in which it came to its present owner.
Penne's Place was apparently the chief seat of this branch
of the family for two or three generations. It is spoken
of as a mansion apparently still existing, in the will of
Sarah Coghill, 1767, but had sunk to a mere parcel of
land in the deed of partition made by her great-grand-
daughters in 1815. Aldenham House, under its former
name of Wighoiirnes, belonged to Faith, wife of Henry
Coghill. In 1734 we find it in possession of Thomas, a
younger and surviving brother of the third Henry Cog-
hill, and from him descended to his niece, Sarah Hucks.
Thomas made his will June 2, 1784, proved P. C. C.
24th of the following month.^
(See monument of Robert Hucks in Aldenham Church.) At one time this
house also seems to have borne the name of Pennes Place; for my friend
Baron Dinsdale, of Essendon, in this county, has a drawing of it made about
one hundred and fifty years ago, when the trees of the avenue were yet young,
and at the bottom of the drawing is the name Pennes Place. The Coghill
arms are still in the pediment of the west front of the building."
^ We are indebted to Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq., for these particulars.
-MM--
Q
<
O
Pi
o
r-
Pi
o
>-
H
IZ
O
u
O
<
X
p
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 45
We learn from the records of St. Bartholomew's the
Less, London, that he, Henry (6), married Faith, daugh-
ter and co-heiress of John Sutton, merchant of the same
parish, January 16, 1620. This lady died 31st May,
16*70, and was buried in the south chancel of Aldenham
Church. Her husband died August 20, 1672, and was
buried by her side. The inscriptions on both monuments
may be seen among the monumental inscriptions in Al-
denham and Blechingdon Churches at the end of this sec-
tion. By this marriage he had issue —
7. Elizabeth Coghill, baptized in London, at St. Bar-
tholomew's the Less, May 15, 1623 ; died August 20,
1628.
7. John Coghill, baptized in London, June 23, 1624 ;
died young.
7. Thomas Coghill, baptized in Blechingdon, July 10,
1625 ; died August 18, 1628.
7. Faith Coghill, baptized in Blechingdon, September
30, 1626 ; died May 3, 1630.
7. Elizabeth Coghill, baptized in Aldenham, October
29, 1629.
7. Henry Coghill, baptized in Aldenham, February
13, 1633-4.
7. John Coghill, baptized in Blechingdon, July 2,
1637; born same day.
It will be observed that the first four children died
46 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
young. EUsdbetli never married, as may be seen by an
abstract of her will at the end of this section. John
Coghill, of Bentley, the youngest son, married Debora,
daughter of William Dudley, Esq., of Ellstree. She died
August 31, 1714, and John Coghill, her husband, October
13, 1714 ; both she and her husband were buried in Al-
denham Church, where their monuments are still to be
seen. A full description of them, and also of one to Mrs.
Coghill's mother, Lucy Dudley, may be found at the end
of this section.
They had issue —
8. John Coghill, baptized at Aldenham, November
24, 1669 ; died following December, and was buried in
south chancel of Aldenham Church.
8. Lucy Coghill, died young.
8. Thomas Coghill.
8. Lucy Coghill.
There were other children who died in infancy.
Lucy was living October 26, 1676, as may be seen by
a bequest in the will of her aunt Elizabeth, daughter of
Henry Coghill, Esq., an abstract of which is given at the
end of this section. Thomas, the only surviving son, was
an officer in the army. He was with the army which
marched under the Duke of Marlborough from Flanders
up into Germany, and was slain in the battle of Dona-
wert, 2d July, 1704, in the twenty-second year of his
THE FAMILY OF OOGHILL. 47
age. This sanguinary battle was long remembered by
many English families. The French and Bavarian armies
were posted in an almost impregnable entrenched camp,
on the Schellenberg, a high eminence, connected by
earth-works with the town of Donawert. The allied
army, after a hard day's march, reached the base of the
hill late in the afternoon, and notwithstanding the fatigue
of his troops, Marlborough gave his orders to storm the
works. It was in that terrible charge against a pitiless
storm of lead, in many respects so closely resembling
the one made on the same day of the same month, and about
the same hour of the day, one hundred and fifty-nine years
later, by a division of General Lee's army on the Federal
position at Gettysburg, that along with more than five
thousand of his comrades in arms, this young officer fell,
the last male descendant of John Coghill of Bentley.
Returning now to Henry Coghill {!), of Aldenham Hall,
alias Penne's Place, as his house was called in his mar-
riage settlement (the eldest son of Henry), we find that
he married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Blythe, of the
family of Blythes in Elferrat, in Yorkshire. She was
buried in linen ^ at Aldenham, 3d March, 1723-4 ; and
he, 24th June, 1709, having been high sherifi" of the
county in 1673. They had issue —
8. Elizabeth Coghill, baptized 23d April, 1674.
1 See explanation of " buried in linen," in note at the end of this section.
48 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
8. Henry Coghill, baptized 24th March, 1675-6.
8. John Coghill, baptized 29th January, 1678-9.
8. Thomas Coghill, baptized 13th May, 1684.
8. Charles Coghill, baptized 2d December, 1686.
We find no other record of John than his baptism and
burial. Thomas was bmied in linen at Aldenham, 2d
February, 1734-5, and devised the manor of Bentley
(now called Bentley Priory), as we learn from Lyson's
" Environs of London," to his nephew (grand), Thomas
Wittewronge, grandson of his sister Elizabeth ; and his
other lands, left him by his brother Henry, and coming
to the latter from their uncle John, descended to his
nephew, Henry Coghill ; and from him to Sarah, his sis-
ter. We find no other mention of Charles than his bap-
tism. Elizabeth was twice married ; first, as we learn
from the records of St. Andrew's, Holborn, on 14th Feb-
ruary, 1693-4, to Jacob Wittewronge, of Lincoln (son of
James, and grandson of Sir John Wittewronge). He was
born in 1671, and was fourth in descent from James
Wittewronge, a native of Ghent, in Flanders, who fled
from that country during the time of the Protestant per-
secution under Philip 11. of Spain, and settled in England
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He (Jacob) died, leav-
ing one son, Jacob, who married, 9th May, 1719, Anne,
widow of Hale, Esq., of Coventry, and died 26th
and was buried 30th June, 1727, at Harpenden. He left
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 49
issue, James ; Jucoh, baptized 16th October, 1722, and died
the following December ; TJiomas, baptized 16th October,
1723, and died 14th June, 1763 ; ElkabetJi, died infant,
and buried 16th April, 1729.
James married Martha, daughter of Sir John Strange,
Knight, and Master of the Rolls, and died 1748, leaving
no issue. Thomas was the nephew to whom the manor
of Bentley was bequeathed by his great-uncle, Thomas
Coghill, in 1734. He died without issue, and was buried
at Harpenden, 14th June, 1763 ; and, being the last of
the male line, bequeathed his estate to John, the grand-
son of Thomas Bennet, Esq., who married his great-aunt.
Elizabeth WUtewronge, after the death of her husband,
married, in May, 1700, Anthony Ettrick, Esq., of High
Barnes, County Durham, a widower with one daugh-
ter. They had issue, William, baptized at Aldenham,
December 29, 1701 ; Walter, baptized at Aldenham, No-
vember 17, 1706 ; Sarah, baptized at Aldenham, No-
vember 6, 1707 ; Helen, baptized at Aldenham, May
7, 1710 ; Henri/, baptized at Aldenham, December 25,
1711.
We know nothing of the four younger children ; but
the eldest, William, married Isabella Langley, of Higham-
Gobion, County Bedford, and left a son, William, baptized
at Harpenden, County Hertford, May 16, 1726 ; mar-
ried at St. Nicholas, Durham, January 27, 1752 ; died,
50 THE FA3nLT OF COG HILL.
February 22, 1808, and was buried at Bishop's Wear-
mouth. His wife was Catherine Whorton, of Old Park,
Durham ; she was buried at High Barnes, November 24,
1794. Their son. Rev. Wilham Ettrick, was baptized at
St. Nicholas, Durham, May 15, 1757 ; was admitted to
certain copyholds in Hertfordshire, on the death of Sarah
Noyes, as customary heir to her grandmother, Sarah
Hucks, born Coghill.
We go back now to Henry Coghill (8), of Aldenham
House (formerly called Wigbournes). He married Anne,
daughter of Robert Nicoll, Esq., of St. Michael's, County,
Hertford, and was buried at Aldenham, 2d August, 1728.
They had issue —
9. Sarah Coghill, baptized at Aldenham, Aug. 3, 1705.
9. Mary Coghill.
9. Henry Coghill.
9. Anne Coghill.
9. John Coghill.
9. Thomas Coghill.
9. Lucy Coghill.
In the pedigree sent by Sir John Jocelyn Coghill, all
of these children, except Sarah, are said to have died
young ; but Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq., writes that both
Henry and John lived to be of age. John, the younger
son, he writes, was married ; his wife's name was Anne,
and she was buried at Aldenham, January 9, 1725, and
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 51
her will was proved on the 26th of the same month, leav-
ing her property to her husband, who himself died the fol-
lowing year, and was buried August 30th, at Aldenham.
Another Ann Coghill was witness to her will ; this may
have been the wife of Henry, her father-in-law, born Ann
Nicoll, and who was buried at Aldenham, August 3,
1739, as " Ann Coghill, widow, from London."
Henry Coghill, the eldest son, and last male of the fam-
ily, inherited the main estates of his fother, and also
some lands which belonged to John, his younger brother.
He died unmarried, and was buried at Aldenham, August
2, 1728, and administration was granted in the Preroga-
tive Court of Canterbury, to his sister —
Sarah^ who married, December 22, 1730, Robert, only
son of William Hucks, Esq., of Bloomsbury, M. P. for
Wallingford ; and died February 25, 1771. Her husband
died in 1745, in the forty-fifth year of his age. Both are
buried in Aldenham Church, where their monument still
remains. A full description is given of it at the end of
this section.
Mr. Hucks was a Member of Parliament for Abbing-
don, and Recorder of Wallingford.
1 Sarali was the last of the Hertfordsliire Coghills. Henry Hucks Gibbs,
Esq., writes : "I have a full-length portrait of him [Robert Hucks], and half-
length of his father and wife, all by James Vanderbank. I have also an-
other portrait of his wife, taken at a later period of life.'
52 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
They had issue —
10. Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, and William, who died infants.
10. Anne HucJcs, baptized December 2, 1731.
10. Harriet Hucks, baptized August 7, 1736.
10. Sarah HucJcs, baptized January 3, 1738.
10. Robert Hucks, baptized November 8, 1742, at St.
George's, Bloomsbury.
Anne, in 1757, married Oliver Coghill, of Coghill Hall,
who was Oliver Cramer, but in pursuance of the will of
Marmaduke Coghill, his great-uncle, assumed the name
of Coghill, by sign-manual, and became his heir as well
as heir to his cousin Hester (daughter of James Coghill),
Countess of Charleville. Anne died leaving no issue,
and Oliver Coo-hill afterwards married Jane, dauo-hter of
Holl, Esq., by whom he had one daughter, Jane.
(See Part II.)
Sarah married Thomas Buckeridge Noyes, Esq., of
Southcote in Reading, who died 1797, and had issue —
11. Sarah Noyes, died April. 1842.
11. Anne Noyes, died December, 1841.
Robert Hucks (10) died June 8, 1814, and his will,
dated July 4, 1771, was proved on the 29th July of that
year. He was declared a lunatic in 1792, and so con-
tinued till his death. His nieces, Sarah and Anne Noyes,
succeeded to his estates as heirs-at-law ; and executed a
deed of partition in April, 1815, whereby the Oxfordshire
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 53
and Berkshire estates, which came from the Hucks family,
and the land in Lambeth, fell to Anne, and the Hertford-
shire, Middlesex, and Cambridgeshire estates, which came
from the Coghills, fell to Sarah. On her death intestate,
as to her real estate, the freehold portion of these estates
passed to her heir ex parte materna, George Henry Gibbs,
Esq., of London, representative through his mother of
Joseph Hucks, of Bloomsbury, next brother of William
Hucks first before mentioned. Such of her copyhold
estates as had descended from the Coghills to Sarah, wife
of Robert Hucks, passed to the Rev. William Ettrick,
eldest representative of Elizabeth Coghill by her second
husband (from which we may conclude that the descend-
ants of her first husband, Jacob Wittewronge, were wholly
extinct), and such as came to her from the Nicolls de-
scended to John Smith, a clerk in the India Office, who
was admitted to them as next heir of Anne Nicoll, the
wife of Henry Coghill, and mother of the said Sarah
Hucks, as sixth in descent from her grandfather, Robert
Nicoll, of Hendon. County Middlesex. Henry Hucks
Gibbs, Esq., of Aldenhara House, and of London, late
Governor of the Bank of England, the eldest son of the
above named George Henry Gibbs, Esq., is the present
representative of the Hucks family, and of the principal
estates of the family of Coghill.
54 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
ABSTRACTS OF WILLS, ADMINISTRATIONS, MONUMENTAL
AND TOMB INSCRIPTIONS, ETC.
The records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, London, refer
to five Coghills whose names are not mentioned in this pedigree. These
records furnish tlie only information we have been able to obtain con-
cerning them ; first, —
John Coghill, of Lincoln, whose estate was administered upon in 1639-
40.
Susamia Coghill, of the parish of Leonard, Eastcheap, London, whose
will was probated August 28, 1657.
Thomas Coghill, of the parish of Leonard, Eastcheap, London, hus-
band of Susanna, whose estate was administered upon October 27, 1657,
by Henry Bonner and John Spencer, who were also appointed guard-
ians" to Thomas Coghill, a minor, the only child of the deceased.
Thomas Coghill, a minor, son of Thomas and Susanna mentioned
above, late of the parish of Leonard, Eastcheap, London, whose estate
was administered ujion by John Coghill, the nephew by the brother and
next of kin, March 14, 1666.
Thomas Coghill, of Kuaresborough, County of York, whose estate
was administered upon by John Coghill, the cousin and next of kin,
February 14, 1665-6.
Recorded in the same court is the Will of Susanna Coghill (referred
to above), wife of Thomas Coghill, of the parish of Leonard, Eastcheap,
and mother of Thomas, his son, who was, when she married Mr. Coghill,
the widow of the late Brandon Wetherill, of London. After giving
several small legacies to her relations, and to Sir Thomas Trevor and
" My Ladie Trevor," she bequeathes the residue of the property which
she held in her own right to her husband and their son. Sir Thomas
Trevor is sole executor. The will is dated 12th May, 1655. Witnesses:
THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL. 55
Ed. Owen, Ann House, and Thomas Barber. Proved 28th August,
1657.
The records of St. Michael's, Bassishaw, London, show that Tlwmas
Coghill, son of John Coghill, Barber-Surgeon,^ was baptized January
29, 1603-4. "We can find no mention of this John anywhere else.
Thomas, the son, was most probably the husband of Susanna just before
mentioned, who died in the parish of Leonard, Eastcheap, in 1 657.
REFERRING TO HENRY COGHILL's WILL.
Henry Coghill, of Aldenham, must have made provision for his two
youngest children, John and Elizabeth, during his life, as by his will he
bequeathed only twenty shillings each, to them. John, it is known, was
a gentleman of wealth, and Elizabeth, who died unmarried six years
after her father, as will be seen by her will, after leaving, including an-
1 In reply to an inquiry made by the compiler, Joseph L. Chester, LL. D.,
of London, writes : " In olden times in London there was a company of
Barbers and a company of Surgeons. These two companies were united in
the year 1540, and continued as the company of Barber-Surgeons, until 1745,
when they dissolved ; you know, I presume, the nature and character of these
old city companies ; all of them were of great respectability, though some
ranked higher than others. It is supposed that at the time of the union the
Barbers were not very strong, and so sought an alliance with the Surgeons.
The combination seems to us in modern times a strange one, but in old times
the Barbers were always called in to bleed patients, it being beneath the dig-
nity of the Surgeons to do so. The probability is, that in this company the
Surgeons predominated ; but I must also add that a man might become a mem-
ber of the company without being either a Barber or a Surgeon. The Earl of
Beaconsfield and the Marquis of Salisbury were the other day admitted into the
Merchant Taylors Company, and the late Prince Consort was a member of the
Fisher Mongers Company. I have little doubt, from the position of the family
in London and England, that John Coghill was a regular professional man."
56 THE FA3IILT OF COGHILL.
nuity, some sixteen hundred pounds to various persons, gave the remain-
der of her property, " personall and real! " (which was probably much
the larger part), to her eldest brother, Henry.
ABSTRACT OF HENRY COGHILL's WILL.
" I, Henry Coghill of Aldenham in the County of Hertford, Esq'", " —
" to the -poore of the parish of Aldenham Five pounds " — " to each of
such servants that shall be dwelling with mee att the time of my decease
a yeares wages over and above what they ought to have and receive for
theire service " — " to my maid servant Anne Millington " an Annuity
of £5 for life to be paid " att or in the now dwelling house of mee the
said Henry Coghill, called Wigbournes scituate in Aldenham aforesaid "
— " unto my God daughter, Elizabeth Downing " " £10 per annum —
to my Sonne John and my daughter Elizabeth Coghill, to each of them
twenty shillings " — " my son Henry Coghill sole Exec*''and to him all my
Goods and Chattels whatsoever." — Dated 8 May, 1672. — "Witnesses:
John Nicoll and George Smith. — Proved 20 November, 1672.
ABSTRACT OF ELIZABETH COGHILL's WILL.
" I, Elizabeth Coghill of Aldenham in the Countie of Hertford, Spin-
ster " — " unto Anne Millington my Servant " an Annuity of £15 for life
charged on property in Aldenham and to be paid " at or in the now
dwelling house of Henry Coghill, esq. in Aldenham aforesaid " — " to
my loving Brother John Coghill of Bentley, gent, and Deborah his wife
fiftie pounds a peece " — " to Lucy Coghill, Daughter of the said John
Coghill £100 " — " to my loving Sister in Law, Sarah Coghill, now wife
of Henry Coghill of Aldenham aforesaid esq' £100 " — " to Elizabeth
Coghill, daughter of the said Henry Coghill £500 " — "to Henry Coghill,
Sonne of the said Henry £500 " — " my loving Brother, the said Henry
Coghill, sole Exc''., to whom after payment of my legacies and funeral
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 57
expenses I give and bequeath all my personall and reall Estate whatso-
ever."— Dated 26 October, 167G. — Witnesses: John Nicholl, Bithiah
Nicholl, and Margaret Russell. — Proved 1 December, 1677.
WILL OF SIR THOMAS COGHILL.
" I, Sir Thomas Coghill of Bletchingdon in the County of Oxford,
Knight " — " to be buried in the Chan cell of the Church of Bletching-
don " — Testator revokes a Conveyance made upon certain Trusts to
Vincent Barry, the younger, of Tame in the said Co. of Oxford, Gent.,
Ralph Deane of Princes Risborough in Bucks, Gent., and John
Dixon of Rowleright in said Co. Oxford, Gent., by Indenture dated
18 July, 1656, of " All those Mannors called or known by the name of
Poures Mannor and Adderburges Mannors, with their appurtenances
and of divers messuages, lands, Tenements, and hereditaments lying
and being in Bletchingdon aforesaid and in Hampton Poell to the said
Mannor or one of them belonging," and devises as follows : " all my
lands unsould and conteyned in the said Lease are Assigned " " To my
deare and loveing wife. Dame Elizabeth Coghill " for life, remainder " to
such person and persons to whom I shall hereby give and dispose of the
inheritance or Fee Simple of the several lands therein conteyned unto."
— " unto my second sonne, John Coghill and his heires, the Inheritance
and Fee Simple of all that Messuage or Tenement with all and Singu-
lar the lands," &c. belonging thereto in Bletchingdon, now in the pos-
session of John Edgerly, Gent, my Mess'' or Tene*, with the lands, &c.
now in my possession, and heretofore in that of William Hawkins, all
those four Cottages, &c., now in the possession of Goodwife, George
Goodwife, Stiles Goodwife, Gyles and Goodman Falconer, the Mess^
where I live and now dwell, with the gardens, that Mess® or Tene* with
the lands now in the possession of William Anyson, otherwise Daker
with the appurt'' (except Chitsnell meade), that Mess* or Tene*, with the
8
58 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Close adjoining, now in the possession of Robert Munchion. One Mess®
or Tene', with the lands now or late in the possession of Fra Bratli-
wayt ; that Mess*^ or Tene' now or late in the possession of Richard
Prickett, and all that Mess® or Tenet now or late in the possession of
Edward Silversides, all that Mess® or Tene' now or late in the pos-
session of John Spindler, that Mess® or Tene' now or late in the pos-
session of Hester Buckley, and all those several Messe^ or Tene*^ now
or late in the several possessions or occupations of Richard Kent, Rich-
ard Parratt, William Greene, John Bidwell and Thomas Judge, and also
the house called the Towne house — " unto my sonne, Sutton Ooghill,
and his heires " All that Mess® or Tene*, with the Lands, &c., heretofore
in the possession of Mary Bowden, widow deceased, and now in the pos-
session of me or my assigns, my Mess® or Tene* and Lands now or late
in the possession of Henry Verney, all that Mess® or Tene' and Lands,
now or late in the possession of Richard Dennett, that Mess® or Tene*
and Lands now or late in the possession of Mathews, and all
those Cottages now in the possession of Widdow Dodur, Tho. Drake,
Rice Evans, Rich. Gibbs, Widdow Kent and Richard Munchion, and
also all that my Coppice, called the Lynch — "unto my Deare Wife,
Dame Elizabeth Coghill ; Vincent Barry the elder, of Tame, Esquire,
and Vincent Barry, the younger, his sonne," certain Messe^ Tene*%
Lands, &c., in Trust to sell same, and pay thereout " unto my said
Sonne John Coghill," £800, to "my said Sonne Sutton," £800, to
" my daughter Faith Coghill" £1,000, to "my Daughter Catherine Cog-
hill" £800, to "my daughter 3Iary Coghill" £800, to "my Grand-
child Thomas Coghill" £500, unto my daughter Elizabeth Coghill
£50 to buy her a Ring and same sum to my daughter Susan for a like
purpose, to my son Tliomas Coghill £100 to buy him a Ring, and to
my " loving friend and Councellor, S"" William Moreton " £5 to buy him
a Ring — All my books, wheresoever they are, to my Sonne John Cog-
hill ; to my daughter Susan Pudsey, wife of John Pudsey Esquire —
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 59
" Residue of my lands in Blecbingdon herein and hereby not disposed
of, given or bequeathed, together with the said Two Maunors, called
Poures Mannor and Aderburyes Mannor " " unto my said Sonne John
Coghill and his heires after the decease of Dame Elizabeth my wife,
whom I doe hereby make, &c., sole Execf, to her all my Leases, Goods,
Plate, Household Stuff and Personal Estate whatsoever " — " my very
loving friends, Sir Robert Crohe Knt. and my Cosen Jo Dixon " Over-
seers. — Dated 26 May, 1659, — Witnesses : William Morton, William
Wausbrough, and Lawrence Bruer.
By Codicil, dated 1 June, 1659, and witnessed by William Marton,
Christopher Barry, and Nicholas Gawdy, Testator revokes his bequest to
his s"^ son John Coghill, of the Inheritance and Fee Simi^le of the
Mess® or Tene' and lands in Blecbingdon, in the possession of John
Edgerly, Gent, and the Messe^ Lands &c. or Cottages in the occupa-
tion of William Hawkins Goodwife, George Goodwife, Stiles Goodwife,
Giles and Goodman Falconer, and gives the same to his deare and lov-
ing Wife, Dame Elizabeth Coghill, to be disposed of as she shall think
fit. Proved December, 1659.
ALDENHAM, CO. HERTFORD. BAPTISMS.
1629, Oct. 29. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Coghill, Esq.
1633-4, Feb. 3. Henry, son of same.
1637-8, Jan. 30. Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Coghill, Knt., and
Dame Elizabeth.
1669, Dec. 7. John, son of John and Mrs. Debora Coghill, born 24
Nov.
1674, April 23. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Coghill.
1675-6, Mar. 24. Henry, son of Henry Coghill, Esq., and Sarah.
1678-9, Jan. 29. John, son of same.
1684, May 13. Thomas, son of same.
1686, Dec. 2. Charles, son of same.
1705, Aug. 3. Sarah, daughter of Mr. Henry Coghill and Anne.
60 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
ALDENHAM, CO. HERTFORD. BURIALS.
[Records of Burials from 1678 to 1709 are lost.]
1669, Dec. 7. John, f child of Mr. John Coghill, in South Chancel.
1670, June 4. Mrs. Faith, wife of Henry Coghill, Esq., in South
Chancel, her grandchild, John Coghill, being taken up and laid in the
same grave.
1672, Aug. 26. Henry Coghill, Esq., in South Chancel, by his wife.
1676, April 3. Mrs. Elizabeth Coghill, in South Aisle.
1709, June 24. Henry Coghill, Esq., in linen.^
1714, Sept. 3. Madam Debora, wife of John Coghill, Esq.
1714, Oct. 18. John Coghill, Esq., age seventy-eight.
1716, Aug. 18. Henry Coghill, Esq., of Aldenham Wood, in linen,
died 13th.
1723-4, Mar. 3. Mrs. Sarah Coghill, widow, in linen.
1724-5, Jan. 9. Mrs. Anne Coghill.
1726, Oct. 30. Mr. John Coghill.
1728, Aug. 2. Henry Coghill, Esq.
1734-5, Feb. 2. Mr. Thomas Coghill, in linen.
1739, Aug. 3. Mrs. Ann Coghill, widow, from London.
1785, Nov. 22. Sir John Coghill, Bart., from London.^
1 In 1679 an act of Parliament was passed, directing that henceforth no
persons should be buried in linen shrouds, but in woolen. The object of this
was, according to the act, "/o?- the lessening of the importation of linen from be-
yond the seas, and the encouragement of the ivoolen and paper manufactures of
this Kingdom.''^ The penalty for burying in linen was five pounds. Those
who preferred this mode followed it by paying the penalty.
2 This was Major John Mayne who married Hester Coghill, Countess of
Charleville, and assumed the name of Coghill by sign-manual.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 61
BLECHINGDON, CO. OXFORD. BAPTISMS.
1625, July 10. Thomas, son of Henry Cogliill.
1626, Sept. 17. Thomas, son of Thomas Coghill.
1626, Sept. 30. Faith, daughter of Henry Coghill.
1628, Dec. 28. Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Coghill.
1630, Dec. 26. Susan, daughter of same.
1633, April 28. John, son of same.
1634, July 17. Sutton, son of same, born 3d.
1636-7, Mar. 24. Faith, daughter of Sir Thomas Coghill, Knt.
1637, July 2. John, son of Henry Coghill, Esq., born same day.
1640-1, Jan. 20. Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Coghill, Knt.
1644-5, Jan. 16. Mary, daughter of same.
1681, July 30. Thomas, son of Sutton Coghill, Gent.
BLECHINGDON, CO. OXFORD. BURIALS.
1659, June 5. Sir Thomas Coghill, Knt,
1665, Sept. 19. Thomas, son of Thomas Coghill, Esq.
1694, May 17. Thomas Coghill, Esq., died 12th.
1694-5, Feb. 20. Johan Coghill.
1702-3, Feb. 22. Mary, relict of John Coghill.
1706, Dec. 10. Thomas Coghill, Lord of the Manor.
1713, Oct. 22. Elizabeth, daughter of Sutton Coghill, Esq., and
wife of Charles Collins of Betterton, Co. Berks.
1716-7, Feb. 3. John Coghill, Esq., Lord of the Manor.
BLECHINGDON CHURCH.
On the north wall of the chancel is a monument with the followinor
inscriptions : —
62 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Thomas, son and heir of Henry Cogliill, of Aldenham, Herts, Esq.,
age 3 years, died 18 Aug., 1628.
Elizabeth, eldest daughter of same,
age 5 years, died 20 Aug., 1628.
John, eldest son of Thomas Cogliill
of Blecliingdon, Esq., age 4 years,
died 19 September, 1628.
Also, Faith, second daughter of s*^ Henry Coghill,
age 4 years, died 3 May, 1630.
aldenham church.^
Aldenham Church, in which are the monuments and inscriptions fol-
lowiug this, is situated in the parish of that name, in the County of
Hertford. It is built almost entirely of flints, and has a handsome square
embattled tower at its west end, surmounted by a short spire, a nave
with side aisles covered with lead, and a chancel, tiled.
ON the floor, on the north side,
are the following inscriptions : —
Arms : Gules, on a chevron three pellets, CogMll: empaling, a chev-
ron between three bulls passant guardant, Sutto7i, with the crest of
Coghill.
" Here lyeth interred the body of
Mrs. Faith Coghill,
wife of Henry Coghill, Esq''., and daughter and co-heir of Jolm Sutton,
Esq''., who departed this life upon the 31*' day of May, Anno Domini
1670, at 75 years of age. She left issue behind her, two sons, Henry
1 These inscriptions are taken from Clutterbuck's History and Antiquities of
the County of Hertford.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 63
and John, and one daughter named Elizabeth. By her son John, who
married Deborah Dudley, daughter of William Dudley, of Elstree, Esq^,
she had two grandchildren, John and Lucy, both of which are buried
under this stone."
" Henry Coghill, Esq^, deceased the 22°^ of August, 1672, aged
83 years."
" Here lieth the body of the pious and truly religious gentlewoman
Mrs. Lucy Dudley,
relict of William Dudley, Escf., who lived to the 80* year of her age,
and dejxarted this life the first of March, Anno Domini, 1G84-5. She
left issue only one daughter, Dehora, the wife of John Cogliill of Bent-
ley, Gent. In the same grave lyes hurried three children of the said
Coghills, viz.: one daughter and two sons, who died young."
ON THE SAME SIDE
is an altar-tomb of white marble, on which are the figures of a gentle-
man and lady, with these arms and inscriptions : —
Arms : Gules, on a chevron three pellets, a chief Sable, Cogliill, em-
paling, or, two lions passant azure ; Dudley. Crest, on a wreath, Argent
and Gules, a cock crowing ermine, crested and winged, or.
" Here lyeth the body of
John Coghill,
late of Beutley, in this county, Gent, younger son of Henry Coghill,
heretofore of Aldenham, Esq., who died October IS*'^, 1714, in the 79
year of his age.
"Also Deborah, his wife (only daughter of William Dudley, Esq.),
who dyed August 31'', 1714, in the 73*^ year of her age.
" Their only son, Thomas Coghill, who lived to about the age of twenty-
two years, in commission in the army which marched under the Duke of
64 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Marlborough from Flanders, up into Germany, was unfortunately slain
at the attack of Donawert, An° 1704."
Against the wall, on the south side of the chancel, is a marble monu-
ment, the upi:)er part of which consists of a sarcophagus of Sienna
marble, in front of which, carved in relief, is a medallion, with a male
and female head, beneath which is a tablet, between two pillars of the
Ionic order, with this inscription : —
" Sacred to the memory of
Robert Hucks, Esqr,, and of
Sarah, his wife ;
he was the only son of "William Hucks, Esqr., of Wallingford, in Berk-
shire, who served for that Borough in four successive parliaments, by
Mary Selwood, his wife. He was a tender and affectionate husband, a
fond parent, a warm and firm friend, a kind and generous landlord, an
indulgent master. No man was more beloved by his friends, or more
esteemed and trusted by all that knew him. It was his constant object
to live well with every one, and every office to his neighbours, was a
gratification to himself; his benevolent heart was warm in the interest
of all mankind, and of this nation and Government in particular. He
served for the Borough of Abbingdon, in Berkshire, in several Parlia-
ments, respected and approved by his constituents; the good of liis
country was the unerring rule of his conduct ; it was difficult to mislead,
impossible to corrupt him ; he looked back on his past life with humble
diffidence, and was only confident in that Gospel that offereth mercy
and peace to all men. He died after a long and painful illness, which
he bore with manly fortitude and Christian resignation, in the prime
and strength of his days, in the 45*'^ year of his age, lamented by his
friends and forever to be lamented by his family. Sarah, his wife, was
the only surviving child of Henry Goghill, Esqr., of Wigbourns, in this
Parish, by his wife Ann Nicoll, daughter of Robert Nicoll, Esqr. ; she
survived her husband many years, ever regretting his loss ; her long
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 65
widowhood fully evinced she merited the confidence he placed in her ;
with ample means to have formed a second connection at a time when
the temptations of health and pleasure were in their strength, she re-
jected every offer ; and, as a never-ceasing testimony of her affection for
him, devoted her life to the care of their children. She died after a
short illness, February 25"', 1771, in the 65"" year of her age. They
had issue: Ann, married Oliver Cramer Goghill, Esqr., of Coghill-IIall,
in Yorkshire, who died without children ; Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, and
William, who died infants, and Harriet, Sarah, and Robert, now living ;
the last of whom, out of respect and gratitude to the best of parents,
erected this monument, a small tribute of filial duty to preserve their
memory in this world ; but their virtues are written in the eternal
records, and will remain in lasting characters when this marble shall be
mouldered into dust."
Beneath this inscription are two shields, with these arms : Dexter,
argent, a chevron between three owls, azure. Huchs. An escutcheon
gules, on a chevron argent, three pellets, a chief sable. Coghill. Sinister,
the arms of Coghill.
9
PART IV.
THE UNCONNECTED BKANCH OF THE FAMILY IN
ENGLAND.
'T^HE following pedigree was furnished by Mr. Anthony
-*- Coghill, of 9 Prince Road, Notting Hill, London, and
Miss Martha Coghill, daughter of Mr. Daniel Coghill, of
Ivy House Farm, Ichenham, W. Uxbridge, in Middlesex.
They are both of the opinion that they descended from
Sir Thomas Coghill, of Blechingdon, and the fact of
Anthony Coghill, their ancestor, having been a resident of
Oxfordshire, would seem to favor their supposition. On
the other hand, the descendants of Sir Thomas Coghill
are all said to be extinct in the pedigree sent to us by
Sir John Jocelyn Coghill, and further, if the first Anthony
in the pedigree which follows had been a descendant of
Sir Thomas, he would in all probability have inherited
some of his estates. Joseph L. Chester, LL. D., of Lon-
don, who has had a long experience in genealogical re-
searches, and whose opinion is considered authority, is
positive that they did not descend from Sir Thomas.
We give the pedigree and leave it for others who may
feel inclined to pursue the investigations.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 67
1. Anthony Cogiiill, farmer, resided at Worminghall,
near Oxford, and died, and was buried at that place
March 1, 1779; age, sixty-eight years. The only issue
that we know of was a son, —
2. Thomas Coghill, born October 10, 1736, and died
January 27, 1804. He was parish clerk and school-
master at Stanton for over forty years, and was buried
there. He married, and his wife Katharine died Decem-
ber 5, 1806 ; age, seventy-three years. He had issue —
3. Thomas Coghill.
3. KLf^THARiNE Coghill.
3. Elizabeth Coghill.
3. Anthony Coghill, born 1768.
Thomas married, and had one son, who died single.
Katharine married R. Bradford, and had two sons. Elka-
heih married Thomas Ray, and had one daughter. Anthony
married Elizabeth Neighbour in 1788, who died 29th
March, 1840; age, seventy-three years. He was a farmer,
and held the same farms that the first Anthony held at
Worminghall, and also the following places : Wadelsdon
and Homage farm, Chelton farm, both in Bucks County ;
also Lobbs farm. Great Haseley, in Oxfordshire, at which
place he died June 1, 1841, and was buried at Worm-
inghall Church, Buckinghamshire. He had issue twelve
children : —
4. Anthony Coghill, born 18th March, 1789 ; died De-
cember, 1802.
68 THE FA3I1LT OF COGHILL.
4. Elizabeth Coghill, bora 10th May, 1790.
4. Thomas Coghill, bom 7th October, 1791.
4. Katharine Coghill, born 15th January, 1793 ; died
20th June, 1793.
4. William Coghill, born 25th April, 1794 ; died 1849.
4. John Coghill, born 17th November, 1796 ; died 3d
June, 1810.
4. James Coghill, born 14th August, 1798.
4. Daniel Coghill, born 12th October, 1800.
4. Mary Coghill, born 3d December, 1802 5 died 1st
July, 1876.
4. Anthony Coghill, second, born 10th May, 1805.
4. Katharine Coghill, second, born 20th September,
1808.
4. John Coghill, second, born 5th February, 1812.
Elizabeth married James Garner, and died leaving seven
children. Thomas was apprenticed on board a merchant
ship, and, in the war between England and America in
1812, was pressed into service on board a man-of-war
(family tradition says the " Bellerophon "), and when the
war was over he left the navy. He sailed in the Amer-
ican brig "Mary," Captain Thorndyke, in 1816, and was
never heard of afterwards ; a brig answering the descrip-
tion of the " Mary " was captured off the Malay coast,
the captain and mate murdered, and the crew made
prisoners. William was a farmer and resided at Tets-
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 69
worth, Oxon. He married Martha Lovejoy, 6th Jan-
uary, 1825; and died May 14, 1849, and had issue —
5. Thomas Coghill, born 12th October, 1825; died
24th February, 1839.
5. William Coghill, born 4th June, 1827.
5. Ann Coghill, born 17th March, 1830 ; died 6th
April, 1854.
5. Ellen Elizabeth Coghill, born 30th January, 1832.
Ellen E. married Eobert Pratt, of Lynham, Oxon,
farmer, and had one son, Freeman, now hving. William
married Rachael Jones (widow, maiden name Hardwick),
June 4, 1850, at St. George's, Hanover Square, London.
He died 26th August, 1872. Rachel, his wife, died 22d
August, 1876 ; both buried at Kensal-green Cemetery.
He left issue eight children : —
6. E. Elizabeth Coghill, born 2d February, 1851 ; now
living single.
6. Sarah Huss Coghill, born 20th February, 1853 ;
living and single.
6. Drucilla Adelaide Coghill, born 2d May, 1854.
6. William Anthony Coghill, born 22d May, 1855;
died 7th July, 1856.
6. Alice Martha Coghill, born 10th March, 1857 ; liv-
ina: and sino-le.
6. Lydia Louise Coghill, born 14th December, 1858 ;
died 19th August, 1859.
70 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
6. Jessie Agnes Coghill, born llth August, 1860 ; died
30th December, 1860.
6. Anthony William Coghill, born 2d November, 1862 ;
died 19th December, 1862.
Drucilla Adelaide married William Anthony French, 8th
December, 1874, and has one son, Arthur William^ born
3d February, 1876.
James (4) married Elizabeth Emmerton. He was a
surveyor and resided at Long Crendon, Buckingham;
died 9th February, 1851, and was buried at Ickford in
the same county. He had issue —
5. Ellen Coghill, not living.
5. Harriet Coghill, married.
And one son who died in infancy.
Daniel (4), of Ivy House Farm, near Ichenham, in Mid-
dlesex, married his cousin Elizabeth Burnard, at Thane
Church, 23d December, 1830, and in 1852 removed from
Thane, Oxon, to his present residence. He is a farmer,
and both he and his wife are living. He had issue —
5. Martha Coghill, born 24th December, 1831 ; un-
married.
5. Horatio Coghill, born 26th September, 1834 ; died
30th April, 1835.
5. Anthony Coghill, born 28th March, 1837; died
6th April, 1841.
Mary (4) married Joseph Wheeler, and died January 1,
1876, leaving one son and one daughter. Anthony (4) was
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 71
■married three times : first, to Alice Edmunds ; second, to
Mary Ann Buckle ; and last, to Sarah Mason. All of the
children by the first two wives are dead. There are now
living by the last marriage nine children : —
5. Elizabeth Cogiiill, unmarried.
6. Thomas Coghill.
5. Anthony Coghill.
5. Maey Coghill.
5. Sarah Coghill, unmarried.
5. William Coghill.
5. Sus.\nnah Alma Coghill, unmarried.
5. Alice Coghill, unmarried.
5. Agnes Coghill, unmarried.
Thomas is living at Warwick, Queensland. AntJiony is
married and resides at Portland Road, South Norwood,
London ; has no issue. Mary married Mr. W. T. Martin,
and has two children, Frederick Chandos and William
Thomas Coghill. She resides at 18 High Street, Hamp-
stead. William married and resides at 16 Queen's Eoad,
Netting Hill, W. London, and has three sons : —
6. William Anthony Coghill.
6. Thomas Edward Coghill.
6. Henry Coghill.
Katharine (4) married Robert Cunning, and had two
children. John (4) married Miss Corbett, and removed
to Canada, and resided near Toronto, where he died,
leaving two sons : —
72 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
5. Anthony Coghill.
5. Sidney Coghill.
Both of them are farmers, living near Toronto.
Joseph L. Chester, LL. D., of London, very kindly sent
us the following monumental inscriptions and parish rec-
ords, from a volume of collections which he was having
indexed.
" On a stone on the floor of the nave of the Church at Stanton St.
John, Oxfordshire : —
" ' In memory of Elizabeth, the wife of Ant^ Coghill, who died 5th
April, 1753, aged 89 years. Also of Eliz., the wife of Thomas Gilbert,
who died 29th May, 1761, aged 75 years. Also of AnV Coghill, who
died 1st March, 1779, aged 68 years.'
"In the parish register of Stanton St. John these persons are thus de-
scribed in the burials : —
"'1753 April 9 Elizabeth CocUe.
"'1761 June 1 Eliz'^ wife of Tho' Gilbert.
"'1779 March 3 Anthony Coghill of Wormall,i Co. Bucks.'
" I should say the last two were son and daughter of the first."
This Elizabeth Cockle, or Coghill, is the earliest member of this
branch of the family that we hear of. We find no record of her hus-
band's death. It is possible that the name may have been changed by
the descendants from Cockle, as entered on the parish register, to Cog-
hill, and, if so, that of Elizabeth may have been included in the change
to conform to her son's name. These inscriptions were not made until
after the death of Anthony, some twenty-six years later than that of
Elizabeth.
1 WorminghalL
HENRY COGHILL.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH, 1 87 8.
PART V.
THE SCOTTISH BRANCH.
TN prosecuting the work undertaken by us we discov-
-*- ered a branch of the family belonging to Scotland,
some of whom are still residing there, while others have
removed, — some to England and some to America. We
have not been able to trace this branch by any con-
nected line, and, with one exception, can only give such
detached accounts of them as w^e have received from the
descendants now living. The exception is Alexander
Coghill, who was probably the progenitor of all of the
name in Scotland, and all that we know of him and his
immediate descendants is contained in the following ex-
tracts from manuscript notes on " Caithness Family
History," by John Henderson, Thurso : —
In the early part of the seventeenth century the lands or estate of
Coghill, in the Parish of Watten, and County of Caithness, N. B.,
belonged to a family of the same name, and it is remarkable as the only
property in the county which bore the same name as that of its owner,
who, in Scottish phraseology, was designated as " Coghill of that ilk," or
Coghill of Coghill.i
1 This circumstance alone makes it probable that this Alexander Coghill was
10
74 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
1. Alexander Coghill, in 1624, was in possession of the estate ;
but there is no further account of him, nor does it appear how he ac-
quired the estate, which formed part of the Earldom of Caithness. In
1630 he was succeeded by his son —
2. David Coghill, who in that year got a charter from "William,
Lord Sinclair, and in 1638 another charter from John, Master of Berri-
dale. In 1650, David Coghill got a charter from the Earl of Caithness,
of Scottag, in the Parish of Watten.
3. Thomas Coghill, in 1661, succeeded his father David.
4. David Coghill (the son probably of Thomas), in 1668 held
the estate under a conveyance from David Coghill (2), his grand-
father. About the end of the seventeenth century, Coghill was pur-
chased by Alexander Manson of Bridge End, of the Coghills of that
ilk.
We further learn from " Sketches of the Civil and
Traditional History of Caithness," by James J. Calder,
Edinburgh, 1861, pp. 38, 230, 277, that David Coghill of
that ilk (the last mentioned) was living in that county,
in the eighth year of the reign of Charles II. He
is entered in a list of thirty " Proprietors and Wad-
setters" of Caithness, a. d. 1668. In the same work we
find that " Barbara, daughter of Coghill of that ilk, some
time in the early part of the reign of Charles II., es-
poused James Oswald, one of the magistrates of Wick,
son of James Oswald of Kirkwall, in Orkney, who died in
1660, a descendant of the Oswalds of Auchincruive and
a descendant of the Coghills of Knaresborough, and, following their example,
called bis estate after his own name.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 75
Scotston, a family of distinction in the north of Scot-
land." This family left a large sum of money for the
poor of Dunnet, so that the Dunnet people paid no
" poor rates, and had no parochial boards, till long after
all the other parishes in the county." There is still a
fund called the Oswald money in Dunnet. One of the
Coghills was proprietor of Clairdon, near Thurso, and
there are small properties in the county bearing such
names as Coghill Watten, Coghill Park, etc. These are
all lost to the family ; but when, and how, we have no
means of ascertaining.-^
That Alexander Coghill, referred to in Mr. Hender-
son's notes, was a descendant of the Knaresborough
Coghills, is probable, if not certain ; but what led him
to seek a home in that remote part of Scotland is beyond
even conjecture. We will now proceed to give such in-
formation of his descendants as we have been able to
gather from those of them still living. "We are indebted,
not only for most of the preceding statements, but also
for the following pedigree, to Henry Coghill, Esq., for-
merly of Scotland, but now of Brampton Tree House,
Newcastle, Staffordshire, England, who is a merchant and
manufacturer at Newcastle, and also at Liverpool. The
pedigree extends back to his great-grandfathers on both
the paternal and maternal sides. On the paternal side
^ From Miss Jane Cog-hill's letter.
76 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
his great-grandfather was David Coghill, who was prob-
ably the grandson of the David who succeeded to the
estates in 1668, and probably died near the close of that
century ; when the property was sold, as we learn from
Henderson's notes.
1. David Coghill (the great-grandfather) died at the
age of seventy-two, but the date of his death is not
given. He married Margaret Ormsby, who died at the
age of forty, by whom he had issue four children, but
the name of only one is given.
2. Alexander Coghill, of Campster, born October 8,
1761, and died August, 1819. He married Janet, daugh-
ter of Donald Manson (by his wife Elizabeth Murray),
born 2d January, 1762.^ The following sketch of him
was furnished by Mr. George Simpson, through John
Claghorn, Esq., of Wick, Scotland, a relative of Henry
Coghill, Esq., of Brampton Tree House : " Alexander
Coghill was born at Greenland in 1761. He commenced
as a merchant at Castletown, January, 1780, married
Janet Manson, 2d January, 1781, and died August, 1819.
He went regularly to Edinburgh in the month of June
to buy goods, — the first eight years in tartan kilt. Gen-
erally he traveled in company with several other mer-
chants of Thurso, or Wick. Their money was sewed in
different parts of their clothing for safety. He was in
^ It was a Manson who purchased Coghill, the family seat, about 1700.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 77
Edinburgh on the anniversary of the birthday of King
George III. for twenty-eight consecutive years. He was
a good merchant and acquired great wealth. Late in
life he purchased the small estate of Campster, where
he died. It descended to his eldest son Donald, who
sold it to Mr. Brown Watten." By his marriage he
had issue nine children : —
3. Margaret Coghill, born October 30, 1783.
3. David Coghill, born 1785; died 1788.
3. Donald Coghill, born 1789.
3. Elizabeth Coghill, born 1790 ; died aged four.
3. Elizabeth Coghill, second. No date.
3. Janet Coghill.
3. Alexander Coghill, born 1792.
3. Dorothea Coghill, born 1800.
3. Robert Coghill, born 1804; died aged 14 days.
Margaret married David Simpson, who died in Ireland,
April, 1822, leaving eight children. Donald married Janet
McKenzie, in November, 1819, and was living in 1823.
Elkaheth married William Swanson in 1815, and had
issue living in 1823. Janet married James Coghill,^ by
whom she had issue living in 1823. Dorothea was liv-
ing in 1823. Alexander was married in 1815 to Christiana
Bain, whose grandparents were Alexander Bain, born
1 Probably tbe uncle of Francis Coghill, of Brooklyn, who died in Glas-
gow, as will be seen farther on.
78 THE FAMILY OF OOGHILL.
at Wick, and Esther Dimnet, whom he marriecl, and by
whom he had issue, and amongst them Henry Bain, born
at Wick (father of Christiana mentioned above), who
married EHzabeth, daughter of Daniel Craig, by his wife
Ellen Sinclair, who died 1813, and had issue, three sons
and six daughters, besides Christiana. This Alexander
Coghill was chairman of the " Edinhurgh Caithness Associa-
tion,'" which was instituted January, 1837. He was elected
at its first meeting. The object contemplated by its
founders was the promotion of friendly intercourse among
the natives of Caithness. By his marriage he has issue —
4. Alexander CoamLL, born November, 1816.
4. Harry Coghill, died aged three months.
4. Donald Coghill, born June 21, 1819.
4. Elizabeth Coghill, born September 21, 1821.
4. Henry Coghill, born August 27, 1823.
4. Janet Coghill, never married.
4. Esther Coghill, never married.
4. David Coghill, born at Wick, February 1, 1830.
Alexander married Eliza Swanson, his cousin, and is a
merchant in Liverpool. He had issue —
5. Alexander Coghill.
5. Henry Coghill.
5. Elizabeth Janet Coghill.
5. Hector Coghill.
5. Emily Christine Coghill.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 79
6. Edith Mary Coghill.
6. John Swanson Coghill.
Henri/ was married at New Orleans to Miss Anna Mil-
dred Buckner, May 29, 1878, and is living in Houston,
Texas.
None of the other children are married.
Elizabeth (4) married Alexander McDonald, of Thurso,
and had issue three sons and two daughters. David (4)
married a Thomas. We have no record of any issue.
Henry (4), of Brampton Tree House, married Mary Jane
Fuller, who died March 25, 1870. He had issue —
5. Adelaide Mary Coghill.
5. Archibald Fuller Coghill.
5. Douglas Harry Coghill.
5. Florence Louisa Coghill.
5. Ernest Arthur Coghill.
5. Charles Coghill.
5. Percy da Guyja Coghill.
5. Norman Coghill.
5. Frank Coghill.
Adelaide Mary married, March 21, 1876, James "W.
Bishop, Esq. Archibald Fidler married, in 1877, Jesse,
daughter of John Drake, Esq., of Weston Supermere.
Douglas Harry graduated at Corpus CJiristi College, Ox-
ford, and will be called to the bar in June next (1879).
Mr. Henry Coghill's arms are the same as those of the
80 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Coghills of Knaresborough ; but his motto, " Dum vivo
canto,'' takes the place of theirs, ^' Non dormit qui ciistodit"
This brings us to the end of the pedigree furnished
by Mr. Coghill last mentioned.
The remainder of the sketches of this branch of the
family, which we have been able to obtain, are so discon-
nected that we can do nothing more than give extracts
from letters in answer to inquiries made by us, and de-
tached pedigrees accompanying some of these letters.
Mr. Robert Coghill, of Durham Place, Campden Hill
Road, Kingston, W. London (builder), writes : —
My grandfather's name was John Coghill. He was born at Wat-
ten, in Caithness, Scotland, and had a freehold estate there, but for some
reasons with which I am not acquainted, lost it. He removed to Edin-
burgh and resided there for over twenty years, but returned to Watten,
and died there, and was buried at Dunn, in Watten, about 1818, at about
eighty years of age. He had one son and one daughter : —
John Coghill, my father (daughter's name not given), who was a
farmer, died in 1847, and was buried at Dunn. His issue now living
are: —
John Coghill, eldest, now eighty years old.
David Coghill.
William Henry Coghill.
Robert Coghill.
Alexander Coghill.
Mercy Coghill.
Isabella Coghill.
Ellen Coghill.
Christiana Coghill.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 81
None of my brothers married. I have resided in London about fifty
years. Have only one son : —
John Anthony Coghill, who is a draper in London.
Mrs. Elkahetli Coghill, of Bow Road, London, writes : —
I know but little of the Coghill family. My late husband, Alex-
ander Coghill, was the youngest son of his family. He died Octo-
ber 30, 1876, after an illness of two hours, and I was left a widow with
one son : —
• Coghill. My husband's father, and two eldest brothers, died
some years ago. I wrote to the family in Scotland after receiving your
letter, but obtained no information.
Miss Jane Cor/hill, of Castletown, County of Caithness,
who is now teaching a school at Weisdale, Shetland (a
notice of whose graduation at an institution in Edin-
burgh we chanced to see in a Scottish newspaper, which
led to a correspondence), writes first from Weisdale, giv-
ing information and extracts from Calder's ''^ History of
Caithness," which, however, had been before sent to us
by Henry Coghill, Esq., of Brampton Tree House, and
already embodied in these sketches. She writes later
from her mother's residence, 4 George Street, Castle-
town, where she is spending her vacation (September 14,
1878): —
I am a native of Castletown, a village about five miles from Thurso.
My father is dead, but the following pedigree will give you all the in-
formation I have been able to procure. My great-grandfather was —
11
82 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
1. Fkancis Coghill, who married Christina Swanson, and my
grandfather ; the only issue I know of, was —
2. John Coghill, born June 11, 1769. He married Jane Watt,
of Murkle, and died 1855. He had eight children : —
3. Christina Coghill.
3. John Coghill.
3. Donald Coghill.
3. Margaret Coghill.
3. Janet Coghill.
3. David Coghill, born October 15, 1806.
3. Alexander Coghill.
3. William Coghill, boi-n November 15, 1812.
John married Isabella Campbell, of Halkirk, and left no issue. Chris-
tina never married. Donald married Margaret Houston, of Cainsbay,
and had issue —
4. Jane Coghill.
4. Margaret Coghill.
4. Alexandrine Coghill.
4. John Coghill.
4. William Coghill.
We have no further information of any of these children.
Margaret married Donald Charleson, of Halkirk, and had two chil-
dren. Janet married John Houston, of Cainsbay, and had five children,
— all dead except one son. David married, in 1834, Catherine, daugh-
ter of Alexander Ross, of Obrig, and had issue —
4. John Coghill, born February 15, 1836.
4. Alexander Coghill.
4. Jane Coghill.
4. David Coghill.
4. Donald Coghill.
11
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 83
4. WlLLIABI COGHILL.
4. Sinclair Coghill.
4. Elizabeth Coghill.
4. Catherine Coghill.
4. Margaret Coghill.
4. George Coghill.
David, Sinclair, Elizabeth, Catherine, and George are dead. Alexan-
der married and lives in Thurso. (It was not stated whom he married,
or if he had issue.) Jane married James Slater, of Bersay, Orkney.
Donald married (wife's name not given nor mention made of any issue).
He resides at W. Calder, near Edinburgh, and is a watchmaker.
William is a royal engineer, and is married (but names of wife and
children are not given). Margaret never married. John married, June
13, 1858, Catherine, daughter of Peter Iverach, of "Weydale, near
Thurso, and has issue —
5. Catherine Ross Coghill.
5. David Coghill.
5. Peter Iverach Coghill.
5. Elizabeth Coghill.
5. John Coghill.
5. Donald I. Coghill.
We go back now to Alexander (3). He married Christina Swanson,
of Murkle, and had issue —
4. John Coghill, unmarried.
4. Christina Coghill, married.
4. George Coghill, unmarried.
4. Alexandrina Coghill, married.
William (3), my father, and the youngest son of my grandparents,
married 26th September, 1853, my mother, Isabella Taylor, of Dunnet,
and died 7th March, 1873. His wife was born in 1820. They had issue —
84 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
4. John Coghill, born in 1854.
4. Jane Coghill, born in 1856.
4. William Coghill, born in 1859.
4. Isabella J. Taylor Coghill, born in 1861.
John and Isabella are living at home with my mother. I am teaching
a school at Weisdale, and William is a clerk in Edinburgh.
Mr. John Coghill (4), of Thurso, in replying to letters of
inquiry, after giving us the particulars of his marriage,
and names of his children, which are mentioned in the
pedigree sent by Miss Jane Coghill, says, in reference to
himself: —
I have resided in Thurso since I married. Am a general merchant,
ship broker, and ship owner, in December, 1875, I was elected a com-
missioner of police. In January, 1877, was elected junior magistrate of
police, and on 10th September of the same year was elected senior
magistrate of police. My father died in 1870, and my mother in May,
1874.
Mr. Francis Coghill, a merchant in Brooklyn, New
York, writes : —
I arrived in this country from Glasgow, Scotland, about thirty years
ago ; my father was born in Thurso, County of Caithness, Scotland. He
was one of a family of eleven children, ten sons and one daughter. Of
the sons, David went to sea and was never afterwards heard of; John
joined the army and disappeared ; James and William died in Glasgow,
and their children are all dead ; Donald occupied a position in the post-
office at Edinburgh for thirty-five years, was retired on the superannuated
list, and died, leaving one son in London and one daughter in Edin-
burgh, neither of whom married. Francis, my flither, with his brother
William, left Thurso, and settled in Glasgow, where they were crockery
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 85
merchants. The others I never heard anything of. My father died,
leaving seven children, all of whom, except one, are now living. They
were —
1. Francis Coghill (myself).
1. Donald Coghill.
1. Thomas Coghill.
1. Johanna Coghill.
1. Margaret Coghill.
1. Agnes Coghill.
1. Jane Coghill.
Francis married Eliza Frances Murray, and has one son : —
2. Francis Coghill, who is a partner with me in business.
Donald married Helen Hughes, and is now residing in New Jersey.
He has issue —
2. Mart Jane Coghill.
2. Agnes Coghill.
Thomas married Margaret Henderson, and is with me. He has two
sons, both of whom reside in New Jersey : —
2. Francis Alexander Coghill.
2. James S. Coghill.
Johanna married James Farley, and resides in Philadelphia. She
has four daughters. Margaret married John B. Smith, and died at Ha-
worth, England, leaving four children. Agnes married John Lamsden
late mayor of Hull, England, and of the firm of Browslow, Lamsden
& Co., ship owners. She is a widow, and resides at Hull.^ Has no
children. Jane married Robert Roberts, of "Wrexham, Wales, and has
four children. This is all I can tell you of my family.
These sketches embrace all that we have been able to
gather in reference to this branch of the family.
1 This lady, -while visiting her brother, Mr. Francis Coghill, of Brooklyn,
in the summer of 1878, spent an evening at the compiler's residence.
PART V[.
THE AMERICAN BRANCH.
HAVING completed, as far as our researches have en-
abled us, the pedigrees of the Enghsh family and its
Em^opean branches, and given a few brief sketches of
some of the members who attained to positions of dis-
tinction, and were honored by both government and
people for their ability and integrity, as well as for their
private virtues, we turn now to those of their more
democratic, but not necessarily less worthy, connections
in America.
The material from which the pedigrees and sketches
of the family in this country have been made was obtained
mostly from the State and county records of Virginia,
from the few family records that have been preserved,
and from the memory of those now living. These do
not furnish data from which a full and accurate pedi-
gree can be made, but to those of the family who de-
sire to know something of their American ancestry, the
facts stated and conclusions deduced may not be alto-
gether without interest.
JAMES HENRY COGHILL,
FROM PHOTOGRAPH, 1879.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 87
We regret that we have not been successful, up to the
present time, in discovering the "missing hnk " that con-
nects the Coghills of America with the Enghsh family.
We do not, however, abandon the hope of final success,
and shall continue our efforts until all the known sources
of information are exhausted.
The records of Knaresborough, York, the Archdea-
conry of Richmond, and many others, have been ex-
amined, but the name of the first American ancestor has
nowhere been found. Those only who have had experi-
ence in genealogical researches can understand the diffi-
culties that are encountered at every step taken. It is
no uncommon thing to be bafified in the attempt to con-
nect the American emigrant with the English ancestor.
From various causes they drop out of the family history.
Years have been consumed in pursuing the Washington
ancestry, without positive success. Our countryman,
Joseph L. Chester, LL. D., of London, who has so per-
severingly and steadily followed the work for more than
twelve years, has fully demonstrated that none of the ac-
cepted pedigrees of the Washington family are correct,
in so far as they relate to the connection of the American
ancestor with the English family.
During the civil war and commonwealth period, many
of the parish registers throughout the kingdom were
carelessly and imperfectly kept, and in some instances
88 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
there are entire gaps. We were informed by the parish
clerk of Knaresborough that between the years 1636 and
1668, whole pages of the Register Book were so covered
and defaced with ink as to be illegible. The County
of York was particularly disturbed during this period.
In addition to the causes mentioned, large numbers of
the gentry fell in battle during the civil war, leaving no
wills or records of any kind by which they could be
traced.^
Nothing must be accepted in genealogy that is not sus-
tained by positive proof. Were it not for this axiom, we
should with more confidence refer to the circumstantial
evidence which points so strongly to one of the two
brothers, John and Thomas Coghill, seventh in descent,
as the father of the American ancestor.
We learn from Paver's Manuscripts, in the British
Museum, that a marriage license was granted by the
Ecclesiastical Court of Yorkminster, a. d. 1639, for John
Coghill, gentleman, bachelor, age twenty-four, of the Par-
ish of Monkton, and Lucy Tancred, spinster, age twenty-
three, of the Parish of Whixley. We find no other record
of Thomas than his baptism at Knaresborough in 1617,
and the mention of him in the will of Jane Coghill, his
^ Four thousand one hundred and fifty are said to have fallen in the single
battle of Marston Moor, two thirds of whom were gentlemen and persons of
quality. — Hargrove.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 89
aunt, dated 1627, unless it was he whose burial, August
4, 1665, is seen among the Knaresborough records. The
dates show that either of these brothers could have been
father to the American ancestor. Sir John Coo-hill,
LL. D., son of John, the eldest of these two brothers,
and the only issue of whom we find any record, was con-
temporary with James, the American ancestor. One of
his sons bore the same name, and with the exception of
the American progenitor, this is the first time that we
find it in the family. It would be natural for Sir John
to name a son after a brother, or a cousin, who had set-
tled permanently over the seas.
The father of Sir John had a sister Isabel, who, it will
be recollected, married William Mann, Esq., of the County
of York. Bishop Meade, in his " Old Churches and
Families of Virginia," makes reference to a family of
Mann, formerly living in Gloucester County, Virginia.
John Mann, its head, died 1694. He could well have
been a son of William and Isabel, and, if so, a cousin to
Sir John Coghill and James, if they were brothers or
cousins. Referring to the family of Mann, Bishop Meade
writes : —
I crossed the creek and sought the old homestead of the Manns for
some sepulchral monument, showing that tradition was true in relation
to the residence of a family whose name is only to he found incorpo-
rated with other names, inheriting an estate which not only once cov-
12
90 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
ered tlie balf of Gloucester, if reports be true, but was scattered in large
parcels over numerous other counties. In or near the stable yard, in
an open space, there is to be seen a pile of tombstones lying upon and
beside each other, in promiscuous confusion, on which may be read the
following inscriptions : " Here lyeth the body of John Mann of Glouces-
ter County, in Virginia, gentleman, age sixty- three years, who departed
this life 7th day of January, 1694." Also another: "Here lyeth the
body of Mary Mann of the County of Gloucester, in the Colony of Vir-
ginia, gentlewoman, who departed this life the 18th day of March, 1703-4,
age fifty-six years." The daughter, and only child, married Matthew
Page, son of John Page, the first of the family. She died 24th March,
1707; age, thirty-six years. They left an only son, Mann Page, who
married, first, Judith, daughter of Ralph Wormley, Esq., Secretary of
Virginia ; and second, Judith, daughter of Hon. Robert Carter, President
of Virginia.
The coincidences make it not only possible, but even
probable, that the first American ancestor was a son of
one of the brothers of Isabel Mann, nee Coghill, and cousin
to this John Mann, and may have come over from Eng-
land with him, and settled some fifty miles higher up
the Rappahannock Eiver. These probabilities are still
further strengthened by one of the witnesses to James
.Coghill's will, who bore the name of Christoph Man.
Be this as it may, it must be accepted as certain that the
progenitor of the Coghills of America descended from the
Coghills of Coghill Hall, and most probably went from
the County of York to Virginia. All of the authors con-
sulted agree in their statements that either John Cock-
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 91
hill, gentleman, of Cockhill, living at Knaresborongh
during the reigns of Richard II. and Henry IV., or
Thomas his son, was the first of the name as now spelt,
and that all who have borne it since descended from
him. In our examination and study of the subject, we
can see many things to confirm us in the opinions ex-
pressed. The Slingsbys and Tancreds, families into
which the Coghills married, had through all vicissi-
tudes been faithful to the crown ; Sir Charles Slingsby
and Col. Guilford Slingsby fell in battle ; Sir Henry
Slingsby sacrificed his fortune to his loyalty, and was
afterwards beheaded for no other crime than the fidelity
with which he observed his oath of allegiance. Charles
Tancred suffered much, and lost much, for the same
cause. Knaresborongh, where the heads of the family re-
sided, was loyal to the end, the town and castle holding
out for several months after the disastrous defeat of the
king's army at Marston Moor, and only surrendering to
General Fairfax after a siege and an obstinate and de-
termined resistance. The inference amounts almost to a
certainty, that the Coghills, like their kinsfolk and towns-
men, were on the king's side, and, like them, suffered in
their fortunes. Such being the case, it is reasonable to
suppose that a younger son, some years after these oc-
currences, in consequence of his father's diminished es-
tates, may have left his home and sought to better his
92 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. "
fortunes in the colonies beyond the sea. We find in
Bosnian's " History of Maryland," that in 1650, John
Slingsby was a member of the House of Burgesses of
that colony. After the restoration, about 1660, the
Slingsby family were restored to royal favor, and this
John may have returned to England. Such at least is
the probable conjecture, as the name disappears from
Maryland history after that date. Or, some other con-
nection of the family, who had sought an asylum in the
colonies during the troublous times of Cromwell, may
have gone back to England, and given such favorable ac-
counts of the new country, as to induce our ancestor to
come over. It must be borne in mind that after the fort-
unes of Charles I. culminated in disaster, large numbers
of his followers, gallant cavaliers, who had given their
fortunes, and poured out their blood like water, in loyal
devotion to that undeserving prince, came over and
found refuge in Virginia, and there, in defiance of the
Parliament of England, offered an asylum to his worthless
and ungrateful son, who,<e accession to power, it was wit-
tily said, " signified indemnity to his enemies and oblivion
to his friends." When the crown was torn from the head
of Charles I., the colony of Virginia stood alone in her
loyalty. She was the last to acknowledge the usurper,^
^ " During the civil war (in England), Sir William Berkeley, Governor of
Virginia, and Ricliard Lee, both being loyalists, kept the colony to its alle-
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 93
and the first to return to her allegiance, in defiance of a
power before whom Europe trembled. The love of lib-
erty which animated her in after days was a principle
hardly more lofty and generous than her steadfast and
devoted loyalty in earlier times.
In the beginning of the civil war in England, the pop-
ulation of Virginia was twenty thousand ; at the restora-
tion, it was thirty thousand. The increase was mostly
by the influx of the cavaliers, as few others had any
reason to come.
giance, so that after the death of Charles I., Cromwell was obliged to send
ships of war and soldiers to reduce the colony, which not being able to do, a
treaty was made with the commonwealth and England, wherein Virginia was
styled an independent dominion." — Manuscript of William Lee, Sheriff and
Alderman of London.
" He, Richard Lee, with the assistance of Sir W^illiam Berkeley, contrived
to get Charles 11. proclaimed King of England, Ireland, Scotland, France,
and Virginia, two years before he was restored here." — Ihid.
" This last assertion of Mr. Lee is a matter of dispute among historians.
Beverly, our earliest, who published some forty-five years after the event is
said to have occurred, affirms it as a fact. Robertson, the historian, and Chal-
mers, another writer of that day, repeat the same. Burke, who published
1805, thinks it was done, but not in a regular way. Dr. Hawks agrees with
Beverly and his followers. Henning, in his Statutes at Large, thinks there
is no foundation for any such supposition. Bancroft and Charles Campbell
(who wrote many years later) adopt the opinion of Henning." — Bishop
Meade's Old Churches and Families of Virginia.
See, also, European Setders in America, vol. ii., page 223.
Spenser, Sir Walter Raleigh's friend, dedicated his Faerie Queen to Eliza-
beth, Queen of England, France, Ireland, and Virginia.
94 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
These, after all, are merely speculations ; some one or
more of the causes mentioned may have influenced our
ancestor in coming over, or possibly some other, entirely
different. Of this we can never know. All that is cer-
tain is that he came, was twice married, and died in 1685.
Accepting as our only available guide the dim and
uncertain light which the early history of our country
throws over that part of Virginia where he resided, we
are led by it to the conclusion that if he came over with
any hopes or expectations of becoming prominent in
public affairs, they were never realized, for nowhere in
the meagre history of his time have we seen his name
mentioned. His aspirations for fame, if ever cherished,
must have yielded to the stern practical home duties
attendant upon a residence in a new and undeveloped
country. It may be that he had no higher ambition
than the quiet enjoyment of that political repose to
which he and his ancestors had so long been strangers.
We hear of him only as a planter, as were most of his
descendants to the fourth and fifth generations.
The first person in America bearing the name, that we
can find any record of, was Samuel CogJiill, to whom there
was granted a patent for four hundred acres of land on
the north side of the Rappahannock River, in Farnham
Parish (now in Richmond County), " beginning at the
mile end of a tract of land belonging to John Mader."
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 95
The patent was elated February 20, 1662, and was granted
by Sir William Berkeley, Governor. As this patent was
never recorded in the county, the land could not have
been taken possession of by the grantee, and as his name is
not found again, the probabilities are that he either died,
or else returned to England. The next we hear of was —
1. James Coghill, from whom descended all the Cog-
hills of America (excepting those of Brooklyn, N. Y., and
New Jersey, who came over from Scotland some thirty
or forty years ago). We cannot tell when he arrived in
this country, but conclude from deeds and patents to lands
that it was in the beginning of 1664. All that we know
of him was obtained from the records of the land office in
Virginia, and of the county courts. The first county
record is a deed from Valentine Allen and his wife Mary
to James Coghill, for one hundred and ten acres of land,
consideration twelve hundred pounds of tobacco (then
the currency of the colony), dated March 2, 1664. We
find in the land office at Richmond that he had three
patents for lands given for the transportation of persons
to the colony of Virginia. The first was dated March
24, 1664-5, for two hundred and forty-six acres (for the
transportation of five persons), lying in the County of
Rappahannock ^ (afterwards Essex and Caroline), on the
1 Kappahannock County was formed in 1655, the Rappaliannock Indians
having been driven out the year previous by General Carter.
96 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
south side of the Eappahannock Kiver, and in the freshes
of the said county, beginning at a white oak at the head
of a small creek called Lucas Creek, and adjoining the
lands of Henry Lucas, Daniel Gaines, and Peter Cornwell.
This patent was recorded October 16, 1665, and assigned
to Thomas Kirk, August 4, 1666. The second was dated
April 17, 1667, for one thousand and jBfty acres, in the
freshes of the County of Rappahannock, on the south side
of the river, beginning about a mile from the head of the
eastern branch of Port Tobacco Creek,^ for the transporta-
tion of twenty persons to the colony. The third was of
the same date as the second, and for six hundred acres, in
the same county, in the freshes beginning at a white oak
tree, three miles from the river, on the Mattapony path,
for the transportation of twelve persons to the colony.
All of these grants were made by Sir William Berkeley,
Governor. Essex, in 1695, was formed out of a part of
the County of Rappahannock, and Caroline, formed in
1727, took in the upper part of Essex. These changes
left the lands of Mr. Coghill in both of the last named
counties. We find that he bought and sold other lands
^ The compiler has been in many an exciting fox hunt in the vicinity of
this place, and has a vivid recollection of a frosty morning, a pack of hounds
in full cry, a red fox in sight, and a gratuitous plunge bath in this very creek,
occasioned by his horse stepping into a deep hole, while attempting to ford it.
This was some thirty-five years ago.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 97
fit dijEFerent periods of bis life. The deeds executed by
him show us that he was twice married. We have no
way of knowing wliether his first wife accompanied him
from England, or whether he married lier in this coun-
try. One of the deeds, dated October 16, 1665, and
another October 11, 1667, are signed by James Coghill
and his wife Alice ; two other deeds, dated November
9, 1667, and December 18, 1667, are signed only by
him, showing that his first wife had died. Another deed,
dated May 17, 1673, is signed by James Coghill and
Mary Coghill, his wife, which shows that he had married
again between December, 1667, and May, 1673. He died
in 1685, as may be seen from the date of the probate
of his will, which we here insert.
WILL OF JAMES COGHILL.
In the name of God, Amen. This fifth day of October, in the year
of our Lord one thousand six hundred and eighty four, I, James Coghill,
of Sitteuburue ^ Parish, in Rappahannock County, Planter, being in
health in body and in perfect minde and memory, thanks be given unto
God therefor, calling unto minde the mortality of my body, and know-
ing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this
my last Will and Testament, in manner and form following. That is
to say : First and principally I give my soul into the hands of God, who
gave it me, and for my body I commit it to the earth, to be buried in
Christian and decent manner, nothing doubting but at the general resur-
^ This parish was established in 1653 and ceased in 1692.
13
98 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
rection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God.
And as touching such worldly estate as it hath pleased God to
bless me with in this life, I give and bequeath unto my loving
wife Mary Coghill the plantation whereon I live, during her life, with
all my household goods, and all my hoggs and cattle, one mare
and one horse, and if she dies a widdow, then to be divided amongst
all our children, and next, I bequeath to my eldest son two hun-
dred and twenty five acres of land, with one mare, with all coopers
and carpenters tools to be equally divided, between William and
James. Next, I bequeath to my son James two hundred and twenty
five acres of land, one mare, and my own gun and sword, and next I
bequeath to my son David, two hundred acres of land, and one mare
and one gun, and next I bequeath to my son Frederick two hundred
acres of land. To a child unborn, if a boy I bequeath two hundred
acres of land, if not to return to the four above mentioned, and to my
son Frederick I bequeath one mare. All which land given of one divi-
dent to be equally divided according to quantity and quality, every one
taking their portions as they are capable to manage it, every one accord-
ing to age to take their choice. Now I bequeath to my daughters Mar-
garett and Mary, six hundred acres of land lying in another divident,
two hundred acres of this land to a child unborn, if a girl, if not to
remain to the above Margarett and Mary, and of the increase of David
and Frederick's mares, to return to Margarett and Mary each of them
one mare of a year old apiece. I do appoint David and Frederick to be
at age at eighteen, and to enjoy their estate, if their mother marrieth.
I make and ordain my well beloved son, and my loving wife my full
and sole execuf and sole executrix ratifying and confirming this, and
none other, to be my last Will and Testament.
In witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seal the day
and year first above written.
THE FAMILY OF COG HILL. 99
Signed, sealed and published, and delivered by the said James Coghill
to be his last will and testament.
James Coghill [seal].
his
Thomas O Honle.
mark.
Christoph Man.
Rappa. Court, Sept. 2, 1685.
We the subscribers do depose and say that the within testaf did sign,
seal and publish, the within will as his last Will and Testament, and
that the said testaf was at the time of his signing and sealing the
same of perfect sense and memory to the best of your deponents knowl-
edge, and further say not.
his
Thomas O Honle.
mark.
Christoph Man.
Proved in Rappa. County Court, the first day of September, 1685,
by the oaths of Honle and Man.
Recorded the 21°' of the same month, Test^.
Wm. Colston, Clk. Ct.
His widow survived him thirty years. She married
a Mr. Ducksbury, and survived him also, dying in 1715.
She left a will making small bequests to Susannah,
Thomas, and Mary Coghill (we could not learn whose
children these were), and the remainder of her estate was
left in equal parts to her daughter Mary Willis, and her
sons Frederick Coghill and George Ducksbury (the only
child by her second marriage). She appointed as execu-
tors to her will her sons Frederick Coghill and George
100 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
Ducksbury, and her son-in-law John Willis. The will
was dated 21st April, 1715, and proved and admitted to
record 20th December, 1715. Thomas Meadows and
William Pickett were on the executors' bonds as secu-
rities. Pickett was sheriff of the county and connected
with the Willis family. On the same day the will of
George Ducksbury, the son, was admitted to probate,
bearing date of November 5, 1715.
We have no means of ascertaining whether James Cog-
hill had issue by his first wife.^ He left six children : —
2. William Coghill.
2. James Coghill.
2. David Coghill.
2. Frederick Coghill.
2. Margarett Coghill.
2. Mary Coghill.
He also made provisions in his will for a posthumous
child, which, if born, must have died young, as we find no
mention of it in any of the records.
William, the eldest son, was living 26tli March, 1689, in
Charles County, in the Province of Maryland, as we learn
from a deed of that date, executed by him and his wife,
for lands in Rappahannock County (now on record in
Essex County). As his only son that we find any men-
tion of was named Smallwood, we infer that he married
^ See Appendix.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 101
into the family of that name, an old Maryland family
from whom descended General Smallwood of the Revolu-
tionary War. All that we know of William, or his de-
scendants, is learned from a deed executed by
3. Smallwood Coghill, of the Province of Maryland,
eldest son and heir of William Coghill, who was the eld-
est son and heir of James Coghill, late of Settingborn
Parish, Rappahannock County, in the Colony of Virginia,
reciting that —
Whereas the said James Coghill was in his lifetime, and at the time
of his death, seized in fee of certain parcels of land [fully described], and
whereas Mary, the widow of the said James Coghill, and his sons, Will-
iam, James, David, and the child unborn at the date of the said will, and
also his daughters Margarett and Mary, have since died, whereby the
rights in fee to the said two tracts of land have descended and come to
the said Smallwood Coghill, as eldest son and heir of William Coghill,
eldest son and heir of James Coghill, except such parts as have been sold
by William and James Coghill, and except the part devised to Freder-
ick Coghill, their brother, the reversion in fee simple expectant on the
death of the said Frederick Coghill being also descended and come to
the said Smallwood Coghill, by which he, the said Smallwood, conveys
to Frederick Coghill, Jr. (the son of Frederick above named) all his
interest in the tracts mentioned, and also the parcel devised to Frederick
Coghill, Sr. [his father. Dated May 8, 1752].
As before stated, we have no knowledge of William
or his descendants except what is derived from this
deed. The fact of Smallwood's relinquishing all of his
102 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
interest in these lands to his cousin leads us to conjecture
that he, as the oldest son of William, and heir by law of
James, may have returned to England as the inheritor of
property there. Smallwood, as will be seen, became a
favorite family name.-^
James, the second son, seems like his father to have
been married twice. He executed a deed jointly with
his brother William, both then of Charles County, Mary-
land, to a place described as " Coghill's plantation," in
Rappahannock County, Virginia, dated March 27, 1689,
and recorded in that county. This deed was signed by
him and his wife Ann. We find on record in the Land
Office of Maryland a grant of one hundred and ninety
acres of land in Prince George County, Maryland, to
James Coghill, surveyed September 13, 1696, and pat-
ented October 1, 1696. The name of his second wife was
Elizabeth, who survived him. He left five children: —
^ A deed from William Coghill, James Coghill, and Mary Ducksbury, their
mother, to Timothy Davis, dated 16th October, 1686, conveying their old
plantation on Cockelshell Creek ; and another deed from William Coghill and
James Coghill (also written Cogwell), then of Charles County, Md., to Joanna
Hudson for two hundred and fifty acres of land, part of the patent to James
Coghill, at the head of Port Tobacco Creek, and known as James Coghill's
plantation, dated 27th March, 1689, and another deed from same to same of
same date, conveying the stock, hogs, furniture, carpenters' tools, etc., indi-
cates that both William and James sold the lands inherited from their father
and removed to Maryland. James, as will be seen, returned later to Essex,
but settled lower down the county. William probably died there, as Small-
wood, bis son, was living there in 1752.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 103
3. Zechary Coghill.
3. Susanna Coghill.
3. Ezra Coghill.
3. Priscilla Coghill.
3. Gideon Coghill.
"We learn from a deed executed by him to his brother
Frederick to all lands claimed by him, by right of in-
heritance from his father, " consideration, hrotherly hve and
affection','' that at its date, February 18, 1734, he was liv-
ing in South Farnham Parish,^ Essex County, and by an-
other deed that he was residing in Drisdale Parish, King
and Queen County, May 18, 1741. His widow Eliza-
beth, on the 19th of June, 1747, gave a deed to her five
children for all of her negroes and their increase ; and
this is the last that we hear of this branch of the family.
We do not meet with the names of any of the children
after the date of this deed.
David gave a deed to Richard Booker for two hundred
and fifty acres of land devised by his father, at the head
of Port Tobacco Creek (a part of the patent of ten hun-
dred and fifty acres), dated July 20, 1692, and a power
of attorney dated October 10, 1692, to acknowledge this
conveyance, shows that he was a non-resident. Where
he removed to we have no means of ascertaining, nor do
we find any further mention of him.
^ This parish was established in 1692.
104 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Margareit probably died unmarried. Mary married
John Willis. We have made no efforts to trace her
descendants.
FredericJc, the fourth and youngest son, married. All
that we know of his wife is that her name was Sarah.
We find among the records the names of two children
only, but there may have been others : —
3. Frederick Coghill.
3. Thomas Coghill.
Frederick (the father of these) had two patents of land
from the Governor of Virginia, and possibly three. The
first is dated October, 1704, for six hundred and thirteen
acres, in St. Mary's Parish, Essex County, about three
miles from the Kappahannock River, and lying in the
reputed bounds of a patent granted to James Coghill.
The second patent was dated January 22, 1717, for ninety-
eight acres on a branch of Port Tobacco Creek. The
third patent may have been either to him or to his son ;
it was dated December 11, 1753, for one hundred and
fifty acres on Little Port Tobacco Swamp. It was to
Frederick, Jr. (3), that Smallwood, as before stated, con-
veyed all his interest in his grandfather's estate, and his
father Frederick (2), by deed dated May 8, 1752, released
to him all his interest in the same. We trace Thomas
by a deed executed by his flither to him for fifty acres of
land, being part of the patent granted to James Coghill,
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 105
dated October 14, 1734. Frederick, Sr., was living in
1752, as may be seen by tlie deed to his son, just re-
ferred to.
In 1727 Caroline County was formed out of the upper
parts of Essex, King and Queen, and King William
Counties. This change left the lands of Frederick Cog-
hill, Sr., in two counties, Essex and Caroline. He, as well
as his sons Frederick and Thomas, most probably had
their residences in Caroline County, as we find no record
of their wills or administratorships in Essex County.
The descendants of Frederick (3) are designated as
the Caroline hranch, and to simplify, we will first follow
his descendants down to the present time, and then re-
turn to Thomas (3), the progenitor of what we shall call
the Essex branch.
The records of Caroline County were all destroyed
during the late civil war. We had therefore to look to
other sources for information ; and while the result of
our researches may not enable us to give a full and un-
broken pedigree of this branch of the family, the one
presented may be relied upon as correct, as far as it
goes ; and there seem to be only a few of the descend-
ants not referred to in it.
Frederick Coghill, Jr. {o) was, as before stated, the pro-
genitor of the Coghills of Caroline County. He married
a Miss Hawes (if Benjamin C. Coghill's memory is cor-
14
106 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
rect), and had five sons and two daughters (the names of
only two remembered) : —
4. Fredekick Coghill.
4. William Coghill.
4. Coghill, son, name not known.
4. Coghill, son, name not known.
4. Coghill, son, name not known.
4. Coghill, daughter, name not known.
4. Coghill, daughter, name not known.
We learn from Benjamin C. Coghill that one of the
daughters married Col. Spencer Curd, and removed to
Kentucky, accompanied by one of her brothers, whose
name he does not recollect. The other daughter married
a Mr. Goodwin. One of her descendants, Dr. Goodwin, is
now living in Louisa County, Virginia. The sons whose
names are not remembered probably never married, as
we have heard nothing of any of their descendants.
Frederick married Ann Atwell, of Caroline County,
and had only two children : —
5. Atwell Coghill, died 1823.
5. Elizabeth A. Coghill.
Ahvell married December 18, 1800, Phoebe Esom
Lindsay, of Albemarle County. This lady was of a fam-
ily of wealth and influence. She died in 1864 and had
issue nine children : —
6. Lindsay Coghill.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 107
6. Reuben Coghill.
6. James Coghill.
6. Frederick Coghill.
6. Atwell Coghill.
6. Smallwood Coghill.
6. Martha Coghill.
6. Ann H. Coghill.
6. Catherine L. Coghill.
Lindsay married a daughter of Captain Richardson,
of Amherst County, and removed to South Carolina,
where he Hved many years, and then went to Tennessee.
We know nothing of his descendants ; the male issue, if
any, have probably been long extinct.
Reuhen married Miss Beazley, of Spottsylvania, and
lived and died in Caroline County. He had issue —
7. George Lindsay Coghill, died young.
7. James Coghill, fell in the late war.^
7. Joseph Coghill.
7. Martha Ann Coghill.
7. Reubena Coghill.
Of these there are still living, in Caroline County,
Joseph, Martha Ann, and Reubena. The latter married
a Mr. Goodloe, who was killed in the late war.
1 It will be observed that three of the family mentioned in this work fell in
battle, — one in Africa, one in Europe, and one in America; and that one
served with distinction in Asia, and another as vice-admiral on the high seas.
108 THE FAMILY OF COGHJLL.
James (6) married a Miss Brooke, of Lexington, Ken-
tucky, and went to Mississippi, where he died, probably
leaving no male issue.
Frederick (6) for many years a merchant at Hernando,
De Soto County, Mississippi, was twice married, first to
Susan, daughter of Bishop Otey, of the Episcopal Church,
of Tennessee, and had issue one daughter : —
7. Martha E. Coghill, who married L. L. Jones, Esq.,
of De Soto County, Mississippi, and died in 1854, leav-
ing eight children. His second wife was Eliza McMahon,
now his widow, by whom he had one son, a promising
youth, who, at eighteen, lost his sight by an attack of
typhoid pneumonia, and is totally blind. Frederick died
in 1861.
Atwell (6) removed to Mississippi, where he died, un-
married. Smalhvood (6) died in Virginia, unmarried.
Martha (6) married John A. Harris, a very distinguished
lawyer of Nelson County, and removed to Brownsville,
Tennessee. Ann H. (6), second daughter, married J. A.
Perkins, Esq., of Albemarle County, and removed to Mis-
sissijDpi. Catherine L. (6), the youngest daughter, married
F. W. Conner, Esq., 19th December, 1844, and is now
residing in King George County. She had issue eight
children : —
7. William Frederick Conner; Julian Eugene Conner;
John James Chew Conner ; Chastain Lindsay Conner, died
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 109
young; Inez CogJdll Conner; Catherine Donsello Conner;
Charles Carroll Conner ; Willie Fredrika Conner.
William Frederick was killed in battle during the late
war. Julian Eugene married Miss Annie Eldridge, of
Buckingham County, Virginia, and has three children ;
he is engaged in the mercantile business in that county.
John James Cheiv is a merchant in King George County.
The other children are unmarried, and all living with
their parents. Willie Fredrika, the youngest child, was
named for her brother who fell in battle.
Elizaheth A. (5) married Thomas B. Coleman, of Caro-
line County, and had issue seven children : —
6. Thomas B. Coleman; Atw ell Coleman ; Frederick Cole-
man ; James D. Coleman ; Richard Coleman ; Bettie A.
Coleman; Virginia Coleman.
Eev. James D. and Virginia are the only surviving
children.
Thomas B. married a Miss Coleman.
Attvell married in Mississippi. Frederick died unmar-
ried. Richard married a Miss Sheppard. Bettie A. mar-
ried, first, Daniel Coleman, and, second, Mr. Coleman,
cousin to her first husband. Virginia married Dr. White-
head, and is now living in North Carolina. Rev. James
D. married a Miss Dejarnette, and has issue two chil-
dren : —
7. James D. Coleman and Alice Coleman. James D. is
110 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
Professor of Ancient Languages in Bethel College, Ken-
tucky. Alice married Elliott Dejarnette, son of the Hon.
Daniel Dejarnette, late of Caroline County.
The following letter from Rev. James D. Coleman, dated
at the old family seat in Caroline County, gives some in-
formation in reference to his own, as well as the Coghill
family : —
Concord, Va., November 17, 1877.
My dear Sir, — .... My mother's name was Elizabeth A. Cog-
hill. She married Thomas B. Coleman, my father, son of Col. Daniel
Coleman, an officer of the Revolution, and for many years a representa-
tive in the legislature of Virginia from this county. My mother's only
brother, Atwell Coghill, married Phoebe E. Lindsay, sister to Col.
James Lindsay, of Albemarle, one of the most influential and wealthy
gentlemen of that county. He (Atwell) left a large number of chil-
dren, most of whom are now dead ; one of his sons, Reuben Coghill
(Reuben is a Lindsay family name), has three children living in this
county, — Joseph, Martha Ann, and Reubena, the latter named for her
father. Their grandfather, Atwell Coghill, possessed a fine estate, which
was very much shattered by a heavy security debt which he had to pay
(as I have often heard my mother say) for Larkin Stanard, father of
Robert Stanard, Sr., of Richmond, Virginia., and grandfather of the
young Stanards about Richmond. The late civil war used up the re-
mainder. My mother left five sons and two daughters, of whom myself
and one sister, Virginia, now Mrs. Dr. Whitehead, of North Carolina,
are all the survivors. I have two children : a son, James D. Coleman,
Professor of Ancient Languages in Bethel College, Kentucky, having
received three such appointments. His age at present is twenty-six
years. Alice, my daughter, married Elliott Dejarnette, son of Daniel
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. Ill
Dejarnette, member of the old Congress from this district, and subse-
quently of the Confederate Congress. And thus, my dear sir, you
will perceive, though I have been unable to tell you much about your
ancestors, I endeavor to make amends by telling you not a little about
their descendants, in some degree your kinsmen The Coghill
pedigree, which you sent, has very much interested my family, on the
mother's side, who are lineal descendants, and nearest surviving relatives
and sole representatives, of Lady Jane Grant, of Scotland, with her
countless millions. They take special interest in such genealogical re-
searches as now engage and interest you, since they belong on both
sides to families that run far back into the best blood of the Old World.-'
1 Mr. Coleman was attacked ■with a disease from which he never recovered,
in a little over a month after this letter was written, and died on November
21, 1878, just one year and four days after its date. Ills obituary, from
which the following extracts are taken, was published in the Religious Herald^
of Richmond, Virginia, December 19, 1878 : —
" .... It is to me, therefore, a labor of love to record in this public man-
ner my high appreciation of the talents and character of the Rev, Mr. Cole-
man as a man, a Christian, and a minister.
" As a man, in his physique, he was a noble specimen of his race. Un-
usually tall, well proportioned, and erect, his personal presence was most
commanding. In almost any assembly, however large or distinguished, he
would have been a marked and an observed man. He looked like one of
nature's noblemen, born for a leader and ruler. In his deportment, he was
dignified and polite, unostentatiously impressing himself upon you as a cult-
ured gentleman. In character and temperament, he was frank, sanguine,
and resolute. He was a man of deep convictions, strong will, and inflexible
purpose. He could not be swerved from any purpose or opinion, except by
convincing his judgment. All his traits of character were of the positive
sort. Bold and ingenuous, he was incapable of dissembling. While by nat-
ure made of the ' sterner stuff ' of which martyrs are made, yet, under the
softening touch of divine grace, he had a tender heart, an affectionate dis-
112 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Havino- brought Frederick's descendants down to the
present time, we return now to his brother William (4).
position, and a warm and sympathetic manner. Througli grace, there was to
be seen in him an intermingling of \hefortiter in re and suaviter in modo.
" As a Baptist, Brother Coleman was decided and in full and perfect accord
with his denomination. Being fully persuaded in his own mind that the Bap-
tists ' contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,' that
they practice the ordinances as they were instituted, and that their form of
church o-overnment is that of the apostolic churches, he loved his denomi-
nation, labored earnestly to build it up, and rejoiced in its success every-
where
" As a Christian, Rev. Mr. Coleman seemed, like Barnabas, to be ' full of the
Holy Ghost and of faith;' and, like Enoch, to ' walk with God.' He was a
man of earnest piety and great faith. He had great confidence in the effi-
cacy of prayer, and loved the mercy- seat. In a word, he was a consecrated
man. One of his most intelligent church members writes of him thus: 'For
the past twelve years he has neglected his farm, and all worldly interests, and
devoted himself exclusively to his ministerial duties. His favorite themes
were faith in Christ and the atonement, so full and so complete.'
" This brings me to speak of Brother Coleman as a preacher. He was
sound, able, earnest, and methodical. Though endowed by nature with a
clear and vigorous intellect, which was trained and developed by culture, he
never preached without thorough and careful preparation. All of his ser-
mons, which were methodically arranged, showed study, thought, and great
familiarity with the Bible and other books. Having a love for his work and
for the gospel, which he believed had sa-/^d him, and which he hoped would
save others, he preached with an earnestness and power which moved men,
and influenced the character of his hearers. His preaching was well adapted
both to edify Christians and awaken sinners
"As a pastor. Brother Coleman was in many respects a model. For many
years, and up to the time of his death, he had been the pastor of four pros-
perous churches, — some of which he had served for a quarter of a century.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 113
We find that he was twice married, and died in 1826, at
the age of seventy-two years. He first married Barbara
He lived in the midst of these churches, and to them he gave his time, tal-
ents, and his best energies. He was ardently attached to his members, to
whom he was a sympathizing friend, a trusted counselor, and a safe and loved
leader. His manner and bearing toward his members were mai-ked with
great consideration, tenderness, and affection. Perhaps no pastor ever had
more of the respect, confidence, and love of his churches. He was a good
disciplinarian, watched for souls as one that must give account, and fed the
flock of God over which he was placed as an overseer. The sick were visited
by him, and to the afflicted he administered consolation. He literally wept
with those that wept, and rejoiced with those that rejoiced. It was at the
bedside of a dying woman that he was attacked with the disease from which
he never recovered. He went the next day, the fourth Sunday in December,
1877, and preached in great pain the last sermon he ever delivered, which
was one of unusual unction and power.
" Rev. Mr. Coleman wielded a mighty influence in his immediate field of
labor, and in the Goshen Association, over which he presided as moderator
for nine consecutive years previous to his illness. Being domestic in his
tastes and retiring in his habits, he seemed content to confine his labors
and influence, for the most part, within the bounds of his own district asso-
ciation. Had he sought a more prominent place in the denomination, and a
more extended influence, and attended more frequently our general meetings,
his talents and piety would have secured for him a place among the foremost
of the Baptist ministers of the South.
" Mysterious is the providence which rendered him incapable of labor for
nearly a year before his death, and then took him from us in the midst of his
usefulness, ' when his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.' But
it becomes us to bow submissively to the Lord's will. ' Though dead he yet
speaketh,' and will long live in the hearts of his brethren and in his posthu-
mous influence.
" The last act of his earthly life was to walk in the garden and gather some
15
114 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Goodwin, by whom he had one son, and second. Miss
Coleman, by whom he had three sons, two dying young.
His children were : —
5. William G. Coghill, by first wife ; died in 1832.
5. Benjamin C. Coghill, by second wife; still living,
aged seventy-five.
William G. married a Miss Samuel, who was living in
1876, and had issue : —
6. William A. Coghill.
6. Thomas B. Coghill.
6. Barbary Coghill.
6. Bettie Coghill.
6. Littleton Coghill (two by this name, both died
young).
6. Susan Coghill, died young.
William A. was thrown from his carriage and killed
at Milford Depot, Caroline County, his horses having
Jlowers. He then returned to the house and went into his chamber, threw
himself on the bed, died instantly, and went into the paradise of God to
gather /rtiii from the tree of life, which grows on either side of the river of
life, where ' there shall be no more death,' and where ' his servants shall
serve Him,' and ' be like Him, for they shall see Him as He is.'
" ' Servant of God, well done;
Kest from thy loved employ ;
The battle fought, the victory won,
Enter thy Master's joy.'
" Fredericksburgh, Va. T. S. D."
I
THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL. 115
taken fright at the locomotive. He married Sarah L.
Gooclloe, and had nine children : —
7. Edwin Ruthvin Coghill.
7. Thomas Dallas Coghill.
7. StM GooDLOE Coghill.
7. Willie Goodwin Coghill.
7. Lewis Littleton Coghill.
7. Philip Hawes Coghill.
7. Samuel Lucian Coghill.
7. Bettie Byrd Coghill.
7. MoLLiE Susan Coghill.
Edwin R. is a mechanic, and also teaches school.
TJiomas D. is sheriff of Caroline County. Sf/m G. married,
in 1877, Florence A. Campbell, and, with his mother and
sisters, is living at the family homestead and farm.
Willie G., Lewis L., and Philip H. are engaged in the mer-
cantile business at Penola Station, in Caroline County.
TJiomas B. (6) married a Miss Blaky, and had one
daughter, who married a Mr. Wilson, of Richmond.
Barlary (6) married William Noel, Esq. Beltie (6) mar-
ried a Mr. Jordan.
We return to Benjamin C. (5), who is now living in
Illinois. He was twice married : first, to a Miss Ellett,
of Hanover County, who died in 1833, and second, to a
Miss Ellett, of Goochland County, who died in 1873.
By these two marriages he has five children now living.
116 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
all at or near Koseville, Warren County, Illinois, to which
State their father was led forty-two years ago by impres-
sions which now seem almost like prophetic shadows of
coming events, as may be seen in the extracts from his
letters farther on. The names of his children are : —
6. John Waller Coghill.
6. MiLLICENT ElLETT CoGHILL.
6. Fanny King Coghill.
6. Richard Judson Coghill.
6. Martha A. Coghill.
John Waller married Elizabeth Tucker, and had issue : —
7. James Tucker Coghill, died in October, 1876, aged
seventeen.
7. Carrie Coghill.
7. John Waller Coghill.
7. George Coghill.
7. William Hawes Coghill.
Millicent Ellett (6) married J. Duke, and had issue : —
7. Mary E. Duke ; Wellington DuJce.
Fanny King (6) married L. Duke, and had issue: —
7. Mary K. DuJce ; Clyde Ellsworth DuJce ; George Lewis
DuJce ; Grace Coleman Duke ; Benjamin C Duke ; Ann
Duke ; Victor Lcroy Duke ; Blanche Mabel Duke.
Richard Judson (6) married Fanny Pete, and had is-
sue:—
7. Alexander Cooper Coghill.
THE FAMILY OF OOGHILL. 117
7. William Hermann Coghill.
Martha A. {^) married Pollard, and had issue: —
7. Edwin Pollard ; Winf red Era Pollard.
We shall close the Caroline branch with the following
extracts from letters of Mr. Benjamin C. Coghill, written
in 1877 and 1878 : —
As to myself, my dear father gave to me, as well as to my brother,
William G., a good education, to each of us a sufficient estate, but,
above all, he gave us a good example, which has been invaluable to me
through life. Then, my dear mother was a truly pious, godly woman.
I thank the Lord that I was born of such parents I was twice
married, raised six children, having five still living, all settled and in good
circumstances. But I am anticipating, and must return I was
first married 2d September, 1824, to Miss Ellett, of Hanover County,
Virginia, and settled on a farm in Caroline County, which my father
purchased and stocked for me, he and my father-in-law giving me a
number of negroes. Two years later my father died, after which I sold
my farm, and went to live with my mother at the family seat, that and
the plantation, together with a number of negroes, having been be-
queathed in my father's will to me at my mother's death. After about
two years I purchased the farm on which Patrick Henry was born, in
Hanover County, building a fine residence, in place of the one which
had been burned, still retaining the old family plantation in Caroline
County. After living at my new home for several years, happy years
to me, death entered it, and in February, 1833, bore my beloved wife
to a brighter home above.
In 1834, I married Miss Ellett, of Goochland. In the winter of
1829 and 1830, the State Convention of Virginia sat in Richmond to
revise the constitution. A large number of the citizens of the State,
118 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
believing that slavery, if continued, would in the end lead to the most
fearful consequences, were active in directing public oi^inion, circulating
petitions, and getting signatures, praying the convention to make such
changes in the constitution as would empower the legislature to enact
suitable laws for the abolition of slavery and the colonization of the
negroes. The petitions were presented, the subject fully discussed, and
we were defeated by only a few votes.-^ The friends of the measure
were greatly encouraged, and were sanguine of carrying their point at
an early day. But, alas ! for human hopes, soon after the adjournment
of the convention, the abolitionists of the North began flooding our
post-offices with their incendiary publications, denouncing us as robbers,
thieves, and murderers because we held negroes (which their fathers had
brought over from Africa and sold to us), and inciting the negroes to
insurrection and murder.^ The result was to stop all further agitation
of the subject. The measure was killed, and by the professed friends
of the negro. After the lapse of a few years, realizing that we were de-
feated, and that all hopes of freeing and colonizing the negro were
ended, and being deeply impressed with the conviction that war, terrible
in its consequences, between the free and slave States, would come,
sooner or later, and feeling earnestly desirous that neither I, nor any
of my children, should engage in such a strife, and, further, not wishing
to raise my children among the negroes, my thoughts were turned to-
wards the far West, as the place where these evils might be avoided.
After looking at the matter in all of its bearings, and deliberating upon
the consequences, I determined to give up my beautiful home, to sever
^ " It has been said that the idea of general emancipation had many sup-
porters, and that nothing but the reaction against the sinister influence from
abroad prevented its triumph. But the reaction was complete. Instead of
emancipating, this Legislature (1831) passed stringent laws against slaves, free
negroes, and mulattoes." (^Howison^s History of Virginia.') — Compiler.
2 The Nat Turner insurrection occurred in 1831. — Compiler.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 119
the ties of friendship, and, trusting in Providence, seek a ruder home,
among a ruder people, in the far-off West. Acting upon this resolve, I
and my brother-in-law mounted our horses in the month of September,
1835, and traveled through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (there were no
railroads then). Returning, we reached our homes on the 9th of the
following November.
As soon as I had fully determined to remove to a free State, the
question arose in my mind, What shall I do with my negroes ? I gave
the matter much thought, and made it the subject of earnest prayer.
The temptation to sell and get the money was strong ; the conflict be-
tween the devil and the man was bitter and fierce ; but, thanks be to
God who giveth strength, my sense of duty was stronger. I procured
as good homes as I could for the aged, and sent all who were young to
Liberia.
In the following spring, 1836, after having disposed of my estates in
Virginia, I left, with my family and several of my relatives, for Warren
County, Illinois, and arrived there in May. My wife died in 1873 ; and
now, my dear sir, you have my reasons (promised in a former letter)
for leaving my home in Virginia.
God, who, I am fully persuaded, has taken care of me from my
infancy, has led me by a way I knew not, sustained me in all my
temptations and trials, and sanctified even my afflictions to my good, will
not forsake me in my old age. He has ever been good to me. My
dear children and their companions, except one, are all, I trust, of the
household of faith. Our temporal wants are bountifully supplied, and
by and by we hope to meet in heaven, where, I trust, we shall see and
know you and yours.
Having traced the descendants of Frederick Coghill
(3) to the present time, we now return to Thomas, his
brother. Of him we could learn nothing except that he
120 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
resided in Essex County, and was living in 1763, as we
see by a deed executed by him to his son Thomas, and
recorded in Essex County, for a tract of land adjoining
the lands of Ambrose Hord and Frederick Coghill, dated
13th October, 1763, and also by a reference in the will of
his son Thomas, to property left by his father to his sis-
ter Aggy, who married Robert Carter, Esq. The follow-
ing is an abstract of the will : —
1st. Devise the land given me by my fatlier Thomas Coghill, and also
the land bought of William Ayres, to my wife Sarah during her life, also
three negroes, furniture, still, hogsheads, etc.
2d. Devise to my son John Coghill 200 acres of land in Kentucky
and two negroes.
3d. Devise to Thomas Coghill the land which was formerly his uncle
Frederick's, and given to the said testator by his father Thomas Cog-
hill, and a part of the land purchased by the testator of Robert Bev-
erly, Jr., also 200 acres of Kentucky land and one negro.
4th. To Ewell Coghill the land lately purchased of Charles Carter ^
not yet conveyed by deed [with a i-eservation to his wife Sarah of so
much fire wood and rail timber as were necessary for the use of the
plantation on which she lived], and the land purchased of "William
Murrah adjoining that purchased of Carter, 200 acres Kentucky land
and a colt.
5th. To "William Coghill the land loaned my wife during her life [see
first clause], his title to commence at her death, 200 acres of Kentucky
land and one colt, also the still, hogsheads, etc., at the death of his mother.
6th. To Smallwood Coghill the remainder of the land purchased of
Robert Beverly, and the remainder of the land formerly his uncle
1 Evidently land brought by Aggy Coghill to Charles Carter, her husband.
THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL. 121
Frederick's, given the testator by his father Thomas Coghill, 200 acres
of land in Kentucky, and £20, or a horse of that value.
7th. To my daughter Elizabeth Miller one negro boy Abraham.
8th. The remainder of my personal estate to my children Ewell,
Aggy, Nancy, William, Smallwood, Martha, and Sally Atwell, and also
the negroes and personal estate given to my wife, at her death.
9th. The estate devised to my daughters, Martha and Sally Atwell
Coghill, on the death of either to go to the survivor.
lOth. The estate devised to Aggy and Nancy Coghill subject to a like
provision.
11th. The estate devised to my sons, Thomas, Ewell, William, and
Smallwood, on the death of either without issue to go to the survivors.
1 2th. The remainder devised me by my father in the event my sis-
ter Agatha Carter dying without issue (should that contingency happen)
to be divided between my sons John and Smallwood.
13th. My wife Sarah, and my sons John and Smallwood, appointed
my executors.
Executed Feb^ 25'^ 1786. Recorded April 17* 1786.
An Invoice of his Estate returned, and recorded 21" June, 1790, by
Thomas Pitts, John Henshaw, and John Reynolds, Appraisers.
Thomas (3) married, but to whom we have not been
able to learn. His only issue that we hear of are one son
and one daughter : —
4. Thomas Coghill, whose will jDrecedes this.
4. Agatha Coghill.
Agatha, as is seen from her brother's will, married Rob-
ert Carter, Esq. The Carters were a very old and dis-
tinguished Virginia family, a sketch of which is given in
Bishop Meade's " Old Churches and Families of Virginia."
16
122 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Thomas married Sarah Atwell, and had issue eleven
children : —
5. John Coghill.
5. EwELL Coghill.
5. William Coghill.
5. Smallwood Coghill.
5. Thomas Coghill.
5. Elizabeth Coghill.
5. Martha Coghill.
5. Sally Atwell Coghill.
5. Agatha Coghill.
5. Nancy Coghill.
5. Philip Coghill, who died in his eighteenth year.
Smalhvood and Nancy died unmarried. The former
lived and died at Port Royal, Caroline County. Etvell
disappears; he may have removed or died. William
lived and died in King George County, Virginia; he
married Caroline Fairfax Triplett, whose mother was
a Fairfax, and had issue : —
6. William Coghill, who died unmarried.
6. Elizabeth Coghill, who married Dixon, of
Maryland, and has descendants now living in Baltimore.
Thomas (5) married a Miss Pitts, and died at the place
he inherited from his father in Essex County. He had
issue six children : —
6. Benjamin Coghill.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 123
6. Richard Coghill.
6. Thomas Coghill.
6. Sally Coghill.
6. Julia Coghill.
6. Polly Coghill.
Benjamin married a Miss Noel and died without issue.
He was noted for his eccentricities of character, which
followed him through life, and were made manifest by
his will. Although he had sisters who were in mod-
erate circumstances, he left his entire property to a son
of the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, in no way related to him.
Richard, the second son, married a Miss Aldrich and
left one son : —
7. Hon. Robert A. Coghill, of Amherst County, un-
married, a lawyer of considerable eminence. He has
represented that county in both branches of the legis-
lature for a number of years, and is a member at the
present time (1878).^
Thomas (6), the third son, married a Miss Micou (de-
scended from Paul Micou, a Huguenot, who came to Vir-
ginia at an early period); he died, leaving one daughter,
who afterwards went with her mother's family to Missis-
sippi. Sally (6) married H. B. Brooke, Esq. Julia and
Pollfj never married.
Elizabeth (5) married Simon Miller and left issue,
1 He was a member of the National Democratic Committee, 1877-78.
124 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Martha (6), who married James Sorrell, of Westmoreland
County, and had issue one son, who died unmarried.
Sallij Ativell (5) married WilHam Tupman ; of their
issue, if any, we know nothing. Agatha (5) married Lind-
say Reynolds, and had issue two children : Sarah Reynolds
(6), who married Coleman and had one child, Sarah
Coleman (7), who is now living with her mother in Balti-
more ; and Lindsay Reynolds (6), who is also living in
Baltimore ; he married and has children, one of whom is
Dr. Reynolds (7), practicing medicine in Baltimore.
John (5), the oldest son of Thomas, married Nancy,
daughter of Wise, Esq. (Hon. Henry A. Wise, of
Virginia, descended from this family), and had issue : —
6. John Coghill.
6. Thomas Coghill.
6. Sallie Coghill.
6. Elizabeth Coghill.
6. Smallwood Atwell Coghill.
Unlike his father, who was constantly adding to his
estates, he continued to diminish his, as we find from
deeds for lands sold, until at his death there was but little
left, and his widow, during her life, used nearly all of the
pittance that remained. The children inheriting no prop-
erty, and with tlieir education most unaccountably neg-
lected, were, at an early age, thrown upon their own
resources. The sons all married and remained poor dur-
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 125
ing their lives. The two daughters, Elizabeth and Sallie,
inherited the old homestead, and died there unmarried.
John married Polly Pitts, and left issue : —
7. John Coghill.
7. Eli Coghill.
7. Maky Coghill.
They are now living somewhere in Essex County.
Thomas (6) married Elizabeth Noel, and left issue : —
7. Catharine Coghill, who married Brown.
7. Elizabeth Coghill, unmarried.
7. Archibald Coghill.
7. Thomas Coghill.
All of these (except Mrs. Brown) are now living in
Essex County, and are in poor circumstances, but highly
respectable people.
Smalhvood Ativell (6), the youngest son, at an early
age went to Tennessee, and was in Nashville at the time
of the encounter between General Jackson and Thomas
Benton. (Many years later he named two of his chil-
dren for these gentlemen.) He remained there only a
short time, and, returning to Virginia, married, in 1815,
Elkaheih Greemvood, daughter of William Garrett, Esq., a
farmer of Essex County, by whom he had issue ten chil-
dren, all but one surviving both parents : —
7. Martha Smith Coghill, born 2d January, 1816.
7. James Henry Cogihll, born 25th September, 1817.
126 THE FAMILY OF COG HILL.
7. Nancy Coghill, died young.
7.' Lawrence Atwell Coghill, born 12th March, 1821.
7. Mary Cynthia Coghill, born 25th Jnly, 1824.
7. William Newt6n Coghill, born 10th May, 1826.
7. Andrew Jackson Coghill, born 3d November, 1828.
7. Mildred Jane Coghill, born 20th November, 1832.
7. Elizabeth Ann Coghill, born 20th October, 1834.
7. Thomas Benton Coghill, born 31st May, 1836.
His wife died 13th December, 1849. She was a de-
voted wife, a fond and faithful mother, a consistent Chris-
tian, and a most estimable lady, loved by her friends, and
respected by all who knew her. The following obituary
was written by the Rev. John Byrd, her pastor, and
published in the "Religious Herald," of Richmond, Vir-
ginia : —
Died, in Loyds, Essex County, Virginia, on the 13th December, in the
fifty-third year of her age, Mrs. Elizabeth G. Coghill. The subject of
this notice was baptized in 1830, by that lamented servant of Christ,
Rev. P. T. Montague, and united herself with the Upper Essex Church,
until called to receive her final reward. The writer knew her well, and
seldom has he seen one more sensible of the depravity of the human
heart, and trusting more fully, for deliverance, in the redemption of
Christ alone. Deeply impressed with the duty to wait before God
in his earthly sanctuary, her seat was seldom vacant, unless occasioned
by bodily indisposition. But her spirit has fled, — entered the house
whose maker and builder is God. No more will her sisters and brothers
in Christ mingle with her on earth. Her example is before them ; may
it long be remembered by them. She was a subject of affliction, but in
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 127
sore conflicts she never lost sight of the promises of God. But the
last wave of affliction has beaten upon her forever ; she has gone to
the heaven of eternal repose. In her family she was uniform and steady
in her religious duties, and long will her bereaved family feel the
vacuum. It is doubtful whether, in the relations of a member of the
church of Christ, or wife, or mother, her Christian virtues were most
brilliant. She lived for Christ, and, in her last conflict, realized the
promise, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." She leaves a hus-
band and nine children, some of them living in anticipation of meeting
her in the resurrection of the just. May none of them be left out
when He shall come to make up his jewels.
As before mentioned, he (Smallwood) inherited no
property from his father, and had a Ufe-long struggle to
maintain his large family. He died 8th August, 1853.
Martha S., the eldest child, married late in life Mr.
George Edmonston, and is now residing at Loyds, in Essex
County, near the place of her birth.
James Henry has resided in New York since 1857.
After receiving the best education that could be obtained
at the neighborhood schools, he was, at an early age,
placed in the store of David Pitts, a merchant at Loyds,
where his parents resided. Two years later he went to
live with his uncle, Mr. Richard H. Garrett,^ who was
^ It was at the house of this gentleman that J. Wilkes Booth, who assassin-
ated President Lincoln, was killed. He was imposed ujion Mr. Garrett by a
Colonel Jett, of Westmoreland County, as a wounded Confederate soldier, try-
ing to get to his home in the South. Mr. Garrett was a gentleman of great
kindness of heart, and would have aided an enemy, if he had one, who was
128 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
then a merchant at New Town, in Kmg and Queen
County, where he continued for about three years.
Then, anticipating the advice given by the sage of Chap-
paqua many years later, " Go West, young man," he
suffering. He treated Booth with his accustomed kindness, never once sus-
pecting that he was any other than a wounded Southern soldier, until the very-
afternoon before he was found and killed. Booth's nervousness at hearing
that Federal soldiers were in the neighborhood led his host to suspect who he
was, and to remonstrate with him for having imposed upon him. He promptly
ordered him to leave his house. Booth still denied his identity, and, as it was
nio-ht, begged to be permitted to sleep in the barn, which, in consequence of
his condition, he was allowed to do. Mr. Garrett's two sons, fearing that he
might take one of the few horses they had left, sat up and guarded the stable.
Mr. Garrett, several years later, told the writer that no one would have sus-
pected his enforced guest as being Booth. The subject of the assassination
was a frequent theme of conversation, and Booth always spoke of it in strong
terms of condemnation, referring to the author as a crazed fool worthy of the
gallows. Mr. Garrett was unjustly treated by the government. His barn and
all of his farming utensils were burned, his two sons compelled twice to go to
Washington as witnesses, the government refusing even to pay their expenses
while in Washington. Notwithstanding the assurances given by Colonel Baker,
who commanded the expedition, that Mr. Garrett had been imposed upon, and
was entirely ignorant as to the character of his guest, and his strong rec-
ommendation that he should be remunerated for his losses, the government
refused to do so. Mr. Garrett died 8th January, 1878. Rev. Dr. Wm. A.
Baynham, who wrote his obituary, says " that he has been merchant, farmer,
magistrate, and in every position his uprightness and integrity, and his excel-
lencies, secured con6dence and respect, and that his death was a public ca-
lamity to a community in which he was so useful, and by which he was so
esteemed." The writer knew him well and long. For uncompromising integ-
rity, purity of character, and kindness of heai't, he had few equals.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 129
gave up his situation, and removed to Alton, Illinois.
Remaining there about three years, he returned to his
native State, and, after passing through numerous vicis-
situdes for a term of ten or twelve years, he embarked
for California, via Isthmus of Panama, on the first steamer
of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's new line, in
1848. After a long and eventful voyage (having been
delayed a month at Panama, awaiting the arrival of the
steamship " California," via Cape Horn), he arrived at
San Francisco, February 28, 1849, went for a few
months to the mining regions, then returned to San
Francisco and established the house of J. H. Coghill &
Co. In 1853, leaving the management of his business
with his brothers, William N. and Andrew J., who had
come out to San Francisco the year before, he visited
the Atlantic States, remaining away a year. His depart-
ure was referred to by most of the city papers. The
following is one of the articles, taken from " The Tran-
script : " —
The P. M. S. S. Co.'s magnificent steamer " Golden Gate," which
leaves this morning, carries away from our shores more of San Fran-
cisco's well-known and most valuable citizens. Among the number we
notice the names of J. H. Coghill and E. P. Flint, Esqrs., members
respectively of two of the largest commercial firms of our State. These
gentlemen, who both rank with the first of the California pioneers, have
become intimately identified with the mercantile community, and, in-
deed, we may say with the whole city ; for in few, if in any, important
17
130 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
movements to promote the public welfare have they failed to lend their
cordial support and influence. Their enterprise, strict business integ-
rity, and private worth have secured their full success in every under-
taking, and they now depart for the Atlantic States with the esteem and
kind wishes of all who know them.
In the spring of 1854, Mr. Coghill returned to San
Francisco, where he remained until 1857. Then he came
to New York and estabHshed a branch of his house in
that city. This change was often regretted by him, as,
from his early residence in San Francisco, he was closely
identified with its growth and development, and took
an active part in all important movements for the pub-
lic welfare. But in coming to the great city of New
York his individuality seemed lost.^ He has always felt
a pride in being one of the pioneers of California ; he was
among the organizers of the " First Steamship Pioneers,"
and was their first vice-president.
In 1866 and 1867 Mr. Coghill traveled with his family
in Europe, and on their return published, for private
circulation, a journal of their travels, entitled " Abroad."
In November, 1868, he gave up his business to his
brother William N., who associated with him Mr. John
Lyons, changing the firm's name to Coghill, Lyons & Co.
Since that time he has not been engaged in any active
^ Several articles written by Mr. Coghill for the press may be seen in ap-
pendix.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 131
business, if we except one year, during which he was
president of the New York branch of " The Life Associ-
ation of America," fiUing the position gratuitously. He
was twice married : first, to Sarah P., daughter of J. S.
Eastman, Esq., of Baltimore, 1st July, 1847, who died
13th March, 1849, in the twentieth year of her age ; and
second, on the 9th of March, 1854, to Mary, daughter of
J. H. Mulford,^ Esq., of New York, and his wife, Rebecca
1 James Hervey Mulford, Esq., -was seventh in descent from William Mul-
ford, who, with his brother John, was one of the first settlers in East Hamp-
ton, Suffolk County, New York, in 1649, and whose name appears on the town
records of South Hampton, in the same county, in 1645. William Remsen
Mulford, Esq., attorney at law, of Brooklyn, New York, a grandson of James
Hervey, is collecting material for a pedigree of the Mulford family, and has
kindly furnished me with the following sketch of one of its members : —
" Samuel Mulford, son of John Mulford, Esq., a magistrate and commissioner
at East Hampton, Long Island (when that town was under the jurisdiction of
Connecticut), was born at South Hampton in 1645. 'He was,' says Mr.
Hedges, in his centennial address, * attached to the government of Connecti-
cut, and remonstrated against the annexation of the town to New York.' For
a period of twenty years, from 1700 to 1720, he represented the county in the
Provincial Assembly of New York. He was a persevering opponent of the
administration of Governor Hunter, watching the abuses of the government
with a jealous eye, and no combatant ever maintained his post more unflinch-
ingly than he. In 1716, the Assembly, subservient to the wishes of the gov-
ernor, ordered a speech of Mr. Mulford's to be put into the hands of the
Speaker. Mulford thereupon boldly published the speech and circulated it.
It denounced the corruption and governmental mismanagement of the finances,
and the usurpations in collecting the revenue. The governor commenced an
oppressive and harassing suit against him in the Supreme Court, whose
judges he himself had appointed. The suit, however, was suspended, at the
132 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
Gorham, daughter of Stephen Atwater, Esq., of New
Haven, Ct. She was bom 28th March, 1829. He had
two children by each marriage : —
8. William Henky Coghill, born in Baltimore, 19th
April, 1848 ; died 21st July, 1848.
8. Sarah Adeline Coghill, born in Baltimore, 3d March,
1849.
solicitation of the House. He now determined to petition the king in person
for redress. Among otlier grievances, the towns of East Hampton and South
Hampton complained bitterly of a duty of one tenth on all the whale oil
brought into port by their enterprising mariners. Captain Mulford desired
to obtain a bounty for the encouragement of the whaling business, in place of
this tax upon its industry. He crossed the Sound to Newport, walked thence
to Boston, and there embarked for England, — a self-constituted envoy to
the court of St. James. He obtained access to the floor of the House of Com-
mons, and was there permitted to read his memorial, which is said to have
attracted considerable attention. The tax on oil was ' ordered to be discon-
tinued,' and Captain Mulford returned home triumphant, at the age of sev-
enty-one years. He again took his seat in the House of B,epi'esentatives, and
again the old question of his speech was called up. Perhaps his Excellency
was stung by his bold exposition, in England, of his cupidity and injustice.
The compliant House called upon him for his reasons for printing his siieech.
He gave them, and withdrew. A vote of expulsion was immediately passed ;
but his constituency, true to themselves, reelected him as their representative.
In 1720, Hunter was succeeded in office by Governor Burnet. But as many
of the evils complained of still continued, the bold denunciations of Cajitain
Mulford again drew down upon him the censure of the government officers.
On the 26th of October, of that year, having refused to act with the old As-
sembly, then convened, on the ground that a new one should have been
chosen, he was once more expelled from the House. Thus ended his public
life. His advanced age deterred him from further service. He died Ausrust
21, 1725, aged eighty-one years." — HoUister's History of Connecticut.
HOWARD COGHILL.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH, 1S79.
THE FAMILY OF OOGHILL. 133
8. Henry Coghill, born in San Francisco, 18th Decem-
ber, 1854.
8. Howard Coghill, born at New Roclielle, Westchester
County, New York, 27th August, 1858.
Henry died on board the steamship " Golden Gate,"
in the harbor of Panama, 19th May, 1857; his remains
were brought on and interred in Greenmount Cemetery,
Baltimore, where all of the deceased members of the
family are buried. Hoiuard, at the present writing, is a
student at Columbia College.
Lawrence Ahvell (7) married Ann E. Shattock, of Caro-
line County, Virginia, who died in 1876. They had is-
sue eight children : —
8. Helen Ernestine Coghill, born 19th May, 1846.
8. Ella Temple Coghill, born 11th March, 1848.
8. Haseltine Judson Coghill, born 18th August, 1850.
8. William Powell Coghill, born 4th June, 1852.
8. Henry Burnes Coghill, born 13th August, 1856.
8. Lawrence Loyd Coghill, born 14th November, 1858.
8. EiMma Taylor Coghill, born 24th October, 1861.
8. Caroline Jackson Coghill, born 12th May, 1863.
Lawrence A. is now living on his farm, called Lothian,
in King George County, Virginia. None of his children
are married.
Mary Cynthia (7), married to Robert L. Haile, Esq., of
Essex, and now residing in Hanover County, Virginia,
has issue : —
134 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
8. Beitie F. Haile, married ; Ilary L. Ilaile, married ;
William H. Haile; Robert Ryland Haile ; Fulton Haile;
Cora J. Haile.
William Neidon (7), late of San Francisco. California,
married Lizzie Beck, of San Francisco, formerly of Ken-
tucky, and had issue two children : —
8. KiCHARD Parker Coghill, born October 29, 1857.
8. Mary J. Coghill, born May 7, 1861.
He died May 24, 1869. His widow married Rev. John
Hemphill, a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church, and
resides in San Francisco.
William N. went at an early age to Richmond, Va.,
where he remained until his departure for San Francisco,
in 1852. The year following he was admitted as partner
in the house of J. H. Coghill & Co. After the removal
of the senior partner to New York, in 1857, he assumed
the management of the San Francisco house. A long
and too close application to business so impaired his
health as to make it necessary for him to change his resi-
dence, and seek rest and relaxation. In 1866, he came
with his family to New York, to take the management of
the house there (where the duties and responsibilities
were much less arduous than in San Francisco) during
the absence of his brother in Europe. His health was
much improved by the change, and in January, 1868, he
returned to San Francisco. In November, 1868, as be-
THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL. 136
fore stated, his brother retired from business in his favor.
He associated with him Mr. John Lyons, who was an
active business man, hoping that with his improved
health, and a partial relief from business responsibilities,
he would recover entirely. But Providence had other-
wise ordained ; his disease had only been checked, not
eradicated ; it terminated in cancer of the stomach, that
most dreadful of all diseases, and after a painful illness
this truly good man died 24th May, 1869. In such
high esteem was he held by the entire community that
on the day of his burial there was a general cessation of
business, and his funeral was attended by most of the
prominent citizens. Some estimate may be formed of
Mr. Coghill by the following obituaries, taken from the
San Francisco papers : —
Mr. William N. Coghill, the subject of the following obituary notices,
died in San Francisco on the 24th of May last. He came to this city in
the spring of 1866, principally for his health, and remained until Janu-
ary, 1868, when he returned to San Francisco much improved. While
here he made many friends, and believing that it will be gratifyino- to
them to read these notices of his death, we [" New York Evening Ex-
press "J copy them from the San Francisco journals : —
" One by one of the old residents of California pass away in compara-
tively early life, as if the terrible strain of active business life in this new
country sapped the foundations of physical strength, or the mental press-
ure wore out the material portions of the human system. In the death
of Mr. William Newton Coghill there is another example of the mind
136 THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL.
wearing out the physical frame. In his decease we recognize the loss of
a personal friend, and the community of an upright citizen. The sub-
joined tribute to his memory has been handed us by a friend : —
" ' In the death of William Newton Coghill our community has lost
a man who, in his business and social intercourse, sustained and illus-
trated the character of a Christian gentleman. For the past eighteen
years he has been in active business in this city, as a member of the firm
of J. H. Coghill & Co., and of their successors, Coghill, Lyons & Co.,
and no one ever enjoyed in a larger degree the confidence and esteem of
all who knew him. As a merchant he was without reproach. He
united that integrity of character which is above temptation with the
amenity of manner which is only born of a gentle disposition. The
vicissitudes of business never assailed his principles, and the sufferings of
his long and painful illness did not exhaust his patience. His death was
not unexpected, but his loss is not the less felt, and his memory will
always be cherished by his friends.' " — Alta California.
" William Newton Coghill has been called away by the Infinite. He
was urbane in manner, just in his dealings, liberal in his views, and char-
itable in his acts ; a good citizen, an honorable business man, a generous
friend. Just at the period when he had arrived at the maturity of ex-
perience, when his capacity for doing good was fructifying to its utter-
most, when he was in the position to obey the dictates of a generous
nature, he was taken from the field of usefulness ; but he left behind the
remembrance of his worth and the excellence of his example. Unpre-
tentious, quiet, but discerning, of polished manners and sound heart and
head, he was a man to copy. The oldest and most popular communities
would deeply mourn such a loss, but with us it is a great and irremedi-
able calamity." — Commercial Herald.
"Death of a Respected Merchant. — In the death of William
Newton Coghill the mercantile community has lost a px'ominent citi-
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 137
zen. Mr. Coghill was a Virginian by birth and education, and originally
of the firm of J. H. Coghill & Co., of this city and New York. lie
came to California in early days, and has ever been intimately connected
with the leading merchants. Some time since he formed a new cojiart-
nership in this city, that of Coghill, Lyons & Co., wholesale grocers
and commission merchants. Mr. Coghill was the soul of honor, and a
man highly esteemed by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance.
He has long been an invalid, and for months past confined to his house.
He leaves a widow and several children to mourn his loss." — Daily
Herald.
" William Newton Coghill, of the firm of Coghill, Lyons & Co., Front
Street, jobbers, died in this city yesterday. The deceased was one of
the pioneer merchants of the city, having been in business here since
1850, chiefly under the firm name of J. H. Coghill & Co., who for the
past ten years have occupied the same building. Mr. Coghill enjoyed
the confidence and respect of his fellow merchants, who will remember
him as an honorable business man." — San Francisco Bulletin.
" Death of a Merchant. — Mr. William Newton Coghill, a well-
known merchant of this city, died Monday. He came to California in
early days, and has been intimately connected with the leading mer-
chants. He had long been an invalid, and confined to his house for
months past ; was a native of Virginia ; age, forty-two years. He
leaves a widow and several children to mourn his loss." — Examiner.
Richard Parker Coghill (8), the only son of William N.,
a young man of much promise, but whose health was
always delicate, died at his mother's residence in San
Francisco, August 22, 1878, in the twenty-first year of
his age, and was buried by the side of his father in Lone
Mountain Cemetery, near that city. The following obitu-
18
138 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
ary, and lines to his memory, were published in the
" Occident," of San Francisco : —
On the 22d of August, 1878, Richard Parker Coghill passed
away from amongst us. The community has seldom been so deeply
moved by the death of one so young. His amiable disposition and
many excellent personal qualities gained him friends wherever he was
known ; and to this cause, quite as much as to the social position of his
family, and the profound sympathy which their bereavement has called
forth, was due the large concourse that assembled at his funeral. While
at the University College, his attention to his studies was assiduous and
his progress highly satisfactory. His class was one of the most brilliant
we ever had. In spite of poor health, Mr. Coghill was quite up to the
best member of it ; and I have no recollection of having at any time
called upon him in vain for a recitation. He entered with zest and
vigor into the customary sports and recreations, but never received or
deserved rebuke or reprimand. His mental gifts were of a high order,
and those of us who had the sad satisfaction of sitting by his dying bed
will long remember how keen and clear his faculties remained to the
last. With his talents, and the natural energy of his character, had
health been spared to him, he would have achieved distinction in any
intellectual pursuit he might have chosen. At such a time as this, I know
no real and adequate consolation, except the hopes of the Christian
religion. What are riches, fame, and even the sympathy of friends,
when the grave closes over those we love ? Richard Coghill died in
humble faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; and, in this supreme hour of
their trial, the bereaved can rest in the sure and abiding hope of a
blessed reunion with him where sorrow shall have no place. He left a
mother and sister to mourn his loss.
J. Gamble.
e
University Mound College, September 4, 1878.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 139
TO THE MEMORY OF RICHARD PARKER COGHILL.
As faints the heart of Lim -wlaose eye beholdetli
Each earth-born joy depart in endless gloom,
So faints our heart, since death, alas ! enfoldeth
Thy youthful image in an early tomb.
The fallen castle and the ruined tower,
Decaying, perish with the lapse of time ;
But man is withered in the opening floweB,
And rudely blasted in his hardy prime.
Yet, why should those whom excellence adorneth
Be doomed to fall beneath the spoiler's dart,
AVhile he whose soul the nobler feelings scorneth
Eemains unharmed to wring the broken heart?
We saw thee rise, each envied gift possessing
That Virtue numbers in her hallowed train ;
Alas ! that Heaven's most prized, most precious blessing
Should yield occasion for the keenest pain !
Our earthly dreams and visions, fondly cherished,
In thee were centred with intense delight;
But each of these hath now forever perished.
Lost in the darkness of eternal night.
Thus, oft the day whose morning knows most splendor
Beholds ere noon its glory overcast ;
And thus, the flower that blooms most fair and tender
Is first cut down before the northern blast.
140 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Yet thy remembrance, dwelling in our bosom,
Shall still diffuse a sacred sweetness there;
The rose, when crushed in the expanded blossom,
Will leave its fragrance to perfume the air.
And Hope, our anchor, still her hold retaineth
" Within the vail," and steadfast doth endure :
For, oh! the blessed fruit of Faith remaineth.
And Virtue's promised recompense is sure 1
As sinks the sun beneath the western billow.
Yet casts behind a glorious parting ray,
Even so there beamed around thy dying pillow
The dawning radiance of a brighter day.
But wherefore should we talk of death or dying ?
Or wherefore deem the Christian e'er could die ?
Faith, on her angel pinions heavenward flying.
Directs our ga^e to scenes beyond the sky.
Her ear can hear celestial music streaming
From harps that vibrate through eternal days ;
Her eye can see thee in resplendence gleaming.
More glorious than the morning's rising rays.
For thee the seraphs wreathe the blooms of Eden ;
For thee they beautify the home of bliss ;
Whilst we, with sin and sorrow heavy laden.
Toil through the mazes of the wilderness.
Yet, faint and weary, as we onward measure
The troubled paths of this distracted scene,
It will be foretaste of celestial pleasure
To call to mind what here thou once hast been.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 141
Farewell, awhile 1 Since tliou hast gone before us,
Our lingering spirits languish to be free, —
To join triumphant in the blissful chorus
Of those who swell the joyful song with thee.
D. G.
University Mound College, September 1, 1878.
Andretu JacJcson (7), like his brother, "WilUam N., was
first a clerk in Richmond, Virginia, and went from that
city to San Francisco, where he has resided ever since.
He was at one time a partner in the house of J. H, Cog-
hill & Co., but retired from that firm in 1868. He has
always been actively engaged in business, but has found
time to gratify a taste for writing, and has been a not
unfrequent contributor to the San Francisco press, in
both prose and verse. Some of his prose articles possess
a good deal of humor. We insert three little poems by
him at the end of this section.
He married Rose, daughter of J. C. Gummer, Esq., of
San Francisco, originally from London, and had issue five
children : —
8. AViLLiAM Henry Coghill, born January 24, 1856.
8. Sarah Virginia Coghill, born June 13, 1859.
8. Ella Coghill, born December 22, 1862.
8. Charles Coghill, born February 16, 1865 ; died
November 11, 1867.
8. Newton Booth Coghill, born December 24, 1873.
142 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Mildred Jane (7), of Loyds, Virginia, married Charles
F. Bayliss, and has issue : —
8, William G. Bayliss, married ; Mollie P. Bayliss, mar-
ried ; Albert Bayliss; Martha jS. Bayliss; Emery Judson
Bayliss.
Elizaletli Ann (7), late of Old Church, Hanover County,
Virginia (died 1st July, 1875), married Silas P. Bayliss,
and had issue : —
8, James Henry Bayliss and Alice Stanley Bayliss, died
young ; John Hampton Bayliss, born November 23, 1855 ;
Charles Benton Bayliss, born December 13, 1857; Martha
Jane Bayliss, born August 8, 1860; Sarah M. C. Bay-
liss, born April 16, 1862 ; Mary Elizabeth Bayliss, born
February 9, 1864 ; Robert Lee Bayliss, born March 26,
1866 ; Silas Eugene Bayliss, born November 1, 1868 ; Kate
Percie Bayliss, born March 25, 1872.
Thomas Benton (7), of San Francisco, California, was a
student at Richmond College, but left before graduating,
in 1857, for San Francisco, and is at the present time a
partner in the house of Lohman & Coghill, who are the
successors to the old firm of J. H. Coghill & Co. He
married, in 1877, Kate, daughter of Judge J. A. Stanly,
of San Francisco, formerly of North Carolina, and has
one son : —
8. Stanly Coghill, born November 30, 1877.
This brings the American branch of the family down
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 143
to the present time, and with it closes the pedigree, not
only of all the descendants of James Coghill, the first
American ancestor, so ftir as we have been able to trace
them, but also those of John Cockhill, or Coghill, who
resided at Knaresborongh, in the County of York, Eng-
land, about 1377, and from whom descended all who have
borne the name as last spelt.
We shall close our labors with a sketch of the Family
of Slingshy, from whom the Coghills descended on the
maternal side.
James Coghill, the American aucestor, stands just midway between
the first of the name mentioned in this work, and the present younger
members of the American branch. Assuming that he was the son of
John or Thomas Coghill, he would be eighth in descent from the first an-
cestor named, and the children of the compiler are the eighth in descent
from him.
APPENDIX TO PART VL
THE COGHILLS OF SCOTLAND, IN AMERICA.
rpHE Coghills of Brooklyn and New Jersey, who came
-*- over from Scotland to this country some thirty or
forty years ago, are all referred to at length under the
head of The Scottish Branch. We shall, therefore, only
give their names and residences here.
Fiwicis Coghill, Donald Coghill, and Thomas Coghill are
brothers; Francis, Frances Eliza, his wife, and Francis.,
Jr., their son, reside in Brooklyn. The father and son
are partners in the mercantile business. Donald, Helen,
his wife, and Mary Jane and Agnes, their two daughters,
reside in Hoboken, New Jersey. Thomas, who married
Margaret Henderson, is living with his brother Francis,
in Brooklyn; and his two sons, Francis Alexander and
James S., reside in Jersey City. Their only sister in this
country, Johanna, who married James Farley, resides in
Philadelphia, and has five children.
Since writing the above, we have met a Mr. William
Coghill, of Boston, who came from Banff, Scotland. He
THE FAMILY OF GOGHILL. 145
informed us that his grandfather's name was Daniel, and
his father's, William. The latter married Mary McLane,
by whom he had four children, Janet, William, Mary Jane,
and James, He could give no further information about
the family.
A Mr. Joseph B. CogJiill called upon us in March, and
said he was a son of Thomas Wallace Coghill, of Dayton,
Ohio. We afterwards wrote to that gentleman, and had
from him the following statement : —
" My grandfather's name was TJiomas. He was born in Scotland, but,
while young, removed to the north of Ireland, where he married a Miss
Wallace. My father, Joseph W., was born in Ireland, and married
Mary Ann Lyons, of the County of Roscommon, by whom he had two
sons, TJiomas W. and Robert, and four daughters [names not given],
three of whom died in Cincinnati, and one is still living there. My
brother and I went from Ireland to Canada, where we served our time
at the trade of carriage making. I went to Cincinnati in 1859, and re-
mained there fourteen years, after which I removed to this place. My
father and family also came over and settled in Cincinnati, where my
mother died twelve years ago. My father removed South, and was in
Memphis, Tennessee, when I last heard from him. My brother is living
in Toronto, Canada, and is unmarried.
" My children's names are Joseph B., the oldest, born 25th March,
1859, Anne L., Florence C, Carrie F., Edward T., Ida M., Erastus H.,
William D., Beverly H., and Bessie B. There have been no deaths or
marriages in my family."
19
146 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Samuel Coghill is mentioned on page 94, as the first of the name
heard of in America. He had a grant of land from Sir William Berke-
ley, governor, in 1662, but as no record was made of the land in the
county in which it was located, the presumption is that he either died,
or else left the colony (if, indeed, he was ever in Virginia), as we find
no other record of him.
The name of Scanuel Cockill appears on the subsidy roll of the "Wap-
entake of Staincross, in the West Riding, County of York, England,
in 1663. It was a common occurrence at that early date for names to
be spelt, and entered on the records, in several different ways, and the
person here referred to may have been the same to whom the grant of
land was made in Virginia.
In referring to James Coghill, the first American ancestor, we stated
that we had no means of ascertaining whether he had issue by his first
wife. The fact of his appointing, in his will, his sons " David and Fred-
erick to be of age at eighteen, and enjoy their estates, if their mother
marrieth," would seem to indicate that his sons William and James were
already of age, and if so they must have been his children by his first
wife, who probably came with him to Virginia in 1664-65.
We are aware that the newspaper articles following this, which were
written by J. H. Coghill, are all on local questions and can be of no gen-
eral interest. It may be asked, Why then were they incorporated into
these family records ? We answer. Simply that the younger members
of the family who read them may, when entering upon the vocations they
have chosen, learn from the experience of the writer that it is not, as
many suppose, necessary to devote the whole of their time and thoughts
and energies to the one object of their pursuit, to achieve success. Obser-
vation will show that those are most successful who take an active interest
in the current events of their times.
THE FAMILY OF OOGHILL. 147
We also place among these records the selections of poetry following
the newspaper articles, not because of any merit in them, but only as
the literary recreations of two members of the family during an active
business life. Those by J. H. C. are among the earlier and perhaps not
the best of his productions, but were selected from a desire to preserve
the lines written in reply to the first poem.
THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.
Editor Bulletin, — I have long been a member of the Mercantile
Library Association, and feel more than an ordinaiy interest in all that
relates to its future prosperity. While cheerfully admitting that " Cen-
sor" has its interest equally at heart, I think he has allowed his judg-
ment to be influenced by his personal friendship. Disclaiming any in-
tention to reflect upon the judgment or the motives of the gentlemen who
compose the nominating committee, I must say that in my opinion a
better and more judicious ticket might have been given by them to the
association. The members who are acquainted with the history of the
institution are aware that its origin may be traced to our merchants, and
by them mainly it has been sustained and raised to its present position.
It is therefore due to them that its principal officer, at least, should be
selected from among their number. To them the association owes its
existence, and from them it has derived its name, and I hold that it
would be a reflection upon the character and intelligence of the mer-
chants of San Francisco, to elect any other than one of their number to
the presidency of the Mercantile Library Association. I hope the nom-
inating committee will reconsider their action in the matter, and prepare
another ticket, with a merchant at its head — one who possesses all of the
qualifications that " Censor " gives to Louis McLane, Jr., and in addition
to these a fixedness of purpose and stability of character which seem to
be lacking in that gentleman.
148 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
Mr. Dibblee, of the firm of Messrs. Crosby & Dibblee, or Mr. Wash-
burn/ of the firm of Washburn & Co., are both gentlemen who are in
every way qualified for the office, and would confer quite as much " dig-
nity " upon it as the gentleman who has been nominated. I am actuated
by no personal feelings in the matter, but as a merchant and one who
has been associated with the library from its beginning, I claim that either
its presiding officer should be a merchant, or else its name be at once
changed. J. H. C.
1855.
A SENSIBLE VIEW.
Mr. James King of Wm., Editor Bulletin : ^ Dear Sir, — Your
note of Saturday was duly received ; you ask my views on the article on
Public Schools. I agree entirely with your correspondent" More Anon,"
but differ somewhat from the position taken by yourself. I am in favor of
having the Bible in our common schools, because I believe that we are
indebted to it entirely for our civil and political institutions, and that their
permanency and prosperity depend upon its continuance among us ; but
separate and apart from this, as a literary work, it is unobjectionable. In
it is " History, authentic and commencing with the birth of time ; Natural
Science, as sparkling gems of beauty ; Geography, enlivened with scenes
of breathless wonder ; Biography, with every light and shadow, delineat-
ing human character in all its changing attitudes ; and Poetry, sweet,
tender, majestic, awful, and sublime." But while I favor the use of the
Bible in our schools, I am opposed to any sectarian interj)retations of its
teachings, — let all read and interpret for themselves.
^ Mr. Washburn was elected president on an opposition ticket.
^ Not long after this was written Mr. King was shot and killed by James
Casey, a ballot-box stuffer. The historical Vigilance Committee was im-
mediately organized. Casey and two other criminals, after having a fair trial
before the committee, were convicted and hanged, and many others ordered
away.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 149
It has been truly said by a good and great man, that " every mind
must readily perceive that a republican form of government requires gen-
eral intelligence of the masses of the people, and the general intelligence
of the masses depends upon their instruction by the state in her schools
and academies." Our wisest and best statesmen have indorsed our com-
mon-school system, and our most distinguished citizens have approved
and defended it. In their speeches and letters they declare that the sys-
tem of public instruction in our common schools is essential to the per-
petuity and prosperity of our civil and political institutions.
Now what do the Roman Catholics ask ? An appropriation of our
public-school fund, for the support of schools under the charge of the
" Sisters of Mercy," and " Lady Superiors," who are bound by " monas-
tic" and Heaven knows what other " vows ! " (Was such impudence ever
heard of before ?) Grant them this and it would be a disastrous modifi-
cation of the common-school system, which would quickly break it up.
It would be an abandonment of the principles on which the system is
founded, for it would be applying the moneys of the state to the support
of schools belonging to, and under the direction of, one church. Every
other church in the land would by this means be forced, in self-defense,
to ask for its portion of the common-school fund, and thus the system
of public instruction by the state would be extinguished, and with it the
general intelligence of the people would disappear in one generation, and
then comes the blight and curse of religious bondage, and the subjuga-
tion of body and soul to czars, kings, and rulers, whose policy has ever
been to prostitute religion into an instrument for the gratification of their
own passions. These views have been advanced before, by wiser and
better men than myself, and will doubtless be indorsed by every one
who loves his country.
I do hope that you will devote some of your time to the " things "
who compose the Board of Education ; follow them up ; strike, as your
150 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
correspondent says, while the iron is hot ; keep their names and votes
before the people. The time has arrived when these political shambles,
where men oflfer themselves for prostitution, must be broken up ; when
every corrupt and unprincipled man who is placed in office by fraud and
intrigue, and who goes there to trade and barter the rights of the people,
must reform, resign, or be drummed from the city. It is useless to talk
of legal redress when our ballot-boxes are stuffed, our juries packed, and
our courts tampered with. We have waited patiently for five years for
this, and what are the consequences ? A bankrupt city, an oppressive tax-
ation, our wives and daughters insulted as they pass through our public
thoroughfares by the gaze of harlots, our best citizens shot down like
dogs in the streets, and our newspapers afraid to come out boldly and
manfully against these evils. Thank God, you have commenced right !
"We look to the " Bulletin " as the advocate of purity and honesty among
our public men, and as the terror of rascals. Continue as you have
commenced, and you will be sustained by every good citizen.
J. H. C.
Editors True Californian, — I have neither the time, the incli-
nation, nor the ability to engage in a newspaper controversy. I felt an
honest indignation at what I conceived to be a usurpation of power and
betrayal of confidence by the People's Nominating Committee ; I ex-
pressed my views freely, in conversation, and found that some of our best
citizens and strongest supporters of the Vigilance Committee coincided
with me, and partly by their advice I published the letter in your paper
of this morning. I shall now say a word or two in regard to your review
of it, and lea,ve the subject to rest where it is. And in the first place,
allow me to express my thanks for your compliments for amiability, which
trait in my character, I fear, would hardly have been discovered by the
perusal of my letter. Since you have so kindly " disrobed " my article of
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 151
" all verbosity and denunciation," and exposed the smallness of my stat-
ure, may I not be excused for removing the web of sophistry which you
have so ingeniously woven around the acts of the committee, and see if
there is no deformity hid under its folds. When you charge my letter
with being a string of " suspicions without foundation, and accusations
without proof," you should at least have attempted to substantiate your
charge, and avoided falling into the same error yourselves which you
convict me of in so summary a manner. You say there can be no ques-
tion that when the People's party first nominated their committee, they
did not expect to make legislative nominations (that is your meaning,
if not your words). Now, is not this an assertion without proof, and
if not " gammon and bile," is it not erroneous ? I assert that it is, and
for proof, I refer to the acts of the committee themselves. They un-
derstood that they were to nominate an entire ticket, and they did so.
The people were satisfied with it. The press (leaving out party political
papers) said nothing against it ; and no one, I presume, but those behind
the scenes^ ever dreamed of its being withdrawn, — or any part of it. You
say that a minority of the committee were at first opposed to making
legislative nominations. , I do not know the political views of this
minority, but I have reason to believe that they belong to the republi-
can party. One, at least, I am sure does. (Can you inform me on this
point ?)
Again you say, to make a bargain and sale, there must be a give as
well as a take ; and pray, sirs, was it not so in this case ? Did not the re-
publican party give to the People's Committee a pledge of their support
to the municipal ticket ? and for what ? Let us see what the considera-
tion is. Why, simply this : that they should withdraw their legislative
ticket ; this is the take. The republicans then select from this aban-
doned ticket all who belong to their party, and what do they gain by
the trade ? They get the indorsement of about one half of their legisla-
152 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
tive ticket by the People's Committee. This is so much clear gain ; it
insures the election of one half of their legislative ticket, and gives addi-
tional strength to aid in running in the other half. A most capital bar-
gain for them. They get the sheriff and about one half of the other
municipal officers, and the whole of their legislative ticket, and they get
all of these by the aid and management of the People's Committee. See-
ing these things just as they are, and " not in a false light," I would be
recreant to my convictions of duty if I did not use my influence against
them. I agree with you that the People's party are honest, and have
nothing at heart but the good of the city, and it grieves me to see cor-
rupt politicians and designing men endeavoring — and successfully too
— to use that party for the advancement of personal aggrandizement
and party end. Front Street.^
October, 1856.
"front street" again.
It is not fair for us, who have thirty-two columns of a newspaper
every morning at our disposal, to bear too hard upon, or talk too sharply
to, our amiable — for he is amiable, in spite of his modesty — correspond-
ent, who favors us now and then with his views.
He informs us this morning that he has " neither the time, the inclina-
tion, nor the ability to engage in a newspaper controversy." We are
glad to hear that his business is so prosperous as to monopolize all his
leisure ; but with respect to his inclinatiori and ability, he is mistaken.
He possesses both. His by no means unfrequent contributions to the
press prove the first, and the very sharp reply which we publish this
morning more than substantiates the last. But " Front Street," like all
mistaken persons after having enunciated an error, is determined to stick
^ A nom de plume frequently used by Mr. Coghill.
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 153
up to it, though the proof should appear incontrovertible against him
to the eyes of an outsider.
He should not permit himself to be led off from the main issue, even
though a committee should abuse its trust, and violate the public confi-
dence.
The argument — even admitting for the present its reality — that the
committee is in fault in w^hat they did in respect to the withdrawal of the
legislative nominees, by no means proves that the municijial ticket they
have presented is not a good one, and one worthy of the confidence and
respect of all patriotic citizens. That mind is exceedingly unsteady in
its operations, and that attachment to principle but wavering, which
would permit a citizen to abandon a great truth for a trivial error, and
because the most minute act was not done to suit his predilections, should
ignominiously turn his back upon a great reform, and surrender all that
had been gained, rather than suffer a temporary and insignificant check.
The true philosopher acknowledges no such childish disgust, but moves
on in his course, like the sun in the heavens, though comets sometimes
cross his track, and clouds often obscure his light. Our correspondent
yesterday announced his determination to fight against the People's
ticket ; we hope that he may review his sudden and most unreasonable
alliance with principles which we know he detests, and magnanimously
veer around once more to the true meridian, and point like a magnet
to the pole.
In his reply this morning, he innocently asks if we are not mistaken
in supposing that the people did not intend to have legislative, as well
as municipal nominations, made by their committee ? We certainly
think not. The principle lying at the bottom of the whole movement
was such, that to make political nominations would necessarily contra-
vene it. The object of the people was, most assuredly, to elect honest
men to ofiice in this city and county, irrespective of political preferences.
20
154 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
They had no design of revolutionizing the entire State ; they did not aim
at the election of a United States Senator ; their sole object was munici-
pal reform. Hence no one of them could have reasonably supposed that
the committee would venture to take in charge objects which they did
not have in view, and meddle with political questions, when their whole
intention was to escape from partisan thraldom.
For these reasons, we do not believe the committee ever had the
power to make these nominations, and hence it was no violation of duty
or principle to withdraw them.
Now a word or two about the bargains. Our correspondent still
thinks that the republicans secured some advantage by the course pur-
sued by the committee. He says : " Let us see what the consideration
is. Why, simply this: that they should withdraw their legislative
ticket ; this is the take. The republicans then select from the aban-
doned ticket all who belong to their own party, and what do they gain
by the trade ? They get the indorsement of about one half of their leg-
islative ticket by the People's Committee ; this is so much clear gain."
Now we are actually ashamed of the logic ^ of " Front Street," and feel
inclined to take back the compliment with which we set out to his ability.
He says that the republicans get the indorsement of one half their leg-
islative ticket by the People's Committee. Please to tell us when, where,
and how I Why, he is complaining that the committee withdrew all
their nominations ; how, then, have they indorsed one half of them ? It
is a queer way to indorse a ticket by blowing it to atoms.
Here is the great error of our correspondent. Withdrawing the leg-
islative ticket is one thing ; indorsing the republican ticket is another,
^ Mr. Coghill, in a rejoinder, sustains his logic by averring that in making
the nominations, the committee gave their indorsement to the nominees, and
their withdrawing the ticket afterwards, only because of doubts as to their
power to nominate a state ticket, in no way canceled the indorsement.
THE FAMILY OF OOGHILL. 155
and a very different thing. If the committee had done both, then there
would have been a bargain and sale — a give and a take. But they
stopped short of the mark ; and hence all this twaddle about " selling
the people," " treachery," and " corruption " amounts to nothing at all.
But even if it were all true, it would afford no reason for abandoninsf
the ticket, as now before the people. The candidates themselves are no
parties to the fraud, — admitting one to have been perpetrated, — and the
sins of the committee ought not to be visited on the innocent heads of the
candidates and the people. Let our correspondent seriously revolve
these things in his mind, and we are confident, from his known honesty
and integrity, that he will yet be found battling for reform against
ruffianism, and for his country against her spoilsmen.
TO MISS
(^Published in the " Ray and Literary Offering,''^ Baltimore.')
"Again I strike my harp, which must aside be lain,
And bid farewell to one I ne'er may see again."
I MET thee in my early youth, ere I had learned to love.
When hope first dawned upon my soul like gleams from realms above;
No sorrow then had dimm'd my brow, no withering anguish thrown
Its blighting shadows o'er my heart, like flowers by tempest strown.
I heard the music of thy voice, like wild birds' warbling song.
And saw thy symmetry of form, as thou didst glide along ;
I felt the magic of the glance that beamed from thy soft eyes,
And gazed upon thy lofty brow, that artist-dream outvies.
I stood beside thy couch of pain, when sickness o'er thee threw
Its agonizing, withering blight, whose pangs no resting knew ;
'Twas then thy calm and peaceful look, like seraph's from above.
Beamed sweetly in upon my heart, and won my early love.
156 THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
But thou wert all too bright to share the sorrows of my heart,
And tho' its cords should strain and snap, 't were best that we should part;
Thy path will e'er be joyous, thy sky be ever bright,
While mine must be as dark and wild as winter's stormy night.
Farewell ! thou bright and joyous one, upon whose lightsome heart,
If sorrow's hand has e'er been laid, may its impress now depart;
And midst thy brighter, happier hours, let memory sometimes steal
Thy thoughts away, to dwell with him whose joy will be thy weal.
November, 1845. J. Henry Coghill.
TO J. HENRY COGHILL.
Oh stern indeed must be the minstrel's heart.
In the world's dusty highway doomed to move,
Who with life's sunshine and its flowers can part,
Who strikes his harp, and sings farewell to love.
To love 1 the beam that colors all our light
As the red rays illume the light of day.
Whose rose-hue once extinguished from the sight
Leaves the life-landscape of a dull, cold gray.
To love ! the ethereal, the Promethean spirit,
That bids the dust with life divine be moved.
The only memory that we still inherit
Of the lost Eden where our parents roved.
O hopeless bard ! recall that farewell strain,
Nor from thy heart let this fond hope depart ;
Recall the utterance of thy cold disdain.
Thy doubt of love, the atheism of the heart.
Baltimore, November 28, 1845. **
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 157
TO
(Published in the " Baltimore Saturday Review.")
Oh 1 think not that the minstrel's heart is stern,
Though joyous notes no longer swell his song,
And the neglected fires have ceased to burn
On love's pure altar, where they flickered long.
Nor deem that he who once so fondly loved,
Ere youth's bi-ight sunshine with its flowers had past,
Could not again by beauty's power be moved.
And won, through friendship, back to love at last.
'T is true his harp breathed forth in mournful strains
A farewell song to unrequited love;
But think not that the "hopeless bard " disdains
That pure, undying passion from above.
For though love's flowers lie scattered at his feet.
Their fragrance gone, their beauty all decayed.
May they not bloom again, — as fresh, as sweet, —
If some kind heart their care once more assayed ?
A new-born hope comes trembling with thy song !
He '11 tune his harp, "recall his farewell strain; "
And oft his hands shall sweep its cords along,
And waken notes of love and joy again !
December, 1845. J. Henry Coghill.
168 THE FAMILY OF OOGHILL.
THE LOST BRIDE.
The night is ci'owned with glory, and the stars resplendent beam,
But my heart is throbbing wildly with its jjain.
For my fondest hopes have perished, they have vanished like a dream,
I shall never see my darling's face again.
The days were long and happy, while I drew her to my side.
While I whispered love's sweet story in her ears.
For the earth, with all its treasures, held not one like my dear bride,
But now my eyes are blinded by my tears !
Now my heart is yearning sadly for a touch of her sweet hand.
And I long to hear her silver voice once more ;
But she 's crossed the silent river now, and with, the angel band
She is waiting for me on the other shore I
Through the mist I see their snowy robes, I see their harps of gold,
And I long to catch the ear-enchanting strain ;
I shall shortly meet the boatman, and we '11 cross the river cold,
And I '11 clasp my darling to my heart again !
San Francisco, 1864. A. J. Coghill.
DREAMLAND.
In dreams she comes, in dreams I see her form,
And feel a joy the day can never give ;
She comes with heart so tender, true, and warm.
That I would rather dream of her than live.
Fairer and lovelier than the flowers is she ;
Not brighter do the stars of heaven beam
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL. 159
Upon the earth, than her fond eyes on me,
As hovering near me, while I sleep and dream.
In dreams I hear the music of her voice, —
Oh that my slumbers may be long and deep !
I hear it, and it makes my heart rejoice
To know she hovers round me while I sleep.
Waking, what matters if the world be cold ;
AVhat matters it if wealth and friends shall flee ?
Dearer to me than friendship, smile, or gold,
Are the sweet dreams in which she comes to me.
To such sweet fancies do my dreams give birth,
More joyous to me is the night than day ;
So gladly would I leave this cold, dull earth.
And, sleeping sweetly, dream my life away.
San Francisco, 1864. A. J. Coghill.
NO MORE, NO MORE.^
{Written for the '■'■ Alta California.^ ^)
Oh, tell me, gentle spirits, tell me, if to the heart
Which once has held the prize of love, but let the charm depart,-
Oh, tell me, if in after time you can the boon restore ?
Sadly the spirits answered me, ' ' No more, no more, no more I ' '
Tell me, if friendship languish, if friends coldly turn away.
To chill and desolate the heart, in after years Avill they
Return again to gladden us? Oh, tell me, I implore.
Again the spirits answered me, " No more, no more, no more I "
160
THE FAMILY OF COGHILL.
You who with love's or friendship's thrill have felt your bosom swell,
Oh never let the treasure die, but keep and guard it well;
For if it once shall take its flight for other climes to soar,
It will return to make you glad — " no more, no more, no more ! "
San Francisco, October 14, 1863. A. J. Coghill.
THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBY
OF SCRIVEN HALL.
THE ANCESTORS OF THE COGHILLS ON THE MATERNAL
SIDE.
SCRIVEN HALL.
" A SEAT of tlie ancient family of the Slingsbys,-' pleasantly situated in
the park on the right of the road leading from Knaresborough to Ripley.
It has undergone many alterations. Some additions were made to it in
the early part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and a full suite of rooms
then finished were first occupied by Thomas, the seventh Earl of North-
umberland, brother to Lady Mary Slingsby. The new front was added,
with many other improvements, and the road made through the park,^
by Sir Henry Slingsby, about the year 1730. A winding walk, near a
mile in extent, leads from the west side of the house through a very fine
wood of elm and beech trees, whose foliage meeting above forms a most
pleasing solitary shade, rendered still more agreeable by the distant
clamor of the rookery, and the soft notes of the plaintive stock-doves."
— Hargrove^ s History of Knaresborough.
1 See a description of the Red House, another seat of the heads of the
Slingsby family, page 172.
3 Anciently styled Heal Park (heal, Saxon, hall), q. d.. Hall Park.
p
<
o
o
o
>^
O
u
>
PART VII.
THE FAMILY OF SLTNGSBY.
THE ANCESTORS OF THE COGHILLS ON THE MATERNAL SIDE.
ri^HE family of Slingsby is, to a greater or less extent,
-*- identified with English history for a long period. Its
members intermarried at an early date with the Percys,
the, heads of which house were successively the earls of
Northumberland J and, later, with several other noble
families. Many of them held high positions under their
government, and some were the recipients of special
honors from their sovereigns. One, from deliberately
matured convictions of duty, the sublimest of all prompt-
ings, suffered the loss of his fortune and his head, for his
loyalty to his king ; and one, from the impulse of a noble
and generous nature, lost his own life in trying to save
that of his servant. The descendants from such men,
who do not look back with noble pride of lineage, can
hardly be expected to emulate their virtues, or to be-
queath to posterity like laudable examples.
As the Coghills were all descended on the maternal
side from the Slingsbys by the marriage of Thomas CogJiill,
164 THE FAMILY OF SLING SBT.
Esq., son and heir of John Cockhill, Gentleman, the first
ancestor of whom we find any record, with Margery,
daughter of John SHngsby, Esq., of Scriven, that fam-
ily belongs also to our ancestry ; and to make our pedi-
gree more full and complete, we propose to add to it a
part of theirs, together with some sketches of the more
prominent members of the family.
The Slingsbys are, as we learn from various authors, a
very ancient and famous family, being descended on the
maternal side from one Gamel, the king's forester, who
settled near Knaresborough soon after the Conquest. He
had a confirmation of his lands in Scriven by Henry I.
(a. d. 1100 to 1135). He was the first of his house who
enjoyed the feudal honor of capital or chief forester of
the forests and parks of Knaresborough. The posterity
of this Gamel took the name of Scriven from their habi-
tation.
Joanna de Scriven, the fourth in descent from Gamel,
and daughter of Henry de Scriven by his wife Alice,
daughter of Richard de Caperon, of Scotton, was heiress
to her father's estates, and carried the manor of Scriven,
with several others, and also the dignity of capital for-
ester of the forests and parks of Knaresborough, into the
family of Slingsby, by intermarrying with William de
SUngshy of Studley, in 1357. This William de Slingsby of
Studley, in whose issue the families of Slingshi/ and Scriven
THE FAMILY OF SLINGS BY. 165
were thus united, was son of John de SUngshy (great-
grandson of William de Sclingisli/e, of Sclingisbye, in the
North Riding of Yorkshire), by his wife Agnes, daughter
of WilHam de Stodleigh (Studley), and heir to her brother
Wilham. By this marriage he had issue : —
Richard Slingshg, who died without issue, in the thirty-
first year of the reign of Edward III., and
Gilbert Slingshy, who married a daughter of William
Calverly, Esq., and had issue : —
William Slingshy, who married the daughter of Thomas
Banks, Esq., of Whixley, and had issue : —
Richard Slingshy, who married Anne, daughter and co-
heiress of John Nesfield, bv whom he had the manors of
Scotton, Brereton, and Thorp ; and had issue : —
William Slingsbg, living in the twentieth year of Henry
VI., who married Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Plompton,
of Plompton, Knight, and had issue, William, John, Rob-
ert, Thomas, and Agnes, who married Thomas Knares-
borough.
William Slingsby, Esq., of Scriven, son and heir, married
Janet, daughter of Sir John Melton, of Afton, Knight, and
had issue : —
John Slingsby, of Scriven, son and heir, chief forester
of Knaresborough, who married Joan, daughter of Walter
Calverly, Esq., of Calverly, and had issue : —
John ; Jane, prioress of Nun-Monkton ; Margery, wife
166 THE FAMILY OF SLING SB Y.
of Thomas Coghill, Esq., of Coghill Hall, and Margaret, wife
of William Tancred, Esq.
John SUngsly, Esq., son and heir, married Margery,
daughter of Simon Pooley, of Badley, in Suffolk. He was
mortally wounded at the battle of Flodden-field, Septem-
ber 9, 1513, and died four days after. He had issue,
Thomas, John, MarmaduJce, Peter, Simon, Anne, 3Iargery,Wi^e
of Walter Pullein, Esq., of Scotton, and Isalel John and
Marmaduke died without issue. Peter married, and had
issue, one daughter. Simon married, and had issue, CJiris-
iopher, Robert, and Feter, which Peter was the father oiBk
Anthony Slingshy, Governor of Zutphen, in the Low Coun-
tries, who was advanced to the degree of an English bar-
onet, October 23, 1628, but as he died without issue, in
1630, the title in this branch became extinct. Anne and
Isabel both married.
Thomas Slingshy, Esq., of Scriven, eldest son and heir,
married Joan, daughter of Sir John Mallory, Knight, of
Studley, and had issue : —
Francis, MarmaduJce, Christopher, William, Peter, Thomas,
Elizaleth, Dorothy, Anne, Joanna. Marmaduke married
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Mallory, of Studley.
Christopher married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Tan-
cred, of Pannall. William, Peter, and Thomas died with-
out issue ; the daughters all married.
Francis Slingshy, of Scriven, eldest son and heir, married
THE FAMILY OF SLING SBT. 167
Mary, only sister of Thomas and Henry Percy, who were
successively Earls of Northumberland.-^ This lady died
in 1598, aged sixty-six years, and Francis died in 1600.
They were both buried in the Slingsby family chapel, on
the north side of the choir, in Knaresborough Church.
On an altar tomb are placed fine and full-length figures
of each. The knight is in complete armor, except hel-
met, which is placed under his head ; a small frill encir-
cles the upper part of the neck, his beard flowing grace-
fully in ringlets over his breast. On his left side is his
sword, and on his right, at some distance, lies his dagger ;
his hands are elevated, and at his feet lies a lion, the
crest of the family.
The lady is habited in a long white robe, her head
resting on a pillow ; on her right side, upon the skirt
of her robe, are the arms of Percy and Brabant ; one
foot rests against a crescent, as the other, now broken
off, formerly did against a lion passant, both crests of the
1 Tliis Henry Percy was the father of Captain Percy, who succeeded Cap-
tain Smith as President of the Virginia Colony (1609). "Percy, who suc-
ceeded Smith as president, came over in the first fleet ; he was brother to the
Earl of Northumberland [his father had died, and his eldest brother Henry
had succeeded him. — Compiler], and was esteemed for honor, courage, and
industry ; he had been, for some time, in bad health, and had taken his pas-
sage for England ; but when Smith was disabled, and advised to return to
England, he yielded to the solicitations of the people and took upon himself
the government of the Colony." — Southern Literary Messenger, vol. ii., p. 352.
168 THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBY.
Percys. The inscriptions are in Latin, and of great
length, covering two pages in the " History of Knares-
borough." In the same chapel is a full-length figure of
Sir William Slingsby, son of Francis, born in 1562, died
in 1624. It stands in a niche. His head reclines a little
on one hand, the elbow resting on the guard of his sword ;
the other hand hangs down and holds a shield with fam-
ily arms. Pennant, in his " Tour from Alston Moor to
Harrowgate," says of this figure, after having minutely
described it, " It is one of the best sculptures I have
seen in any of our churches." There is also a very long
Latin inscription on this monument.
Francis had nine sons and three daughters, namely:
(1) Thomas, drowned in the river Nidd while endeavoring
to save his servant, in 1581, in the twenty-eighth year of
his age; (2) Francis and (2>) Henry, both died young;
(i) Sir Henry; (6) Arthur, who died without issue;
(6) Charles, who was a clergyman, married and had issue ;
(7) Sir William; {8) Sir Guilford; (9) Sir Francis. The
three daughters were Eleanor, Anne, who died young, and
Elisaleth. Sir William, whose monument is referred to
above, was the founder of the Kippax branch, and was
made Commissioner General in 1595, Cibicida Honorarius
to Anne Queen Consort, in 1603, and one of the deputy
lieutenants of Middlesex in 1617. He married EHzabeth,
daughter of Sir Stephen Board, of Sussex, and had issue,
THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBT. 169
William, died young ; Elisaheth, married Jolin Villiers,
Viscount Parbeck, eldest brother of George, first Duke of
Buckingham by that name ; Henri/, Master of the Mint to
King Charles 11,, and as such said to be the author of
that notable motto on British coins, " Decus et Tutamen."
He married a daughter of Sir Cage, and had issue,
Henry, who married Katherine, daughter of Sir William
Lowther, and died without issue, 1695; and Anthony, who
died unmarried, April 3, 1697, when the male issue of Sir
William became extinct. Sir Guilford [S) was comptroller
of the navy in the reign of James I. He married Marga-
ret, daughter of William Water, Alderman of York, and
had issue twelve children : Guilford,^ Rohert, Percie, Wal-
ter, George, Francis, Arthur, William, and four daughters,
Dorothy, Margaret, Maria, and Anne. Robert and Walter
were colonels in the king's army, and were at the siege of
Bristol, in 1645, where they were of Prince Rupert's Coun-
cil of War. Whitlock's " Memorials," p. 460, relates that
July 9, 1650, " an act passed for the trial of Walter
1 '• Guilford was M. A. of St. Andrews, and was incorporated in Oxford, No-
vember 14, 1629. He was Secretary to the Earl of Strafford, and by him was
made lieutenant of the ordnance, and Vice-Admiral of Munster. At the
earl's trial, he managed his papers for him, and gave evidence in his behalf.
During the parliamentary war, he levied a regiment in York, was defeated in
an engagement with Sir Hugh Cholmley, badly wounded, and taken prisoner.
Both legs were amputated in order to save his life, but he survived the opera-
tion only three days. He was buried in York Minster." — Appendix to Diary
of Sir H. Slingshy.
22
170 THE FAMILT OF SLINGSBT.
Slingsby" and others, "by an high court of justice."
Arthur was created a baronet at Bruges, October 9, 1657.
Sir Francis^ (9) Knight, of Kihiiore, near Cork, was
Constable of Haulbohne, and of the Royal Council of
the Province of Munster. He married in 1605, and had
issue two sons, Francis and Henry, and five daughters.
Henry was knighted ; one of the daughters was mother
of the celebrated Henry Dodwell. She is said, in the
" Biographia Britannica," to have died at the house of her
brother, Sir Henry.
Sir Henry, fourth but eldest surviving son of Fran-
cis and Mary Slingsby, succeeded to the representation
of the family. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and
held sundry offices under the Duchy of Lancaster ; was
one of the Council of the North, and several times vice-
president. He married Frances, daughter of William Va-
vasour, Esq., of Weston (by his wife, daughter and heir
of Sir Leonard Beckwith, of Selby, Knight, and Elizabeth,
his wife, daughter and co-heir of Sir Robert Cholmeley,
Knight, Chief Justice of England). He had issue, William,
killed at Florence, 1617 j^ Henry, of whom presently;
^ For several extraordinary instances of this gentleman's military prowess,
see Stafibrd's Pacata Hihernia.
2 In "Instructions for Mr. Snell, for the guidance of his pupil, William
Slingsby " (during his travels on the Continent), dated 31st March, 1610, Sir
Henry directs him to " send all letters to London, to Mr. Philip Bourlemache,
near the Exchange, and from thence to be sent to Mr. John Coghill, near
THE FAMILY OF SLING SBT. 171
Thomas (said in the printed pedigrees to have died in
France in 1617), who was a colonel in the King's army
during the rebellion, was at the siege of York, and " had
a fine set for his loyalty in 1646," died without issue
in February, 1670, and was buried on the 11th of that
month at Knaresborough ; Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas
Metcalf ; Mary^ wife of Sir Walter Bethel ; Catherine, wife
of Sir John Fenwick ; Alice, wife of Thomas Waterton,
Esq, ; Anne, died unmarried ; Frances, wife of Bryan Sta-
pleton, Esq., and Eleanor, wife of Sir Arthur Ingram. Sir
Henry died 17th, and was buried at Knaresborough
Church, 28 th December, 1634. Sir Henry Sling sly, of
Scriven, eldest surviving son and heir, was born in 1601.
He was at school under Mr. Otby, parson of Foston, in
the North Riding of Yorkshire. In January, 1618, he was
entered a Fellow-Commoner of Queen's College, Cam-
bridge, where he resided till 1621, at which time, in
company with his tutor, he made a tour of the Continent.
From this period until his marriage, his time seems to
have been spent between Yorkshire and London, in which
city his father possessed considerable property.^ He was
created Baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I., 1638, as
may be seen by the original letters patent, under the
Blackwell-ball, and from thence to Thomas Scoley, at Wafefeilde." This
John Coghill was probably the son of Marmaduke.
1 Family papers.
172 THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBT.
great seal of Scotland, now remaining at Scriven : " Apud
Shriveling secimdo die mensis 3Iariij, Anno Domini millesimo
sexcentesimo trigesimo octavo, et anno regni nri decimo tertior
The king had a short time previously (1633) honored
him with a visit to the Eed House.-^ The bed on which
the royal guest slept is still preserved.
^ The Red House, situated on the southern bank of the river Ouse, about
Beven miles northwest of York, was formerly the seat of the Oughtreds, one
of whom granted to William Fairfax, Esq., and his heirs, " free liberty to
hunt, hawk, and fish in his manor ; rendering, for all, one red rose at mid-
summer. In the year 1562, Francis Slingsby, Esq., purchased the Eed House
and Scagglethorp, of Robert Oughtred, Esq., and the house was built by Sir
Henry Slingsby, in the reign of Charles I., except the chapel, which was
built by his father." It is still in the Slingsby family. On the south front
of the house is inscribed, —
PRO TERMING VITAE,
SIC NOS, NON NOBIS.
On the west front, —
PAULISPEU ET RELUCEBIS,
ET IPSE M. R. 29, 1652.
Under which is the fijrure of a settino; sun.
In the room called the Star-Chamber are four shields of arms, beautifully
stained on glass: first, Slingsby and Mallory; second, Slingsby and Percy;
third, Slingsby and Vavasour; and fourth, Slingsby and Bellasyse. In this
room also are the figures of Truth, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude, sup-
porting a carved chimney-piece ; in the divisions of which are symbolical rep-
resentations of the five senses, well executed. The great staircase is thus
described in the Memoirs of Sir Henry Slingsby : "The staircase is above
five feet within the rails in width, the posts eight inches square ; upon every
post a crest is set, of some one of my especial friends, and of my brothers-in-
law; and upon that post that bears up the half-pace, that leads into the painted
THE FAMILY OF SLING SBY. 173
Clarendon, referring to him in his " History of the
RebelHon," says : —
chamber, there sits a blackamoor (cast in lead, by Andrew Karne), with a
candlestick in each hand, to set a candle in, to give light to the staircase."
Among the crests set in the posts are those of the Earl of Pembroke, Sir
Walter Vavasour, who married a daughter of Lord Falconberg, and therefore
brother-in-law to Lady Slingsby, Bryan Stapleton, Thomas Watterton,
Thomas Ingram, Sir Walter Bethel, Sir Thomas Metcalf, Sir John Fenwick
(whose son. Colonel John, was slain at Marston Moor), all brothers-in-law to
Sir Henry ; Thomas, Viscount of Falconberg, Lady Slingsby's father, Henry
Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, Sir William Savile, Algernon Percy, tenth Earl
of Northumberland, Lord Ferdinand Fairfax, and Sir Charles Slingsby,
Knight, a relation of Sir Henry who was slain at Marston Moor, and buried in
York Minster. On the 24th of August, 1665, the Duke of York, afterwards
James H., honored Sir Thomas Slingsby with his and his duchess' comjjany,
at the Red House.
The chapel is a neat building paved with black and white marble. The
seats and pulpit are oak, embellished with Gothic ornaments. In the east
window, above the communion table, are the following paintings on glass:
the arms of Thomas Morton, Bishop of Litchfield, who consecrated the
chapel; the arms of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In the centre
of the window are the Slingsby arms, with fifteen quarterings, and a margin
round the shield, whereon are inscribed the marriages of some of the ancestors
of that family. On the south side of the chapel are two windows. In one
are the heads of five of the Apostles, and in the other, the figures of Faith,
Charity, and Justice; also the arms of the King of England and the Prince of
Wales.
The Red House is about two miles from Marston Moor. It ceased to be
the family residence about the middle of the last centurj^. Sir Thomas, son
of Sir Thomas Turner Slingsby, caused the greater part of it to be pulled
down. Two pillars of a gateway were removed, and now stand at the en-
trance gateway into Scriven Park. — Hargrove.
174 'THE FAMILY OF SLING SBT.
" Sir Henry Slingshy was in the first rank of the gentlemen of York-
shire, and was returned to serve as a member in the Parliament that con-
tinued so many years, where he sat till the troubles began, and having
no relation to or dependence upon the Court, he was swayed only by
his conscience to detest the violent and undutiful behavior of that Par-
liament. He was a gentleman of good understanding, but of a melan-
cholic nature, and of very few words ; and when he could stay no longer
with a good conscience in their councils, he returned to the country, and
joined with the first who took up arms for the King, and when the war
was ended, he remained still in his own house, prepared and disposed to
run the fortunes of the Crown in any other attempt, and having a good
fortune, and a general reputation, he had a greater influence upon the
people than they who talked more and louder, and was known to be
irreconcilable to the new government, and was therefore cut off. He,
with John Mordaunt, and Dr. Hewet, an earnest preacher in London,
were the first brought before the High Court of Justice (?), of which
John Lisle, who gave his vote in the King's blood, and continued an
entire confidant and instrument of Cromwell, was president.
" Mordaunt escaped by bribing some of the judges ; Sir Henry and Dr.
Hewet were less fortunate, and their blood was the more thirsted after,
for the other's indemnity. The former had been two years in prison, in
Hull, and was brought now up to the Tower, for fear they might not
discover enough of any new plot to make so many formidable examples
as the present conjuncture required. The charge against him was that
he had contracted with some ofiicers in Hull, two years before, for the
delivery of one of the Block Houses to him for the King's service. He
did not care to defend himself against the accusation, but rather ac-
knowledged and justified his affection, and owned his loyalty to the
King, with very little compliment or ceremony to the present power.
Notwithstanding very great intercession to preserve him, for he was
THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBT. 175
uncle to Lord Falconberg, who engaged his wife and all his new allies
to intercede for him, he was condemned and beheaded. When he was
brought to die, he spent very little time in discourse, but told them he
was to die for being an honest man, of which he was glad."
Playfair says of him : —
" He did and suffered much for Charles I. ; having a large estate, he
spent the greater part of it in the King's service, and for doing so, the
Parliament sequestered the rest ; he brought six hundred men, horse
and foot, into the field, to assist the Prince, and did more real service
than any other gentleman in Yorkshire, being constantly in action, until
he was overpowered and taken prisoner."
Burke remarks : —
" Sir Henry adhered to the King through all his troubles, had his
estates sequestered and sold,^ and lived a ruined man, till 1658, when
for an attempt, unhappily for him, a little too early made, to restore
his Majesty, Charles II., he was beheaded after a mock trial, before a
pretended Court, 8th June, 1658, on Tower Hill, being the time and
place also of the execution of the eminent Dr. Hewet."
Hargrove's " Knaresborough " contains a full pedigree
of the Slingsby family, and referring to Sir Henry, says :
" He was a man of deeds, rather than words ; he said very little upon
his trial, and as little upon the scaffold, persisting in his loyalty, and
told the people he died for being an honest man."
^ They were bought in for him by Mr. Stapleton and Mr. Slingsby Bethell,
whom he mentions in the Father's Legacy as his " friendly trustees."
176 THE FAMILY OF SLING SBT.
The opinion of the repubhcan General Ludlow, on tlie
trial and sentence of Sir Henry, is a valuable record of
the general impression which they made on the minds of
a party very unfriendly to him, and to all loyalty : —
" Sir Henry Slingsby was called to tlie bar, and the witnesses on each
side being heard, he was pronounced guilty, though in the opinion of many
men he had very hard measure. For it appeared that he was a prisoner
at the time when he was charged to have practiced against the govern-
ment; that he was a declared enemy, and therefore by the laws of
war, free to make any such attempt : Besides it was alleged that the
persons whom he was accused of having endeavoured to corrupt, had
trapan'd him by their promises to serve the King in delivering Hull, if
he would give them a commission to act for him. But all this being not
thought sufficient to excuse him he was adjudged to die." — 3Iemoirs,
vol. i., p. GOG.
In one of the rooms in the Public Library of Boston
is Copley's historical painting of " King Charles L de-
manding, in the House of Commons, the five impeached
members," a. d. 1641-42. There are fifty-eight portraits
in this picture, and among them, one of Sir Henry
Slingsby. The descriptive pamphlet says : —
" Of the other party in this group is Sir Henry Slingsby ; he stands
behind Whitlocke, a little raised above the level of the floor, his eyes
steadfastly fixed upon the countenance of Charles. His temper was in-
clined to sorrow and melancholy ; he opposed, from the beginning, the
measures of the republicans, and at length terminated on the scaffold a
close confinement of two years in the common prison of Hull."
THE FAMILY OF SLING SB T. Ill
We have at this writino; received from London a book
ordered some time since, entitled " The Diary of Sir
Henry SHngsby, of Scriven, Bart., now first published en-
tire from the MS. A reprint of ' Sir Henry Slingsby's
Trial.' His rare tract, ' A Father's Legacy.' Extracts
from Family Correspondence, etc." By Rev. Daniel Par-
sons, M. A. London, 1836. The editor, in his preface,
says : —
" And had it so happened that Sir Henry Slingsby was to be spoken
of merely as a link in a chain of respectable ancestry, it wonld have
been scarcely possible to avoid feeling, that in such times, a chivalrous
and loyal character might have been expected in him : but we find him
rather exceeding the high standard of the patriotism of his day, than
falling short of it, and throwing into the shade his unblemished descent
by the lustre of his personal history."
The "Diary" commences in 1638 and ends in 1648,
the last entry being in reference to the execution of the
King ! At this crisis. Sir Henry, with characteristic loy-
alty, gives up all notice of public events. The lack of
space restricts us to a few quotations from the " Diary,"
" Trial," and " A Father's Legacy ; " the latter contains
more sound advice for young men than is often found in
so small a compass. In the " Correspondence " are very
many interesting letters, not only from members of the
family, but also from many of the most prominent men
of the times, among whom were Bryan and Thomas
23
178 THE FAMILY OF SLING SB T.
Fairfax, of the same family as the Fairfaxes of America.
There are also in the work fac-simile autographs of twen-
ty-seven distinguished persons, including Charles I., Sir
Henry Slingsby, and the Duke of Buckingham. It must
be remembered that Sir Henry's writings are in the
style of the middle of the seventeenth century, a period
when there were few, if any, examples of what would now
be considered elegant writing, and a diary is the last place
where carefulness of expression is to be looked for.
The " Diary " furnishes a detail of many of the events
of those calamitous years, and gives information as to
the manner of life of a country gentleman of that day,
and enables us to form a correct estimate of the charac-
ter of the writer himself The editor, after deducing
from his diary that he was a gentleman whose disposition
and tastes would lead him to the leisure and employ-
ments of a countrj^ life, and who was rather fitted for
serving the public interest by filling the stations to which
in the common course of things he would be appointed
in his county, than in taking a lead in state policy or in
war, says : —
*' But when the new kind of circumstances in which he found himself
placed by the breaking out of the rebellion forced him, like the majority
of that class in his day, to follow the path of duty in A'ery different courses,
he addressed himself to his altered condition of life, with the energy and
consistency of a man who had one great and honest end in view — the
THE FAMILY OF SLING SB Y. 179
preservation of his country. N6r can we fail to be impressed vvitli tlio
conviction, that whatever.he did was under tlie correction of higher mo-
tives than those of human expediency; and that he owed his firmness to
the support of sober and sincere religion."
No one who has carefully examined into all the circum-
stances connected with his arrest, imprisonment, and
trial, and who has studied the character of the man, can
for a moment question his patriotism and honesty of pur-
pose, or doubt that he fell a victim to a long precon-
certed plot, by which he was entrapped into conduct
exactly such as it was known his loyalty would lead to
under the circumstances. He had been arraigned and
sentenced before an officer of the army and a commis-
sion at York, as one of the " late plotters," as may be
seen by a letter written by Col. Robert Lilburn to the
Protector in 1655, his estates sequestered, and he sent to
Hull as a prisoner, where he was held until his removal
to the Tower of London in 1658. It was during his im-
prisonment at Hull that he was entrapped by Cromwell's
decoys.
The following extracts from his diary will throw some
light upon his arrest, and show that the articles of sur-
render were violated by the Parliamentarians, which was
in keeping with their general conduct. He commences
his diary, which, during his two years of active service
in the army, had been suspended, as follows : —
180 THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBY.
" Now I will tell my own story, wliere I have been ever since I
marcliecl out of York [July 16, 1644] until f 7 of May [1646] ; for I
have now good leisure in y^ solitariness wherein I live ; & y^ setting
down y* places & times wherein I spent my two years' peregrination, &
y* taking & review thereof will serve to put off y'^ tediousness of my
close retirement ; for ever since my coming out of Newark ^ (w'^'' this day
is 27 weeks & 2 days) I have for y' most part kept w* in my hottle ; but
since they came for me, I have escap'd y™ ; & I betake myself to one
room in my house, scarce known to my servants, where I spend my
days in great sylence, scarce daring to speak or walk, but with great heed
taken least I be discovered. Ft jam veniet tacito curva senecta pede : &
why I should be thus aim'd at I know not, if my neighborhood to York
makes them not more quarrelsome. As acerima proximorum odia, so,
heat and cold if they meet in a cloud produceth thunder. My own dis-
position is to love quietness, & since y^ King will'd me to go home w"^ I
parted from him at Topcliff. ....
" I resolved to keep at home, if my Lord Mayor &, Alderman Watson
would have permitted me quietly to live there ; but they would not
suffer me to have y*^ benefit of y® articles of Newark, which gave us
liberty 3 months to live at home undisturbed ; ^ but from York they send
to take me w*'^ in y^ first month ; & all is to try me w"^ y'^ Negative oath
& national Covenant. The one makes me renounce my allegiance, y®
other my religion. For y® oath, why it should be impos'd on us not to
assist y^ King w" all means is taken from us whereby we might assist him,
and to assist in this Warr w'^^' is now come to an end & nothing in all
England held for y° King, I see no manner of reason, unless they would
have us do a wicked act, & they the authors, out of greater spite to
1 Newark was surrendered May 8, 1646.
- Article third of the surrender of Newark fully confirms this statement. It
is given by Rushworth, pp. 638-9, 40, part 3, vol. ii.
THE FAMILY OF SLING SBT. 181
wound both soul & body. For now j^ not taking of it cannot much prej-
udice y"", and y® taking of y® oath will much prejudice us, being con-
trary to former oaths w*^** we have taken ; & against civil justice, w*^*^ as
it abhors Neutrality, so it will not admit a man should falsify y® trust
w'^'^ he hath given."
In referring further on to the oaths which they re-
quired him to take, he says : —
" I should be convinced of y^ lawfulness of it before I take it & not
urged, as y^ Mahometans do their disciples, by force & not by reason.
.... By this new religion w*^'^ is impos'd you make every man y* takes
it up guilty, either of having no religion, & so become an Atheist, or
else a religion put off or on, as he doth his hat, to every one he meets ;
but you would have me conform to y* faith or the definition of faith &
religion w'^'^ you have made ! but w'*^ all see how impartiall you are,
for mutato nomine de te fahula narratur ; where in former times it was
thought grievous that conformity should be impos'd by y'' bishopps w° y"'
scruple should be only a Cap or a Sirples, you scrupled at y^ out branches
only, but we scruple to have root & branch plucked up ; therefore judge
of our scruple by your own."
When all had turned out to the wish of the usurper,
and he had ample proofs against Sir Henry of what would
have been treason, if he had been lawful Jang, still so little
could he rely upon the ordinary course of legal proced-
ure, that he denied Sir Henry, and Dr. Hewet and Mr.
Mordaunt, his fellow-prisoners, their right of trial by jury,
and had them arraigned before an unlawful body, called
182 THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBT.
a high court of justice, constituted for the occasion, and
composed exclusively of his creatures, with the infamous
Lisle as president. Sir Henry knew that his conviction
was a foregone conclusion. In his letter to ^' Persons of
Quality and Others," he says, " I insisted not much upon
my defense, nor vindication of mine innocence, for I un-
derstood it was effectless." He insisted upon his right
to be tried by a jury. We make the following extracts
from his trial : —
" Lord President. Thou here standest charged for high treason ; this
court requires that thou give a positive answer, whether guilty or not
guilty.
" Sir Henry S. I desire to have counsel assigned me.
" Lord Pres. There is matter of fact laid to your charge, which
amounts to treason, and there is no law allowed in matters of fact.
" Sir Henry S. There is also matter of law ; and I desire to be tried
by a jury, which is according to the law of the land.
" Lord Pres. We are all here your jury as well as your judges ; we
are the number of two or three juries, and your jury is well known, for
they are chosen by the Parliament; you are to plead to your indict-
ment
" Sir Henry S. If it be by the laws .of the land that the trial should
be by a jury, I desire I may have that privilege.
" Lord Pres. Acts of Parliament make justice and law ; they are
both ; they think fit to change the custom of trials that have been in
former times, and all persons must submit to it. And the Parliament
hath thought fit to make this court both jury and judges ; and therefore
I require that you answer, whether guilty or not guilty.
THE FAMILY OF SLING SB Y. 183
" Sir Henry S. I desire that the Act of Parliament may be read.
" Lord Pres Parliament has appointed this court, and his
Highness hath appointed you to be tried by us ; you ought, therefore, to
plead to your indictment.
" Sir Henry S. The law gives liberty in case of juries to the party
accused, to make his exceptions against the jury, which he cannot do
here, where you are both judge and jury.
" Lord Pres. If you have any particular exception to any man you
may make it. You were, sir, of the Parliament when this Act was
made.
" Sir Henry S. I was a prisoner at the same time.
" Lord Pres. Although a prisoner, yet you are bound by Act of
Parliament.
" Sir Henry S. I am, my lord, of an opinion (though you may count
it a paradox) that I cannot trespass against your laws because I did not
submit to them.
" Lord Pres. All the people of England must submit to the laws of
England — to the authorities of England; all must submit to my Lord
Protector and Acts of Parliament
" Sir Henry S. The laws have been so uncertain with me that I
could not well know them, and when I was a prisoner, I could not take
notice of them. I could have no benefit by your laws, because that is
no law to me which does not give me interest and property to what I
have. It is the benefit of laws that they do distinguish between meum
and tuum ; but when you take all from me, in my case it is not so."
When asked what he had to say why the court should
not proceed to judgment, he repHed : —
" My lord, I humbly desire I may be tried by a jury, for I must say
you ' are my enemies ' (pardon the expression) ; if not so why did you
184 THE FA3fILT OF SLING SBY.
sequester me, and sell my whole estate ? and why did you deny me the
act of oblivion ? There is uo man would willingly appeal to his adversa-
ries ; there are some among you that have been instrumental in my se-
questration, and in the selling of my estate, for which they gave me no
reason hut this, that I would not compound, when I thought not fit so
to do, when there was no establishment or settled peace ; if I had com-
pounded, I had not been sure whether I might not have compounded over
again ; my estate hath been sequestered, and sold; now to be my judge
and jury. I humbly pray, being a commoner, I may be tried by com-
moners."
This just and lawful right was of course denied, and
the lord president proceeded to make a speech, which
was characteristic of many of the hypocritical, canting
creatures of the ambitious and bigoted, if not hypocritical,
Cromwell : —
" Sir," said he, " was it not a great aggravation of the sins of the
Egyptians, that when God had declared Himself with so many signs in
behalf of the Israelites, that notwithstanding, they would still pursue
Moses and Israel ? Who is so great a stranger in this nation as to be
ignorant what God has done amongst us, by a series of wonderful provi-
dences so many years together, against that very party who are still
hatching treason and rebellions amongst us ? It grieves my soul to
think of it, that after so many signal providences, wherein God seems to
declare Himself (as it were by signs and wonders), that your heart still
should be hardened, I may say, more hardened than the very hearts of
the Egyptians, for they did not only see, but confessed, that the Lord
fought against them ; but you, oh, that you would confess and give glory
to God."
THE FAMILY OF SLING SBY. 185
After much more of the same sort of cant, and express-
ing great sorrow for Sh^ Henry, because " he, being a
Protestant, should assist such a confederacy as this," this
devout Christian closes by informing the prisoner " that
he shall never have done praying for him as long as he is
alive," and then " ordered the judgment of the court to
be read." The following is a copy of that humane and
Christian (of the Cromwell kind) sentence: —
" That Sir Henry Sltngsbt, as a false Traytor, to his said Highness
the Lord Protector and this Commonwealth, shall be conveyed back again
to the Tower of London, and from thence through the middle of the city
of London, directly shall be drawn unto the Gallows at Tibourn, and
upon the said Gallows there shall be hanged, and being alive, shall be
cut down to the ground, and his Entrails taken out of his Belly, and, he
living, be burnt before him ; and that his head shall be cut off, and that
his body shall be divided into four quarters," etc.
"His Highness" the Lord Protector, who was the au-
thor of the murder of Sir Henry, and of that eminent
Episcopal divine, Dr. Hewet, was " graciously pleased " to
change their sentence to beheading.
Sir Henry was beheaded 8th June, 1658, and by per-
mission of the usurper his remains were privately taken
to Yorkshire, and buried in the Slingsby Chapel in
Knaresborough Church. His tombstone is of black mar-
ble removed from St. Robert's Chapel, in Knaresborough,
186 THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBT.
belonging to the family, and bears the following inscrip-
tion : ' —
SANCTI ROBERTI
Hue Saxum advertum est sub eodemq ; nunc Jacet hie Henricus Slingesby
Henrici filius cui e Parliamento Ejecto & ex plebiscite bonis omnibus
exuto nihil aliud supererat.
Quam ut vellet Animam suam salvam esse passus est Anno Etatis
suoe LVII. Sexto Idus Junias, annoq; Christi 1658. Fidei in Regem
Legesque patrias causa : Non perjit, sed ad Meliores Sedes translatus
est a Tyranno Cromwellio Capite Mulctatus ; posuit Thomas Slingesby
Baron etus. Non Degener Nepos.
Anno^rae Christi 1693.
If this work was being prepared for general circulation
we should consider it almost a duty to embody in it
" A Father's Legacy to his Children " entire, for, as before
stated, we have rarely met with more sound and practical
advice than is contained in this dying legacy of a Christian
father. We shall, however, give only a few quotations,
— just enough to enable the reader to get an idea of the
general character of the paper. After cautioning his
sons against religious controversies and their barren re-
sults, he says : —
" How fruitlessly bestowed are those empty hours, that are employed
with what subtilty of arguments they may dispute, but never with what
^ There are a few mistakes in spelling and punctuation which the Latin
scholar can easily correct.
THE FAMILY OF SLING SB T. 187
purity they may live. Polite orators, but profane professors. Such
sophisters are but titular Christians. Believe it, there ought to be no
controversie, but conference among the servants of Christ, which being
discreetly seasoned with meekness and mildness, beget more converts to
God's honour, than a thousand fiery spirits shall ever do by speaking in
thunder."
In reference to the choice of company, he says : —
" Good acquaintance will improve both your knowledge and demean ;
by your conversing with these, you shall every day get by heart some new
lesson, that may season and accommodate you, whereas our debauched
gallantry (the greatest impostor of youth) would by their society quickly
deprave you. Now to apply a Remedy to so dangerous and infectious a
Malady, be tender of your Honour ; beware with whom you consort. Be
known to many, but familiar with few Make ever clioice of such
for your companions of whom you retain this grounded opinion, that you
have either hope to improve them, or be improved by them."
Referring to the value of time, he says : —
" And great pity it is, that our yoicth, even in the most eminent extrac-
tions, should make so light an estimate of time ; as to hold no consorts
fitter for their concerns nor corresponding with their tempers, than such
who only study a fruitless expense of time ; making no other account of
hours, than harbingers of pleasure In private and retired hours
consult with the dead ; being the best means to make men wise ; make
devout Boohs your discreet consorts : they will tell you what you are to
do without fear of censure Let it be the lowest of your scorn to
suffer your thoughts to be depressed with inferior objects."
" In the carriage of public affairs appear cautious. Many by putting
themselves upon numerous employments have lost themselves ; though
188 THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBT.
in neighborly offices to be modestly active, manifests signal arguments
oi piety. But in all concerns appear just. This will beget you a good
report among men ; and acceptance before the throne of grace. All jus-
tice is comprehended in this Word Innocence, all injustice reprehended.
" As for your hours of recreation, let them never so overtake you
as to make your thoughts strangers in what most concerns you, and
make choice of suitable consorts in these. For though precepts induce,
examples draw, and more danger there is in a personal example, than
any Doctrinal piotive.
" I could challenge from many descents, but my thoughts have ever
been estranged from titular arrogance ; holding only Fame to be the
strongest con tinner oi family, being borne up with such an impregnable
arch as it needed no groundling buttresses to preserve it, nor any second-
aries to prevent an untimely ruin After a troublesome voyage,
encountered with many cross winds and adverse billows, I am now arriv-
ing in a safe Harbour ; and I hope without touch of Dishonour
Prefer your fame before all fortunes ; it is that sweet odour which will
perfume you living and embalm you dying My peace I hoj^e is
made with God : having in these solitary hours of my retirement made
this my constant ejaculation : 0, how can we choose but begin to love
him whom we have offended ; or how should we but begin to grieve that
we have offended him whom we love ! .... Be zealous in your service
of God ; ever recommending in the prime hour of the day, all your ensu-
ing actions designed and addressed for that day, to his gracious protection.
Be constant in your Resolves, ever grounded on a religious Fear that they
may be seconded by God's favour. Be serious in your studies : and with
all Humility crave the assistance of others, for your better proficiency.
Be affable to all, familiar with few. Be provident and discreetly frugal,
in your expense: never spending where honest Providence bids you spare ;
neither sparing where reputation invites you to spend. Continue firm
in brotherly unity : as you are near in blood be dear in your affection. . . .
THE FAMILY OF SLING SB Y. 189
" I find myself now, through the apprehension of my approaching
summons, which I shall entertain with a cheerful admittance, breathing
homeward : the eye of my body is fixt on you ; the eye of my Soul on
Heaven. Think on me as your natural Father, and of Earth as your com-
mon mother. Thither am I going, where by course of nature, though not
in the same manner, you must follow, I am to act my last scene on a
stage ; you in a turbulent state. Value earth as it is ; that when you
shall pass from Earth, you may enjoy what earth cannot afford you ; to
which happiness your dying Father, hastening to his dear spouse and
your virtuous Mother, faithfully commends you."
HIS EPITAPH. WRITTEN WHILE IN PRISON.
Dead unto Earth before I past from thence.
Dead unto Life, alive to conscience.
Just, and by justice doom'd ; impeached by those
Whom Semblance writ my Friends, their witness Foes.
My Silence in reply impli'd no guilt.
Words not believ'd resemble Water spilt
Upon the parched surface of the floor,
No sooner dropt, than heat dries up the Showre.
To plead for life when ears are prepossest,
Sounds but like airy Eccho's at the best.
The Hatchet acted what the court decreed.
Who would not for his Head, lay down his head ?
Branches have their dependance on the Vine,
And Subjects on their Princes, so had mine.
The Native Vine cut down her cyenes wither,
Let them then grow or perish both together.
Thus liv'd I, thus I dy'd, my Faith the wing
That mounts my Kingly zeal to th' Highest King.
190 THE FAMILY OF SLING SBT.
These extracts, it will be borne in mind, are from the
writings of a leading Cavalier, and show that our Puritan
friends did not possess all of the religion and morality of
that period.
Sir Henry was married July 7, 1631, at Kensington
Chm^ch, London, to Barbara, daughter of Thomas Bella-
syse, first Viscount Falconberg (a lady who seems to have
been as pious as she was naturally amiable ; she died
31st December, 1641), and by her had issue : —
Thomas y born 15th June, 1636.
Henry, born 14th and baptized 29th January, 1638, in
chapel of Red House. He was one of the gentlemen of
the bed-chamber to King Charles II.
Barhara,hoTn 14th May, 1633 ; married Sir John Talbot.
Sir Henry was succeeded by his eldest son, —
Sir Thomas SUngshy, who was Member of Parliament for
Knaresborough from 1678 to 1681, and for Scarborough in
1685. He married Dorothy, daughter and co-heiress of
George Cradock, Esq., of Caversall Castle, County Staf-
ford (who died 24th January and was buried 2d Feb-
ruary, 1673, in the Slingsby Chapel in Knaresborough
Church), by whom he had issue : —
Henry.
Thomas.
George.
Eliza.
THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBY. 191
Dorothy, "
Barbara, thrice married : first, to Sir Richard Maulev-
erer, of Alberton Mauleverer, County York ; second, to
Jolm, Lord Arundel, of Trerice ; and third, to Thomas,
Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, —
Sir Henry SUngshy, Member of Parliament for Knares-
borough, who died without issue in 1692, and was suc-
ceeded by his brother. Sir Thomas Slingsly, who married,
1692, Sarah, daughter of John Savile, Esq., of Methley,
County York, and had issue eight children : —
1. Henry.
2. Thomas.
3. Savile.
4. Charles, who dying before his last elder brother,
never succeeded to the title. He married Miss Turner
in 1738, and by her had issue : —
Thomas Turner, who succeeded as eighth baronet.
Sarah, died without issue.
5. Mary, maid of honor to Queen Anne, married, 18th
August, 1714, at Moor-Monkton, to Thomas Buncombe,
Esq., of Helmsley, of which marriage the first Lord Fever-
sham is the lineal descendant.
6. Sarah.
7. Barbara.
8. Jane, died without issue.
192 THE FAMILY OF SLING SB T.
Sir Thomas was succeeded by his eldest son, —
Sir Henri/ SUngshj, Member of Parliament for Knares-
borough in the last parliament of Queen Anne and the
first of George I., who married a daughter of John Ains-
lie, Esq., of Studley, Chancellor of the Exchequer (who
died 31st May, 1736), by whom he had no issue, and, dy-
ing in 1763, was succeeded by his brother, —
Sir Thomas Slingshy, who died without issue 1765, and
was succeeded by his brother, —
Sir Savile Slingshi/, who died without issue 1780, when
the title devolved on his nephew, —
Sir Thomas Turner Slingshy ; he married, first, his cousin,
Catherine Turner Buckley, and second, a natural daugh-
ter of his uncle, Sir Henry, by whom he had no issue.
He died in 1806, leaving issue by his first wife : —
Thomas.
Charles, of Loftus Hall, who, dying before his eldest
brother, never succeeded to the title. He married, Octo-
ber 1, 1823, Emma Margaret, daughter of John Atkinson,
Esq., by whom he had issue : —
Charles, born 1824, the tenth baronet.
Emma Louisa Catherine, born 1829 ; married 19th July,
1860, to Captain Leslie, Royal Horse Guards, son of
Charles Powell Leslie, born 1826.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, —
Sir Thomas Slingshy, who died without issue February,
1835, and was succeeded by his nephew, —
THE FAMILY OF SLINGSBT. 193
Sir Charles SUngshy, who was drowned in the river Ure,
opposite to Newby Hall, the residence of Lady Mary
Vyner, near Ripon, in Yorkshire, on the 11th of Febru-
ary, 1869, while hunting, he being master of the York
and Ainsty Fox Hounds.^ Sir Charles was never mar-
ried : he was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Thomas
Leslie, Esq., who, in 1869, assumed the name of Slingsby
and became —
Sir Thomas SUngshy, the eleventh baronet. He has no
issue, and in default of issue, the property and title will
go to Sir Charles' maternal uncle, Rev. Thomas Atkin-
son, and his son.
Our first intention was only to give a condensed pedi-
gree, with a few sketches, of some of the members of the
family. We have, however, been led on, almost imper-
ceptibly, into writing a synopsis of its history. It will be
readily seen that what we have written is only a compi-
lation. This was a necessity, as our information was
mostly obtained from published works.
^ At the same time were also drowned, while crossing the river in a ferry-
boat, Mr. E. Lloyd, of Lingeroft, near York, Mr. Edmund Robinson, of York,
William Oveys (first whip), C. Warrener (gardener at Newby Hall), and J.
Warrener, his son.
13
ERRATA.
Page 15, line 20, for er, read erm.
Page 15, line 23, after are should be a colon.
Page 22, line 1, for Le Nerve, read Le Neve.
Page 26, line d,for Duncondra, i-ead Drumeondra.
Page 32, lines 4, 12, for Neville, read Nevill.
Page 46, line 12,/or baptized, read born.
Page 48, line 17, for Lincoln, read Lincoln's Lin.
Page 50, line 11, omit comma after county.
Page 54, lines 9, 11, 16, 23, and
Page 55, line 7, for Leonard, read St. Leonard.
Page 59, line 15, put comma afer Hawkins.
Page 59, line 21, for February 3, read 13.
Page 78, line 11, for has, read had.
Page 113, line 5, for counselor, read counsellor.
Page 130, line 14, note after welfare instead of after lost.
Page 165, line 26, for Margery, read Marjory.
Page 166, line l,for Margaret, 7-ead Anne.
Page 166, line 2, for William, read Hugh.
n-
TiP^^T
.'Ma^,,^r:i-yzj*^i..ji=rr.itM^--^ .^'i-^-^^^^
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11