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I

THE LIFE

OF

ADMIRAL

Sir Isaac Coffin,

BARONET

HIS ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ANCESTORS

BY

THOMAS C. AMORY

BOSTON

CUPPLES, UPHAM AND COMPANY

1886

Copyright, i8S6, by
THOMAS C. AMORY

TROW'9

^INTINQ AND QOOKCinDINQ COMPANf,

hbW YORK.

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8T.1

PREFACE.

This memoir, in its original form of a discourse, had its limitations of
time and topic. Much else might have been added connected with the
subject had the occasion allowed. The several histories of Nantucket, the
<' Life of Tristram Coffin," by Mr. Allen Coffin ; of " General John Coffin,"
by his son, Henry Edward ; " The Arms of the Family," by Mr. John
Coffin Jones Brown, are well known and accessible. Other sources of
information exist in print and manuscript. Bearing in Uiind that many
readers of these pages will find them more instructive if they have at hand
what will better explain them, I have borrowed from their pages, under
marks of quotation, in the larger part by permission and with grateful ac-
knowledgments. If I have been too bold, I pray their forgiveness. Let
me also express my sense of the kindness of the New York Genealogical
and Biographical Society, in permitting me to read what portions of this
memoir their limits permitted, in their course, and to have these por-
tions, somewhat extended, inserted in their January Record.

Boston, March i, 1886.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

I. — Ancestry 7

11.— Alwington 13

III.— New England 18

IV. — Nantucket 21

v.— Tristram's Death and Descendants 25

VI.— Boston and Isaac Coffin 31

VII.— Isaac at Sea 36

VIII. — Captain of a Seventy-four 41

IX.— Peace of 1783 44

X. — Marriage and Parliament 4S

XI. — Genial Temperament 51

:>^II. — Benefactions and Death 54

XIII. — The Coffin Coats of Arms -. 60

XIV.— TucKETT's Visitations of Devon 63

XV. — Coffin Dates ... 64

XVI.— The Reformation 66

XVII.— Allen Coffin's Call of Tristram's Descendants to the

Second Centennial of his Death in 1881 68

XVIIL— Wills 78

XIX. — Correspondence 85

XX.— The Coffin Schools 9^

THE LIFE OF

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART.

I.

ANCESTRY.

The name of Coffin is so widely spread over our continent, so many
thousands of men and women of other patronymics take pride in their de-
scent from Tristram, its first American patriarch, that what concerns them
all, any considerable branch or distinguished individual of the race, seems
rather history than biography.

Space forbids my repeating here, as I well might wish, all that has been
recorded of their existence in the new world, or that beyond the sea. But
what sheds light on Sir Isaac and his immediate progenitors is too ger-
mane to my subject to be wholly overlooked. To trace back Tristram to
Alwington, follow his fortunes from Plympton in old England to the Mer-
rimack in the new, bring his checkered career to its honored close at Nan-
tucket ; to pay due homage to his son James, the upright judge ; to his son
Nathaniel, the dauntless master mariner, and his wife, Damaris Gayer,
the eloquent preacher ; to their son William, the much-loved merchant of
Boston, senior warden of Trinity ; to his son, another Nathaniel, graduate
of Harvard and Yale, King's treasurer, and father of Sir Isaac— six gene-
rations with Tristram of admirable men, with much to praise and little
to censure, is our legitimate purpose, so far as our limits prescribed will
permit, before proceeding to our more immediate subject.

Though unlike in character, and of very different experiences from his
ancestors, Sir Isaac was too remarkable a man to pass into oblivion. His
long life, commencing in 1759 '^^ Boston, and ending eighty years later in
Cheltenham, England, was crowded with events, many of historic mipor-
tance. By his native vigor, doughty deeds, and eminent services he rose

8 THE LIFE OF

to distinguished rank in the British navy, became captain of a line-of-battle
ship at the age of twenty-two, and was created a baronet at the age of forty-
four. This not from large means, family influence, or court favor, but that
his character and conduct afloat and ashore entitled him to such prefer-
ment. Throngs of heroic officers won glory in the same wars that he did,
attracted attention by more conspicuous achievements ; but his fearless
daring, zeal, and ability, and what he accomplished, inscribes his memory
high up on the roll of honor, if not on the scroll of fame.

How far life and character are moulded by circumstances, how far by
heredity, is a complicated problem, and the horoscope is too largely affected
by maternal influences for these to be disregarded. Though bearing all the
marks of his paternal stock, Sir Isaac doubtless owed something to the
blood mingling in his veins from other sources, and it has been my endeavor
to discover these infusions where I can, and one instance should be pre-
served for the criticism of coming genealogists — a supposed link that may
be of use.

Nicholas, father of Peter and grandfather of Tristram, has been re-
garded as their most remote paternal ancestor ascertained. According to
tradition, their line was an offshoot of Alwmgton, but how, continued a
puzzle. Many years ago I bought an old edition of Collins (1758), and while
seeking some other information, my eyes fell on the name of Peter Coffin,
who about 1560 married Mary, fourth daughter of Hugh Boscawen. Hugh
died 1559, at the age of eighty. As the homes of the Boscawens, Tre-
gothnan and Penkeville, lay near Brixton, the home of Tristram, this
awakened curiosity, the more that Peter's name was not in the index, and
might have escaped the notice of previous genealogical inquirers.

Hugh Boscawen, of one of the most affluent and influential famiHes of
Cornwall, married Phillippa Carminow, of large possessions and royal de-
scent, inheriting, through Philip Courtenay, the unfortunate Marquis of Ex-
eter, Plympton, and other estates near Plymouth, part of which we find the
inheritance of Tristram. Hugh had seven sons and seven daughters. The
third son, Nicholas, eighty-six when he died in 1626, was the successor of
his parents in their estates. His sister Mary, who married Peter Coffin, must
have been born about 1545, as there were nine younger children than her-
self born before 1559, when her father died at the age of eighty. Her
brass at Penkeville gives her death in 1622. Her age is not very clearly
stated, but apparently as seventy-seven. Her son Nicholas, if grandfather
of Tristram, would have been of an age, in 1582, to have been father of
Peter, who died 1628, and whose wife Joanna, mother of Tristram, died in
Boston, 1 66 1, aged seventy-seven, having been born in 1584.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 9

If thus, or in any other way, connected with the Coffins, the house of
Tregothnan is too historical, and associated with too many important events
in our colonial annals, not to make it worthy of note. Lord Falmouth,
under Queen Anne, Edward, the commander of the British fleet in the sec-
ond reduction of Louisbourg, in more recent days, have added to the lustre
of a name prolific in naval heroes and eminent statesmen. The importance
we attach to this supposed connection is that it affords clews to ascertain the
relation of Tristram to Alwington, and as Petronel, the sister of Mrs. Peter
Coffin, married Peter Mayhowe, a possible explanation how Thomas May-
hew and Tristram Coffin here together planted Nantucket, Tuckett's
Devon Visitations, full as to the main male line of Alwington, are being
carried back, extended out, and brought down by Colonel Vivyan, who is
approaching the Coffins. My suggestions may help his researches, and
they are given for what they are worth.

But who was the father of Peter Coffin, who married Mary Bos-
cawen? He must have been born about 1500. If among the recorded
members of the family are found individuals whose dates or other known
circumstances are inconsistent with the parentage of Peter, that reduces the
field of investigation. Sceptical minds reject hypothesis in such researches,
but often hypothesis, fairly tested, is the only path to the truth. At Monk-
ley, about ten miles east from Portlege, one of the homes of its junior
branches, dwelt at the time James, son of Richard and Miss Chudleigh,
whose brother John married Mary Cary. His wife, Mary Cole, was the near
kinswoman of William, who married Radigan, daughter of Nicholas Bos-
cawen. Tristram named his sons after his ancestors, James was his fourth
son. These circumstances amount to nothing as proof, but may lead to it,
or perhaps confirm the conclusion of Mr. Allen Coffin, that the connection
with Alwington, if any, is much more remote. Near the close will be
found an article on this and other kindred topics, portions of which by his
permission I insert.

In the sequel will be found the visitation of the Coffins of Portlege.
Its examination will show other grounds on which we rest our faith as to
the parentage of Peter, It will be seen that in the sixth generation John
Coffin married Philippa, daughter and co-heiress of Phillip Kingston, His
eldest son Richard, Sheriff of Devon in 1511 (2 Hen. VIII.), married Wil-
mot, daughter of Sir Richard Chudleigh, famous in legal annals as party
in a leading case which bears his name. This marriage took place about
15 10, The Sheriff had three sons, John, James, and Edward. The second,
James, born as late as 15 12, might well have been father of Peter, who,
about 1562, married Mary Boscawen. Their son Nicholas, if born in 1563,

lO

THE LIFE OF

would have been old enough in 1585 to have been father of Peter, who,
the father of Tristram, died in 1628. Wedlock came early when there
were few other distractions. Under favorable circumstances life was often
prolonged beyond the average limit ; but war, exposure, perhaps inferior
medical skill, backwardness of medical science, sufficiently explain why so
many failed to live out their allotted span. As the line consists mainly
of eldest sons, less time embraced these several generations.

The best known of the brothers of the Sheriff, Sir William, born about
1480, going to Court, stood high in the estimation of Henry the Eighth.
Like Raleigli, later from the same province, he won his way by his wit and
courao'e. He was selected in 15 19 by the King as one of the eighteen
Eno-lish knights to take part in the tournament before Guines, in France,
with a like number of French gentlemen, practised in arms and re-
nowned for prowess. He was Master of Horse at the coronation of Anne
Boleyn, and appointed one of the gentlemen of the King's Privy Chamber,
filled to the monarch's satisfaction a position of distinction and influence
much coveted at Court. He married Margaret, the daughter of Sir George
Dimock, th^ champion of England, and from her, after his death the wife
of Richard Manners, descended the later Dukes of Rutland. Sir William
took a prominent part in the Parliament, one ecclesiastical abuse being
done away with at his instance.* At Standon, a royal manor, of which he
was high steward when he died in 1538, stands his monument. He left no
children, and by his will devised his lands to his brother Richard's sons,
bequeathed his hawks, hounds, and hunting gear to the King. His
brothers James and Thomas had children, but the dates confirm the view
that his nephew, James, and Mary Cole were the parents of Peter, who
married Mary Boscawen.

Doubtless there were other branches of the name, from among which
we might look for the ancestry of Tristram. His earliest progenitors in
England came over with the Conqueror in 1066. Captain Henry Coffin,
in his memoir of General John Cofl[in, 1880, says that several years before
he had visited Falaise, in Normandy, and near that place lay estates owned
eight centuries earlier by the Cofiins, before they crossed over the Channel
to the land of promise. These estates were still the property of their de-
scendants in the female line. Falaise will be remembered as the birth-
place of the Conqueror. It is said that the name of CoflSn was a corrup-
tion or translation of Colvinus, signifying a basket or chest, and that from

* This act, limiring the amount of mortuaries, the fees of the parish priest for burial, has been counted one
of three statutes mentioned by the historians as ecclesiastical reforms which, from the abuses done away and
the debates they provoked, helped to bring about the Reformation.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. II

charge of the King's treasure — such employment, like royalty itself, being

hereditary the name attached to the family. The confidence impUed

by its responsible duties seems explained by the integrity which has
been characteristic of all their successive generations. Such virtue was its
own reward, and if too generous to be noted for many instances of afflu-
ence, they even in that regard were prospered as they multiplied and
spread over the earth.

Of the first who came over to England little seems known. Westcote
tells us that Alwington in 1085, according to Domesday, was possessed
by David De la Bere, and that the heiress of that name brought it to the
Coffins. On a subject less grave this might be suspected for a jest,
but the authority is proof. Sir William Pole, page 386, states that
Sir Richard Coffin held two knights' fees there from Robert, the King's
son, in the reign of Henry 11. Whether earlier than this or later, flourished
branches of that name at Combe Coffin, now Combe Pine, in the east of
Devon ; at Coffin Well, in the south, and at Ingarley in the west. Sir
Hugh, Sir EUas, Sir Geoffry, are mentioned in the records later than the
first of a long line of Richards who, with some breaks in the continuity of
name and knighthood, held Alwington and dwelt there. At Coffin's Ingar-
ley once stood a noble mansion, with a church near by, surrounded by an
extensive deer park. Its lord, Sir Elias, about 1200, bore gilded spurs in
token of his military rank, and Sir Hugh, of Combe Coffin, his contempo-
rary, was similarly distinguished. They may have been offshoots of Al-
wington, or that branch of theirs. From among them might possibly have
proceeded our branch in this country, but we think not.

It must not be forgotten that in the pedigree of Coffin in " the Devon
Visitations" there is mention made of a Nicholas, who, so far as regards
dates, could not have been Tristram's grandfather. Richard, the sheriff,
1511, was born in all probability thirty years at the least before he was
made sheriff. His son John, born about 15 10, married Mary Cary, and
their second son, John, born after 1569, was not of an age before 1589 to
be married. His wife was Grace Berry, daughter of Richard of Berrynar-
bor. Their third son, Nicholas, aged seven when the visitation was made,
probably in 1620, must have been born in 1613, in which year Nicholas,
father of Peter, who died in 1628, and grandfather of our Tristram, passed
away.

It is well also to bear in mind, in connection with this inquiry as to
the ancestry of Tristram, that Anna, daughter of Sir William Chudleigh,
who died in 15 15, married James Coffin, of Portlege, brother of the
Sheriff. Her niece Wilmot, daughter of Sir Richard Chudleigh, who died

12 THE LIFE OF

1558, was the wife of the Sheriff. As the eldest son of Sir Richard Chud-
leigh, Christopher, was thirty years and more at his father's death, Wihnot
mif^ht seem to have been much younger than her husband. Still, the ex-
pression, " thirty years and more," in legal documents, at the period, was
very indefinite. It seemed to leave open the question whether James
Coffin and Anna Chudleigh are among the possibilities for the parentage
of Peter, great-grandfather of Tristram, James, the Sheriff's son, and Mary
Cole, or others yet to be discovered.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 13

II.

ALWINGTON.

But why seek to trace Tristram's lineage to Alwington ? The beauty
of the place, the character of its long line of proprietors through seven
hundred years — one of the very few instances, even in England, in which an
estate has remained for so great a length of time in the same family — which
has never been sold, sequestered, or confiscated, or passed except by in-
heritance, will, or family settlement, which has continued not only their
chief but constant habitation, suggests a. home so enduring, qualities so
sterling, that in a world changeable as this it is solacing to every conserva-
tive element in our nature to believe we too belong to it.

Alwington extends along the Severn Sea, south of the boundary between
Somerset and Devon, fronting the broad Atlantic. The mighty billows roll
in majestic force against its cliffs and crags. The domain now embraces
thirty-eight * hundred acres, part in fertile farms with substantial steadings ;
part in park and pleasure-grounds, studded with forest trees in clumps and
woods. Its area may have expanded in prosperous days, or been shorn
down to provide for junior branches ; but its grounds are substantially the
same now as under the Plantagenets, or when it first came to the Coffins
with the heiress of the De la Beres.

When we call to mind what this beautiful region embraces from the
Severn Sea to its southern shores, Exmoor and Dartmoor, which Black-
more and Kingsley have so brilliantly described, its romantic streams and
majestic hills, with their wild sublimity — and who has not read " Lorna
Doon " — we can well consider it a privilege that such associations cluster
about our own ancestral memories, that the Coffins and so many Americans
from Devon have such good reason to be proud of their mother-country,
feel deeper interest in their progenitors that they dwelt amid scenes so
picturesque. Our kinswoman, Mrs. Johnson, will pardon me if I draw
in part from her own eloquent account of Portlege what will convey a
more perfect idea of the place.

The approach from Bideford in Somersetshire south to Portlege, the
manor-house of Alwington, extends for four miles along a shaded road, lined

* Late census.

14

THE LIFE OF

on either side with luxuriant hedges, branibled vines, and grasses. Half a
mile from the house the road reaches the great gateway, which opens on
grounds tastefully disposed ; for time and taste and means effect marvels
about the old homes of England. Lawns and gardens in a fine state of
cultivation spread around, with that depth of verdure and coloring peculiar
to the proximity to the sea ; for in Devon the grape and peach, if protected,
ripen beside the pear and plum.

The house sets low for shelter from the blasts, and is not conspicuous until
closely approached. The spirit of repose that it breathes, of the times that
have passed, of the various vicissitudes of sorrow and enjoyment that have
cheered or tried its generations, noted for their culture and refinement as
they have come and passed from infancy to age, cannot escape your at-
tention in the photograph of the edifice.

About the same distance from the house, along the shore, stretches a
beach looking out over the Atlantic, to which a shaded walk from the
house winds among ferns and groves thick with shrubs and rich with vari-
ous verdure. Seats judiciously disposed afford a resting-place for the
enjoyment of the view and the breeze. About a mile away stands the old
church, bosked in mossy foliage, quiet and secluded, no dwelling in sight,
venerable with age, if too substantial for decay. Its pews of oak, black
with time, are richly carved, as often seen in these ancient shrines. Here
more than twenty generations have brought their children in arms to the
font, their dead for sepulchre. Here their blooming maidens, their own or
their tenants', have come to be joined in wedlock. The walls and floors of
the edifice, as the burial ground around it, are crowded with slabs and monu-
ments that relate, with the same touching simplicity, the annals of them

all.

Within the walls of the mansion, which are of stone, with coigns and
buttresses and battlements, windows varied but harmonious, is a large,
square entrance hall with gallery on the level of the second floor. This
and the spacious dining-room are lined with family portraits ; men and
women in antiquated garb, representing the blue eyes and characteristic
features of the race. Carved doors abound of stately dimensions, and
ceilin^^s of faded grandeur, displaying in many colors the emblazonments
and quarterings of the family arms and of others of the best, connected with
them by marriage. Many are derived from royal and noble progenitors —
Pomeroys, Beaumonts, Chudleighs, Courtenays, Prideaux, Carys, Cham-
pernouns, Cliffords, Bassets, Damerels, of Devon or adjacent counties.
Imat^ination conjures up the throng of these personages, long mouldered,
as on festal occasions they gathered to the banquet or the dance, roamed

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 1 5

and wooed by the moonbeams, shot arrows at the targe, let loose the fal-
con, or rode after the hounds.

The ancient forms and arrangements of the mansion, modified to meet
as well the requirements of modern taste and comfort as to retain what is old
or quaint, combine to constitute Portlege a most agreeable home to dwell
in. It was once famous for its precious and extensive library, its archives
rich with the accumulations of many generations. Sad to say, about 1800,
in the transfer under a settlement to another branch, the books were mostly
sold and many documents dispersed. There still remain vast coffers of
manuscript treasures, which in time must perish, but which should, before
too late, be arranged, copied, translated into intelligible language, calen-
dared, catalogued, and indexed. Some antiquary of the family may yet be
born to the faith that he can devote his days to no better field of service to
posterity than such a task.

Before taking leave of Alwington, as Tristram's progenitors passed off
from the ancestral stem, an enumeration of the succeeding generations
from John and Mary Gary may be of interest. Their second son wedded
Grace, daughter of Richard Berrie, of Berrianarbor ; Richard, the oldest,
1569-1617 (forty-eight), Elizabeth, 1571-1651 (aged eighty), daughter of
Leonard Loveis, of Cornwall. With the eight sons and seven daughters of
Richard, as they grew into life, Portlege must have been gay, and as the
daughters, at least, followed in rapid succession to their nuptials, not even
what was disagreeable in the Stuart monarchs or the contentions of the land
could have cast a shadow so remote from the court and battle-field. When
the mother died, in 165 1, James, the fifth son and last survivor, erected in
the church of Alwington a monument to the memory of his parents, with
an inscription which tells in rude rhymes their story. The eldest of the two
sons left two daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, and the inheritance passed to
a second Richard, 1622-99, "Without an enemy while living, and univer-
sally lamented when dead." His wife was Ann Prideaux, daughter of Ed-
mund, of Padstow, 1645-1705, who died at the age of sixty. He was
much esteemed, and in 1686 was sheriff of Devon under James II.

The children of the sheriff and Ann Prideaux were Bridget, John, Ho-
nora, and Richard. The eldest son married Ann Kellond, travelled exten-
sively over Europe, stood well for character and scholarship, but died at
the age of twenty-five in 1703. Honora married Richard Bennett; Dor-
othy, Richard Pyne, from whom came the Pyne Goffins. Richard, who
succeeded his brother John in 1 703, for seventy-three years was lord of
Alwington, and died there in 1776 unmarried. He settled the estates first
on the Bennetts, Robert and Richard, who died without children j and the

1 6 THE LIFE OF

reversion went to the Pynes descended from Honora, who took the name
of Coffin. The present proprietor, born 1841, was the grandson of Rich-
ard, great-grandson of the youngest daughter of the sheriff, who died 1699,
and Ann Prideaux, who died 1705. As Mr. Pyne Coffin has a large fam-
ily of fine heahhy children, there seems no chance of any of the male line
of the Coffins ever succeeding to Alwington.

It is believed the male representation of the family rests in some de-
scendant of Peter Coffin, who about 1560 married Mary Boscawen. A few
words remain to be said about them. Phillippa Carminow, mother of Mrs.
Mary Coffin, was, as already mentioned, co-heiress of that part of the
Courtenay estates which escaped forfeiture when the Marquis of Exeter,
next to the crown, was beheaded. Plympton, near the home of Tristram,
formed part of the Courtenay inheritance which Phillippa Carminow car-
ried to Hugh Boscawen, of Tregothnan, 1469-1559, as his wife. Their
home was at Penkevil, not far up the river from Brixton, and is still the
home of the Lords of Falmouth, their representatives. Evidence is found
in an inquisition of William and Mary, 1558, of the Coffins, of Portlege,
holding lands at Plympton, which may have come through the Boscawen' s
by this marriage, or perhaps may have led to it. At Plympton and Brixton
Nicholas, grandfather of Tristram, and Peter, his father, resided ; and Tris-
tram took, by the will of his father, Peter, subject to his mother's life es-
tate, these lands, or a part of them, which it would seem likely came in this
way or through the Hingstons.

Many have searched for the ancestral line of Tristram among the rec-
ords of Devonshire. No one has as yet been able, as already stated, to
trace with certainty his pedigree beyond that of his grandfather, Nicholas
Coffyn. Sir Isaac, in memorializing the College of Arms, in 1804, for the
grant of a coat for himself, represented that he was by tradition descended
from the family of Coffin, of the west of England, but that he was unable
to ascertain his descent. No doubt seems entertained, however, that the
proper investigation of the matter will some time reveal Tristram's true
pedigree extending much further back ; if not that suggested, what is now
unknown will prove as honorable as that which we now know with reason-
able certainty.

Tristram Coffyn, of Butler's Parish, of Brixton, County of Devon, Eng-
land, made his will November 16, 1601, which was proved at Totness, in
the same county, in 1602.

He left legacies to Joan, Anne, and John, children of Nicholas Cof-
fyn ; Richard and Joan, children of Lionel Coffyn ; Philip Coffyn, and
his son Tristram ; and appointed Nicholas, son of Nicholas Coffyn, his

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 1/

executor. He was probably the great-uncle of the first of the race in
America,

Nicholas Coffyn, of Brixton (one account says Butler's Parish), in
Devonshire, in his will, dated September 12, 1613, and proved November
3, 1613, mentions his wife Joan, and sons Peter, Nicholas, Tristram, John,
and daughter Anne. He was the grandfather of the emigrant to New
England, and born about 1560, probably the son of Mary Boscawen. He
lived to the end of the reign of the Tudors, and saw the reign of the
Stuarts commenced in the person of James VI. of Scotland and I. of Eng-
land. He died in the reign of James I. (16 13). His eldest son, Peter,
doubtless succeeded to his estates ; and his youngest son, John, acquired
some estate, as he made our Tristram his executor. The other sons,
Nicholas and Tristram, have not been accounted for ; neither has his
daughter Anne. **

Peter Coffyn, of Brixton, in his will, dated December i, 1627, and
proved March 13, 1628, provides that his wife Joan (Thember) shall have
possession of the land during her life, and then the said property shall go
to his son and heir, Tristram, " who is to be provided for according to his
degree and caUing." His son John is to have certain property when he
becomes twenty years of age. He mentions his daughters Joan, Deborah,
Eunice, and Mary, and refers to his tenement in Butler's Parish, called
Silferhay. He was the father of the emigrant.

John Coffyn, of Brixton, an uncle of the emigrant, who died without
issue, in his will, dated January 4, 1628, and proved April 3, 1628, ap-
points his nephew, Tristram Coffyn, his executor, and gives legacies to all
of Tristram's sisters, all under twelve years of age.
2

l8 THE LIFE OF

III.
NEW ENGLAND.

What motives induced Tristram, in 1642, to dispose of so pleasant an
abode and come to America can be conjectured, but are not positively
known. It has been said that he had been employed as colonel in com-
mand of the garrison at Plymouth, but this is not authenticated, and may
have referred to his uncle Tristram ; but we do know that in its defence
his only brother, John, had been slain. Tristram had married, at the early
period customary in those primitive times, Dionis Stevens, and had already
five children — Peter, Tristram, Elizabeth, James, and John.

As his brother John was killed at Plymouth Fort, it may be that
Tristram was iu the fight. The Stuarts made sorry kings, and the resist-
ance they provoked to their arbitrary rule seems justified. But England
was seething on the verge of twenty years of contention, and Tristram, not
over-fond of either party, and imperilled by the part he had taken, with
ten women and children in his charge, may have been glad to escape
persecution for them and himself in America. Two of his four sisters
married in Devon. Two, Mary and Eunice, with their mother, his wife,
and five children, accompanied him in 1642, the year King Charles placed
himself in open array against the parliament.

That he came in that of the four vessels — Hector, Griffin, Job Clement,
and Margaret Clement, belonging to Captain Robert Clement, that came
over in 1642, which Captain Clement himself commanded — is well authenti-
cated. It is known that after a brief residence at Salisbury, he moved up
the river that year to v/hat is now the next town, Haverhill, to form that
settlement with Clement, on land bought from the Sachem Pasconaway.

With this large and dependent family of nine women and children, Tris-
tram crossed the sea, disembarking at the mouth of the Merrimac, where
Ihey so long made their home. The births of his other children born in
America show the different periods he resided in Salisbury, Haverhill, on
the north of the river, and at Newbury, to its south. We have no
knowledge of his going far from that neighborhood during the next sixteen
years, till he went to Nantucket, though it seems reasonable to suppose
that he did so.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 19

The property they brought sufficed to support in comfort the families of
his mother and his own, and to estabUsh respectably in marriage, as they
grew up, his sisters and his sons. Pie first settled himself at Salisbury, in
the three-mile space between the Merrimack and the New Hampshire
border, as fixed by the patent ; but removed that year to Haverhill, adjoin-
ing Salisbury, up the river, for in 1642, in November, his name is attached
to an Indian deed there. There Marj'-, afterward Mrs. Starbuck, was
born, and John the first having died, another took his place. In 1648
Tristram removed to Newbury, where his youngest son, Stephen, was added
to the family group. After residing there for several years, during which
he was licensed to keep an inn and a ferry over the Merrimack, Tristram
returned to Salisbury, where he became a county magistrate.

Salisbury was close to the border of New Hampshire, and his eldest son,
Peter, a merchant and king's counsellor in Dover, in that province, not
far removed from Salisbury, married, about 1657, Abigail, daughter of
Edward Starbuck ; and his second son, Tristram, in 1653, Judith, daughter
of Captain Edmund Greenleaf, widow of Henry Somerby. The descend-
ants of this marriage of Tristram, Jr.'s, have ever since occupied this
fine old mansion which Somerby had left her, or her father, Captain
Greenleaf, bestowed.

Edward Starbuck had come over from Derbyshire in 1640, and estab-
lished himself at Dover. Elder of the Church and Representative, he
became a Baptist, and soon after a Quaker. Both he and Thomas Macy
are said to have been among the chief promoters of the settlement of Nan-
tucket,* It was no doubt often discussed, and perhaps slowly brought about.
Nantucket, an island fifteen miles by four, embracing an area of about
thirty thousand acres, lay at the southern extremity of what is now Massa-
chusetts. It was then part of New York, and so remained till 1692. When
the project was ripe, and it was concluded to purchase, Tristram, early in
1659, made a voyage of inquiry and observation to the group of islands ofT
the Massachusetts coast with this view. He first visited Martha's Vine-
yard, whither Thomas Mayhew (1591-1681-90), formerly a merchant in
Southampton in England, had, in 1647, removed from Watertown to preach
to and convert the Indians. The name of his first wife, Martha Parkurst,
he doubtless gave to the vineyard where he so long dwelt gathering souls
from the heathen.

* Fifteen miles by eleven in the widest part, and twenty miles south of the peninsular of Cape Cod, 120
miles S.S.E. of Boston. Latitude 41° 13' to 41° 22' N.; longitude 69° 56' to 70° 13'. Population, 1820,
7,266. In 1824 Sir Isaac was there ; in 1826, 352 vessels engaged in the fisheries, 2,392 in the coasting
trade, entered its port. This was before the era of steam.— Lieber's Enc. Am.

20 THE LIFE OF

We are inclined to believe, though we have no conclusive proof, that
the attention of Tristram was first called to Nantucket by Mayhew, and the
question suggests itself whether it had not been from consanguinity that
Mayhew proposed or urged the settlement. He held, in 1649, ^ convey-
ance of Nantucket, as he did of Martha's Vineyard, from Lord Sterling.
Born in 1591, Petronel Boscawen, sister of Mary, may have been his
mother or grandmother. That Mary Boscawen was Tristram's great-grand-
mother seems more than probable. Southampton, by sea, is not far from
Plymouth. It is the seaport of Wiltshire. Mayhew named two towns on
the Vineyard from places in that county.

Mayhew and Mayhowe bear the same arms, and are corruptions or varia-
tions of the same name. If Thomas Mayhew, born 1 591, was son or grand-
son of that Petronel Boscawen, sister of Mrs. Peter Coffin, who married
Peter Mayhowe, as mentioned in Collins, Mayhew would have been kins-
man of Tristram not remote. Whether this be so or not, Thomas Mayhew,
having procured for himself and son, in 1641, from Lord Sterling and Sir
Ferdinando Gorges, conveyances of both the islands, Martha's Vineyard
and Nantucket, eighteen years later (July 2, 1659) conveyed Nantucket to
Tristram Coffin and his associates, reserving about a tenth part for himself.
He sent Peter Folger, grandfather of Benjamin Franklin, who had come
with him from Watertown, and was familiar with the Indian languages, with
Tristram to explore. Tristram, soon after reaching Nantucket, purchased
of Potinot, an Indian sagamore, the island of Tuckernuck, at its westerly
end, containing a thousand acres.

Whether James Coffin came with his father, Tristram, at that time, or
later in the fall with Thomas Macy, Edward Starbuck, and Isaac Colman,
after his father's return to SaUsbury, is not clear, but James remained through
the winter on the island as they did. May 10, 1660, the sachems of Nan-
tucket conveyed to the associates for ;^8o a large part of the island,^Peter
Folger being witness.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 21

IV.
NANTUCKET.

Early in 1660, Tristram, with his family, came to Nantucket. Possibly
some delay took place, as regarded them, in providing habitations. It was
not long, however, before enough of the settlers and their families had ar-
rived for their security and to plant their crops. Besides Tuckernuck, the
Coffins had thus a quarter of the island, and much more in the sequel be-
came theirs. Tristram took the lead from the first among the settlers, and
was frequently selected to transact important public business. His letters
to the colonial government of New York, of which province Nantucket
was then a dependency, are preserved in the archives of the Department
of State at Albany.

Although from the earliest settlement regarded as their leader and head
by his associates, his first appointment by the Governor at Albany as
chief magistrate of Nantucket was as early as 1671. Thomas Mayhew
held the like office at the Vineyard. These officials, with two assistants
from each island, constituted a general court, with appellate jurisdiction
over both. This court sat in each island alternately, its chief magistrate
presiding. In 1677 he succeeded Thomas Macy as the chief, and we find
on the records of Nantucket an official oath of his, which reads as follows :

"Whereas I, Tristram Coffin Senior, have received a commission dated
the 16"' of September 1677 investing me with power to be Chief Magis-
trate on the Island of Nantucket and its dependencies for the four years
ensuing, under further order, I, Tristram Coffin aforesaid do engage my-
self under the penalty of perjury to do justice in all causes that come be-
fore me according to law, and endeavor to my best understanding, and

hereunto I have subscribed — "

Tristram Coffin

Subscribed before Chief Magistrate.

his son Peter.

William, John

and Stephen

being his bondsmen.

Exemplary in his own habits, Tristram respected the rights of other

22 THE LIFE 01<

men to regulate their lives according to the dictates of their own con-
sciences, where not conflicting with the law. When in the inn he had es-
tablished by the Merrimack, for the convenience of travellers over the
ferry, complaint was made that threepence was charged the quart for
beer instead of two as stipulated in the license, which required four bushels
of malt to the hogshead, his wife, through the brewer, proving that she put
in six bushels, it was dismissed. At Nantucket, where there were, accord-
ing to tradition, two or three thousand Indians, under their several saga-
mores, their proclivity to stronger beverages degrading and brutalizing, led
to frequent disputes among themselves, and aggressions upon the settlers,
then a mere handful compared with their own numbers. The court records
are largely occupied with the trials and sentences of Indians to be whipped
for intemperance, or for offences growing out of it. Repressive laws, one
drawn up by Tristram, were not without effect. Thomas Macy, in a letter
in 1776 to Governor Lovelace, at Albany, states that they had been at-
tended with good results. That same year John Gardner, whose grave-
stone is that of the earliest date remaining, complains to Dudley that his
own stock had been seized by Macy, and says that the sachems declare
they will fight if the law is enforced.

The manifest improvement in the habits both of the red man and the
white was no doubt due in a large measure to other influences than the
severities of the law. Tristram, as the wealthiest of the proprietors, used
his means generously for the common advantage. If mills to grind the
corn, harrows, or other implements of agriculture were needed, it was he
who furnished them. Wlien the Indians grew restless and menacing, he
held them in subjection and peace in such manner as commanded their
respect. He employed large numbers in his farming operations, and
built them on his own land improved wigwams. Benjamin Franklin Fol-
ger, one of the best and latest of the historians of the island, in speaking
of his relations to the Indians, says the Christian character which he ex-
hibited, and which he practically illustrated in all the various circumstances
and conditions of the infant colony, is analogous to that which subse-
quently distinguibhed the founder of Pennsylvania, so that the spirit of one
seemed but the counterpart of the other.

He had had his trials, but bore them with courage and humility. One
has been remembered, which caused him much annoyance and loss. It
grew out of an official act which forced him to sacrifice his property, and
was one of omission rather than commission. A ship was wrecked on
Nantucket shoals, in September, 1678, loaded with hides, and the chief
magistrate allowed the inhabitants to save the wreckage. Portions of the

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 23

cargo and rigging were embezzled. A Court of Admiralty held the chief
magistrate responsible, and the parties who had derived the benefit of
wrecking the vessel refusing to bear any part of the fine, the burden fell
upon Tristram Coffyn alone. His own testimony in the case seems to
have been all the evidence against him upon which the decision was made
up. No one of his descendants will read the story, as officially recorded,
without a feeling of pride that their great ancestor, under a most distress-
ing ordeal, in which both his fortune and his honor were at stake, saved
his honor. And the Governor of New York discharged him from the
award of the Admiralty upon his representation.

Through these documents, preserved for more than two centuries, we
get a glimpse of the spirit of the times which our Nantucket ancestors
impressed wiih their own personality. And, while the first settlers were
not all agreed upon the subjects of public policy which subsequently
entered into the political concerns of the island, and while their dissen-
sions oftentimes assumed a degree of acrimony and vindictiveness painful
to reflect upon, they were very generally men of sturdy character and
heroic lives. Looking back through the dim vista of two hundred years,
we shall behold a galaxy of names illumined by high resolves — names that
have not tarnished with time, nor faded from the world with the friction of
the centuries — names that were not born to die. We shall see engraven
high up on the world's escutcheon the names of Macy, Starbuck, Folger,
Gardner, Swain, Hussey, Coleman, Barnard ; and then, still higher up,
resplendent with innumerable descending rays of light and love and Chris-
tian sympathy, extending throughout the broad universe, we shall see the
name of Tristram Coffyn.

In 1 66 1 Tristram lost his mother, Joanna Thember, who died in Bos-
ton at the age (i 584-1 661) of seventy-seven. His daughter Elizabeth,
born in England, 1634, died at the age of forty-four, the wife of Stephen
Greenleaf.

The very admirable Mary Coffin, born at Haverhill, in 1644, married
soon after their arrival at Nantucket, at the age of eighteen, Nathaniel, son
of Edward Starbuck. Their daughter Mary was the first European child born
on the island. Tristram gave them two hundred acres, near half his own al-
lotment, at Capaum Pond, and there they resided near him about twenty
years, till his death. Of noble character and disposition, superior powers,
and extended influence, Mary was peerless in all the graces of woman-
hood, and also an eloquent preacher among the Quakers. Her husband was
every way a fitting companion for one so gifted and admirable. I'heir
daily associations with Tristram and his wife, Dionis, must have been a

24 THE LIFE OF

mutual advantage and solace to them. She died in 171 7, at the age of
seventy-two, her husband two years later, at eighty-three.

As Tristram began to feel "the symptoms of a strong man failing," a
phrase used by Sir Walter Scott in reply to an inquiry as to his own health,
made in the presence of the writer, he disposed of his estate, not by formal
testament, but by deeds, the consideration always being his regard and
natural affection. He had made large provision for his daughter, Mary
Starbuck, and provided homes for those of his other children who needed
his aid ; he now conveyed most of what remained to his two youngest
sons, John and Stephen, to take after the decease of himself and wife.
In this he followed an ancient practice in England before wills were much
in use — disposing of his estate while he lived, reserving the use for life.
In the earlier English conveyancing the owner released to the crown,
holding the eminent demesne, a new grant being then issued to the new
feoffee specifying the terms and conditions previously agreed.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 2$

V.

TRISTRAM'S DEATH AND DESCENDANTS

Tristram lived out his four years as Chief Magistrate, and as his term
reached its close, his venerable form was borne from his home near Capaum
Pond to the graveyard, half a mile away on the ridge. The actual spot
can no longer be identified. The earliest stone remaining, that of John
Gardner, dates twenty-five years later. Tradition points out a depression
in the ground where is said to have stood Tristram's dwelling, another
where once existed the Quaker meeting-house ; but all around has been
long since abandoned for human habitations.

We can easily conjure up that throng of noble men and women, devout
and sad, his sons and daughters, their children, friends, and kinsfolk, who
accompanied his remains to their last resting-place. But Tristram needs
no monument to perpetuate his memory. The thousands and tens of thou-
sands who look back with pride and affection to him, their honored progen-
itor, multiplying with their generations, will keep in perennial bloom the
fragrance of his active and useful life, of his traits and works.

He had had manifold blessings. His mother, Joanna ; his wife, Dionis ;
his sisters, who came over with him from Devon, Eunice, Mrs. William
Butler, Mary, Mrs. Alexander Adams, were in every way excellent and
devoted. Mary, his seventh child, born in Haverhill in 1645, for nearly
twenty years after her marriage, at the age of seventeen, to Nathaniel, the
son of Edward Starbuck and Catharine Reynolds, was his near neighbor
and constant companion. Mr. Allen Coffin justly describes her, in his
life of Tristram, when he thus speaks of her :

" She was a most extraordinary woman, participating in the practical
duties and responsibiUties of public gatherings and town meetings, on
which occasions her words were always listened to with marked respect.
The genius of whatever attaches to the Equal Rights for Women move-
ment of the present day, in every true and proper sense, she anticipated
by two centuries, and reduced to practice without neglecting her domestic
relations. She was consulted upon all matters of public importance, be-
cause her judgment was superior, and she was universally acknowledged to
be a great woman. It was not that her husband, Nathaniel Starbuck, was

26 THE LIFE OF

a man of inferior mould that she gained such prominence, for he was a
man of good ability ; but because of her pre-eminent qualifications that
she acquired so good a reputation, whereby her husband's qualifications
were apparently lessened. In the language of John Richardson, an early
preacher, ' The islanders esteemed her as a judge among them, for little
of moment was done without her.' In the town meetings, which she was
accustomed to attend, she took an active part in the debates, usually com-
mencing- her address with, * My husband thinks' so and so; or, 'My
husband and I, having considered the subject, think' so and so. From
every source of information, as also from tradition, there is abundant evi-
dence that she was possessed of sound judgment, clear understanding, and
an elegant way of expressing herself, perfectly easy and natural to her.

"At the age of fifty-six, she became interested in the religious faith of
the Quakers, or Friends, and took the spiritual concerns of the whole
island under her special superintendence. She held meetings at her own
house, which are often alluded to by visiting Friends who have written con-
cerning the island's early religious history ; wrote the quarterly epistles, and
preached in a most eloque it and impressive manner ; and, withal, was as
distinguished in her domestic economy as she was celebrated as a preacher.
Of this department, John Richardson, who preached at her house, wrote :
' The order of the house was such in all the parts thereof as I had not
seen the like before ; the large and bright-rubbed room was set with suit-
able seats or chairs for a meeting, so that I did not see anything wanting
according to place, but something to stand on, for I was not free to set my
feet upon the fine cane chair, lest 1 should break it.' Enough might be
written concerning her to make an entertaining volume by itselt, which
may some time be attempted."

Hon. Peter Cofifin, the oldest child of Tristram, born at Brixton in
163 1, married Abigail, daughter of Edward and Catharine Starbuck, of
Dover, N. H., afterward of Nantucket. Peter was one of the original pur-
chasers of Nantucket, and tradition says the wealthiest of them, owning
large mill property. He was a merchant at Dover before the purchase,
and subsequently lived at Nantucket, but only for a short time to be con-
sidered as domiciled there. He was made freeman in 1666 at Dover, a
lieutenant in 1675 on service in King Philip's Indian War, a representa-
tive in the Legislative branch in 1672-73, and again in 1679. In 1690 he
removed to Exeter, N. H. From 1692 to 17 14 he was at different times
associate justice and chief-justice of the Supreme Court of New Hamp-
shire, and a member of the Governor's Council. He died at Exeter,
March 21, 1715, but most of his life was passed at Dover.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 2/

His second child, called the younger Tristram, was born in England in
1632. He married in Newbury, Mass., March 2, 1652, Judith Somerby,
widow of Henry, and daughter of Edmund and Sarah Greenleaf. She was
born in 1625, and died in Newbury, December 15, 1705. He was made
freeman April 29, 1668, and died in Newbury, February 4, 1704, aged sev-
enty-two, leaving one hundred and seventy-seven descendants. He was a
merchant tailor, and filled many positions of trust and honor in Newbury.
The early records of Newbury bear evidence of his identity with the interests
of that town. In the severe ecclesiastical contest concerning Rev. Thomas
Parker, of Newbury, Tristram Coffin, Jr., bore a conspicuous part in the
interest of Mr. Parker, of whose First Church of Newbury he was deacon
for twenty years.

This Tristram built, about 1654, according to the able historian of
Newbury, the old Coffin mansion, which has remained in the family to
the present day ; one of the ninth generation born under its ample roof.
Miss Anna I. Coffin, now occupying it. It is said to have been built in
1649 by Henry Somerby, whose widow, it will be remembered, Tristram
Coffin, Jr., married. It is one of the few old houses left, and is built
around a vast chimney-stack, with spacious fire-places, with windows large
and small, opening in pleasant surprises, some on closets and some on
staircases, and with walls that, when stripped of their papering not many
years ago for the purpose of repapering, were found to display such elegant
landscape frescos, with artistic designs of figures and foliage, as were wont
to decorate fine residences in the days of the Stuarts. It is a matter Oi
tradition that Tristram Coffyn, Sr., lived in this mansion a short time be-
fore his final removal to Nantucket.

Two monuments in the graveyard of the first parish of Newbury, bear
these several inscriptions, with epitaphs in verse :

"To the memory of Tristram Coffin, Esq., who having served the First
Church of Newbury in the office of a deacon for twenty years, died Febru
ary 4, 1 703-4, aged seventy-two years."

"To the memory of Mrs.,, Judith, late virtuous wife of Deacon Tris-
tram Coffin, Esq., who having lived to see 177 of her children, and chil-
dren's children, to the third generation, died December 15, 1705, aged
eighty."

If sandy and not very responsive to the plough, Nantucket has been
ever famous for its flocks and herds. Its most abundant harvests were
nevertheless from the ocean. Even before Tristram passed away, " Lost
at Sea " was a frequent epitaph for its dauntless mariners. They possessed
many ships of their own ; sailed many from other places.

28 THE LIFE OF

In his well-known burst of eloquence in Parliament, Burke, in 1774,

pays just tribute :

" Look at the manner in which the New England people carry on the
whale fishery. While we follow them among the tumbling mountains of
ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hud-
son Bay and Davis Strait, while we are looking for them beneath the
Arctic Circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of
polar cold ; that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen
serpent of the South. Falkland Islands, which seem too remote and too
romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and
restino--place for their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat
more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter of both the poles.
We learn that while some of them draw the line or strike the harpoon on
the coast of Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game
along the coast of Brazil."

Their gigantic game has been almost exterminated, as the buffaloes on
the prairie. Other ports have attracted their trade, and the population is
now but one-half of what it was in its palmiest prosperity. But its children
are not degenerate, though forced to seek other fields for their victorious
industry. Everywhere are to be found accomplished ship-masters of its
familiar names. William Coffin, who first settled in Boston, as his father
Nathaniel, who died in Nantucket (1721) at the age of fifty-five, traversed
the sea in command of vessels. The proximity of their ancestral home in
Devon to the shores may have implanted in their blood tastes and aptitudes
for maritime adventure, which gained strength as they found wider employ-
ment on this side the Atlantic.

Gardners, Macys, Bunkers, no less than the Coffins, thus showed the
mettle of their pasture. Nor was the invigorating influences of its climate,
tempered as it was by the Gulf Stream, confined to its vikings. Daughters
as well as sons of Dorcas and Damaris won eminence in their various pur-
suits. No more admirable examples of womanhood than Mary Coffin and
Dorcas Starbuck have been transmitted for emulation. The Quaker faith,
tried by persecution among the Puritans, found elements congenial in the
pure, salt air, as in the anxieties and bereavements that attended life on the
sea. Nor did they grow up in ignorance. Refinements from civilization
beyond the Atlantic had become their inheritance through many genera-
tions. Tristram Coffin, Thomas Mayhew, John, his grandson, from the
Vineyard, these mothers in Israel themselves exhorted and prayed. Their
simple trust, and the amiable disposition which these tenets fostered,
fruited in generous deed and noble trait. We must all remember within

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 29

our own experience men and women, even when separated by place and
circumstances from the fold, still bearing unmistakable impress of their
insular home, as also of its creed, in the beauty of their lives and well-
regulated character.

In such a healthy climate, surrounded by the ocean, leading lives of
purity and peace, dauntless afloat, industrious ashore, the whole globe
with its waters alike by their voyages made familiar to their ken, it is no
marvel that their numbers multiplied, or that the young grew up in
physical perfection to transmit their precious inheritance of health and
strength and comeliness, of character and intellectual power, not only
throughout their favored island, but over the country of which it formed
so insignificant a part.

It needs but a glance at the precious volume of the Coffins, Ewers,
Folgers, and Gardners, to see how rapidly multiplied the races of these
early settlers, and how few comparatively were the prolific possessors of
the earth, our then progenitors. It presents for study a somewhat unusual
example of intermarriages on so small a scale which have not deteriorated
the stock.

Among these was Edward Starbuck, who died there, 1690, at the age
of eighty-six. His son Nathaniel, who married Mary Coffin, sold his
brother-in-law, Peter Coffin, his estate at Dover, to accompany his father.
With him came his sister Dorcas, who married William Gayer ; and their
daughter, Dorcas Gayer, in the course of events married their cousin,
Jethro Starbuck ; and her sister, Damaris Gayer, Nathaniel Coffin, son of
James. The brother of William Gayer, Sir John,* who died 1 710, acquired
a large fortune in Bombay, which he divided among his nephew William,
son of William, and among his nieces Damaris and Dorcas. Their brother
died in 1 712, in Kent, in England, after marrying his cousin Elisabeth.
He left his New England property to his sisters and to each a thousand
pounds. Peter Folger, in 1663, moved to Nantucket, and his youngest
daughter, Abiah, and Josiah Franklin were the parents of Benjamin Frank-
lin, Peter Folger's grandchild. Peter married Judith, daughter of Stephen
Coffin, and the intermarriages between the descendants of the early pro-
prietors of the island soon made akin all its inhabitants.

Among others who came was Richard Gardner, eldest son of Thomas,

♦ In London there is said still to exist a chapel erected by Sir John Gayer, Mayor in 1649, somewhat his-
torical from the stand he took in trying times. Sir John Gayer, uncle of Mrs. Nathaniel Coffin, left fifteen
thousand pounds for the nurture and education of students for the ministry in London, but he must be a
generation later than the Mayor. The Mayor was from South Devon. He may have been father of this
second Sir John, and William the father of Dorcas and Damaris, Mrs. Coffin, and Mrs. Surbuck, to whom
Sir John, of Bombay, left considerable estates.

30 THE LIFE OF

who, in 1624, held office under Conant at Cape Ann. William Bunker,
1 650-1 7 1 2, carried to Nantucket by his mother, Jane Godfrey (whose first
husband, George, was drowned, 1658, when she married Richard Swaine),
married, 1669, Mary, daughter of Thomas Macy. Richard Pinkham,
of Dover ; Thomas Coleman, who had come out with Sir Richard Salton-
stall, 1599-1682, and who left four sons; John Sanborne, of Hampton,
by marriage, 1674, with Judith, daughter of the second Tristram Coffin, be-
came also connected with the island.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 3I

VI.

BOSTON AND ISAAC COFFIN.

From Tristram's third son, James, came Sir Isaac. James was Judge
of the Common Pleas, and for twelve years of Probate, and when forty
years later he passed away, at the age of eighty, he was generally loved
and respected. By his wife Mary, daughter of John Severance, one of the
earliest settlers of Salisbury, he had fourteen children wedded with six
Gardners, with Starbuck, two Bunkers, with Macy, Barnard, Clark, 1721,
and Harker. The third son, Nathaniel, 1666-1721, by his wife Damaris,
daughter of William Gayer and Dorcas Starbuck, and niece of Sir John
Gayer, had four sons and five daughters. William, the eldest son of Na-
thaniel, born in 1691, in 1722 married Ann, daughter of Francis Holmes, of
Boston and South Carolina. This event brought William, grandfather of Sir
Isaac, to Boston, where he dwelt in honor and affluence till 1774, father
and grandfather of that memorable family among the refugee loyalists who
took, some may think, the wrong side in our struggle for independence.

When William Coffin, upon his marriage with Ann Holmes, took up his
abode in Boston, the place had become a centre of trade, with nearly
twenty thousand inhabitants. The towns along the shore and in the in-
terior depended upon it for garments, and, in part, often for food. It was
already metropolitan in fashion and in enlightenment. William's mother,
Damaris Gayer, lived on at Nantucket till 1764, reaching the great age
of ninety, universally beloved. She had derived a considerable estate,
as related, from her uncle, her father, and brother ; but she had nine chil-
dren to provide for. By his own prudence and good sense, and from his
wife's inheritance, William soon acquired a competence. He jomed the
Episcopal Church, and held the position for several years of senior
warden of Trinit)'. His death in 1774, as the war broke out, saved him
from witnessing the exile and widespread confiscation that awaited his
sons. He had had thirteen children of his own, six of them married, who
were also prolific. His children, and children's children, counted up
about sixty when he died, about the same number as his great-grandfather
Tristram's at his death a century before. But of William's descendants
bearing the name of Coffin, all have died out in Massachusetts, and not
many remain in England, Canada, or South Carolina.

32

THE LIFE OF

Nathaniel, second son of William Coffin, born in 1727, graduateTof
Harvard College, 1744, received, in 1750, an honorary degree at Yale.
Brought up a merchant, he was early appointed King's Cashier of the
Customs and acquired considerable property. His wife was Elizabeth
Barnes, whom he married in 1 748. They resided near the corner of Essex
Street and Rainsford Lane, in Boston, where John and Sir Isaac were
born. The tide of the inner harbor washed up to the garden-walls.
Near by, in front, stood the Liberty tree, on the main street, which
Nathaniel, the oldest brother of Sir Isaac, cut down in 1774. John, born
1755, after winning great honors by his courage and conduct on the British
side in the American Revolution, in its Southern campaigns from 1 780 to
the peace, died the oldest general in the British Army in 1838. He had
three sons and two daughters, and his descendant, Captain Henry Coffin,
of the British Navy, published, as we have related, a memoir of him in
1880. One other brother of Sir Isaac, and the youngest, Jonathan Perry,
was a barrister of repute in London. His sisters, EHzabeth and Christian,
died in 1826, unmarried.

Their sister, Catherine, first married Richard Barwell, of Stansted, dis-
tinguished in India, where three of his sons held positions of dignity and
trust on the bench, in the treasury, and on the council board. Her
second husband was Edward Miller Mundy. Catherine Coffin had only
one child by Mr. Mundy, Admiral George, of Holly Bank, Hants, whose
distinguished career in the naval service of England in the great war with
Napoleon was wise and brave, and gained him great renown. Ann
married Mr. Kallbeck.

Isaac, the subject of this memoir, third son of Nathaniel, born in
Boston in 1759, at eight years of age — in 1766 — entered the Boston Latm
School. He was a diligent student -in a class that embraced numerous
celebrities, and when in Parliament he acknowledged himself indebted to
the methods and discipline of the Boston schools for his apt classical quo-
tations, then a mode much in vogue in that august assemblage. His rapid
progress and attainments in nautical science, which likewise remam
recorded, may have been in some measure due to the mental training of
Master Lovell in other branches of learning.

His constitution was, however, too vigorous, his animal spirits too
buoyant for scholarship alone to mark his schoolboy days. He led the
sports of the playground, and on the fifth of November, the anniversary
of the gunpowder plot, was more than once selected as the leader of the
burlesque solemnities of the occasion, which was left to the boys of the
town for fitting commemoration.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 33

His paternal abode, as mentioned near the corner of what is now Har-
rison Avenue, at the then south end of the town, was near the Common,
and in the frequent battles with foot- or snowball, or with fisticuffs, his
activity and strength made him the champion of his party of Southenders,
as they were called.

Boston was a pleasant place to dwell in. Its hills, from which it de-
rived one of its names, soon abandoned, rose far higher up above the sea,
which then encompassed the thousand acres of land constituting its area.
For comfort, security, or easy access to the harbor, the mass of its popula-
tion clustered about the wharves or centres of trade. Broad stretches
of tree or turf, sloping pastures, and blooming gardens surrounded the
stately abodes of the wealthy. Tide-waters, fresh from the ocean, spread
nearly around the peninsula. Beyond these basins wooded heights of
considerable elevation lifted themselves above the boundless tree-tops,
delighting the beholder with their graceful proportions. For fishing or
shooting, rowing, sailing or swimming, coasting or skating, Boston and its
environs of lakes and orchards was then the paradise for boys. It was a
capital school for his play-hours, and the old Latin, the oldest school
in the country, dating from 1635, for his studies of a graver sort. There
fifteen of his cousins were his schoolmates, a host of our own celebrities,
and four — Sheaffe, Morland, Mackay, and Ochterlony — who became baro-
nets or generals by military service, at what was then called home. He
was well placed for development, nor were his opportunities neglected.

As he grew in wisdom and stature, the ingratitude of king and parlia-
ment for the services which had added Canada to the realm created dis-
content and disaffection. The settled policy of the ministry to subject
the colonies to arbitrary rule, to exactions, violating the spirit and letter
of their charters, sacrificing their industries for the benefit of merchants
and manufacturers at home, provoked resentment, led to eventual resist-
ance and separation. Commercial places, wealthy and intelligent, ex-
pressed displeasure through the press, in caucus, and halls of legislation.
Conversation and correspondence aroused the people to a sense of their
wrongs, and sought to awaken England to the danger of losing so important
a part of her dominions. Many, convinced independence must come sooner
or later, inflamed the popular passions to bring it about. Others, with
more to risk, no less determined in claiming their rights as British sub-
jects, were yet hardly prepared to sever ties sacred from so many associa-
tions. They loved the country of their ancestors, took pride in its history,
and would have gladly averted the impending calamity.

Loyalists and patriots alike, prompted by honorable motives, grew
3

34

THE LIFE OF

warm as they discussed the situation wherever men congregated. They
were all the more wedded to their own several opinions by the heat and
temper such discussion engendered. Liberty boys from the Green Drag-
on, merchants and officials who addressed Governor Gage, represented
the extreme views. But events hurried them on. The Stamp Act, too
late and too grudgingly repealed, left its canker. The burning of Hutch-
inson's costly books and mansion, citizens massacred by British troops,
the tea thrown into the ocean, the Boston Port Bill that closed our harbor
to navigation, kept at fever-heat the irritation, till twenty thousand of the '
bone and sinew of the land, from their encampments on its neighboring
hills, beleagured the British fleet and garrison ; who, after another year,
were forced by Washington to withdraw to Halifax. Three thousand of
the inhabitants went with them, preferring exile and impoverishment to
giving up their allegiance. A few months later the Declaration of Inde-
pendence at Philadelphia shut with an ominous clang the door against all
possibilities of reconciliation.

The Boston Coffins were all loyal to England. Isaac's father held the
most lucrative post there under the crown. Their acquaintances and
friends were naturally more among the British officers sent to subjugate,
than among those conspiring to cast off the yoke. They had much to lose
if they swerved from their fealty to the mother country. All this they sacri-
ficed without hesitation for what they considered their obligations. Men
act from mingled motives ; but now that no object is to be answered by
depreciating the loyalists, it seems as unreasonable to condemn them as it
would be Roundhead or Cavalier. Isaac was too young in the earliest
stages of the turmoil to realize what it meant, but long before he entered,
at the age of fourteen, the British navy, he no doubt had formed opin-
ions of his own. It was doubtless of advantage to him. quickening his
faculties and maturing his character, that such events were transpiring
about him at this plastic period. His sense of justice and right, and of
what freedom signified, proved in his subsequent career that these advan-
tages had not been without effect.

His uncles and their sons were all of one mind for the crown. The
daughters of the house sided with their husbands, some of whom remained
neutral or went with the patriots. They were strong in numbers and near
neighbors. Along the principal thoroughfare, its several portions now
merged into Washington Street, dwelt twenty families descended from
WilUam Coffin, or their near kinsfolk, who lived in constant intercourse.
The patriarch, at fourscore, his vigor hardly abated, lived on the main street,
near Isaac's home. His daughter Elizabeth had married her cousin, my own

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 35

progenitor and namesake, who had bought the house opposite her father's,
at the corner of HoUis Street, built by Governor Belcher for his own use
not long before he went to New Jersey as governor of that province. Mrs.
Amory, her own aunt, and the widow of her husband's father, lived farther
south on the same street. Her tombstone, marked with her name, lays in
the Granary Burial Ground, near Park Street corner, the inscription easily
read through the open iron fence surmounting the wall.

Opposite the fence, farther north, at the corner of Bromfield's Lane,
where now stands Horticultural Hall, lived another aunt of Isaac, Mrs.
Gilbert Deblois, who, if somewhat domineering even for a Coffin, liked to
be hospitable. Her boys went also to the Latin school near by. Her
cake and fruit were not wasted, but served to rejoice at lunch their healthy
appetites. She was less considerate of her pretty daughter, Bessie, who,
about the age of Isaac, early became attached to one every way worthy,
and whose name in his own and two subsequent generations has been held
in high estimation. Why the mother interfered, and forbade the banns in
open church, locked up her daughter, whom she seized upon in the act of
eloping with her lover, can only be explained by her love of domination.
Neither herself nor Bessie could have favored the suit of Arnold, then cov-
ered with laurels from Saratoga, later dishonored, who was also captivated
by her beauty. Bessie remained single, watching with filial tenderness over
the declining years of her mother, who had thus cruelly thwarted her own
prospects of a happy life. She lived on, for the most part in the same dwell-
ing, retaining her grace and loveliness till she died, having lived to beyond
fourscore, beloved and esteemed by a large circle of acquaintances, friends,
and kinsfolk.

Not far from the school, on the Main Street, near the Province House,
lived his Uncle William, whose wife was the daughter of Thomas Aston,
and who had a large family of sons and daughters. On State, then King
Street, opposite the scene of the Boston massacre, resided Mr. Edward
Payne, who, disturbed at whist by the turmoil, and hastening, with his
cards in his hand, to the door to see what it meant, had his arm shattered
by a ball. On what is now Bowdoin Square, with large gardens about it,
was the residence of Mr. Newell, Chairman of the Selectmen during the
war, who had married a sister of Mrs. Payne, and they were kinswomen of
Isaac. John and Eben, his uncles, had their homes near by his own,
swarming with children with those best blessings of Providence — good
spirits and temper, health, and comeliness. They lived near the Common.
These many doors opened gladly to welcome one so cheery and spirited
as our subject.

36 THE LIFE OF

VII.

ISAAC AT SEA.

Living surrounded by the sea, sailing on its bays and harbors, and
haunting its wharves and ships, Isaac's tastes for maritime pursuits early de-
veloped. At the age of fourteen he entered the Royal Navy under the aus-
pices of Rear-Admiral John Montague. By him he was confided to the
care of Lieutenant William Hunter, at that period commanding the brig
Gaspee, and who thus spoke of his pupil :

" Of all the young men I ever had the care of, none answered my ex-
pectations equal to Isaac Coffin. He pleased me so much that I took all
the pains in my power to make him a good seaman ; and I succeeded to
the height of my wishes ; for never did I know a young man acquire so
much nautical knowledge in so short a time. But when he became of use
to me, the Admiral thought proper to remove him. We parted with con-
siderable regret."

Mr. Coffin, after quitting the Gaspee, served as midshipman succes-
sively on board the Captain, Kingfisher, Fowey, and Diligent, on the
Halifax Station ; from the latter vessel he was removed into the Romney,
of fifty guns, bearing the flag of his patron at Newfoundland, and in the
summer of 1778 he obtained a lieutenancy and the command of the Pla-
centia cutter. In the following spring he served as a volunteer on board
the Sybil frigate, Captain Pasley, and was soon after appointed to the
command of Le Pincon, an armed ship. On this vessel, owing to the
negligence of the sailing master who had charge of her, he had the misfor-
tune to be wrecked on the coast of Labrador ; upon which he returned to
St. John's, where he was tried by a court martial and fully acquitted, his
conduct being considered that of an able officer and seaman wholly free
from blame.

By following such traces as the naval histories of Great Britain afford
of these several ships, we can reasonably conjecture the part Coffin took
in our Revolutionary War. We learn what duties were performed by each
of them, and we have no reason to doubt, from his rapid promotion, of his
efficiency and zeal. We know that his patron, Admiral Montague, pro-
tected the rear of Howe's retreat from Boston, in 1776, that the ships to

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 37

which he belonged were often engaged with the enemy, and that they cap-
tured several valuable prizes, in which actions he participated. But inter-
esting as this view of the war of Independence is from the decks of
English fleets, little comparatively is familiar to American students of their
history, or known of Coffin's own experiences to relate them here as inci-
dents in his life.

In November, 1779, Coffin, now lieutenant, went to England and was
appointed to the Adamant, about to be launched at Liverpool. In June,
1 780, that ship sailed for Plymouth under jury masts ; and in the month
of August following she was ordered to convoy the trade bound to New
York. His next appointment was to the London, of ninety-eight guns, the
flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Graves, then second in command on the coast
of America, and from her he removed into the Royal Oak, a third-rate,
under Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot, to whom he acted as signal lieutenant in
the action off Cape Henry, March 16, 1781. As he rose in rank and was
clothed with graver responsibilities, the part he took was more conspicu-
ous, and we may mention, even in connection with an officer so young as
he was, much of what took place.

The events of the first four years of the war, from 1775 to 1779, are
sufficiently familiar; D'Estaing's repulse at Savannah and Prescott's evac-
uation of Newport in October, 1779; its reoccupation by Tiernay in
July, 1780. The reduction of Charleston, defeat of Gates at Camden,
defection of Arnold, capture at sea of Henry Laurens, had followed in
quick succession. Congress sent, in December, 1780, John, son of its
captured president, who had gained glory in the recent battles, to help
extricate his father from the Tower, and arrange with King Louis, Frank-
lin, and Vergennes for the coming campaign. Britain, disappointed, had
sued for peace by arbitration, which France was disposed to concede on
condition of American independence. Meanwhile the King urged his allies
to make strenuous exertions to better their condition, which seemed also
the English policy, that they might respectively treat to better advantage.

Arnold's sack of Virginia, Cornwallis' march to Yorktown, manoeuvred
thither by Lafayette, Wayne, and Greene, were preparing the crisis. The
King, in March, '81, had promised millions of money, arms, and garments.
He provided for the co-operation of De Grasse, with a formidable fleet
and several thousand men from the West Indies, with Washington and
Rochambeau in the Chesapeake at the end of August.

A French squadron in March, 1781, had a partial engagement at Cape
Henry with Admiral Arbuthnot, under whom Coffin, as mentioned, served
as signal lieutenant. Washington and Rochambeau in July passed round

38 THE LIFE OF

New York, reaching the Chesapeake as De Grasse with his twenty-four line-
of-battle ships made his appearance. The Enghsk leaders, both on land
and along shore, had been on the watch, and Graves, Hood, and Drake,
with nineteen ships, hovered near. Upon their arrival, De Grasse stood
out to sea, the British fleet following. In the engagement of the 5th of
September that ensued, the British lost a few hundred men and De Grasse
accomplished his object. De Barres, who had come down from Newport,
improved the occasion to enter the bay, and the two French fleets thus
hermetically sealed it against the British. Graves hurried back to Sandy
Hook for reinforcements ; but when he returned with seven thousand men,
sent by Clinton to relieve Cornwallis, on the 24th of October, it was too
late, Cornwallis had already surrendered.

How it chanced that Coffin took no more active part in these oper-
ations may be thus explained. After the battle of March i6th, on the
return to New York, the Royal Oak, after taking several valuable prizes,
had grounded and was sufficiently injured to be hove down at Halifax. In
the middle of June arrived a vessel from Bristol with the remains of his
father, who had died on board the day before of gout. Having held an
important position under government, his obsequies in New York, on
Broadway, showed due regard to his memory. Isaac was placed soon after
in command of the Avenger, the advanced post of the British up the
North River, which he held during the autumn, till he exchanged with
Sir Alexander Cochrane for the Pocahontas and joined Hood early in
January at Barbadoes.

Lord Hood had been often in Boston. His wife's uncle, Captain John
Linzee, had there married the daughter of Ralph Inman, of Cambridge.
I^ord Hood was present at this marriage, as afterward at that in the same
apartment in the house of Mr. John Rowe, who had also married an Inman,
of Linzee's daughter Hannah to my namesake and father's brother.
Under the same roof William H. Prescott, whose wife was the daughter
of Hannah Linzee, wrote his earlier histories. Hood well knew Cofiin,
and it required very little. solicitation on his part to invite him to serve on
board the Barfleur, his flagship.

Soon after the surrender at Yorktown Hood had sailed for Barbadoes,
awaiting De Grasse. January 14, 1782, soon after Coffin had joined him,
he learned that De Grasse had relinquished his plan of attacking Barbadoes,
and gone to St. Kitts, where De Bouille had landed eight thousand troops,
the British garrison under Frazer consisting of but six hundred men.

Deciding to attack the French fleet at anchor to save the place. Hood
embarked Prescott, who had twice been in command at Newi)ort, with the

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 39

few troops that could be spared from Antigua, and set sail. At daybreak he
signalled for battle ; but the Alfred, running foul of the Nymph, arrested the
prosecution of the design, in order to repair damages. De Grasse put to
sea to have more room to manceuvre, and thus secure the advantage of
his superiority in numbers. At daylight on the 25th, the French
fleet, twenty-nine sail strong, formed in line of battle three leagues to
leeward. Hood, who had but twenty-two, pushed the enemy still farther
to leeward while he took possession of Basse Terre, the position Hood
had left. The Count, astonished at these excellent operations which cut
him off from his army, made a furious onset on the British rear, commanded
by Affleck, who, under an incessant fire, covered the ships till they reached
their several stations.

The next morning the French admiral attacked again the British, van
and rear, but was repulsed, losing a thousand men. His own flagship, the
Ville de Paris, present of that city to the King, all the next day lay upon
her heels covering her shot-holes. The siege proceeded with various
success, till De Bouille arrived with four thousand fresh troops, when
Frazer capitulated. Hood, on the 19th,' reached Antigua, and joined,
a few days later Lord Rodney, with reinforcements from England.

These operations form an epoch in the annals of the British Navy.
Compelling an enemy of a superior force to quit his anchorage, taking
himself the situation thus left during action, defeating every attempt to
force the position, and cutting the enemy off from his army. It was a
lesson in naval tactics that will ever be deservedly regarded with admiration,
both for Hood's skill in these masterly manoeuvres, and for the bravery and
precision with which they were executed by those under his orders.

While at Santa Lucia, Rodney, learning that De Grasse, with 5,500
men and heavy guns, had pushed for St. Domingo to reduce it, overtook
him on April 7th, and the battle of the 9th and victory of the 12th were
the results. The battle on the 12th began at seven in the morning. It
was fought in a large basin of water lying among the islands of Guadaloupe,
Dominique, the Saints, and Marie Galante. Both on the windward and
leeward of this bay lay dangerous shores. As day broke, Rodney closed
up his line at one cable length instead of at two, as usual, each ship as she
ranged up to her opponent giving and receiving a tremendous fire. At
noon, with his own ship, the Formidable, and three more, he bore down
upon the enemy within three ships of the centre and broke through. His
other ships followed, doubling upon the enemy and placing them between
two fires. Rodney then wore and signalled the van to tack ; they gained
the windward and completed the disorder and confusion of the French.

40

THE LIFE OF

The French continued the combat, attempting to reform their broken
line by the van breaking away to windward. Meanwhile Hood, in the
Barfleur, earlier becalmed, rushed down upon the foe. The Canada, 74,
took the Hector. Ingrefield in the Centaur attacked the Cesar ; the cap-
tain nailed his colors to the mast and was killed. When she struck her
mast went overboard, and she had not a foot of canvas without a shot-hole.
The Glorieux fought bravely, but was forced to yield. The Ardent was
retaken, the Diadem, 74, went down by a single broadside attributed to the
Formidable, Rodney's flag-ship.

Between the French ship, the Ville de Paris, and the Canada, a desper-
ate action raged for two hours. De Grasse seemed determined to sink
rather than strike. The Barfleur, Hood's flag-ship, on which was Coffin,
at sunset poured in a fire which killed sixty men outright, and De Grasse
struck to Hood. It is said that at the time she struck but three men were
left alive and unhurt on the upper deck, and the Count was one.

Hood, despatched in pursuit of the French vessels that attempted to
escape, overtook and captured four. The whole loss of the French
amounted to eight vessels, one of which was sunk and another blown up.
On the Ville de Paris were thirty-six chests of money to pay the troops. She
was said to have been at that time the only first-rate ever carried into port
by any commander of any nation. The French lost 3,000 men, the British
1,000. Rodney was made a peer of Great Britain, Hood of Ireland, Drake
and Affleck baronets.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 41

VIII.
CAPTAIN^ OF A SEVENTY-FOUR.

Shortly after the battle of April 12, 1782, Captain Cofifin, who had re-
joined his sloop, went with part of the crew of the Santa Amonica, which
had been wrecked at Tortola, to Jamaica, where, through the influence of
Hood, he was appointed by Lord Rodney captain of the Shrewsbury, of 74
guns, and confirmed in that rank June 13, 1782, sixty days later, when only
twenty-two years of age. This indicates the estimate of both Hood and
Rodney of his ability, prudence, and courage, of the value of his services in
these recent operations.

While still in command of the sloop Pocahontas at Antigua, the town
of St. Johns caught fire and in a short space was nearly consumed. Coffin,
with the crew of his sloop and other sailors collected by his exertions, at
length succeeded in arresting the progress of the flames, at the imminent
risk of his life. For this service he had the satisfaction of receiving an
address of thanks from the legislative body of the island.

It is not easy to determine, from the varying accounts of these battles,
whether Cofiin, on April 12, 1782 — Rodney's great victory — was on board
the Barfleur with Hood, or in command of his own vessel. Soon after that
event we find him despatched on special service, to carry a portion of
the crew of the above ship, as just stated, the Mona Amonica, which had
been captured September 14, 1779, by his friend, George Montague, in
the Romney, to Jamaica. Forming part of the operations, in which he
shared with the rest and gained his promotion, this brief sketch of these
events will not seem out of place. Great sea-fights before and since —
Trafalgar, St. Vincent's, and many more — have displayed the naval genius
of great commanders, when seamanship and bravery have won glory for
Britain.

In these encounters the great embarrassment to contend with was
less the enemy than the wind. This is now changed. The develop-
ment of steam-power, not only for propulsion, but armor and arma-
ment, has brought to an end the naval tactics which controlled the result
in engagements where combatants were well matched. Ships, clad like
the warriors of old in complete steel, now set at defiance wind and tide.

42 THE LIFE OF

m

Since the Monitor, they have effectually superannuated the wooden walls
to which nations old and new once trusted for safety and supremacy. If no
longer ships by thousands participate in the decisive battles of the future,
contending fleets, composed of vessels of great cost, fewer in number,
hurling their huge missiles out of sight to their target, will change the whole
character of naval warfare. If we have no fleet, to speak of, of our own,
we spend millions in feeding useless mouths without benefit to the nation.
It behooves us to educate our officers to become Nelsons and Colling-
woods, Porters and Farraguts, when circumstances not to be foreseen or
controlled, forces upon us another Salamis.

Unless we guard our cities with the latest improvements in defensive
warfare, possess fleets able to cope with the best, we may be exposed to
tribute, to aggression, or insult — have left no alternative but the last argu-
ment of kings and nations, the arbitrament of arms. Sir Archibald Alli-
son, thirty years ago, from his reading of human history, that inasmuch as
mankind always fought when they could afford it, predicted that the pre-
cious metals discovered in such heaps would reopen the gates of Janus.
The event has justified his prophecy. It is to be hoped that the growing
intelligence of the race will recognize the absurdity of spending blood and
treasure in such profitless avocations. Yet, while the world continues
ignorant and stupid, we should be prepared for attack. We should have
forts, ships, and captains, who will learn from the old strategy and tactics,
on land and sea, what they had of value — accomplished commanders, who
can, besides, devise new methods to meet the modern facilities of destruc-
tion, which science, like Cadmus of old, who invented the alphabet, brings
out of the earth.

Peace soon came. Though Coffin had gained a permanent rank in the
Navy, there was much to discourage him in finding his vocation thus
changed, if not gone. His family was broken up. The remains of his
father lay in their last resting-place, as already mentioned, in New York.
John, at the age of twenty-one, had raised a mounted rifle corps in New
York called the Orange Rangers, which, with him as their commandant,
took part in the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776, and in that of
Germantown, October 4, 1777. Tater, he exchanged into the New York
Volunteers, was at San Lucie and Brier's Creek in 1779, at Camden in
1780, at Holkirk's Hill, near Camden, April 25th, and at Eutaw Springs
September 8, 1781. He is mentioned, as a brave and successful cavalry
officer, with commendation in nearly every other engagement of the South-
ern campaign, constantly in desperate encounters and coming off" victo-
rious. Though a purse of ten thousand dollars was offered for his capture,

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 43

he escaped to Charleston, where he married, as the war closed, Miss
Matthews, and establishing himself later on his manor of Alwington, on
the St. John's, in New Brunswick, he lived till he was eighty-two in great
honor. That at the close of the war of Independence, at the age of twenty-
seven, his rank was only that of a major, that he was not promoted to a
higher rank, as urged by Howe and Cornwallis, is attributed to enmity at
court for telling the truth of a favorite. He was at the head of the gen-
erals when he died.

As he has had recently (1880) his biographer in one of his descendants,
Captain Henry Coffin, of the Royal Navy, this is not the place to relate
more particularly his brilliant achievements or numberless anecdotes well
remembered. I vividly recall his tall commanding figure and marvellous
bright eyes, in my early home in Park Street, in Boston, where he was a
frequent visitor of my father, who had charge of his affairs as of his
brother's. He was more sedate than Isaac, but both were brilliant speci-
mens of the race. He was beloved and greatly esteemed by his numerous
cousins, and splendid salmon from the river near his home were often sent
by him for their enjoyment. He also, like his brother, if not on so grand
a scale, in order to promote our stock, sent fine horses to the Agricultural
Society at Brighton.

The brothers, of nearly the same age, and the best of friends, Isaac
may well have wished to have been present at John's wedding to Miss
Matthews, which took place toward the close of 1782. Charleston lay on
the route from Antigua, and it would not have been strange if, in the spirit
of mutual consideration that prevailed in the service, such an opportunity
had been given him. If so, it does not appear.

44 THE LIFE OF

IX.

PEACE OF 1783.

Early in 1783, war over, and the Shrewsbury paid off, Coffin exchanged
into the Hydra, and going home, was put out of commission. His previous
visits to England had been brief and on professional duty. This new
experience to one who, at the age of twenty-two, had gained the rank of
captain, and by his valuable services made his mark as one of the best
officers of the Navy, might have turned the head of one less sensible.

To be his own master, with abundance of prize money, plenty of
companions, like dashing blades to share it, must have been replete with
gratification. Many of his family and friends from Boston had taken up
their abode in London, and the refugee loyalists formed there a large circle.
They were all disposed to like Isaac, a handsome young fellow with pleas-
ant ways, generous and unpretending, loaded with laurels. If the highest
honors of the war attached to superior rank and more distinguished com-
mand, he had done enough to be held in estimation among his own inti-
mates, by the great naval celebrities, and by the public.

He was much in France while thus on furlough. Paris still retained the
glamour of the old regime. If heavy taxes or arbitrary power created wide-
spread discontent and disaffection, there were as yet few indications of
the caldron seething beneath, soon to overwhelm. It is much to be wished
more of his correspondence had survived to give us his own impressions
of Paris then. He wrote well and with the vivacity that characterized his
conversation. Possibly many more of his letters may exist of all periods
of his life, and if so, they should be collected.

Sir Guy Carleton, who could hardly have saved Canada for the crown,
in 1 775, without the aid of the Coffins, and whose private secretary through-
out his career was Isaac's cousin, Sir Thomas Aston Coffin, was now, in
1786, appointed Governor of Canada. It was probably at his request that
Isaac was appointed to the Thisbe, to take him with his family and suite to
Quebec. He had been created Lord Dorchester, that being an old title
in the Carleton family. The ship arrived at Quebec late in the season,
and, lest she should be frozen up. Coffin proceeded, two days later, to
Halifax for the winter, returning in the spring to Canada, and remained
there for some months.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 45

At this time a circumstance occurred to disturb his serenity, though
later he was entirely exonerated from any blame. It had been long the
custom in the English naval service, among other abuses working occa-
sional injustice and demanding reform, to retain on the ship rolls the names
of young officers while pursuing their studies ashore ; so that they might
not, while qualifying themselves for their responsible duties, lose their pre-
cedence for promotion. Many years before, in consequence of some unfair
advantage that had been taken of this indulgence, a regulation prohibiting
such practices had been adopted by the Admiralty. It chanced at this very
time someone again had been aggrieved, and attention been called to the
prevalence of what had been prohibited. It was ascertained that two such
cases were on the rolls of the Thisbe, not placed there with the knowledge
of Coffin, but which it was his duty as captain to have discovered and struck
off. Upon inquiry and complaint he was suspended, and indignant at what
he conceived unfair treatment, he proceeded to Flanders, and entered into
the service of the Brabant patriots then in arms against Austria,

This decree of suspension by the board, when appealed from to the
twelve judges, was by them declared illegal on the part of the Admiralty
and set aside. This put an end to the suspension and restored him to his
standing in the service. Upon the Spanish armament in 1 790, on the Nootka
Sound dispute, he was appointed to the Alligator, and in the following
spring, having received the flag of Commodore Cosby, was ordered to
America, whence he returned home with Lord Dorchester and his family the
following autumn.

While thus stationed at Halifax, he visited Quebec on furlough, and
remained there a twelvemonth. He naturally found the place attractive
socially as in other ways. Besides his cousin, Thomas Aston, son of his
uncle William, his Uncle John resided in that city with his family, who
were about his own age. John, early after the outbreak of hostilities at
Boston, had taken his wife, Isabella Child, and eleven surviving of his
fifteen children, six sons and five daughters, in his own ship, the Neptune,
to Quebec. He there purchased land, and when Montgomery and
Arnold arrived in December, 1775, to besiege the city, he remodelled the
buildings he was constructing for another purpose into a fortification. This
he armed with guns from a vessel frozen in for the winter, and with Barne-
fare, its captain, stood ready with a small force to oppose the assailants.
With the first volley he slew Montgomery and his two aids, on the last day
of the year 1775, as they attempted to take his fort by assault. This, with
Arnold's subsequent loot of Montreal, which disaffected the Canadians,
saved Canada for the British crown.

46 THE LIFE OF

The sons of John all reached distinguished rank in the British civil and
military service, and three of his daughters were connected with it by
marriage. Isabella married Colonel McMurdo, whose sons gained dis-
tinction in India ; Susannah, Hon. John Craigie, provincial treasurer, whose
son, an admiral, died in 1872 at Dawlish ; his daughter Margaret, Sir
Rof^er Hailes Sheafe, born in Boston, who for his victory at Queenstown
Heights, October 13, 1812, was made a baronet. One of the sons of John,
Francis Holmes, in the navy throughout the war with France, served with
distinction and died an admiral in 1835.

While on his way up the river to Quebec in 1 786, the Thisbe was be-
calmed off the Magdalen Islands in the St. Lawrence, and struck by their
appearance, perhaps the more attractive from the autumnal splendors.
Coffin requested, probably not in very serious earnest, that Lord Dorchester,
as representative of the crown, would bestow them on him. This request
seemed reasonable to the governor. It was not received at first with favor at
home, but renewed the following year in more formal manner, was eventu-
ally granted. The letters-patent were not expedited until 1798, during the
governorship of Robert Prescott. In his will Sir Isaac entailed these islands
on his nephew, John Townsend Coffin, and his sons, John's brother, Henry
Edward, his cousin William, and several other branches of his own name,
and then on the Barwells, his sister's sons. The son of Sir Isaac Tristram,
who died in 1872, now holds them.

After his return to Europe, while lying at the Nore during a heavy gale,
a man fell overboard, and Coffin leaped after him into the sea and succeeded
in saving his life. He sustained by his efforts a serious injury, which fre-
quently afterward reminded him of this act of humanity.

Another heroic act, of somewhat similar character, has been related of
his promptness in emergencies. While at Portsmouth, or some other
naval station, and, it is beUeved, still a subaltern, his ship, one of the line,
caught fire, which being in close proximity to the magazine, sailors and
marines rushed with precipitation to the gangway to escape the instantly
expected explosion. By authority, or example, he changed their purpose,
and the men going to quarters, saved the ship.

Soon after his return the Alligator was paid off. After visiting
Sweden, Denmark, and Russia he returned home upon the troubles with
France, and in charge of the Melampus frigate was employed on Channel
service to the close of 1794. While exerting himself on a boisterous
night, when the frigate was in great danger of destruction, he sustained a
similar injury to that at the Nore, which compelled him to leave his ship,
and for some time he remained a cripple. Nine months later, however.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 47

while recovering his strength at Leith on service, he was sent as resident
commissioner of Corsica, and remained till October, 1796, when the island
was evacuated. From Elba he was removed to Lisbon to take charge for
the next two years of the naval establishment at that place. He was thence
despatched to superintend the arsenal at Port Mahon when Minorca fell
into the hands of the English, and from there ordered to Nova Scotia in the
Venus frigate. At Halifax, and afterward at Sheerness, as resident commis-
sioner he was employed till April, 1804, when appointed rear-admiral he
hoisted his flag on the Gladiator on duty at Portsmouth, and the following
month he was created a baronet. The record recites the grant of the
Magdalen Islands in the St. Lawrence, for his unremitting zeal and perse-
vering efforts in the public service. He was promoted four years later to
the grade of vice-admiral, which ended his naval duties afloat, though he
became full admiral in 18 14 by regular seniority.

This sketch of his services at sea is very incomplete. The memoir of
him in 1822, by Marshall, in London, when he was in Parliament, is brief,
and the obituary in The Gentlemaii' s Magazine when he died, not even
as extended. I have no data of his cruise in the Pacific, along the shore
of Australia, mentioned by Mr. Allen Coffin, which has left its trace on the
charts in Sir Isaac's Point and Coffin's Bay. It seems more likely to have
taken place about the close of the last century or the beginning of this.

His prize money in such troubled times had been considerable. This
he entrusted to my father, one of his cousins in his native place, favorably
circumstanced, to invest it to advantage, and it was said that the income
finally equalled the original deposits. He made frequent visits to his early
home in the course of his busy life upon the sea, having made more than
thirty voyages to and from America.

48 THE LIFE OF

X.

MARRIAGE AND PARLIAxMENT.

Affluent and a baronet, he naturally longed for a home and inclined to
transmit his baronetcy to his posterity. March, iSii, he married Elizabeth
Browne, the only child of William Greenly, of Titley Court, in Hereford-
shire, Her family, brought up with rigid notions of propriety, did not take
kindly to the hearty and jovial ways which characterized naval officers, and
the match proved less happy than expected.

It is said that on one occasion, returning to Tidey Court on some par-
ticularly festal day, he ordered the sexton, as he passed through the village,
to ring a merry peal and send the tenants to the mansion to drink a glass
of ale. This mortally offended the lord of the manor, who thus found his
prerogative invaded by the husband of his only child. Within a few years,
satisfied of their utter incompatibility of temper, they very amicably, on
both sides, arranged for independence of each other.

Without intending to detract from her merit, the lady indulged in literary
tastes of a religious tendency. She was said to be addicted to writing ser-
mons at night, to the disturbance of the slumbers of her rollicking spouse,
and so, after a space they separated. She remained Lady Greenly and he
resumed the name of Coffin. The fault was certainly not hers, who was a
clever and exemplary woman, but somewhat eccentric in her ways. In
after hfe she was well known in Bath, England, remarkable for wearing,
Welsh-woman fashion, a man's round hat, a riding habit cut short, and for
wielding a gold-headed cane. She lived nearly as long as he did, but they
rarely met, though he made repeated overtures to reconciliation, some
rather amusing.

When shipwrecked in the Boston, struck by lightning on her way
from Charlestown to Liverpool in 1829, in the boat for several days with
little hope of rescue, for the seas were not then as much traversed as now,
he expressed great affection for her, and gave his watch to the captain to
send her should he himself not survive their perils and the captain be
fortunate enough to escape. While in the crowded boat, on this occasion,
with no shelter and little covering, and the scantiest supply of food and
water, his own cheerfulness, interesting conversation, and ebullitions of
good humor, kept his companions in heart and courage.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 49

It is the reasonable ambition of all Englishmen whose conditions and
circumstances justify such aspirations, to be permitted to take part in the
legislation and government of their country, and when his own health and
the peace rendered active service in the Navy no longer desirable, his
wish was gratified by his return to Parliament. One of his friends, Lord
Darlington, had influence enough to secure his return in 18 18, for the
borough of Ilchester, for which he sat till the dissolution in 1826. His
reputation and experience gave especial weight to his opinions when he
took part, as he frequently did, in debates on naval affairs. What he said
attracted attention to its practical good sense by the hilarity of his nature
and happy stores of illustration that amused while they convinced. He
was tall, robust, but of symmetrical proportions ; his voice powerful, and
his countenance expressive and noble. His long habits of command and
contention'with the elements inspired confidence in himself, which com-
manded that of the House. He was widely known and generally popular,
and happily constituted to enjoy the social pleasures attending ""success,
tempered in their indulgence by occasional twinges of gout.

Among affluent and influential circles, nowhere more than in England,
does the social board shape public opinion, develop and test ability, or
even control affairs. This was more the case half a century ago than since
reform bills have opened the door more widely to popular representation.
Officials and legislators were exclusively selected from rank and wealth, or
for extraordinary ability and statesmanship, and the aristocracy they repre-
sented regarded the government as their especial concern. Much could
be said in the privacy of social discussion which would have been wholly
impolitic through the press, or in the halls of legislation. From memoirs
and biographies since published, what took place behind the scenes has
come to light to show how, and by whom, public affairs were conducted
and managed. Many wise and noble statesmen were among the leaders,
but much has transpired that had better have been consigned to oblivion.
Social chat at the table was not altogether political ; it embraced every
conceivable topic, and the brilliant encounters of wit, the profound specu-
lations of philosophy, the flood of anecdote and historical reminiscence,
contributed to the intellectual banquet.

From his varied opportunities and confidential acquaintance with men
and affairs, few had more to impart to the general" entertainment of the
hour than Sir Isaac. He possessed rich stores of the information most
valued, and his jovial nature was contagious and irresistible. In the
brilliant round of London hospitalities, in the happily-ordered routine of
country life, where scores of able men met in the easiest freedom from
4

50 THE LIFE OF

constraint as guests together, he was everywhere an acquisition. I
remember well weeks passed under the same roof with him when preparing
for my college examinations. The family were in the country, and he was
tied by the foot to his couch by the gout. But from morning till night,
droll stories, amusing incidents, whimsies and oddities of every description,
exploded like fireworks from the aged man's pillow, intermingled with
occasional garnish of more savage intensity at his anguish.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 5 1

XI.

GENIAL TEMPERAMENT.

I HAVE Still a vivid recollection of him in his undress uniform as a
British admiral, at an earlier period, in fine health and the perfection of
physical maturity, on the wide lawn and in the spacious parlors of Belmont,
his cousin's and my uncle's home. He was then tall and erect, with rich
color in his cheeks and merry sparkle in his eye, brimming over with
animal spirits, companionable, and with fitting chat for all. His funny
words and ways were the delight and dread of the children, into whose
frolics he entered with zest, bewildering their minds with his drolleries,
both they and himself exploding with merriment at practical jokes too
good-natured to offend.

If not quite as prone to loud expressions of mirth and merriment in so-
cial intercourse on this side the ocean as on the other, one so gay and so
brimful of amusing jokes and stories was perhaps all the better appreci-
ated. The many brilliant gentlemen of Boston in professional life, or among
its merchant princes, affluent and convivial, were pleased to have him as
their guest. Loyalty to the mother-country died out slowly ; and a Bos-
ton-born boy, whose numerous kinsfolk had ample means for hospitality,
much attention was paid him. Often when at my father's, who resided in
Park Street, where now is the Union Club House, the festal entertain-
ments extended into the small hours ; and those upon whom it devolved
to sit up to receive the roisterers, would gladly welcome from far off his
shout of " House ahoy! " breaking on the silent watches of the night.

While at some lordly mansion in England his hostess had begged him
to have made for her a Boston rocking-chair. Not wishing to disoblige her
ladyship, he enlisted the services of the village carpenter, and a few days
after had the contrivance, not then to be found in fashionable mansions out
of the nursery, placed in the apartment where the company at the castle
assembled before dinner. With all due ceremony he led the amiable and
much-honored lady to the chair, in which she ensconced herself and began
to rock. Unfortunately, the rockers had not been constructed on scien-
tific principles, and over it went, with many eyes to behold. Too well bred
to be affronted, she gathered herself up as best she could ; and by taking

52 THE LIFE OF

it kindly put the admiral at his ease, and contributed to the gayety of the
repast. Her husband, whose good services placed him in Parliament, did
not abate them for the casualty.

One day an American ship sailed into Portsmouth, or Plymouth, before
the War of 1812, when Sir Isaac had charge of the naval fleet. An English
officer was sent on board. The master having gone ashore, the mate?
being in charge, did not receive the officer with the etiquette required upon
such occasions. The officer gave the first salutation as he reached the deck
by saying : " What damned kind of a Yankee lubber has charge here, who
don't know his duty to properly receive his majesty's officer?" The mate
said not a word, but, seizing his visitor by the collar and slack of his trou-
sers, threw him overboard for his own crew to pick up. Soon after an armed
boat came alongside to take the mate on board the flag-ship, where he was
arraigned before Sir Isaac, who soon became aware that the culprit was a
kinsman, whose father he had been familiar with in boyhood. Retried to
get the mate to acknowledge that he was ignorant'of the laws and customs,
that he might dismiss the case vvith a caution not to do so again ; but the
Yankee was obdurate. "He'd be damned," he said, "if any man should
insult him on his own deck and under the flag of his country." The of-
fender was remanded to be regularly tried the next day. In the meantime
the admiral sent a messenger to privately assure the mate that a suitable
apology would relieve him from any further trouble in the matter ; but on
the trial the same defiant manner was assumed. The admiral drew out
some expression, however, which he accepted as satisfactory, and dismissed
the offender with suitable admonitions.

Later in the day, from the shore, the admiral sent a message to the
young man, stating that, as his father was an old friend and relative, he
would be happy to meet the son and enjoy a bottle of wine with him at
the Jnn. But the young man replied that the admiral might go to h — 1 with
his wine. He'd see him d — d first, before he'd drink with any d — d Eng-
lisher, especially one who would approve of an insult to an officer under
his own flag, upon his own deck.

The admiral used to relate the above incident with much gusto, as he
admired the spirit of independence exhibited by the Yankee mate. We
have retained the strong garnish, as a fair sample of the profane ways of
a few generations ago. Not only afloat on the quarter-deck and on the
forecastle, but in the drawing-room and social circles, among those who
should have knowni better, such modes of speech prevailed. They have
long since vanished from among all classes and conditions here and through-
out Christendom.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 53

Commodore Hull, of our Navy, was one of his correspondents, and
General Wilson, our honored president, has been good enough to per-
mit me to read many letters that passed between them after the War of
18 1 2 and when the two countries were at peace. This correspondence
displays alike in both the genial and generous traits which the Navy is thought
peculiarly to foster. I propose to refer to one subject more than once
mentioned in these letters, which, to use the old phrase, might seem only
a fish story and for the marines, if not evidently believed by himself. It is
in reference to the size attained in former days by lobsters on our coasts.
In the freedom of intercourse around the table or on the quarter-deck, while
once returning to America, he alleged that lobsters had been found
weighing ninety pounds. Though given somewhat to rhodomontade, he
seems in this instance to have believed the fact based on hearsay, if not
on sight. My own fishmonger told me that within his experience in these
waters twenty-five pounds was the largest that had come to his knowledge,
but I have seen it stated that lobsters of much larger weight have been
found down East, where there is more room for expansion and imagination.
The size attained by turtles and other shell-fish in neighboring waters
renders such possibilities less incredible.

Apropos of Hull and Sir Isaac, my friend. General Wilson, in a recent
address on Commodore Hull and the frigate Constitution, said : " When in
the presence of a Boston-born British admiral another naval officer indulged
in laudatory and extravagant comments on the capture of the Chesa-
peake and endeavored to underrate the American naval victories of the
War of 181 2-14, and particularly that gained over the Guerriere, he said,
' It was a lucky thing for your friend Broke that he fell in with the unpre-
pared Chesapeake, and not with Hull and the Constitution. If he had, no
Tower guns would have been heard celebrating a Shannon victory.' This
manly and patriotic statement was made by Sir Isaac Coffin at the dinner
table of the Duke of Wellington, and was related to me by his eldest son,
the second Duke, who was present. On the same occasion, when some-
one spoke sneeringly of the Americans as soldiers, a general of my own
name remarked, ' I have been through the Peninsular campaign, and was
with the duke at Waterloo, but harder fighting I never saw than we had at
Lundy's Lane.' "

54

THE LIFE OF

XII.

BENEFACTIONS AND DEATH.

Sir Isaac's character was too racy and various not at times to provoke
censure or criticism. He did so much that should not be forgotten, so
much entitled to be remembered, that, had the time or the occasion
allowed, I should mention several anecdotes that have come to my knowl-
ed"-e which show what he was from all points of view. One incident would
serve to explain how sometimes he created ill-will by yielding too much to

his impulses.

These impulses were quick and generous ; his disposition to be of service
to his least fortunate kinsfolk he manifested by frequent visits and liberal
benefactions ; and if occasionally awakening expectations which change of
impression or circumstances disappointed, his imperfections as well as
his noble traits constituted a part of his character.

1 have already mentioned that the judicious investment of his pay and
prize-money by one of his cousins had made him rich. In various ways
he expressed his gratitude even to another generation. In a paper alluded
to in his will he left bequests to a long list of his kindred, many of whom
were in straitened circumstances. Others better off he did not forget,
bequeathing five hundred pounds to my father's children.

He took an especial interest in the eldest son of this cousin, who had
been the junior partner of the house, and been left, by the death of his
father, in control. He had married, and taken into the firm one of the
best of men, since one of the great house of the Barings of London.
Losing his health, Mr. Amory was advised by his physician to go with his
wife and children to Europe. When they took their departure, he left Sir
Isaac, then his guest, in possession of his dwelling. Sir Isaac had left in
the firm, as part of its working capital, $10,000, to be used in its transac-
tions, with the assurance that it should not be called for while he lived.
When, owing to some freak of temper to which persons tortured by the
gout are liable, he insisted upon having the sum thus lent, and a few thou-
sands more then due, instantly repaid, the brothers and sisters were, for
the most part, under age, the paternal property undivided. There existed
then no limited liability. Mill corporations recently established, in which

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 55

his father had largely invested, and of some of which he had been president
or director, becoming unproductive, tailing, or losing their credit, left ex-
posed the estate, largely composed of land, wharves, and dwellings.

It was a most mopportune moment for Sir Isaac to reclaim the loan
accepted expressly upon the promise, it should not be called for while he
lived. By sacrificing his patrimony in the then depreciated market, Sir
Isaac was repaid within the year, though the inheritance of his creditor, thus
disposed of, has since been worth tvventyfold, at the least, what it brought.
This unexpected blow crippled one he had intended to serve, who, with a
large family of ten children, struggled on bravely as well as he could with-
out capital, sometimes eminently successful, always active and energetic.
Obliging, beloved, and respected, he made the best of his existence ; and
if often too sanguine of results, would, but for this, have been as much
favored in fortune as he was in his amiable disposition and courtesies.
It is too old a story for praise or blame. Probably Sir Isaac had forgotten
his promise, and when he thought his loan imperilled felt bound to extri-
cate it from danger.

This incident is mentioned not for blame, but explanation. It left at
the time an impression 10 the prejudice of our subject, and as the only
blur upon his fame as large-hearted, just, and generous, it should not be
misunderstood. Before stocks and bonds offered safe investments for
trusts, money was often left with merchants and bankers upon interest, to
be used as part of their capital. When the profits of trade judiciously con-
ducted ranged from twenty to thirty per cent., and with little risk, where
there was prudence and wealth, houses well established often found it of
advantage thus to enlarge their working means. In this instance of uni-
form and long-continued success and established reliability, hundreds of
thousands of dollars were held, some at fixed rates of interest, some re-
ceiving a portion of the profits. No corporation existing for the insur-
ance of marine risks, men of property, of various professions and pursuits,
visited the offices where such business was transacted, and subscribed as
underwriters on ships and cargo. Sometimes people not in trade shared
in the ventures of those that were.

In this way the admiral's own fortunes had rolled up, in the care of his
cousin, to very respectable dimensions. It was with the view of increas-
ing them that he left the loan to be accounted for to his executors with
his son and surviving partner. It was not pretended that the loan was
used, except in the regular commercial operations of the house. Sudden
death, a large family to divide the income, illness that compelled going
abroad, led to some delay in responding to the unexpected call for it •

56 THE LIFE OF

and this, where exactness and promptitude had been the unvarying expe-
rience, fretted the temper of the admiral. The best of us occasionally act
from impulse, and the consequences in the case could not have been fore-
seen. It is a caution to men not to be precipitate. It prejudiced many of
his best friends against him, and no doubt caused him in his later life much
regret. But now that nearly half a century has passed, he seems fairly enti-
tled, in the estimation of all, to his place in the calendar free from re-
proach, so far as this incident is concerned, and the writer knows of no
other that is not greatly to his credit.

There is another explanation which, at this day when indulgence in
speculation as to motives for transactions so remote can do no harm, may
serve to amuse or caution against the possible consequences of similar
ebullitions. The admiral had been the frequent guest of his young friend
in town and country, using his horses and carriages ; and when the family
went to Europe, begged him to use his carriage in London, and gave
orders to that effect. It so chanced that when about to be presented at
court, as there were many other Americans besides to go with them, it
seemed the right moment to use the carriage, whose panels were, of course,
emblazoned with Sir Isaac's arms. He did not like it, and took it rather
in dudgeon, but in this he of course made a mistake.

What bears, also, some connection with the transaction, if not particu-
larly pertinent, may interest some of our readers. Mr. Amory was acting
at the Isle of Wight, as representative of Colonel Hunter, our Consul, who
had gone over to France for his children, about whose safety there was
cause for alarm, when the exiled King and his family having taken refuge in
American vessels, placed himself under the protection of our Consulate
flag at Cowes. There they remained for several weeks, while the English
Cabinet consulted as to how best to receive them. During this period the
vice-consul, visiting the King daily on the ship, having the family at his
house at Ryde, and occupying their time with excursions about the island,
had an interesting experience. He had earlier travelled over Europe,
known many of its celebrities intimately, and was always excellent in con-
versation, and thus able to divert their grief. Sir Isaac may have thought
this an extravagance ; or, perhaps, was too much of a Liberal in politics
to approve these civilities to a monarch so arbitrary.

While a guest at my father's summer house at Newton, he found in
the pastor of the church there — Parson Homer — an excellent, learned, but
somewhat eccentric clergyman, who had been his schoolmate at the Boston
Latin School. The parson, who frequently came to dinner, was apt to be
a little long over his grace, to the cooling of the soup. The renewal of

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 57

their early friendship was a pleasure to both, and the dominie being versed
in biblical lore, the admiral added much to the enjoyment of his later
years by the gift of a rare and costly Bible, with a letter still extant.

His interest in the school and his classmates never ebbed. His name
is found on its books in 1808, the year he was made Master of Arts at
Harvard College. Upon his last visit to Boston, not long before he died,
he went to the school, then in School Street. One of the then pupils, Dr.
Parsons, the peerless translator of Dante, tells me he remembers him well;
and that Sir Isaac, with hand upon his head, devoutly invoked a blessing
in his behalf.

What remains of his correspondence here is creditable to his good
sense, to his ability as a writer, to his broad sympathies. Soon after the
war ended, he established in our Massachusetts waters a school-ship for
our mates and skippers to learn the art of navigation. The barge Clio,
which he purchased for the purpose, was commanded by his kinsman
Captain Hector Coffin, of the Newburyport branch of the name, who
was imprudent enough, in 1826, to go up in her to Quebec, flaunting the
American flag. These generous projects involved large expenditures, and
when his brother, General John Coffin, of New Brunswick, urged him to
abandon what gave umbrage at home, he cheerfully acquiesced in giving
up what had cost him several thousands of pounds. His desire to be of
service to the land of his birth, nevertheless, prompted other beneficent
efforts. He sent over to Brighton Barefoot, Serab, and several other
race-horses that had recently triumphed in the Derby and other well-known
courses to improve our breed. He brought over in crates, from English
waters, turbot, the first of the European variety in our own, and imported
rare fruits and plants for our horticulturists.

These horses, sent out with a groom to take charge of them, were kept
in the stables of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society at Brighton.
Barefoot had many descendants, Serab, if any, but few. For many years
having been the fortunate possessor of one of the Barefoot's colts, it grew
up to be perfect for the saddle. One day when on his back, an elderly
body crossing the street, not having heard the clatter of his hoofs upon the
pavement, suddenly changed her purpose, retracing her steps to regain the
side she had left. The horse, checked to avoid her, struck his hock against
the curb-stone, and was spavined. When broken to the shafts, and left for
a moment at the door, he threaded his way through a crowded thoroughfare
to the stable-yard, half a mile, without a scratch. It is a pleasure thus to
record in print the virtues of that excellent colt whose paternal pedigree
was almost as long as that of the Coffins.

THE LIFE OF

58

He was warmly attached to Nantucket, where his ancestors and their
descendants had dwelt for so many generations. He visited the place
and became acquainted with his kinsfolk, and in 1826 appropriated twelve
thousand dollars (;2^2,5oo), afterward increased till now about ;^io,ooo,
as a fund for a school for the instruction of the posterity of Tristram. This
includes nearly every native-born child of the island, besides, perhaps,
thousands in every State in the Union, who by future residence may
come within its benefits. The Academy still flourishes, though if our
present system of public instruction had then reached its present develop-
ment, his benefactions would probably have assumed another form.

Soon after his mishaps, to which we have already alluded, when burned
out of the cotton ship when near Charleston, in 1829, he came to Boston,
and when some fresh attacks of his painful disorder induced by the ex-
posure permitted, he hastened back to England.

The Duke of Clarence, William the Fourth, had succeeded his brother
George on the throne. His long connection with the Navy attached to
him the ofiEicers who had grown old with himself. It was said that when
the King was urged to create new peers to carry the Reform Bill through
the Lords, Sir Isaac was high up on his list as Earl of Magdalen. The
House of Lords gave in and voted for the Reform Bill, and the proposed
new peers were not created. Sir Isaac did not long survive his royal friend.
The 23d of June, 1839, at the age of eighty, he died at Cheltenham, in
Gloucestershire, and there he was buried. Lady Cofiin preceded him to
the tomb on the 27th of January of that year. His brother, General John
Coffin, died the year before, his death having taken place June 12, 1838, in
New Brunswick.

Save when in his own cabins afloat, or in his official residences in com-
mand of posts. Sir Isaac rarely enjoyed the privilege of a home of his own,
unless as such may be regarded his lodgings in London while in Parlia-
ment. He found a ready welcome under the roofs of his friends and kins-
folk. His sister, Mrs. Mundy, had a charming abode. Holly Bank, in
Hampshire, of which I caught a glimpse when passing its gates, and
where another brother of mine and his wife visited her. He had known
her sons, the Barwells, pleasantly in India! He chanced to be present,
also, at the hotel at Cheltenham when Sir Isaac died. There, and at
Bath, where some of his cousins resided, had been his frequent resort, and
there he had come to end his days near the family sepulchre.

But I have already exceeded my limit ; much omitted may find place in
some future publication. I have not aimed at eulogy or indulged in illus-
tration, but simply recited facts that have come to me from diligent study

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 59

of the subject, many of which had escaped previous investigation. The
memory of a Boston boy, who by dint of his own native energy attained
the highest rank in the British navy, a generous benefactor whose works
still bear witness to the noble impulse that prompted them, thus rescued
from oblivion in your publications, may find interested readers not only
among his numberless kinsfolk, but even among a larger circle of readers.
The engraving of Sir Isaac which accompanies this memoir is taken
from a portrait by Gilbert Stuart, that formerly belonged to his cousin
Thomas C. Amory, on Franklin Place, Boston, and in my earliest recollec-
tion hung in the parlor of the house of my aunt, Mrs. Amory, the sister
of Admiral Sir Samuel Hood Linzee, cousin of Lords Hood and Bridport.
It now forms part of the precious ancestral gallery of my cousin, Mr. Wil-
liam Amory, of Beacon Street, Boston. The portrait in the Coffin School
at Nantucket of its founder, by Sir William Beechey, presents Sir Isaac
at a later period of life.

6o THE LIFE OF

XIII.
THE COFFIN COATS OF ARMS.

The Coffins have always claimed coat-armor in laereditary right. That
branch descended from Nathaniel Coffin, father of Admiral Sir Isaac, in-
herit the right through the Admiral's grant, and are unquestionably en-
titled to 'wear his coat of arms, but this differs essentially in its emblazon-
ment from the more ancient ones.

Authorities upon English heraldry give, as belonging to the Coffins of
Devonshire, a description which, in its combination, is unlike any other
family bearings, and consists of bezants and cross-crosslets.

While they differ as to order of arrangement and combination, the
number of bezants is never less than three nor more than four, and the
cross-crosslets vary from five upward to a semee which is an indefinite
convenient number.

The bezants are a roundle representing the ancient gold coin of By-
zantium, current in England from the tenth century to the time of Ed-
ward III., and was probably introduced into coat-armor by the crusaders.
The white roundle exhibited upon Admiral Sir Isaac's arms is of silver,
and is usually called a plate, although there were silver bezants used as
coin. The cross-crosslets are crosses crossed on each arm.

The crests and mottoes are of quite modern origin.

The six coats of arms in the name in "Burke's General Armory" are
as follows :

1. Coffin, Magdalen Islands, Gulf of St. Lawrence, since of Titley
Court, County Hereford, baronet. Azure, semee of crosses crosslet, or ;
two batons in saltire, encircled with laurel branches, gold, between three
plates. Crest : Or, the stem of a ship ; or, a pigeon, wings endorsed, ar-
gent, in the beak a sprig of laurel, vert. Motto : " Extant recte factis
proemia." These arms are limited in the grant to Sir Isaac Coffin and the
descendants of his father, Nathaniel.

2. Coffin, Pine, Portlege, County Devon, temp. William I. The pres-
ent representative of this most ancient family, as well as of the families
Pine of East Downe and Pepysof Impington, is the Rev. John Pine-Coffin,
of Portledge. Azure, semee of crosses crosslet, or ; three bezants quar-

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 6 1

tering the arms of Pine, Downe, Kelway, Ilcombe, Winslade, Birt,
Hondesinore, Appleton, Gould, Penfound, and Pepys. Crests : First, a
martlet, azure, charged on the breast with two bezants, a mullet for differ-
ence ; second, a pine tree proper. Motto : " In tempestate floresco."

3. Coffin, Portland, County Dorset. Argent, a chevron between
three mullets, pierced sable.

4. Coffin, Somersetshire. Gules, two bars embattled, or.

5. Coffin, Somersetshire. Argent, three bezants and five crosses cross-
let, or.

6. Coffyn, Azure, four bezants within five crosses crosslet, or ; crest,
a bird, or, between two cinque-foils, or, stalked and leaved, vert.

Sir Isaac's visit to Nantucket, 1826, when he founded his school there,
was commemorated by a bronze medal he had struck off on the occasion,
bearing an admirable effigy of Tristram in full length, and in the graceful
garb of his period, on a base bearing the date 1642. The effigy is encircled
with the inscription : " Tristram Coffin, the first of the race that settled in
America ; " on the obverse four hands in fraternal grasp surrounded with the
injunction : " Do honor to his name — be united." At the same time he
had printed and widely distributed among the descendants of Tristram a
handsome broadside, relating in brief the principal incidents of his life and
of his origin as then known.

The broadside presents the arms of Tristram, with the facsimile of his
signature. Azure, four bezants within five crosses crosslet, or ; crest, a
bird, or, between two cinque-foils, argent, stalked and leaved, vert.
These are said to have been the arms of Sir William, who died in 1638,
and whose monument still stands at Standon, in Essex, of which royal
manor he was high steward. This is the sixth coat of arms of the Coffins
described in the " General Armory," and may have been taken from " Wea-
ver's Funeral Monuments," who gives the inscription, or from " The College
of Arms."

The arms of Sir Isaac, granted in 1804, when created a baronet, also
on the broadside, have already been stated, being the first described in the
'•General Armory " of the name, as given above.

In The Neiv England Historical and Genealogical Register for Octo-
ber, 1881, reprinted separately, is an article entitled "The Name and
Armorials of the Coffin Family," by Mr. John Coffin Jones Brown. The
article is replete with information upon his subject. The difference be-
tween the arms of North Devon, 1349 to 1699, and South seems simply
the addition of a fourth bezant in chief Conjectures are not proof, but
the suggestion is reasonable, that the fourth bezant, which is in the centre

62 THE LIFE OF

chief, may have been adopted to distinguish the Brixton branch from that
of Portledge.

Before me are two mementos of the second centennial of the death
of Tristram, in 1881 — a plate and bowl, handsomely decorated in gold,
with the coat of arms of the South Devonshire Coffins emblazoned on each,
with the four bezants between the five crosses crosslet, or, with this motto :
'* Per tenebras speramus lumen de lumine." This is the motto of Hector
Coffin — perhaps adopted by him in some moment of discouragement at
finding his quest of the parentage of Tristram's grandfather, Nicholas, on
a wrong scent. I may be equally unfortunate ; but his efforts and mine,
if not attended with success, may illumine the path through the darkness
to the truth.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART.

63

XIV.

TUCKETT'S VISITATIONS OF DEVON, Page 207.

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64

THE LIFE OF

XV.

COFFIN DATES.

Richard, iioo, 1327, county records.
Sir Hugo, of Combe Coffin, 1189-99.
Sir Geoffry, Henry HI., 1216-72.

Sir William Pole, of 386 Portlage.
Richard, 2 Knight fees of Robert the King's son.
Richard, 2 Knight fees of Henry Herring.
Richard, 24 Edward I., 1296.
John, 8 Edward H., 1315.
David, 19 Edward IH., 1346.
Michael, 40 Edward IH., 1367.
WUUam.

John — Thomasia, d. of Hathey.

William = d. John Cockementon.
Richard = Alice, d. of John Sambon.

( William.

(John = Elizabeth, co-d. of Phillippa Hingeston.

( James = Ann, d. of Sir Wm. Chudleigh.
-; Thomas.

' Richard = Wilmot, d. of Sir Richard Chudleigh.
William, son of above =
John — Mary, d. of Rob. Cary, of Clovelly.
Richard.

OTHER MENTION OF COFFIN.

Richard, deed 1254, Henry III.
William, lord of Alwenter, 1272, Edward I.
Sir Richard, deed of Edward I.
Richard = 1311.

rjohn = 1318.

I Roger.

I Lawrence.

i Richard.

David = Thomasia, 32 Edward III., 1359.
David, son and heir of David, 1376.

John and Thomasii, wife living, 1427.
Richard, Sheriff of Devon, 2 Henry VIII., 151 1.
Richard, Sheriff of Devon, 36 Charles II., 1683.
J John.

I William = Margaret, d. of Thomas Gifi^d.
Eldest son.

John of Hyde in Northam.

Richard = Honor, d. Ed. Prideaux of Padstow.
James, of Markleigh.
Elizabeth, b. 1566, d. 1613 = Wyke of Som.

HEROLD's VISITATION OF DEVON, 1620, P. 64.

Richard
Edward.
James
John
Mary

= Wilmot Chudleigh.

= Mary Cole.
= Mary Cary.
= John WoUacomb, 1589.

Prudence = Berrie of Berrie.

Wilmot = William Addington = Farrington,

1590.
John = Grace and Richard Berrie.

Humphrey, b. 1605, wasted his estate.
Giles, b. 1610.
I Nicholas, b. 1613.
(.Richard, 1589 = Elizabeth Loveis.

John = Elizabeth, d. Henry Harding.

Jane.

Elizabeth.
Richard.
Leonard.
Edward.
James.
Henry.
Edward.
.William.

Seven daughters.'Mary, Ibbot, Wilmot,' Elizabeth,
Christian, Julian, Katherine.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART.

65

CHURCH MONUMENTS.

John, 1572-1622.

Richard, s. of Richard, s. of John, 1659-60.

Richard, 1569-1622, age 48.

Elizabeth, his wife, 1571-1651, age 80.

Ruth, 1601-42, age 41, wife of Hockin.

Richard, 1622-99.

Bridget, widow of Kellond, 1676-97.

John, 1678-1703.

Ann, widow of Richard, 1655-1705.

BAPTISMS FROM PARISH REGISTER.

1569 Wilmot, d. John.

1573 Prudence.

1574 Richard.
1576 John.

1592 Mary, d. Richard.
1592 John, s. Richard.
1603 Humphrey, s. John.
1605 , d. John.

1607 William, s. Richard, Esq.

1608 Edward, s. Richard, Esq.
1618 Jane, d. John.

1619 Elizabeth, d. John.
1621 Gartred.

1654 Ruth, d. Richard, Esq,

1655 Elizabeth, d. Richard, Esq.
1657 Jane, d. Richard, Esq.
7658 Mary, d. Richard, Esq.

1659 Richard, '5 and 2, d. Richard, Esq,

1660 Garthred, d. Richard.
1662 Ann, d. Richard.
1664 Ann, d. Richard.

MARRIAGES FROM REGISTERS.

1589 Mr. Richard Coffin and Eliz. Loveis.

1589 Mary, d. of John Wollacomb.

1596 Wilmot, d. John and Mary Gary = Farrington.

1607 Mary, d. of Richard = Moore.

1609 Ebbot = Levalles.

1613 Margaret = Richard Pyne.

1616 John, s. and h. of Richard = Harding.

1617 Wilmot = Weekes.
1623 Elizabeth = Fortescue.
1628 Elizabeth = Crust.
1633 Katherine = Hocking.

BURIALS FROM PARISH REGISTER.

1555 Richard, Esq.
1569 Wilmot, widow,
1571 John, s. John.
1591 William Addington.
1608 John, Esq.
1617 Richard, Esq.
1623 John, Esq.

1654 Elizabeth, d. Richard.

1660 Richard, s. and h. of Richard, Esq.

1662 Ann, d. Richard.

1663 James, gent.

1665 Dorothy, wife of Richard.

1666 Elizabeth, d. of Richard.

66 THE LIFE OF

XVI.

THE REFORMATION.

Sir William Coffin was born about 1480. The British realm was
then all Catholic : bell, book, and candle, high mas?, and confessionals,
were paramount in chapel and church. Convents and other monastic in-
stitutions, with their cloistered walls and hidden ways, possessed a large
portion of its most fertile soil, its most picturesque territory. Religion, all
the more sincere and honest for adversity, grew corrupt with a pampered
priesthood, lost the respect and confidence of the laity. Their love of
domination and arbitrary exactions created disaffection, and paved the way
for a cross no longer a symbol. The indulgences sold by Leo the Tenth
to build St. Peter's, glut his own extravagance and the greed of his favorites,
aroused Christendom to a sense of the universal degeneracy that made a
farce of faith.

If the motives of Henry the Eighth were not of the purest, the power
of the throne and the good sense of the people co-operated to cast off a
yoke become insupportable. England, insular and enlightened, took a
leading part in the Reformation. From our present distant view, events
must have moved rapidly to consummate so great a revolution in so brief
a period. Conservative minds clung with tenacity to their old faith and
institutions, and there was so much in the new repugnant and repulsive
that it was only brought about amid great tribulation. Still, within thirty
years England, in 1530 Catholic, became Protestant.

The presence at court of Sir William Coffin, the intimate relations be-
tween him and Henry for twenty years, shown in the bequest of his imple-
ments of the chase, of which they no doubt shared in the toils and pleas-
ure often together, the position he held at the coronation of Ann Boleyn,
give us reason to believe that his own theological opinions coincided with
those of the King.

The bloated Bluebeard that occupies his niche in history differs so es-
sentially in appearance and character from that kingly form and chivalric
spirit, that intellectual expression and amiable disposition, that distinguished
Henry when he mounted the throne, that some apology seems called for in
taking any pride that Sir William Coffin was his friend. Coffin died in
1538, and the King had hardly entered upon that bloody career now re-

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 6/

garded with execration. In his earlier manhood few monarchs had been so
much beloved and respected. But, thwarted in his reasonable hopes of
domestic happiness by a marriage not of his own choosing, he became
soured, arbitrary, self-indulgent. Still, the law of England, that kings can
do no wrong, is apt to blind loyal subjects to nice distinctions, so far as re-
spects them ; and the favors conferred on Coffin by the King may have
made him less disposed to criticise.

He had married Lady Mannors, of Derbyshire, for which county, in
1529, he was chosen Knight of the Shire to Parliament. While on his
way to attend its sessions, passing by a churchyard, he observed near the
road a multitude of people standing idle. Inquiring the cause, he was told
that they had brought a corpse thither to be buried, but the priest refused
to do his office unless they delivered him the poor man's cow, the only
quick goods he left, for a mortuary. Sir William sent for the priest, and
required him to do his office to the dead, who peremptorily refused unless
he had his mortuary first. Thereupon he ordered the priest to be put into
the poor man's grave, and earth to be thrown in upon him ; and, as he
still persisted in his refusal, there was still more earth thrown in, until the
obstinate priest was either altogether, or well-nigh, suffocated.

Now, thus to handle a priest in those days was a very audacious pro-
ceeding ; but Sir William, with the favor he had at court and the interest
he had in the House, diverted the storm. He so lively represented the
mischievous consequences of priests' arbitrarily demanding mortuaries, that
the then Parliament, taking it into their serious consideration, prohibited
priests from exacting more than from three shillings to ten, according to
the property left. This act against excessive mortuaries is classed by the
historians, with two more, as bringing about the Reformation and Eng-
land's declaration of independence of the Papal throne. It becomes of
some importance as an historical event to be remembered. We mention
it here as recalling similar incidents in the life of Tristram, when he took
upon himself the sole responsibility of saving the wreckage at Nantucket ;
of Isaac, when he fought with the Brabanders against Austria or saved the
burning ship by forcing the men back to their quarters.

68 THE LIFE OF

XVII.

ALLEN COFFIN'S CALL OF TRISTRAM'S DESCENDANTS
TO THE SECOND CENTENNIAL OF HIS DEATH IN
1881.

When I recently read the invitation of Mr. Allen Coffin, in The In-
quirer, of Nantucket, for December 6, 1879, to the then proposed gather-
ing of the race at Nantucket to commemorate the death of Tristram, in
1 68 1, it seemed so full of the information the readers of the present publi-
cation might need, that I wrote to request him to permit me to insert it
wholly or in part. He generously consented. In the faith that we have
all but one motive — to bring within the reach of all of Tristram's descend-
ants what sheds any additional light on his character and career — it is here
presented. I find it difficult to omit any part of it, unless what in other
forms has already found place.

A LEAF FROM THE LIFE OF MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S GREAT-
GRANDFATHER.

By Allen Coffin.

With the death of Edward the Confessor was practically terminated
the Saxon dynasty of England. WiUiam, Duke of Normandy, whom Ed-
ward had appointed his successor, landed at Pevensey, on the 28th of
September, 1066. He met Harold on the field near Hastings, and, after
a long battle, Harold fell pierced with an arrow, and his soldiers fled from
the field panic-stricken. The Norman conquest was thus achieved, and
William the Conqueror soon after crowned king.

Accompanying William was an army of sixty thousand men, volunteers
from adjacent parts of the continent, who crowded to his camp at the
mouth of the Dive, eager to share in the vicissitudes of the campaign. This
was a wonderfully romantic age, and William was aided by many sovereigns
and princes, and a vast body of nobility from the different kingdoms. Those
who accompanied the Conqueror became the barons, and knights, and
esquires, and sergeants of feudal times, and in the divisions of the riches

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 69

of the conquered domain became proprietors of vast estates, castles, ab-
beys, villages, and even whole towns.

There was one man among William's conquering host in whom most of
this large assembly will ever have an abiding interest. He was a general
of the army, and his name was Richard Coffyn. From what province he
came, or what ancestry he boasted, or what life he had pursued prior to
his adventurous campaign, are facts which no friendly hand has yet lifted
from the shrouds of oblivion. He shared in the spoils of the conquest,
became a tenant of the crown, and his name was written in the Domesday
Book. All of the followers of William were noble in right of their victory
and foreign birth, and the parish of Alwington, in the county of Devon,
appears to have been conferred upon him, with the title of Sir Richard
Coffin, Knight, etc. Portledge was the Coffin manor, and, through a period
of more than eight centuries, streaming down to the present time, an un-
broken line of inheritance has been preserved.

In the history of the County of Devon, in England, honorable mention
is made of Sir Ellis Coffin, Knight of Clist and Ingarby, in the days of
King John ; of Sir Richard Coffin, of Alwington, in the time of Henry II.;
of Sir Jeffrey Coffin and Combe Coffin under Henry III., and numerous
other knightly descendants during successive reigns, till the time of Henry
VIII. Sir William Coffin, Sheriff of Devonshire, was highly preferred at
the court of Henry VIII., and accompanied the king as one of the eighteen
chosen by him on a tournament in France in 15 19. He was Master of the
Horse at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, and a gentleman of the Privy
Council. He was also High Steward of the Manor and Liberties of Standon,
County of Hertford. At his death he bequeathed to his royal master, King
Henry, with whom he had been in especial grace and favor, all of his hawks,
and his best horses and cart. As he left no issue, he conveyed the Manor
of East Higginston, County of Devon, to his eldest brother's son, Richard
Coffin, Esq., of Portledge. Sir William's monument, in Standon Church,
is mentioned in " Weever's Funeral Monuments " (p. 534).

Nicholas Coffin, of Brixton (one account says Butler's Parish), in Dev-
onshire, in his will, dated September 12, 16 13, and proved November 3,
16 1 3, mentions his wife Joan and sons Peter, Nicholas, Tristram, John,
and daughter Anne. He was the grandfather to the emigrant to New Eng-
land.

Peter Coffin, of Brixton, in his will, dated December i, 1627, and
proved March 13, 1628, provided that his wife, Joan Thember, shall have
possession of the land during her life, and then the said property shall go
to his son and heir, Tristram, " who is to be provided for according to his

70

THE LIFE OF

degree and calling." His son John is to have certain property when he
becomes twenty years of age. He mentions his daughters Joan, De-
borah, Eunice, and Mary, and refers to his tenement in Butler's Parish
called Silferhay. He was the father of the emigrant.

John Coffin, of Brixton, an uncle of the emigrant, who died without
issue, in his will, dated January 4, 1628, and proved April 3, 1628, ap-
points his nephew, Tristram Coffin, his executor, and gives legacies to all
of Tristram's sisters, all under twelve years of age.

I have been led to seek the caui^e of Tristram's removal to America,
but upon that subject the oracles are silent and tongues dumb. Was it
that he might enjoy a larger religiou-; liberty, or to escape persecution, or
was it the same love of adventure that induced his ancestor, Sir Richard
Coffin, to embark with the Duke of Normandy six centuries before? Let
us look at the contemporaneous history of England. We shall find that
the time which covers Tristram's mature life in England, about fifteen
years, marks a most eventful period— the moment when intellectual free-
dom was claimed unconditionally by Englishmen as an inalienable right,
and when ecclesiastical forms were not spared by the revolution of the
times.

James I., whose reign had been adorned by Shakespeare and Bacon,
died in 1625, when Tristram was twenty years old. Charles I. had been
upon the throne but two years when Tristram's father died. The Petition
of Right, in 1628, sought to limit the powers of the Crown, and the King
soon after abolished the Parliament and established the Star Chamber.
Puritanism was making rapid strides, and large numbers of Puritans were
leaving England. So great was the exodus that the King prohibited their
departure, and Hampden, Pym, and Cromwell were prevented from leav-
ing. About this time the Duke of Buckingham was assassinated. In
1638 the Scots, to maintain their ecclesiastical rights, took up arms against
the King, having formed the celebrated Solemn League and Covenant,
and sustained the Parliament in its opposition to Charles. The Earl of
Strafford and Archbishop of Canterbury, as chief advisers of the King, were
impeached and beheaded (the former in 1641, and the latter in 1644).
The Presbyterians, who were now a majority in the Commons, procured the
exclusion of Bishops from the House of Lords, in 1641, which was followed
by an act in 1643 entirely abolishing Episcopacy, so Charles began to re-
alize that without Bishops there would be no King. Under these circum-
stances the Lord Parliament convened.

The irrepressible conflict between Charles and the Parliament came to
a crisis in 1642, and in August of that year the royal standard was raised

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 71

at Nottingham. The King was generally supported by the nobility, the
landed gentry, the High Church party, and the Catholics ; and the Parlia-
ment was sustained by the mercantile and middle classes, and the lower or-
der of the great towns. On which side of this conflict would Tristram
Coffin most naturally have gone ? He was of the landed gentry, and, I
think, a High Churchman, Conformably to his father's will, he was to be
provided for "according to his degree and calling." He must therefore have
had a calling — a profession — he may have taken holy orders. He was un-
questionably a royalist and a Cavalier, and the very year of the appeal to
arms, 1642, after the conflict had been waged, Tristram Coffin, at the age
of thirty-seven, left all of his comfortable estates in Old England and em-
barked for America, bringing with him his wife and five small children, his
mother, then aged fifty-eight, and two unmarried sisters, and none of them
ever returned. I believe that, having embraced the royal cause, he was
compelled to leave England, and took with him all of his near relatives ;
that his valuable estates at Dorsetshire and at Brixton, the tenements in
Butler's Parish, mentioned in his father's and uncle's wills, were seques-
trated. That he was a leading spirit in the time of Charles I., and proved
his loyalty by unmistakable acts which rendered him obnoxious to the
Roundheads and Parliament fanatics, 1 have unshaken confidence.

He was rich in England — he was otherwise when landed in America.
He married Dionis Stevens, of Brixton, County of Devon. Pie first settled
at Salisbury, Mass., and the same year removed to Haverhill, where his
name appears as a witness to an Indian deed of that place, dated Novem-
ber 15, 1642. Three more children were born to them in Haverhill, and
one at Newbury. Of their nine children, the last born in England and the
first born in America died in infancy. All of the others married and had
children. He was licensed to keep an inn at Newbury, and a ferry across
the Merrimac River. He subsequently returned to Salisbury and became
a county magistrate.

He came to Nantucket in 1659 on a prospecting voyage, having ob-
tained Peter Folger from Martha's Vineyard as an interpreter of the Indian
language. The company which purchased the island was formed at Salis-
bury after his return. His son, James Coffin, who came in the boat with
the family of Thomas Macy, which voyage Whittier has immortalized in
his poem of " The Exiles," had doubtless accompanied his father on the
former voyage. All of the early deeds conveying land in Nantucket to
this company recite first the name of Tristram Coffin as a grantee. He
and his sons at one time owned about one-fourth part of Nantucket, and
the whole of Tuckernuck.

^2

THE LIFE OF

I do not think that personal rehgious persecutions had anything to do
with his removal to Nantucket, although he doubtless despised the in-
tolerant spirit of Essex County, which prompted the flights of Roger
Williams and Thomas Macy, notwithstanding he was at the time a county
magistrate.

His place of residence in Nantucket is described in a deed as being at
Northam or Coppomet Harbor (Capaum Pond being probably open to the
sea), near the old shear-pen gate. He doubtless had other houses in this
vicinity, where a village grew up around him, and a monument has re-
cently been placed upon the spot supposed to have been his homestead.

He was the first Chief Magistrate of the island, having been com-
missioned by Lord Lovelace, on the 29th of June, 167 1 ; and, together
with Thomas Mayhew, who was the first Chief Magistrate of Martha's
Vineyard, and two associates from each island, constituting a General
Court for the two islands, enacted the first prohibitory liquor law of which
the world has any record — a marvel of legal preciseness and acumen.

He died in Nantucket, on the third day of October, a.d. 1681, at the
age of seventy-six, and probably sleeps in the ancient burial-ground on the
hill, just east of Maxcy's Pond.

" The earliest ray of the golden day
On that hallowed spot is cast ;
And the evening sun as he leaves the world
Looks kindly on that spot last."

One year from next October will occur the second centenary of the
death of Tristram Coffin. The multitude of descendants all over the
world who claim him with pride as their common ancestor may desire to
rear a suitable monument to his memory in the land where he died, and
where his liberal, high-minded, and Christian character, not inappropriately
compared by Benjamin Franklin Folger with that of William Penn, found
such practical opportunity of expression in his relations with the Indians.
I feel that I echo the sentiments of the descendants in Nantucket when
I invite all the other descendants to a grand reunion of the Coffin family
in Nantucket, in October, 1881, to participate in exercises commemorative
of a noble life — the life of our common ancestor, Tristram Coffin, the first
of his name in America.

PREPARATIONS IN 1881.
The Clan. — The Coffin Reunion is now so near at hand that we are
enabled to make some statements of fact concerning the same. The New

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 73

Bedford brass Band will arrive on the morning of the i6th, in time to pro-
ceed to Surf-side where the clam-bake is to be provided. The clam-bake
about noon will be gotten up by A. F. Copeland, of Boston, and will in-
clude chowders, baked and fried fish of the different varieties, lobsters, etc.,
garnished with the products of the season.

The oration on this occasion will be by Tristram Coffin, Esq., of
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., a gentleman well qualified by name and attainments
to do ample justice to the occasion. An original poem will be read, and
other literary exercises will follow, interspersed with music.

On the second day, Wednesday, the seventeenth of August, the memorial
exercises will be held at the Atheneum Hall, on which occasion Charles
Carleton Coffin, of Boston, will make the oration, and a poem by Robert
Barry Coffin, Esq., of New York, will be read. Other speeches will be in-
troduced on this occasion, as may be hereafter arranged. These exercises
will take place in the forenoon, and in the afternoon a pilgrimage will be
made to the old homestead place of Tristram Coffin near Capaum Pond,
accompanied with the Band of Music, where appropriate commemorative
exercises will be held. It is proposed to have some entertainment in the
evening at the Atheneum Hall, the precise character of which has not been
fully decided upon.

The last day's exercises will consist of a Breakfast or Banquet at Surf-
side, at which Mr. Copeland will make his best endeavor to lay tables in
the highest style of his profession. The Committee make assurances that
this affair will surpass any previous effort of the kind ever made upon the
island. The dessert will be served in plates of the finest French china,
decorated with the Coffin Coat of Arms, and the coffee and tea in a new
style cup and saucer decorated with the same arms, and imported expressly
for this occasion by Charles E. Wiggin, of Boston. Prof. Selden J. Coffin,
of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., will make the oration after this repast, and
Dr. Arthur Elwell Jenks, of Nantucket, will read an original poem. Other
literary and musical exercises will follow, and the afternoon's exercises will
conclude with an anthem written for the occasion, in which the entire family
will be invited to join, the accompaniment being performed by the Band.

In the evening, at Surf-side, a Grand Ball will impart a festive conclud-
ing feature of the Reunion exercises. Smith's Quadrille Band furnishing the
music. This, like all the other exercises, is expected to be the most re-
cherche affair ever indulged in upon the island.

Messrs. Editors — Rumors of the Coffin gathering have been in the
air even here for some time, and lately the Inquirer and Mirror, with the

74

THE LIFE OF

names of its publishers, familliar a quarter of a century ago, has come to
us, bringing a more definite word. Although over twenty years have
passed since I could claim to be a citizen of your island, interest in Nan-
tucket especially the Nantucket of thirty or forty years ago, has suffered
no diminution. Most people have but one home, and let them go where
they may, in the fairest of lands even, in their hours of quiet reflection,
and especially when the shadows of their life begin to lengthen, the sun
seems to shine with greater brightness on the spot where they passed their
childhood. So it is with our home on the " Isle of the Sea." And these
rumors of the Coffin gathering have revived the old associations, and
peopled your homes and streets with those who once filled them. Every
spot, from Siasconset to Maddaket, and down to the South Shore, has been
gone over, and anecdote, tradition, and legend have come up, perhaps to
be told to some little company who were not -io favored as to be born on
the island, but who never tire of hearing about it.

By the way, your humble correspondent was asked a year of two ago to
contribute one of a course of lectures given here for some local charity.
Havino- often spoken to the larger part of the probable audience, and be-
ing too much occupied to write anything new, I tried to beg off. " Can't
you just talk about Nantucket, as you have done in company ? " " Why,
the people here don't care about that." "But you must do something."
"Well, if you will take the responsibility, I will give such a talk." And
so I did. Just brushed up my history, you know, especially of Revolu-
tionary times, telling the people that no town contributed more, negatively,
by its losses and sufferings, to the cause of National freedom than Nan-
tucket. Then I talked about the whale-fishery and sealife. You see if I
made mistakes there, or embellished a little where it was necesssary, no
one of my audience of lands-people knew it. Then I told about '•' sheep-
shearing," and the good old Society of Friends, the mother church, and a
good one as we could find before the seeds of strife came in and quenched
the simple charities of the beautiful island life. Then I drew portraits, and
told anecdotes of the notables, Keziah Coffin and her country house ;
Cousin EUzabeth Black, with her wondrous speech ; Franklin Folger, and
others, ending with a quotation fromWhittier's sweet ballad, " The Exiles,"
so dear to a Nantucketer. The audience paid the tribute (not to the
speaker, but to the island and its people) of profound attention, with mingled
seriousness and laughter, for an hour, and the expression is still occasionally
given that the evening on Nantucket was one of most enjoyable interest.

Thus it is everywhere. There seems to have been something in the
original stock, or the environments, in ihe business, the social and religious

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 75

atmosphere, or the pure sea breezes of the island, which made it a place
that every wanderer soon learns to be proud of ; and that you who are left
to sustain the honors of the old town may well think of with satisfaction.
How well and nobly the town's decline was striven against, especially after
the great fire. Is it not recorded in some book of light, to the credit of
many, both of those who have passed on and you who are left ? And it
almost seemed, when I read of the inauguration of the railroad, that your
crowning had come. I confess to a latent wish not to have the old-time
customs too much lost in the modernisms of a fashionable watering-place.
We can get these somewhere else ; at Nantucket we want Nantucket. To
go to the South Shore in a cart-bodied wagon somehow seems most natu-
ral. But that perhaps is sentiment only, and people can't live on senti-
ment ; so I am glad to learn of improvement, and hope that you all who
have nobly striven for it and tried to keep things up will reap a reward.
Whether a closely occupied life will allow me to be at your gathering is
yet uncertain. I shall try for it, anyway. I wanted to make sure, through
your columns, if you will allow it to an old friend of expressing interest
in the reunion ; and will you pardon a suggestion, which may be superflu-
fluous. At the centennial celebrations at Concord and Lexington, I no-
ticed that those less familiar with the spots of interest than we who live
near, found great satisfaction in looking at the placards which marked his-
toric places and houses. To the Cofifin family especially there are many
such places at Nantucket. Mary Starbuck, the '* great woman," daughter
of Tristram Coffin, and wife of Nathaniel Starbuck, will be thought of with
much interest. Where her house stood is generally known. It may not
be so well known that the house, moved down, is still standing and retain-
ing much of its original form. The house of William Rotch, Sr., is also
standing, moved up from lower Main street, and in shape is unchanged.
I have the authority of Franklin Folger for these statements. If you care
to identify these places, and soma others, and some islander cannot readily
do it for you, I shall be happy to write to you further. Won't you want to
designate the spot "up west," which was the birthplace of Dr. Franklin's
mother ; and the first Friends' burying-ground, where Mary Starbuck was
buried ; and the house in town where Lucretia Mott was born, and lived
until she was twelve years old ; and the site of Keziah (Miriam) Coffin's
house, where, in the Revolution, she sold smuggled goods to the distressed
islanders ; and the site of the old Friends' meeting-house, corner of Main
and Pleasant Streets — an unsightly structure, guiltless of paint or architec-
tural design, but to many of us a sacred spot in memory, especially at
" quarterly meeting time," when the immense building was crowded in

76 THE LIFE OF

every part with hushed and reverent worshippers, and the sweet tones of
some gifted messenger of the gospel (perhaps Elizabeth Robinson, from
England) breathed around the old oaken braces and timbers, holding us
children in reverent awe ? Shall we ever hear the like again ? No ; but
something else, and in some respects something better, has come to take
its place. Won't you want to write large the old doggerel we used to re-
peat, even if it does depreciate the Husseys, one line of which is,

" The Coffins, noisy, fractious, loud,"

not omitting the last stanza, of which I only heard within the year, that
ends,

" The Pinkhams beat the devil."

How they beat him, my esteemed friend B., who sent me the stanza, did
not inform me. And so we might go on, from North Shore to Newtown.
If I can do anything to promote the interest or enjoyment of your reunion
it will give me great pleasure.

In meeting here and there with ex-Nantucketers who are interested in
the island, even if they give less sign of interest than some others, it has
seemed to us that there is a dearth of circulars or something to tell us what
to do. If it be not much, it will have the merit of a hearty regard for old
and new Nantucket. Do save us a copy of the albertype of Tristram
Coffin's house, at Newbury. A friend of ours this way has a friend who
has been in the house in old England from which the Coffin's came. It is
now about eight hundred years old, and is still occupied and well preserved.
This lady, who is herself a descendant of the Coffins, has a view of the
house, which I hope to see. Can't you get copies for your gathering ?
Hoping with some of my family to ride over the railroad, and in a " cart-
bodied wagon," too, next month, and to take the hands of many whom I
used to meet in other days, and still hold in much esteem, I am

Yours,

C. C. HUSSEY.

BiLLERiCA, July 28, 1 88 1.

[We are pleased to hear from our former schoolfellow of over half a
century ago, whom we had supposed had long since been gathered to his
fathers. Although we were one of the small boys, and he one of the big
ones at the opening of the Coffin School in 1827, we well remember him
as the acknowled leader of the " Chookies " in our snow-ball battles with
the " Newtowners," which were carried on with such relentless fury in

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. ^^

those times. We would inform him that there are still quite a number of
the "Clio boys" living, and suppose many of them would be willing to
open a correspondence with him. Benjamin F. Coffin and Franklin Fol-
ger still reside on Nantucket ; Robert G. Coffin in San Francisco ; David
P. Eldridge in Milford, Mass. ; Frederick A. Hussey in Brookline, Mass.,
and Andrew J. Morton in Boston. The rest of the boys are dead, only
two of whom died at home, one from sickness, and one — Edward Worth —
drowned at Brant Point. — Eds.]

When the time arrived for the celebration, hundreds of the descendants
of Tristram flocked to Nantucket from all over the continent. They were
cordially greeted and warmly welcomed by their kindred belonging to the
Island. The weather did not prove altogether propitious. The winds blew
cold and the rain fell in torrents. Occasional intervals of sunshine gave
hope of permanent clearing, but several of the promised repetitions of the
festal ways of the earliest times were given up. Enough, however, of the
pleasures prepared remained practicable, to render the event one long to be
remembered.

78 THE LIFE OF

XVIII.

WILLS.
Will of Sir Isaac Coffin.

{Extracted from the Principal Registry of the Probate^ Divorce, arid Ad-
miralty Division of the High Court of Justice, in the Prerogative Court
of Canterbury.')

This is my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all others I may
have heretofore made. Having disposed of all my property in England
that I had in the funds to my nearest relations, named in a Deed of Trust,
I bequeath the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to ray
nephew, John Townsend Coffin, during the term of his natural life, then,
at his demise, to his son Isaac Tristram Coffin, and his issue male. Should
the said Isaac Tristram Coffin leave no issue male, then to his brothers in
succession and their male heirs ; failing in male heirs in that family I then
leave the said Magdalen Islands to my nephew Henry Edward Coffin and
his male issue ; he failing to have issue male I then bequeath the said isl-
ands to the sons of my late Cousin, William Coffin, in succession, and
their male heirs ; failing in male heirs of said WiUiam Coffin, then the isl-
ands to become the property of the sons of my Cousin Thomas Coffin, of
Three Rivers, Lower Canada, in succession ; should they die and leave no
issue male, I then give the said Magdalen Islands to my Godson Isaac
Campbell Coffin, now an officer in the East India Company's Service, and
his sons in succession ; failing in issue male from the said Isaac Coffin, I
give the said Islands to his brother Sebright Coffin ; should all these above
enumerated Coffins die without issue male, then I leave the said Islands
to my nephew, Commander William Barwell and his issue male ; faihng to
have male heirs, I then leave the said Magdalen Islands to the person who
may prove to be my Heir-at-Law. As the Islands were granted to me for
my services during the American War, 1 775-1 783, and in Canada during
Lord Dorchester's time, I request they may remain as an Heir-Loom m
the family, and that whoever succeeds to them may assume and bear the
Arms of Coffin. My property at Boston, N. America, under the care of

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 79

William Foster Otis, Esq., amounting by the last account to Eleven thou-
sand five hundred pounds, I desire may be left under his control until it
amounts to Twenty Thousand pounds, then the interest to be paid to John
Townsend Coffin and the principal to Isaac Tristram Coffin, he having no
children, then to his brothers in succession, on the demise of the Father
John Townsend Coffin ; failing in male issue, the Family of the said John
Townsend Coffin, Then the Twenty thousand pounds to be divided
among any female children the said John Townsend Coffin may leave. I
name Charles Earle, Esq., William Earle, Esq., Hardman Earle, Esq.,
Richard Earle, Esq., Barrister, and William Foster Otis, Esq., of the City
of Boston, N. America, as my Trustees and Executors, requesting as an
old friend of their families they will forgive the trouble I give them.

Isaac Coffin, Admiral, [l.s.]

Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence
of us, the 15th day of March, 1839.

Jno. S. Carden, Real Adm'l, Cheltenham.
S. Martin Colquitt, R. N., Do. Cheltenham.

This is a Codicil to my Will. Unable to make a distribution of my prop-
erty among my relations, from the difficulty attending my obtaining a re-
lease from the Trustees of the late Lady Coffin, I hereby leave to my
Trustees, named in my Will, with all my funded property in the Three pr.
Cent Consols and reduced annuities, the interest, amounting to Seven hun-
dred and thirty-eight pounds, to be paid to my nephew, John Townsend
Coffin, at his death, the said interest to be paid to Isaac Tristram Coffin
and his heirs lawfully begotten.

Isaac Coffin, Admiral.

: L.s. :

Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence

of us, the subscribing trustees.

Thomas Roe, Major H. E. I. C^ S.,

George Dixon, Vicar of Helmsley, Yorkshire.

Appeared personally, Samuel Martin Colquitt, of the Parish of Chel-
tenham, in the County of Gloucester, Esquire, made oath that he is one
of the subscribed witnesses to the last Will and Testament of Sir Isaac
Coffin, late of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, Baronet, de-
ceased, who died on the twenty-third day of July last, the said will bear-
ing date the fifteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty
pine. And he further made oath that he was present at the execution of

8o THE LIFE OF

the said Will by the said deceased, and that the said Will was signed at
the foot or the end thereof in manner, as now appears by the said Testator,
in the presence of this deponent and of John Surram Garden, the other
witness thereto subscribed, present at the same time, who set and sub-
scribed their names as witnesses to the said will in the presence of the said
Testator. S. Martin Colquitt, R.N.

On the 24th day of December, 1839, t^^ said Samuel Martin Colquitt,
Esquire, was duly sworn to the truth of the above Affidavit before me,

Francis Close,
Perpetual Curate of Cheltenham, Commissioner.

Appeared personally Thomas Roe, of Cheltenham, in the County
of Gloucester, Esquire, and made oath that he is one of the subscribed
witnesses to the Codicil to the last will and Testament of Sir Isaac
Coffin, late of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, Baronet, de-
ceased, who died on the twenty-third day of July last, the said Will bear-
ing date the Fifteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty
nine, and the said Codicil being without date. And he further made oath
that he was present at the execution of the said Codicil by the said de-
ceased, on or about the Fifteenth or Twentieth day of May last, and he
further made oath that the said Codicil was signed at the end or foot
thereof in manner as now appears by the said Testator in the presence of
this deponent and of the Reverend George Dixon, Clerk, the other sub-
scribed witness thereto, both present at the same time, who set and sub-
scribed their names as witnesses to the said Codicil in the presence of the
said Testator. Thomas Roe.

On the thirteenth day of January, 1840, the said Thomas Roe, Esq.,
was duly sworn to the truth of the aforesaid Affidavit before me,

Francis Close,
Perpetual Curate of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Commrs.

Proved at London (with a Codicil), 15 January, 1840, before the Judge
by the oath of William Earle, Esq., one of the Executors to whom admon
was granted, having been first sworn by Commissioner, duly to administer.
Power reserved of making the like grant to Charles Earle, Hardman
Earle, and Richard Earle, Esquires, and William Foster Otis, the other
Executors when they shall apply for the same. Effects under ^^2 5,000.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 8l

The descendants of William Gayer and of his admirable daughters, Da-
maris and Dorcas, are so many and so estimable that in the faith that they
may be pleased to possess the wills of William and his brother Sir John,
they are printed here from the " New England Gen. Register, vol. xxxi., p.
297. Mr. Folger furnished full copies of these Wills, to be preserved in
the archives of the N. E. Historic Genealogical Society.

Will of William Gayer, Sr., Esq.

/, William Gayer, of the Island of Nantucket, being sick but of sound
mind and memory, make this my last will. Unto my son William Gayer,
one Share of land on the Island of Nantucket, with all the privileges
belonging (if my said son shall ever come hither again). To my dau.
Damaris Coffin, one eighth part of a share of land on the Island of Nan-
tucket, of that land I had of my Father-in-law, Edward Starbuck. I
give my daughter, Dorcas Starbuck, one Eighth part of a Share of [said]
land. My part of the Island of Muskeget to my two daughters, Damaris
Coffin and Dorcas Starbuck, Equally to be divided between them. To
my house-keeper, Patience Foot, one Cow and forty Sheep with Common-
age for them as also half of the barn and try house, with half the garden,
half the land and fence, about my dwelling house, half the lot and fence
towards Monomoy, the horse pasture Exepted, as also the West Chamber
and Garret, and half the lean to of my now dwelling house. I give to
Africa, a negro, once my servant, twenty Sheep and Commonage for them
and for one horse, as also the East Chamber of my now dwelling house,
and half the leanto, and the other half of my barn and try house with the
half of all the lands and fence about my house, and the half of the lot to-
wards Monomoy. I will that my dau., Damaris Coffin, have the use of
the rest of my Dwelling house, if she should come hither to live. My
two Daughters, Damaris Coffin and Dorcas Starbuck, Joynt Executrices

of this my last will and testament.

William Gayer.

Sept. 21, 1 7 ID.

In presence of

Richard Gardner, Eleazer Folger, Junr., Eunice Gardner,
Jabez Bunker, Judith Gardner.

Probated 24 day Oct. 17 10.

Eleazer Folger, Regr. James Coffin,

Judge of Probate.

82 THE LIFE OF

Sir John Gayer's Will.

I John Gayer, of Bombay, Knight, in perfect health do make this my
last Will and Testament. My Body to be Interred at the Discretion of
my hereafter named Executrix, and if I die in India, in the tomb of my
former Wife. Debts discharged I give as followeth : Unto my Brother
William Gayer, of the Island of Nantucket, One Hundred Pounds Ster-
lino-. Unto his son, William Gayer, my nephew, now in the East Indies,
Eight Thousand Pounds Sterling. Unto the children of Eldest Sister Jane
Lee, Five Hundreds Pound Sterling, to be Equally devided amongst
them, and in case of any of their Mortality, before Marriage, their part to
the Survivor. Unto the children of my Sister, Joan Hooper, Seven Hun-
dred Pounds Sterling, to be Equally Divided amongst them, and in Case of
Either of their Mortality before Marriage their part to the Survivor. Un-
to the children of my Sister, Elizabeth Matthews, Two Hundred Pounds
Sterling, to be Equally Devided amongst them, etc. Unto my Niece
Elizabeth Gayer, Two Thousand Pounds Sterling to be kept in the hands
of my Execturix and Improved by her for her maintenance while she lives
a single life ; but if she Marry, at the Day of her Marriage, the Principal
and what is gained thereby, except so much as Defrays the Charge of her
Maintenance before, is all to be paid her, but in Case of her Decease be-
fore Marriage, then that sum of Two Thousand Pounds, with what is
Gained thereby I give to my Above Mentioned Nephew, William Gayer, to
be forthwith paid him, besides the sum of Eight Thousand Pounds before
Mentioned. Unto the children of Robert Harper, my Deceased wife's
Brother, Three Hundred Pounds Sterling, to be Equally devided amongst
them etc. Unto Joseph Harper, my Deceased wife's Brother, if he be
alive at the time of my Decease, One Hundred Pounds Sterling. Unto
the children of my Cousin, Mercy Throgmorton, Four Hundred Pounds
Sterling etc. Unto the children of my Cousin John Rither, deceased.
Two Thousand Pounds Sterling etc. Unto my cousin, James Car,
Two Hundred Pounds Sterling, in case he survives me. Unto my
Cousin, Elizabeth Thrip, Ten Pounds Sterling. Unto the children of
Sister-in-Law, Judith Battin, Two Hundred Pounds Sterling, to be Equally
devided Amongst them etc. Unto my Cousin, Lucy hole, fifty Pounds
Sterling. Unto my Cousin, Rachel Dale, if she be alive at the time of my
Decease, Ten Pounds Sterling. Unto my loving Friend, Mr. Thomas
Wooley, Secretary of the East India Company, Fifty Pounds Sterling.
Unto my loving Friend, Mr. Barnard Wiche, of Surrat, Fifty Pounds Ster-

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 83

ling. Unto Mr. Robert Luynfer, of Surrat, Fifty Pounds Sterling, if he be
alive at the time of my Decease. I Dedicate and Devote to God, for the
Service of his Church, Five Thousand Pounds Sterling, to be disposed of
by the persons hereafter mentioned, to yonng Students for the Ministry
and to such as are Newly Entered into the Sacred Office, to furnish them
v/ith What [may be] Needful to make them most useful in the discharge
of that great trust for which they are devoted to God ; and it's my Earnest
desire that those persons amongst whom this sum shall be distributed
may be men of Sober, Moderate principles, not inclined to Domination
nor to unnecessary Seperation, and to Express my mind more fully I
say unto men of such Principles as the late Reverend and truly Worthy
Mr. Richard Baxter was, in whom the Primitive Spirit of holiness, Love
and Moderation did brightly shine, from whose works I give God thanks
I have received great benefit. Now, the persons I most earnestly request
in Conjunction with my wife and Nephew William Gayer to undertake the
Distributing of I have so solemnly devoted, are the Right WorshipfuU
Henry Ashurst, Bant, and Mr. Thomas Wooley, before mentioned. I do
further request that they will all be assisting to my Beloved Wife in the
whole management of her affairs.

If my Estate amounts to less than what is in my present books, Ending
the last of July, 17 10, when it arrives in England, amounting what is in
Rupees at two shillings and six pence to a Rupee, then I order that Every
Legacy herein mentioned shall be so much less in proportion as the whole
of my Estate at the time of all its arrival in England falls Short of what it
is in Said books. The rest of my Estate, whether Money, Plate, Gold or
Silver, Jewels, Goods, Household Furniture, wearing Apparel, Books,
Debts, Lands, and whatsoever, both Real and Personal, I shall be pos-
sessed of at my decease, I give unto my wife, Dame Mary Gayer, whom I
make Sole Executrix of this, my last will and Testament. In witness
Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal in Bombay Castle, 5th of
October, 1 7 10. John Gayer.

In presence of us, where no stampt paper is procurable, &c., &c., &c,,
William Aislabie, William Barnes, Abraham Barnot, Richard
WiLMER, John Hill.

A true copy from the original.

Witnesses, John Eaton Dodsworth, James Osborne, William
Gayer, Richard Bull.

84 THE LIFE OF

Will of William Gayer, Junr.

9"" Nov., 1 712.
/, William Gayer, Gentleman of y' Parish of Beckenham in Kent, be-
ing sick, but of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make my last
will. Payment of all debts. To my elder sister, Damaris Coffin, one-
half part. To my younger sister, Dorcas Starbuck, y" other half of what
belongs to me in New England. To my two sisters aforesaid, two thou-
sand pounds sterling, that is, to each one thousand pounds. To my
aunt, Jane Lee, of Plymouth, Aunt Elizabeth Matthews, Mr. Epiphamius
Holland [each] ;^ioo. To Mr. George Musole, ^25. To Mrs. Martha
Deacon, Mrs. Abigail Fitch [each] ^100. Remainder of my estate to
my wife, Elizabeth Gayer, whom I 'appoint sole Executrix of this my last
\Y\\\. William Gayer.

In y* presence of ' • ^

Susanna Holland, William Norman, Andrew Stoddart.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 85

XIX.

CORRESPONDENCE.

William Gayer, Esq., came to this country from Devonshire, Eng-
land.* He married Dorcas Starbuck, daughter of Elder Edward Starbuck,
by his wife, Katherine Reynolds, of Wales. He was an early settler of
Nantucket ; probably had been a ship-carpenter ; was a farmer and a Jus-
tice of the Peace. I find by the records in the office of our Secretary of
State, that Captain John Gardner and Mr. William Gayer were representa-
tives to the General Court from Nantucket on the 8th of June, 1692, being
the first representatives from that island after its transfer from the Colony
of New York to the Province of Massachusetts Bay. William Gayer,
Esq., was one of five judges appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts,
in 1704, to try an Indian of Nantucket, named Sabo, for the crime of
murder.

He lived in a double house, one and a half stories in height, on Church
Street, in Nantucket, occupied long since my first remembrance by descend-
ants of his daughter, Damaris Cofiin. This house for a long time was con-
sidered the oldest on the island, and I think was built in 1682, of solid oak
timber, the growth of the island, and strengthened with oak knees, like a
ship, and very firmly. It passed into the hands of strangers about 1839 ^^
1840, and was taken down to give place to a modern dwelling-house. A
bureau with a sort of book-case or cupboard on top — which was made in
Oliver Cromwell's time, and brought over by William Gayer, probably in
Charles the Second's reign, belonged to my grandmother, a great-grand-
daughter of William Gayer, Esq. It was made in part of English oak, col-
ored a dark red, and ornamented with turned pieces of maple, painted
black and nailed on ; and the top part, or cupboard, was in part supported
by two maple urns, or short pillars, painted black. It was altogether an
unique but useful piece of furniture. After the death of both of my grand-
parents, it was placed in the cabinet of curiosities of the Nantucket Athe-
neum, but was burned up in the great fire of 1846, when that building, with

* N. £. Gen. and Hist Register, vol. xxxi., page 297.

86 THE LIFE OF

its fine collections of books, South Sea shells, war weapons, etc., was de-
stroyed.

The following letter is from Jane Gayer, mother of William Gayer, Sr.,
from Plymouth, England, to her son, William Gayer, at Nantucket :

" Son, my dearest love to you and your wife, and to my grandchildren,
hoping that these few lines will find you in good health, as through mercy I
enjoy at this present writing. I have sent you two letters by Mr. Blag, of
New York, and I have sent several letters by other means, but I never re-
ceived none from you since the i" of October, 1692, bearing this date.
Dear son, I should request you that I might hear from you. Your brother
Sir John sailed from the downs the last of May, was a 12 month gone, and
all his family with him. A month after he went away he put in for the
Madeira. I received a letter from him out of the Madeira's, since I have
not heard from him, for there has not a ship come home from that place
since. I did not know whether there was a New England man here or no
before your uncle's land come to me to know how to direct a letter to you
and that is concerning Cousin Jane Bray's business. I shall be like a fool to
double my request to you that I might hear from you, and that I might
know how lo direct my letters to you, for I do fear that they do not come
to your hand. Your brother Hooper and his wife, and your sister Marcy,
desired to be remembered to you and yours. Your uncles and aunt
doth the same ; my kind respects to Cousin Jane Bray and her family ; not
else at present but my prayers constantly to the Lord for you, & remain
your loving mother, . Jane Gayer.

From Plymouth, this ii June, 1694.

These for Mr. William Gayer.

Living on the Island of Nantucket, New England.

Note. — I heard during the present month, February, 1877, from a
lady, a descendant of William Gayer, Esq., that when her mother was
very young, some seventy years ago probably, news came to Nantucket
that a very large property in England had been left for descendants of the
Gayer family. Thomas Starbuck of Nantucket was desirous his son Jo-
seph, a very smart business man, should go to England to investigate the
matter ; but he felt he could not spare the time it would require, so he,
with his older brothers, Simeon and Levi, sent over an agent to Great Brit-
ain, who returned and reported he had not carried out sufficient documents
and there the case ended, as far as Nantucket interest was concerned.

William C. Folger, '

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 8/

{William Gayer, Sen., to his daughter Datnaris Coffin, wife of Capt.

Nathaniel Coffin.) ■

Daughter Damaris,

These may serve to inform you we are all well. When I wrote you your
mother Coffin was designed to Boston by Land. I find I was mistaken.
She tells me since her intent was only to the main. Christian is now at
her grand ffather Coffins. Mr. Folger came home from Boston yesterday
and informs me that John Sowters brother came from England lately, and
says he spoke with your brother William G. in the East Indies Eighteen
months since. If you have a convenient opportunity I wish you would
speak with him and inquire what you can about William. I hope you will
let me hear from you as often as you have opportunity for I take great
Delight to hear of your welfare so with my love to yourself and Children
with all other friends I remain your father

William Gayer nantucket Septr : 9 : 1 709.

Mr Nathaniel Coffin | in [ Charls Towne.

In a letter from Thomas and James Hooper to William Gayer, Nan-
tucket, dated " Stone house, near Plymouth, the 15th of February, 1699-70,"
they say, " Mother desires to be remembered unto all." His wife had been
sick about six months. They had heard by his son William from their brother
William, of Nantucket, nothing else important.

{Mrs. Damaris Coffin, wife of Captain Nathaniel Coffin and daughter of
William Gayer, Esq., of Nantucket, to her uncle, Sir John Gayer, then
in the East Indies.)

Boston, N. E. loth Jan y" 1711-12.
Most Hon° Uncle

Inclosed is a copy of what my husband wrote you in his last, advising
you of the death of my hon'^ father y"' brother William Gayer & of the Dis-
position we had made of our son William &c to which refer you.

I have now before me the hon' of your kind letter of the 5*^ Jan'ry
1709-10. Directed to my deceased father.

The Good Character and Hopeful State of my brotlier with you is very
reviving and the more Comfortable seeing you Express an Inclination to
send him for Brittain, and in hopes you will soon follow him yourself. For

88 THE LIFE OF

which Blessing I daily Elevate my Prayers to my God, That he would
Bless prosper and protect you both and send you to the height of your
desires therein in health and safety.

My son goes on hopefully with his book. I am in hopes that God will
bless you and send you Safe to yo' native Country, and will prepare my
boy to wait on you to your content and Satisfaction, whenever you please
to put your Commands on him So to do. My Good Husband hath met
with hard Fortune in his last voyage from Lisboa being taken and Carried
into France, where he hath been a Prisoner a long time and was not re-
leased in last but was in hopes to procure his Liberty in a short time
and go for London from whence probably you may hear from him. He has
been from home now for months and when he will be set free which is un-
certain. God direct him and us for the best. I must conclude with my
Duty to you & my true respects to my brother if with you & am most sin-
cerely Hon'^ Uncle

Your most afifec "

Niece.

{Sir Isaac Coffin to Jona Atnory of Boston.)

Charleston, 12th May, 181 7.
My Dear Cousin :

Letters from England, received yesterday, oblige me to leave this coun-
try much sooner than was expected, for 1 fully intended at least to pass
a week with you, prior to my departure. Inclose to you the Secret of
the accumulation in the American Funds and beg your kind attention as
far as is convenient to my Magdalen Island concerns.

The inclosed for Messrs. T. Belcher and Wright will explain to you
what my intentions are, and the remittances you may expect from that
Quarter.

It will be necessary you should by some careful person remit the cer-
tificates of the stocks to me under cover to Messrs. Thos. Wm. Earles
Co., Liverpool, taking the proper precaution by notarial copies or other-
wise as you may judge best, and you may continue to draw on Messr. Thos.
Coutts & Co., Strand, London, until the interest in the 7 and 6 yrs. Cents,
amounts to three hundred sterling, adding to it any remittance you may
receive from Messrs. Belcher and Wright, and the interests of the Stock
already invested as it becomes payable, until further order.

The loth of January and loth of July, one hundred and twenty-five
pounds, are at each period, paid into my bankers' hands. The loth of

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 89

April and loth of October, two hundred and fourteen pounds are received
by them. Manage the time of drawing for these sums periodically, and that
the bills may be presented with regularity. The half pay in advance quar-
terly, may be drawn by you, as it becomes due.

Bill the ist of July, ^167 ; October ist, ^167 ; ist January, ^,^167 ;
ist April, ;^i67. I will on my arrival in England, immediately prepare my
banker for this arrangement ; and now for the Secret, it is for a Charitable
Institution, so as you are known to be one of the best of men, help me as
well as you can. Thanks for your offer of credit, I shall have no occasion
at present for it.

Most truly do I lament this unforseen event has deprived me of the
pleasure of seeing you, your family, and my friends.

Remember me kindly to them all, my aunt and Dr. Dexter.

By some kind master forward my baggage to Liverpool, that is in your
custody and believe me

Ever Affectionately yours, Isaac Coffin.

{^To Commodore Hull).

London, 5 May, 18 19.
My Dear Sir :

Long, very long, have I been expecting the huge Lobster you were so
kind as to promise me. '* Better late than never." I send you a simple
contrivance for to examine the when you have as

many line of Battle Ships as we have its application may be useful.

A Petition against my return to Parliament was presented to the House,
and, in the event of my being thrown out, it was my intention to take a
trip again across the Ocean and visit my friends at Boston ; but, by a
Resolution of the Committee, I am reseated, my Opponent having

I must, therefore, now defer my voyage to some more favoiable op-
portunity. In any way that I can be useful to you here, I pray command
me. Offer my best wishes to your spouse and all friends.

Believing me very truly yours,

Isaac Coffin.

P. S. When you have the goodness to write me, send the letter via
Liverpool, the lobster to the care of Col. Aspinwall. Address to the care
of Messrs. Tho. and Wm. Early & Co., Liverpool.

Admiral Coffin.

go THE LIFE OF

London, 3rd June, 18 18.
My Dear Sir :

In looking over some old charts, I found one of Boston Harbour which,
though of an ancient date, may still be correct. It shows the state of the
Town, when the troops of Great Britain were shut up in it, and most of
the surrounding Forts, Dorchester excepted,

I beg your acceptance of it, and when placed in your office it will
serve to remind you of one who holds you in high estimation.

Offer to your spouse and her lovely sister my best wishes, and believe
me always, yours very truly,

Isaac Coffin.

Capt. Hull,

London, i6th April, 18 19.
My Dear Sir :

My reputation will sink to the lowest ebb, unless your efforts are
crowned with success relating to the Lobster. Should you fail to cross the
Ocean again, I long to try my luck by travelling in the Bay between Cape
Cod and Cape Ann. I lament the situation I hold prevents me paying
you a visit this Spring, as my Spirits were never better, and the Gout not
within hail.

Remember me kindly to your spouse and all my relations.

Truly yours,

Isaac Coffin.
Captain Hull, Boston.

London, May 20th, 18 19,
My Dear Sir :

Allow me to offer for your acceptance the Telegraph,
With my new occupation little time is left me to look into a Signal
Book. Besides, there is little chance of ever being employed again, and
certainly none in fighting against that country that gave me birth. If at
your leisure moments you can pick out anything that may be useful or
ornamental, I shall be gratified.

Should one of those huge lobsters be forthcoming, remember that you
do not forget me. In looking over some papers the other day, I found

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 91

some charts of old Massachusetts, which may one of these days find their
way to you.

Kind remembrances to all friends.

Always Yours Truly,

Captain I. Hull.

Isaac Coffin.

London, 13th July, 18 19.
My Dear Sir :

The lobster you committed to the care of Captain Tracy arrived in
good condition. It is considered a marvellous one here. Still, my friend,
Sir Joseph Banks, longs for one of ninety pounds, which your letter speaks
of, so that you must be on the lookout still for me ; and should you be
successful in procuring another of uncommon size, you must have the
goodness to forward it, taking care first to boil it in strong pickle or brine ;
then it wiU become dry in the interior very soon, and bear being moved
about with greater facility. I have been offered by some showmen a
large sum, but I decline parting with him, intending it for a Lady's
Museum. A Hodge-Podge, as you will perceive in the Signal line, was
months since deposited with Col. Aspinvvall ; but no opportunity has
offered of sending it before Captain Tracy's arrival. I am too old to pry
into modern curiosities, never meaning to serve again against friend or foe,
but do as much good as I can for the rising generation, who may, when I
am under ground, fight it out in any way most convenient to the parties.
I have this winter fired a shot now and then, avoiding close action, as
I soon observed, like our Dr. Sewell's Meeting-House in Summer, many
members fast asleep during long and tedious harangues, in the House of
Commons. I thought at first the sound of my own voice would have
alarmed me before such an audience. Having had occasion often to ad-
dress my ship's company gave a facility at first setting off, so that when
blowing hard I did not broach to or get becalmed while delivering my
sentiments to the House. Nothing will give me more pleasure than once
more meeting my old friends at Boston, a town I shall ever regard as long
as my heart is left to beat.

Kind remembrances to your spouse, Nat Amory, and all the other
worthies. Believe me always

Very Faithfully Yours,

Isaac Coffin.
Capt. I. Hull.

92 THE LIFE OF

London, 26 Jan., 18 19.
My Dear Sir :

There is an old sea song I used to sing when creeping in Boston Bay
during the Revolutionary War, in the months of January and February,
" What cannot be cured must be endured."

Many thanks for kind exertions. Send the Lobster when you can.
My reputation will be saved, though my money is gone ; consign it to the
care of your Consul to whom I have written on the subject, and remember
in return if you do not command my services in a way that I can be useful
to you it will be your own fault. Any intelligence you can afford me will
be most interesting, especially on nautical or agricultural subjects. I have
taken my seat in the House of Commons, and may one of these days be
instigated to speak, but at present play the part of " Orator Mum."
Remember me kindly to your spouse, Nat Amory, and all friends in
Boston, believing me always, my dear Captain,

Very truly yours,

Isaac Coffin.

Captain Isaac Hull, Naval Commissioner, Boston.

{^To General Dearborn.)

Leinington Spa, 23d July, 1827.
My Dear Sir :

Please to accept my thanks for your kind recollection of my wishes.
The Terrapin you had the goodness to send me is in the safe custody of my
friend William Earle at Liverpool. As many more as you can pick up in
your garden, except the small speckled ones and snappers, will be accept-
able. The latter are such determined deserters that no bounty or kind
treatment will keep them loyal. In early life I have seen a large sort with
a rough bark resembling those brought by your whalers from the Gallipagos
Islands. I beg you to present my kind regards to all my Boston friends.
Sink or swim I never can forget the place of my nativity or cease to wish
prosperity to it.

Ever my dear Sir truly yours,

Isaac Coffin.
General Dearborn.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 93

{^General John Coffin, to Stephen De Blois, of Boston.)

St. John's, N. B., Feb. 10, 1830.
My Dear Stephen :

You are now from various unforeseen and melancholy changes that have
taken place in your circle of very dear friends, left as almost the sole sur-
vivor. Time and chance sets all adrift. I truly condole with you and
them in the loss of so many excellent and worthy characters. Boston will
never be to me what it has been — not that my affections has in any degree
abated for those remaining. Such however being the will of Providence,
we must submit with becoming patience and fortitude, looking forward to
the time when it will be our turn to follow. I am passing the winter in
this frozen region, and what with good friends and good cheer, I am,
thank Providence, enabled to carry a weather helm, and maintain a toler-
able share of health. I hope this may find you and Mrs. Deblois and
family enjoying health and comfort, and that all my friends and relations
are doing the same. I hardly dare ask for our old and respectable friends,
Dr. and Mrs. Dexter ; to them and my friend Tom and wife with their
branches, remember me in the kindest terms ; also to Mr. and Mrs. Davis,
Mrs. Smith, and good little Maynard.

Does Mrs. T. C. Amory continue to be your neighbor ? To her and
charming family, with Mrs. Jona and their family, my kind love and affec-
tions.

There is also Mr. John Amory, the worthy Doctors of Old Trinity,
Gardiner Greene, with many others that I love in my heart, and it gives
me pleasure to name them, and let them know that I do not forget them,
and the comfort and gratification I have enjoyed in a long and early ac-
quaintance and friendship. I am fond of this plain old fashioned way of
keeping alive those cheering recollections of the past happy days, and the
absent. I am with them as far as the most kindly feelings towards them
can be allowed to exist. Have you any late accounts from our worthy
cousin Nat and wife, Capt. and Mrs. Derby, friends and associates rare to
be met with in this or any other hemisphere. Are they allowed to hold
their appointments under your new President, whose vacillating conduct
has, I understand, changed the position of many in politics. I never
meddle with but I must say this much, I do not envy your constitution and
government.

Aside and between ourselves, what has induced Sir Isaac to desert the
country that has conferred on him the rank and consequence he now en-

94 THE LIFE OF

•

joys ? Were the American people any way behind those of Great Britain
in nautical tactics, he might gain some applause. But I am sure every
well thinking man with you must condemn him for deserting the country
that has conferred on him even more than he had any right to expect or
look for. I am afraid his fair fame and character will be much clouded
on the other side of the water from which he will never recover. I should
not be surprised to hear his Majesty had struck his name out of the list of
Admirals. The injury will unfortunately extend to every branch of his
family connected with the service in which we are all engaged. I cannot
but say I am deeply wounded at this not to say more inconsiderate con-
duct. He must have taken leave of his senses. It is, however, too painful
a subject to dwell on, and I shall conclude my dear cousin, with the kind-
est regards to all the De Blois, and remain your very attached,

John Coffin,

June, 1719.
Dear Coz :

Yours I received, with the half crown, and am sorry you should have
troubled yourself about so small a matter ; that or any command should
have been observed without such punctualities. I ask a thousand pardons
for my long silence ; my lady Duchess having been for some time indis-
posed that I could not gain this opportunity sooner. I have taken the
following accompts, from the worthies of Devonshire, out of our office ;
and, for those of Hants, they shew the exact arms of the seal of my
formers, which was my father's, given by him to one Mr. James Coffin, of
Christ Church, Hants, in whose possession it is. I observe those of Hants
spell with the letter (y), those of Devonshire, as you see. My shortness of
time will not allow of any regard to stops, and scarcely orthography, so
beg your excuse for all faults, as well as a line just to satisfy me of your
receipt of this. This day, se'nnight, or to-morrow, his Grace intends for
Nottingham, Lancashire, and York ; so that if you have any commands
to communicate, I shall be proud to bear them ; and am with all respect
(my mother and sister's services attending you).

Madam, Your most humble servant,

Richard Coffyn.

For Mrs. Mary Coffin, at Ramsdon Heath, in Essex.

[arms.] Flor., A.D. 1533.

R. R. Hen. 8.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 95

These letters afford some partial glimpse of the writers, and the times
in which they lived. They are presented in connection with the memoirs of
Sir Isaac, that his kinsfolk or collectors of autographs who possess any letters
of his own, or which may shed light on his career, may be disposed to send
the originals or copies to some central and accessible repository, where
they can be kept together for the benefit of other generations. The fire-
proof vaults of the New England Genealogical and Historical Society, 18
Somerset Street, in Boston, where he was born, are suggested as a fitting
Place.

g6 THE LIFE OF

XX.

THE COFFIN SCHOOLS.

The letter to his cousin, p. 88, shows that Sir Isaac had determined to es-
tabhsh in Massachusetts a system of nautical schools — one for Boston, one
for Newburyport, and another later at Nantucket. Having had occasion to
learn, when in our city council and on our school board, how very general
an impression then existed of the importance of thus building up our com-
mercial marine, it seemed due to the memory of Sir Isaac to comprise in
this memoir the sketch of what he intended his schools should be. Mr.
Folger, who possesses what seems a copy of the original draught of a will
of his, in which he had himself set forth his plan, permits me to use it.
The admiral, from his own experience as a midshipman and forty years in
service, more or less active in the navy, had an experience which gives
value to his ideas of nautical education.

The Clio was bought, equipped, and used some years, and no doubt edu-
cated many excellent seamen. His kinsman, Hector, of the Newburyport
branch of the Coffins, was in many ways well fitted to take charge. It
will be seen that ten years after the inception of the plan, the Clio was still
employed in the task. It involved more cost than was contemplated, and
was given up about the time Sir Isaac founded the Coffin school at Nan-
tucket, which, with means largely accumulated, is in a full career of useful-
ness, though somewhat modified in its methods and scope from what the
founder contemplated.

The plan for the nautical schools is thus set forth in the will, revoked,
if it still existed, when he made his last will the year that he died.

This is the Last Will and Testament of me, Sir Isaac Coffin,
Baronet, an Admiral in the service of his Majesty George the Fourth,
King of the United Kingdom of Great Britian and Ireland.

I direct all my just debts and funeral expenses, and the costs and charges
of proving this my will, to be paid. And holding in grateful remembrance
the manifold blessings I have derived from the principles instilled into me
while at Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, the place of my nativity,
and feeling that the success I have experienced in this life is mainly to be

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 97

attributed to the excellent education I received at that place, and wishing '
that none of my relations, being lineal descendants of Tristram Coffin, who
settled in the township of Salsbury, near Newbury Port, in the said State of
Massachusetts, in or about the year one thousand six hundred and forty-
two, and of Peter Coffin, his brother,* and bearing or taking the name of
Coffin, may ever want the means of obtaining those advantages so bounti-
fully bestowed on me, I give and bequeath all the personal property of
which I may be possessed, or to which I may be entitled at my death, in
possession, revision, or expectantly, to my executors hereinafter named, in
trust, to transfer the same to seven trustees, to be appointed as hereinafter
provided, for the establishment of three schools for naval education, one at
said Boston, one at Nantucket, in the State of Massachusetts, and one at
said Newbury Port. And for the purpose of maintaining and perpetuating
such establishments according to this, my last will, I do appoint five vis-
itors or overseers of the said trust ; that is to say : whoever shall be, for the
time being, successively the governor of the said State of Massachusetts,
the president of Harvard University at Cambridge in the said State, and
the Mayor of the said city of Boston, with two others to be chosen by the
said three ; and the said visitors shall have the power to fill all vacancies
that shall occur in their own body, whether by death or resignation of any
visitor that may be chosen as aforesaid, or from the discontmuance or
other change of either of the said three officers.

Item : I do authorise and request the said visitors, as soon as may be
after my decease, to nominate and appoint seven discreet and faithful per-
sons to be Trustees for the establishment of the said three schools ; and if
they shall not make such appointment within one year after this my will
shall have been duely proved and allowed, then I authorise and request
my Executors to appoint the said seven Trustees, and the said Trustees,
when appointed in either of the modes above mentioned, shall forever
thereafter fill all vacancies in their own body, their election in each case
to be submitted without delay to the said visitors for their approbation,
and to be void if disaproved by the visitors ; and if the Trustees shall refuse
or neglect to fill any such vacancy for the space of three months after the
same shall occur, and for the same length of time after being notified of
the vacancy by the visitors and being requested by them to proceed to a
choice, then the said visitors are authorised and requested forthwith to fill
such vacancy by the appointment of a Trustee. And I do further author-
ise the said visitors, from time to time, to remove any of the said Trustees

* His son.

98

THE LIFE OF

who shall in the opinion of the visitors become incapable or unfit by
reason of age, infirmity, or any other cause to discharge the duties of his

office.

Item : I do order and request my Executors hereinafter named, as soon
as may be after my decease, to pay over, deliver, assign, and transfer to
the said Trustees all my said personal estate herein above bequeathed to
the said Trustees, to be held by them upon the trusts and for the purposes
following ; that is to say : all that part of my said estate which may at the
time of my decease be invested in the British funds to be kept to accumu-
late by investing the interest from the time in the like stock, and adding
it to the principal, for sixty years after my decease, if the rules of law or
equity will allow it ; otherwise, for any less time than sixty years that shall
be allowable ; and if from any cause it should become impracticable or
greatly disadvantageous to the said establishment to keep the last-men-
tioned part of my estate invested as aforesaid in the British funds, then
I authorise the said Trustees, with the consent and approbation of the said
visitors, to withdraw the whole of said monies from the British funds, and
invest the same in other stocks or funds, or in real estate, or put the same
out at interest to be accumulated as aforesaid, as they shall think best for
the establishment ; and in either case, when the said fund shall cease to
be accumulated as aforesaid, whether by force of the above-written limita-
tion or of the rules of law, it shall be appropriated, together with the other
property herein bequeathed to the said Trustees, to the maintenance of the
said schools, as hereinafter provided ; and as to the residue of my said
estate, bequeathed as aforesaid (as also the part thereof last above men-
tioned, when the said trust for accumulation shall cease), the said Trustees
shall from time to time invest the same in any stocks or funds, or in real
estate, or put the same out at interest, as shall be warranted and allowed
by law, and shall appear to be secure and most for the advantage of the
said establishment ; and if it shall hereafter appear to the said Visitors and
Trustees that the property herein given to the said Trustees can be better
managed and secured, and the purposes of this my will be better attained,
by an incorporation of the said Trustees and Visitors, or either of them, I
do hereby, so far as in me lies, assent to such incorporation, and do request
that the same may be granted accordingly by the competent authority of
the said State of Massachusetts on the application of the said Visitors and
Trustees. And the said Trustees shall have the care and immediate over-
sio-ht of the said schools, and may make all necessary and proper rules and
ret^ulations for the discipline and instruction and the general government
thereof, provided they be not inconsistent with the regulations in that be-

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 99

half contained in this my will, and all such rules and regulations shall be
in full force and operation until repealed by the said Visitors.

Item : I will and direct that each of such schools shall be on the follow-
ing plan and Foundation, viz.: Each to be called "Sir Isaac Coffin's School."
One of such schools, being the school to be first established, to be at Bos-
ton, in such a situation that the scholars may be near the water-side and
have ready access to the Harbour, The school to consist of twenty-four
scholars; twelve of them, if so many may be found, are to be the male de-
scendants, deriving their descent through males of the said Tristram Coffin,
and of said Peter Coffin, respectively, or one of them, and to bear, or before
entrance into the school, to take and assume the name of Coffin, If male
relations, deriving their pedigree through males, should not be found, then
descendants by the female line may be chosen, and they to assume and
bear and write the name of Coffin before they enter into the school. And
I direct that such twelve scholars of each school shall be fed, clothed, and
lodged out of the income of the funds of the establishment. And I direct
that three masters be appointed for each school, viz. : a Master of a Ship,
a Mathematical Master, and a Drawing Master, each to be of good Morals
and reputation and well qualified for his department. Such three persons
will, in my humble judgment, be sufficient to prepare the boys for the pro-
fession they are designed to follow. And I direct that the remaining
twelve boys of the school at Boston shall be selected from the sons of hon-
est and industrious inhabitants of Boston who may be desirous of breeding
up their sons for a nautical life. And it is further my will that the sons of
the poorest citizens shall be preferred, and that no boy shall be eligible
who shall have any bodily deformity, or who shall not be of a sound con-
stitution, or who shall not have had the small-pox, or have been vaccinated.
It is further my will that no boy shall be admitted until he shall have at-
tained the age of fourteen years, and that each boy should be able to read,
and also to write a legible hand, and have a competant knowledge of Arith-
metic, and be of Christian persuasion, and if a classical scholar, he is on
that account to be entitled caeteris paribus to preference. Each boy shall
leave the school at the age of eighteen. And I direct that the Ship Master,
Mathematical Master, and Drawing Master should respectively be native
citizens of Massachusetts.

Item .-As my said property may not be sufficient to found the three
schools to commence at the same time, I direct the school at Boston to be
first established, and as the funds accumulate, to form the second of such
establishments at Newbury Port. And, as future funds accumulate, to
form the third and last of such establishments at Nantucket. And I direct

100 THE LIFE OF

that each of such schools shall be conducted on similar plans, and each
school to be limited to the number of twenty-four boys, and all the boys
beyond the twelve of the Coffin family to be chosen by the Trustees out
of the respective Towns in which such schools are to be established ; and
on failure of that number, then to be selected from any other part of the
State of Massachusetts. But this shall not prevent the Trustees from ad-
mitting'- additional scholars on payment of such sums for their tuition as
the Trustees shall prescribe, when it can be done without injury to the
establishment. And, whereas the branches of the family of the said Tristram
Coffin and Peter Coffin are spread over the Continent of North America
and Europe, and are my relations, I direct that any of them, and of what-
ever country they may be natives, shall forever be eligible to be placed
in each of the said schools, the number of twelve such relations being
always entitled to the preference to be scholars on each of such founda-
tions when of a proper age, and if such relations can be traced ; and the
said Trustees shall have the exclusive right and power of certifying the
fact of descent and right of eligibility. And I direct that for the admission
of each boy, an application shall be made to the said Trustees three calen-
dar months before he can be admitted upon any vacancy ; and that the
day of admission shall be the sixteenth of May in every year (being the
anniversary of my birthday). And I direct that no candidate shall be
admitted unless a physician and surgeon, to be appointed by the said Trus-
tee? shall certify to them, after due examination, that such candidate is,
as to bodily health, fit for the life of a Sailor. And I direct that, as between
different applicants for admission, the said Trustees, or the major part of them,
shall have the selection and choice, and that proximity of blood among per-
sons of the sirname, or being descendants from the said Tristram Coffin and
Peter Coffin, respectively, shall not confer any right of preference. And
I direct that, adjacent to each school, a house should, if it be deemed
expedient, be obtained by purchase or hiring on lease, and furnished for
the residence of the Ship-Master of each school. And I direct that the
Ship-Master for each School shall have the direction, care, and superinten-
dence of the said boys on that foundation to which he shall be attached,
and of their board and lodging, and his board and lodging gratis in the
same house. And I direct that his accounts of expenditure for board
and lodging shall be submitted to the annual inspection of the Trustees ;
and that the Trustees (should there be occasion) may, with the assent
of the Visitors, remove any of the said Masters for misconduct or want
of qualification.

Item : For promoting the welfare of the said establishment, I direct

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. lOI

that for each of the said schools a sloop of fifty tons, coppered and copper
fastened, shall be built or provided at the expense of the establishment,
combining strength, convenience, fast sailing, and durability, and furnished
with bed-places and all requisite conveniences for the scholars ; and that the
scholars of the Boston foundation shall be exercised in cruising in Massa-
chusetts Bay and the neighboring coast, from the tenth day of May to the
tenth day of September in each year, by which means they will become
excellent pilots ; and they are to be put into and survey all the harbors from
Passamaquoddy to Nantucket, and to trawl and drudge on every part of
the coast, and on all occasions, to try to discover the treasures of the deep ;
and to keep an accurate journal of their proceedings, and use their fishing-
lines, of every kind, when opportunity may oiifer ; and, by keeping the body
and mind inconstant activity, they will prepare themselves for the arduous
career incident to the life of a seaman ; and they are not to lose any op-
portunity of making astronomical and nautical observations. The sloop
to be caulked and kept in repair and sails, rigging, and hull, by the personal
labor of the masters and scholars, and to be called '* The Seaman's Hope,"
carrying a white flag with a pine-tree in the centre. And I direct that the
boys, in the two first classes of each establishment, shall be exercised two
years in the sloop of such establishment prior to leaving school. And I
direct that the sloop belonging to the Newbury Port School shall cruise
from Cape Cod, round Boston Bay to Passamaquoddy, and that the sloop
belonging to the Nantucket School shall cruise from Cape Cod one way,
to New York the other way, trawling and drudging assiduously as the
ground will admit, since I conceive many oyster-beds may be dis-
covered in Long Island Sound, and between Montauck Point and Sandy
Hook. And it is my further direction that the boys of each school shall,
from their entry to their departure, wear a blue jacket and trousers of good
cloth of the second or third quality, with blue knit stockings of worsted in
winter, and cotton in summer, and shall have an anchor on the right arm,
of red cloth, by which they may always be known and distinguisljed. And
as the vessel may go into the Bay in severe weather, I direct that a com-
petent number of greatcoats be provided, lined with baize made up of No.
4 canvas and painted, and also foraging leather caps to cover their heads,
and with a small anchor in front of each cap. Also, that the boat be
provided and hoisted up at any wharf in the vicinity of each school at
which permission may be obtained, and i^owing twelve oars double-banked,
and having cork apparatus sufficient to float her when overset ; and in that
boat the two junior classes of each school shall be exercised from the tenth
day of May to the tenth day of September in each year, thus combining

102 THE LIFE OF

exertion with pleasure. And I direct that each of the scholars shall learn
to swim, and each acquire a knowledge of the following trades or callings —
that is to say : Ship-building, caulking, rope-making, block-making, mast-
making, boat-building, coopering, house-carpenter's and joiner's work,
baking, blacksmith's work, cutting and making clothes, knitting, making
nets of all kinds, mixing paints and painting, the art of cooking in all its
branches, the art of slaughtering animals with due economy, also of pre-
serving meat by pickling, salting, or smoking, I also direct that muskets
be provided and kept up, to belong to each school, that the boys of the
first class may be exercised by the Ship-Master, at such time as he may
think most convenient, in firing at a mark, and such guns always to be
cleaned and put by by the scholars of the said class. And I direct that
the scholars be taught the use of the backsword, the art of gunnery, and fire-
lock exercise, and be at liberty to amuse themselves at proper times with
athletic games, such as cricket, foot-ball, wrestling, at the discretion of the
Ship-Master and Mathematical Master, one of whom is always to be in at-
tendance on the scholars as their charge. And I will and direct that each
boy shall be at his studies at five o'clock in the morning in the summer,
and at six o'clock in the morning in the winter. The scholars to be at
breakfast at seven o'clock in the summer, and at eight o'clock in the
winter ; and winter is to be reckoned to commence from the first day of
November and to end on the thirtieth day of April. The boys to dine at
one o'clock in the summer, and to be allowed one hour and a half for the
interval between school ; to dine in winter at one o'clock, and to be
allowed one hour between school, and to have two half-holidays in each
week, commencing from one o'clock ; the boys on the foundation who
shall not have any relations in town, to be regulated as to their absence by
the Ship-Master ; and all the boys to sup in winter and summer at eight
o'clock and be in bed by nine. Their food to consist of rice, Indian meal,
and bread, with milk and molasses or sugar, for breakfast ; mutton, beef,
pork, and fish, with potatoes and other vegetables and soups, according to
the judgment of the Ship-Master, for dinner, and in such proportions as may
be equal to the several wants of the boys, avoiding waste and profusion.
The boys to have for supper the same kind of food as for breakfast.

Item : I will and direct that the said Trustees shall visit and examine
the said school in Boston at least four times a year, and oftener if they
think proper ; and I do request that the said Visitors join in such examina-
tion at least once a year ; and I further authorize and request the said Vis-
itors to depute and appoint the respective School Committees, or Select-
men, for the time being, of the said towns of Nantucket and Newbury

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 103

Port, or such other persons as the Visitors shall nominate, to make a like
visitation and examination of the schools in those towns respectively, and
to report their observations to the said Visitors, in order that all defects in
the course of discipline and instruction in the said three schools may be
discovered and corrected, and that such improvements may be made
therein, by the said Trustees and Visitors, as they shall judge proper, and
not inconsistent with the general object and plan of the schools as expressed
in this my Will. And in case of the misconduct of any scholar which can-
not be sufficiently punished or repressed by the ordinary disci[)line of the
school, the Trustees may, on complaint by the Mathematical Master or
Ship-Master, inquire into the same, and, if they think proper, admonish the
scholar; and on a second complaint, they may sentence him to a short soli-
tary confinement ; and if this should prove inefficient, such boy may be ex-
pelled ; or any boy may be expelled in the first instance for any aggravated
offence that shows him to be wholly unworthy of enjoying the benefits of
the school ; and no boy once expelled shall ever be reinstated.

Item : As the Lancasterian or Bell system of education has, in most
countries, been found very beneficial, I should wish the schools to be regu-
lated as nearly as possible on that plan, or any improvement thereon. And
I direct that in each school there may be four classes, and the boy most
conspicuous for talents and proficiency in each class to be placed at the
head of that class as a monitor. Each boy of the senior to have a boy of
the second class to instruct, and each boy of the second class to have one
of the boys of the third class to instruct, and each boy of the third class to
have a boy of the fourth class to instruct. By these regulations knowledge
will be rapidly diftused, and the education of the young men sooner com-
pleted. I wish the boys to be in every respect as well qualified in mathe-
matical and astronomical knowledge as the scholars at the Naval College
at Portsmouth, in England, are qualified, and to complete the like plan as is
observed in that academy. And I will and direct that each Mathematical
Master, in addition to his other qualifications, should be competent to give
lectures on the several heads of natural philosophy, namely, pneumatics,
hydraulics, optics, mechanics, electricity, astronomy, geology, geography
with the use of the globes ; and that a philosophical apparatus should be
provided at the expense of each establishment. And 1 direct that each
school should be provided with Ree's Encyclopaedia, printed and published
in America, and a competent number of books which treat or may treat on
professional matters. I direct also that models of a ship, brig, snow-
schooner, and sloop be provided in each school, and that the boys may be
practised in rigging and unrigging the same during the winter. And I

104 THE LIFE OF

recommend that shops be built near the school wherein the different trades
enumerated for the boys to learn may be taught. I also direct that Arrow-
smith's Mercator's chart of the world, and spherical chart, together with
maps of the four quarters of the globe, should be hung up on springs in each
school, so that ready access can be had to the maps ; and that a pair of
globes should be provided for each school. And I direct that, when either
of the said schools should be complete, and the boys of the senior class
be about to leave it, an examination should take place touching their
abilities, when all the Selectmen and Magistrates, Captains and Officers of
the United States Navy residing at Boston, Newbury Port, or Nantucket,
and respectable Masters of ships should, by public advertisement, be invited
to attend. And after such examination I direct that each boy, on leaving
the school, should, if merited, have a mark of approbation, i.e., the first
boy a silver medal, and I direct that the silver medal shall have engraved
on one side a ship completely rigged with a motto, " I aspire to com-
mand," and on the other side " God is my Guide," with a wreath of laurel
and a sextant ; the second boy a sextant ; the third boy a quadrant ; the
fourth boy a case of mathematical instruments ; the fifth boy a treatise on
Navigation ; the sixth boy the book called " A Coasting Pilot," or the best
substitute for it ; and if there be any more, the seventh boy a fishing-line
of sixty fathoms with lead and six cod-hooks ; the eighth boy a chest for his
clothes ; the ninth boy a Gunter's scale and a pair of compasses, and each
of the others a jack knife ; each boy also to have a Bible, and a certificate,
signed by the Ship-Master and the Mathematical Master, that he was edu-
cated at Sir Isaac Coffin's School. And I direct that a proper book be
kept by each Ship-Master by way of registry of the names of all the scholars,
stating their ages and their respective proficiency in the sciences taught at
each school ; such book, together with the plans and drawings of the boys
who may excel, to be preserved in the library of the school. And it is my
direction that the Ship-Master of each school shall be thirty years of age
before he shall be qualified to conduct the affairs of the establishment, and
shall not be eligible after the age of forty-five years ; and that he may, if he
think fit, or be required by the Trustees to, retire at any time after the age
of sixty, with an annuity for his life of fifty pounds sterling per annum. And
that the Mathematical Master shall not be admitted after the age of thirty
years, and may retire at any time after sixty years, if he should so desire, or
be required as aforesaid, with an annuity of fifty pounds for his life. The
Drawing-Master to be admitted at any age between twenty-one and forty-
five years, and may retire at any time after sixty, if he should so desire or
be so required, with an annuity for his life of forty pounds per annum.

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 105

Item : Having suggested, so far as my experience enables me, the requi-
sites for forming a set of men who may be useful to my native country,
my consideration has been to provide the funds for establishing the said
Foundation. I have at present, standing in the names of the Trustees of
my marriage settlement, which, after the death of my wife, will be part of
my property, about seven hundred pounds a year in the English Funds,
and in my own name six hundred pounds a year in the Funds of the United.
States, and money and stock in the French Funds, which sums may be
more or less, and I may considerably increase them in my lifetime. Should
the income of the funds be adequate after what is above disposed of, I di-
rect that sums not exceeding fifty pounds per annum should be given to
each of twelve aged and infirm Masters of Merchant Ships, who may be
worn out and unable to support themselves, at Boston, Nantucket, or New-
bury Port, giving the preference to the descendants of Tristram Coffin and
Peter Coffin in the male or female lines. And should there be any surplus
fund after supporting and maintaining the aforesaid three establishments,
and after paying the said annuities to the said twelve aged and infirm Mas-
ters of ships, I direct that such surplus be given, by way of annual income,
for the maintenance of the aged and infirm branches, members for the
time being of the Coffin family from the said two stocks, in such a way
and proportion as the said Trustees may adjudge.

I/em : I revoke all other wills made by me at any time heretofore. And
I nominate, constitute, and appoint Jonathan Amory and Henry Codman,
both of said Boston, Esquires, William Appleton, Jonathan Amory, Jun.,
Thomas Coffin Amory, Edward Gardiner Davis, M.D., George Minot Dex-
ter, William Davis Sohier, Edward William Payne, and Thomas Amory De-
blois, all of said Boston, Esquires, to be Executors of this my Will and
Testament, and desire that all their expenses may be borne and paid out
of my estate.

In Witness Whereof I have, to this my last Will and Testament, con-
tained in eight sheets of paper, set my hand and seal (that is to say), my
hand only to the first seven sheets, and my hand and seal to this the eighth
and last sheet, this fourth day of September, in the year of the reign

of George the fourth, and in the year of our Lord one thousand.

Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Testator as and for
his last Will and Testament, in the presence of us, who at his request and
in his presence, and also in the presence of each other, have hereunto sub-
scribed our names as witnesses.

I06 THE LIFE OF

Boston, i6th Sept., 1S29.
My Dear Sir :

No event of my life has ever afforded me more pleasure than my late
visit to Nantucket — and as you have, from the commencement of my efforts
to form the establishment for our young relations, mainly contributed
thereto, I beg once more to offer you my best thanks.

But ior jou, piobably, we should never have witnessed the affecting and
gratifying exhibition of the children at the seminary.

You will hear I have taken much interest in the equipment of the Brig,
giving the boys plenty of pumpkins, squashes, apples, and good advice.
They go to their work v/ith Si /leariy good wi//. I pray God they may make
good men. They clear out this day, and sail to-morrow. Little or no gout
since we parted. I start for New York to-morrow. Early, in November
go to Norfolk, thence to South Carolina. Kind regards to your family,
the Trustees, your son, and the children, and al/ relations.

Ever sincerely yours,
Wm. Coffin, Esq. (Signed) Isaac Coffin.

The nautical schools involving too large an expenditure, and having, as
his brother John writes his cousin Stephen Deblois, provoked criticism at
home. Sir Isaac directed his attention to establishing a school at Nantucket.
This still exists, well endowed. Its pupils, once two or three hundred, are
not now confined to the descendants of Tristram. It is said of this school that
it cost Sir Isaac an earldom, but the remark applies with more likelihood
to the nautical schools for the education of seamen. The following letter
to the trustees of the Nantucket school from Mr. Folger, who sends me
the above intended will, is appended, with his consent.

Cambridgeport, June 30, 1881.

Charles G. Coffin, Esq., President Board of Trustees,
Admiral Sir Isaac Coin's Sclwol, Nantucket :

My Dear and Honored Friend — Some few years ago, in looking
over old records in the " Town's Building," so called, at Nantucket, I came
across a candle-box about half filled with loose papers. On examination
I found among them several original letters and memorandum-books con-

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. 10/

nected with the establishment of the Coffin School. By permission I took
them for the purpose of making copies tending to their preservation. I
infer that they were saved when all the other records of the School were
destroyed by the fire of 1846, conveyed from the counting-room of the
Secretary, Gorham Coffin, Esq., to his residence, and at his death carried
over to the Town's Building. But this, being my own explanation,
may not be the correct one. The papers consist of two books of ac-
counts, showing the purchase and fitting the School House on Fair-
Street, and the general expenditures from September, 1826, to May,
1835 ; four memorandum books containing the names of scholars, male
and female, commencing with the first quarter of the second year, June,
1828, and continuing to March, 1834, and sundry documents numbered
by the Secretary, Gorham Coffin, Esq., i to 81 — of which 22 were miss-
ing— and there are 9 not numbered. They consist of original letters
from Admiral Coffin and his relative, Hector Coffin, to William Coffin,
President of the Board of Trustees ; copies of letters to the Admiral, and
copies of papers connected with the gift by Union Lodge of F. & A.
Masons, under certain conditions, of their Lodge Building standing on
Main street. These documents I have carefully copied into a record book,
and, in connection therewith, other information connected with the estab-
lishment of the school, showing some of the influences leading thereto, to-
gether with such biographical notices of Admiral Coffin as have come under
my observation. It appears that on the loth of September, 1826, Admiral
Coffin visited Nantucket a second time, after an interval of about twenty
years. He found the inhabitants very much exercised in relation to the
establishment of public schools. The only schools of this nature then ex-
isting were charity schools, supported by the Town from an appropriation
of $1,500 per year, with an expenditure of about $800 in a population of
some 8,000 persons. The School Committee of 1825 had reported " that
they had not recommended a large sum of money, because it is presumed
that no individual who is competent to support the education of his chil-
dren, will at this period of embarrassment be induced to place them under
the direction and control of the School Committee."

The names of those participating in the appropriation were required to
be published by the Committee. At the March Town Meeting, 1826, the
School Committee reported, " that immediately after their appointment
they gave public notice that they would be in session to receive applica-
tions for admission into the public schools. They sat several evenings for
the purpose, and until applications had ceased. Having ascertained by
this course the number of children for which they had to provide schools.

I08 THE LIFE OF

they proceeded to institute schools, and locate them in different parts of
the town for the accommodation of the inhabitants ; one under the direction
of a master, and four under the direction of mistresses. These schools
have embraced, on an average, about i8o scholars. Besides these five
schools, provision has been made for a few scholars in four private schools,
in such a manner that it has been advantageous to the scholars themselves,
and economical to the town. The Committee have frequently visited the
schools in order to take cognizance of any existing difficulty, as well as to
ascertain the advancement of the schools in their several studies, and to
this end have examined every individual scholar. The condition of very
many of the scholars," say the committee, " was indeed deplorable at the
time they were received, and although their advancement has generally
equalled the most sanguine expectations of your committee, yet very much
remains for the town to do, that the education, which, in many instances,
received its beginning the present year, may be continued, till an object
fraught with the most beneficial effects shall be fully accomplished. One
of the above female schools is composed of colored children, whose ad-
vancement in education has afforded satisfaction to the Committee, when
they have visited the schools. They have expended $845.94, and have
drawn $650, and there is due to the treasurer $194.94. They recommend
the like appropriation of last year, $1,000, with liberty to hire $500 more
if necessary. And in conclusion, recommend thet)wn so far to recon-
sider a vote of last year as to dispense with publishing the names of each
individual who has participated the last year in the appropriation." In the
meantime the columns of the Nantucket Inquirer were teeming with power-
fully-written articles, showing the necessity and express duty of the town
to adopt a public school system. The able and talented editor, the la-
mented Samuel Haynes Jenks, in sharp and incontrovertible statements
showed that the schools supported by the town were strictly and only
" charity " schools for the destitute, and not in any sense public schools ;
that although the Commonwealth had passed laws more than thirty-five
years previous for the general education of youth, yet no provision in
accordance had ever been made bv the town of Nantucket, and that no
legal public school then existed in the place.

At the session of the General Court held in 1826 additional laws were
passed in relation to public education and the establishment of schools for
this purpose by the several towns. At the same session an act was passed,
approved March 2, 1826, establishing sessions of the Supreme Judicial
Court in the county of Nantucket, and at its first session the inhabitants
of the town were indicted for neglect of schools, whereupon notice was

ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART. lOQ

issued to the said inhabitants and the case continued to the next term of
the Court, on the first Tuesday of July following, 1827.

At the height of this excitement Admiral Coffin visited Nantucket, and
undoubtedly his attention was drawn to the " deplorable condition " of
some of his young kinsmen, as described by the school committee of the
town, and he was induced to carry into execution a plan he had lont^ had
in contemplation — the establishment of a school upon the Lancaster-ian
system, designed for the youthful descendants of whatever name, of Tris-
tram Coffin, his ancestor, who first emigrated from England and settled in
Saulsbury near Newburyport, and in 1661 removed to Nantucket and there
spent the remainder of his days. The Coffin school was opened on the
29th day of May, 1827, and on the same day two public schools by the
town of Nantucket, which, at the previous March meeting, had appropri-
ated for the purpose $2,500, The Nantucket Inquirer of June 4th records
that " on Monday last, two of the large public schools recently established
by a vote of this town were opened for the admission of scholars. These
seminaries, which will contain an aggregate of nearly 350 scholars, were
immediately filled with children above the age of nine years. It is ascer-
tained that about 300 younger candidates for public instruction now re-
main to be provided for. The schools nowestabHshed are to be conducted
on the improved monitorial plan. The Principal Schools in this town are
as follows : South public school, under the direction of Mr. William
Mitchell, containing 202 scholars. North Public School, under the joint
care of Messrs. Nathaniel and Obed Barney, 143 scholars at present.
Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin's Lancasterian school, conducted by William
Coffin, Jr., and Miss A. Meach, comprising 230 scholars." This noble
institution, founded in 1827, has extended its benefits not only to the
descendants of Tristram Coffin, but to the children of Nantucket generally
for a period of more than fifty years, increasing in usefulness with its years,
and bidding fair to continue to an indefinite period of time. While disas-
ters and misfortunes without number have fallen thick and heavy upon the
old town, while her children have been driven to the ends of the earth to
earn a livelihood, while her wharves have fallen in decay, the grass grown
in her streets, and the sound of labor become low or ceased altogether, yet
this grand old institution, founded in love and good will, standing almost
alone, has flourished and grown strong amid a general wreck.

The prophetic words of the Boston Evening Bulletin on the founda-
tion of the Coffiu School seem to be fulfilled, and the lesson therein in-
culcated is worthy our serious consideration at the present time : " When
it is recollected that in the compact town of Nantucket, comprising a

no THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART.

population of nearly eight thousand, there were, two years since, no semi-
naries for the public instruction of youth ; and that upon the establishment
of the institution in question, designed for the benefit of a numerous class
of the community, the town itself, provoked and ashamed, as it were, by this
magnanimous example, was incited to the erection of three similar schools,
what thanks will not be awarded by the future inhabitants of that island ;
what magnificent results to coming generations may not be justly antici-
pated. This is the way to insure immortal fame ! This is the judicious
and generous mode which Admiral Coffin has adopted for the transmission
to after ages of the remembrance and the benefits of his bounty, instead of
vainly providing for the erection of marble monuments or bestowing his
wealth for the propagation of sectarian doctrines,"

My connection with the school was as a pupil at the second quarter
in the second year, and I had the honor of receiving a first medal in the
boys' school at the end of the fourth quarter. I was a pupil when the
school was visited by Admiral Coffin in 1829, and recollect being play-
fully taken upon his knee at visits he made at my grandfather's at that
time. I was also a member of the Board of Trustees several years, where
we had always the pleasure of your company and the benefit of your ad-
vice and co-operation, which you have so freely and generously given
through the entire existence of the school, having been one of the original
Board of Trustees appointed by the Admiral, and for many years the only
surviving member thus appointed, and distant is the day, all must join in
wishing, when your connection therewith shall cease. The great obliga-
tion I feel to the school of my early days, through which I stumbled with
weak and faltering steps, but to which distance lends a sweet enchantment,
has led me to ask the acceptance by the Trustees of this book of records
which I take the liberty to forward to you with the original papers before
mentioned. I also ask their acceptance of one of the original medals,
struck off by direction of Admiral Coffin in memory of Tristram Coffin,
the first of his race that settled in America, and copies of which he sent
to the members of the first Board of Trustees. This medal was given to
me by the late Paul Mitchell, Esq., an acquaintance and near relative to
the great Admiral.

With my best wishes for the continued prosperity of the school, and as-
surance of my high regard and esteem to yourself and the other Trustees
I am, very respectfully,

Your friend and ob't servant,

George H. Folger.

GLEANINGS.

CONTENTS OF GLEANINGS.

PAGE.

John "5

TURBOT ^^7

Haverhill ^^^

Nantucket Deeds ^^9

Papers connected with Government of Nantucket .... 124

Tristram's Deeds to his Children 129

Number of Tristram's Descendants i35

Obituary of Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin 136

List of Vessels to which Admiral Coffin was attached . . 139

Conclusion ^4°

GLEANINGS. US

"JOHN."

p. S7.

As our memoir was on its way to the corner bookstore, in search of a
reader, a friend, whose boyhood had been spent in Brighton, recalled to
remembrance a character too intimately associated with the admiral to
pass unnoticed. His Yes, Sir Isaac ; No, Sir Isaac, recurring at every
sentence, as he received his master's orders, still reechoes on the ear.
Thoroughly English in appearance, speech, and dress, his spatterdashes,
corduroys, jockey coat, and cap with a gold band somewhat tarnished,
worn as a badge of his master's rank in the British navy, attracted atten-
tion the more that our people then scrupulously refrained from any such
pretensions. His manners, warm and magnetic with his equals, defer-
ential to those he regarded as his superiors, were rather domineering over
the stable-boys who served under him. If, like a true Saxon, he used or
dropped his aspirates somewhat erroneously, he was, when at ease,
loquacious and sensible, and left the impression that he was thorough-
bred for his peculiar walk.

Exuberant in health, his well-knit frame solid and muscular, half-
sailor, half-groom, he had the credit of being besides an accomplished
personal attendant, either as valet, nurse, or butler, as the occasion
served. In earlier days, in his capacity as master's man, then deemed
indispensable to all personages of means, military rank, or social posi-
tion, he had attended Sir Isaac about the world, afloat or ashore. On
an occasion like that of the Nore, when the admiral one stormy night
plunged into the wintry billows to save a drowning sailor, John, at the
imminent risk of his own life, had rescued his master from the sharks.
Such a service the admiral was not likely to forget.

However extended his social circle, numerous his acquaintances and
friends, and frequent a guest under many hospitable roofs, ever ready to
receive him with cordial welcome. Sir Isaac, without domestic ties or
other home than his cabin, had often to lead a lonely life. He had few
dependants in whom to take an interest, for whose welfore and happi-
ness he felt under obligation to care. One in whom he placed implicit

Il6 GLEANINGS.

trust, who in so many ways contributed to his own comfort, intelligent
and respectful, yet companionable, and who had rendered him such ex-
cellent service on the occasion to which we have alluded, occupied a
high place in his regard to their mutual advantage.

His special charge, when, at this suggestion of my friend, the substan-
tial presence of John stalked sturdily back into my own consciousness,
was the stable at Brighton, near the hall on the hill-top, then standing
in lonely dignity against the sky but long since removed, of the Massa-
chusetts Agricultural Society. In its spacious stables, befitting their an-
tecedents, the victors of Epsom and Ascot and of other well-known
courses, imported by Sir Isaac to improve our breeds, reposed upon their
laurels, or transmitted them to other generations. In buildings round
about frolicked their progeny of frisky and comely foals. John, well-versed
in horse-flesh, an admirable veterinary surgeon, watched with parental
solicitude over these precious animals committed to his care, ambitious to
bring them up in the way they should go.

The Society in whose keeping the horses had been placed, and under
whose sanction and auspices the benevolent purposes of the admiral were
carried ouL, then reigned in solitary supremacy. The numerous county
organizations were not in existence. Its annual fairs attracted crowds
from all over New England. Its members were from among the most
eminent of the State. Still remembered well the day when Sir Isaac, who
was then residing not far away, at Belmont, then my uncle's, where we
also had our dwelling, attended as their guest. His presence there, and
that of these fine steeds confided by him to their care, was an event, and
John, as master-of-hoi'se, in his glory.

Naturally generous, and ever thoughtful of the wants of whoever had
any claim upon him, the admiral purchased a farm of many acres near
the stables at Brighton, and gave it to John. There, with his buxom wife
and healthy children, still clinging to the ways and customs of England,
he lived on long past maturity, if not to a great old age. His chief pride
as long as they remained here, for they eventually went back to England,
were the horses, and with them he shared the regard of his neighbors,
many of whom had profited by the opportunity and possessed them-
selves of scions of such illustrious sires. Two splendid colts of Barefoot's
were killed by lightning when pastured on an island in the harbor.
Morgan and other breeds, better adapted to hard work and the intensities
of heat and cold, superseded Barefoot's ; but doubtless still may be traced
on the famous Brighton road near by, his fleetness and elegance of
form grafted on more sturdy stock.

GLEANINGS. 11/

Our climate, with such extremes of temperature often abrupt, is better
suited for wheel or runners than for the saddle. Population crowding
along shore has well-nigh exterminated the fox and deer, and the chase
without useful purpose lost much of its fascination. Even racing is be-
coming confined to trotting in harness. But when Sir Isaac sent over
Barefoot and Serab to improve our stock, New England, like the Old, had
not lost its taste for running. There were other champions of the turf to
be remembered besides Winslow Blue. Foxes, too, abounded up to the
suburbs of our larger municipalities. Well-mounted clubs of the best
and wealthiest, for their extermination, in traditional splendor of apparel,
leaped the stitl' stone walls that bounded the fields, as much for their
own enjoyment as for the benefit of the farmers. Even at this day, at
Newport and Beverly, men and women gather in large numbers to the
meet, with well-trained hunters and dogs of high degree, though Reynard
rarely puts in an appearance, and a bag of aniseseed in a cart proves a
sorry substitute.

Our late civil war quickened the taste for equitation. vSpacious parks
gird round our cities or compose large portions of their extended areas.
Attractive drives, well-shaded, by the sea or through the forest about
our summer resorts, tend to promote a taste once more common abroad
than here. What we still need are better horses for the saddle, from
stocks with hereditary aptitudes, well-trained till training becomes second
nature. The best will then become more abundant, and be less costly.
Other public benefactors will introduce from abroad, or other parts of our
own land, choice breeds for the purpose, acclimatize them here, teach them
their paces, and to apprehend instinctively the intent of the rider.
Then the Boston boy, who did so much half a century ago in this same
direction, will be appreciated and held in grateful remembrance by all,
who estimate aright the healthy exhilaration of speeding through the air
on a perfect mount.

TURBOT.

P- 57-

It is a curious fact that deep-water fish, soles and turbot, change
gradually through their generations, — change not only their accustomed
habits and habitats, but their form and color, to accommodate themselves
to tlieir new conditions and perils. On the different sides of a broad
channel, of the broad ocean between Europe and America, the mouth opens

Il8 GLEANINGS.

sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other, according to the slope
of the shore. Our American turbot, if not equal in flavor or delicacy to
its English congener, is very similar in general appearance, but with
sufiicient modifications of form not to be mistaken for it. Sir Isaac had
been so constantly from early childhood in constant proximity to the sea
in climates so various, that he was conversant with all the innumerable
tribes of the ocean, and, realizing how much better the English turbot
was than ours he brought over, on one of his voyages, in crails both
turbot and sole, in the hope they might in time become acclimatized
and multiply in our waters. Our own fishermen say that the English
turbot has occasionally, though rarely, been caught here retaining in
large measure the delicacy and other characteristics of the race. Possibly
with time they will gradually, by selection of breed, and for self-preserva-
tion, conform more to our type, yet be a better fish. Our chicken hali-
but, and the larger variety, good and abundant, leave, however, little
more to be wished.

HAVERHILL.

" It appears that Tristram did not aftect a permanent settlement at
Salisbury, but removed the same year to the new settlement of Pen-
tucket, soon afterward called Haverhill. This settlement was com-
menced in 1640, Christopher Hussey being among the first settlers, but
no deed from the Indians w^as obtained until 1642, when the name of
Tristram Coftyn appears as one of the witnesses thereto. It was first
recorded in the county records of Norfolk (lib. 3, p. 209) ; and, in 1S32,
the original deed was said to be in the possession of Charles White, Esq.
As it is the first appearance of the name of Tristram Cofi'yn upon any
document in America, I make a copy of it from the ' History of Hav'^er-
hill,' by B. L. Mirick. The marks made by the Indian sachems were
representations of the bow and arrow : —

' Know all men by these presents that we, Passaquo and Saggahew,
with the consent of Passaconaway, have sold unto the inhabitants of
Pentucket all the lands we have in Pentucket, that is, eight miles in
length from the little river in Pentucket westward ; six miles in length
from the aforesaid river northward, and six miles in length from the
aforesaid river eastward, with the island and the river ; that the island
stand in as far in length as the land lies by as formerly expressed, that is,
fourteen miles in length. And we, the said Passaquo and Saggahew,

GLEANINGS. IIQ

with the consent of Passaconnaway, have sold unto the said inhabitants
all the right that we or any of us have in the said ground and island and
river ; and we warrant it against all or any other Indians whatsoever
unto the said inhabitants of Pentucket, and to their heirs and assigns
forever. Dated the fifteenth day of November, A. D. 1642.

Witness our hands and seals to this bargain of sale the day and year
above written. We, the said Passaquo & Saggahew, have received in
hand, for and in consideration of the same, three pounds and ten
shillings.

In the presence of us

John Ward. The mark of

Robert Clements, Pasac^jos X [Seal].

Tristram Coffyn,
Hugh Sherratt,
William White,
The sign of (i)

"^ The mark of

Thomas Davis.

Saggahew, X [Seal].'

Tristram Coffyn settled in Haverhill near Robert Clement, and tradi-
tion says he was the first person who ploughed land in that town, con-
structing his own plough. The following year he settled at the Rocks,
so called. He resided in Haverhill several 3ears, when he removed to
Newbury (1648-9) , and thence to Salisbury ( 1654-5) , where he organized
the company for the purchase and settlement of Nantucket."

NANTUCKET.

Ch. IV., p. 21.

" These documents, printed thirty years ago from the records of New
York at Albany, are not accessible to many who may read this volume.
Some of them are of value as showing by what conveyances Nantucket
and Martha's- Vineyard vested in the colonists. Others have peculiar
interest at this time that systems of government for dependencies, or for
associated nationalities, are under discussion. The plan evidently origi-
nated on the islands. What part of it was the work of Mayhew, Coffin,
or Macy, does not appear. They probably all participated, and were
alike competent to adapt sound political methods and principles to the
circumstances and exigencies with which they had to deal.

I20 GLEANINGS.

Deeds from James Fforrett to Thoinas Mayhevj and Son.
[Deeds, i, 71 ; iii, 64, and iii, 76, Secretary's Office, Albany.]

These presents do witness, That I, James Fforrett, gentleman, who
was sent over into these parts of America, by the Honorable Lord
Sterling, with a commission for the ordering and disposing of all the
islands that lie between Cape Cod and Hudson river, and have hitherto
■continued his agent without any contradiction, do hereby grant unto
Thomas Mayhew at Watertown, merchant, and to Thomas Mayhew
his son, free liberty and full power to them, their heirs and assigns, to
plant and inhabit upon Nantucket, and two small islands adjacent, and
to enjoy the said islands to them, their heirs and assigns forever. Pro-
vided, that Thomas Mayhew, and Thomas Mayhew his son, or either
of them or their assigns, do render and pay yearly unto the Honorable
the Lord Sterling, his heirs and assigns, such an acknowledgment as
shall be thought fit by John Winthrop, Esq., the elder, or any two
magistrates in the Massachusetts Bay, being chosen for that end and pur-
pose by the Hon. the Lord Sterling, or his deputy ; and by the said
Thomas Mayhew and Thomas Mayhew his son, or their assigns.

It is agreed, that the government that the said Thomas Mayhew, and

Thomas Mayhew his son and their assigns shall set up, shall be such

as is now established in the Massachusetts aforesaid, and that the said

Thomas Mayhew, and Thomas Mayhew his son, and their assigns shall

have as much privilege touching their planting, inhabiting, and enjoying

of all and every part of the premises, as by the patent to the patentees of

the Massachusetts aforesaid, and their associates. \\\ witness hereof, I,

the said James Fforrett, have hereunto set my hand and seal this 13th

day of October, 1641.

James Fforrett. (Seal)

Witnesses: Philip Watson, Clerk.

Robert Corane,

Nicholas Davison,

Richard Stillman.

A Deed made to Mr. Mayhew by Richard Vines.
[Deeds, iii, (i()., Secretary's Office.]
I, Richard Vines, of Saco, gentleman, steward-general for Sir Ferdi-
nand Georges, Knight, Lord Proprietor of the province of main land
and the islands of Caparrock and Nantican, do, by these presents, give

GLEANINGS. 121

full power and authority unto Thomas Mayhevv, gentleman, his heirs

and associates, to plant and inhabit upon the islands of Caparrock, alias

Martha's Vineyard, with all rights and privileges thereunto belonging,

to enjoy the premises unto himself, his heirs, and associates forever,

yielding and paying unto the said Sir Ferdinand Gorges, his heirs and

assigns, forever annually, as two gentlemen, indifferently by each of them

chosen, shall judge to be meet by way of acknowledgment.

Given under my hand this 25th day of October, 1641.

Richard Vines.
Witness :

Thomas Page,

Robert Long.

Deed of Nantucket to ten Purchasers.
[Deeds, iii, 56, Secretary's Office.]

Recorded for Mr. Coffin and Mr. Macy aforesaid the day and year
aforesaid.

Be it known unto all men by these presents, that I, Thomas Mayhew,
of Martha's Vineyard, merchant, do hereby acknowledge that I have
sold unto Tristram Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard
Swayne, Thomas Bernard, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleafe, John
Swayne, and William Pike, that right and interest I have in the land of
Nantucket, by patent ; the which right I bought of James Fforrett,
gentleman, and steward to the Lord Sterling, and of Richard Vines,
sometimes of Saco, gentleman, steward-general unto Sir Gorges,
knight, as by conveyances, under their hands and seals, do appear, for
them the aforesaid to enjoy, and their heirs and assigns forever, with all
the privileges thereunto belonging, for and in consideration of the sum of
thirty pounds of current pay, unto whomsoever I, the said Thomas May-
hew, my heirs or assigns, shall appoint. And also two beaver hats, one
for myself and one for my wife. And further, this is to declare that I,
the said Thomas Mayhew, have reserved to myself that neck upon Nan-
tucket called Masquetuck, or that neck of land called Nashayte, the neck
(but one) northerly of Masquetuck, the aforesaid sale in anywise not-
withstanding. And further, I, the said Thomas Mayhew, am to bear my
part of the charge of the said purchase abovenamed, and to hold one-
twentieth part of all lands purchased already, or shall be hereafter pur-
chased, upon the said island by the aforesaid purchasers or heirs and

122 GLEANINGS.

assigns forever. Briefly, it is thus : That I really sold all my patent to
the aforesaid nine naen, and they are to pay me, or whomsoever I shall
appoint them, the sum of thirty pounds in good merchantable pay in the
Massachusetts, under which government they now inhabit, and two
beaver hats, and I am to bear a twentieth part of the charge of the pur-
chase, and to have a twentieth part of all lands and privileges ; and to
have which of the necks aforesaid that I will myself, paying for it ; only
the purchasers are to pay what the sachem is to have for Masquetuck,
although I have the other neck.

And in witness hereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this
second day of July, sixteen hundred and fifty-nine (1659).

Per me, Thomas Mayhew.
Witness :

John Smyth,
Edward Scale.

Deed of Tucka7iucket Island.
[Deeds, iii, 57, Secretary's Office.]

Recorded for Mr. Coffin and Mr. Macy aforesaid, the day and year

afore written.

The tenth day of October, one thousand six hundred fifty-nine : These
presents witness, that I, Thomas Mayhew, of Martin's Vineyard, mer-
chant, do give, grant, bargain, and sell all my right and interest in
Tuckanuck Island, alias Tuckanucket, which I have had or ought to
have, by virtue of patent right purchased of the Lord Sterling's agent,
and of Mr. Richard Vines, agent unto Sir Ferdinand Gorges, Knight,
unto Tristram Coffin, Sr., Peter Coffin, Tristram Coffin, Jr., and James
Coffin, to them and their heirs forever, for and in consideration of the
just sum of six pounds in hand paid, and by me, Thomas Mayhew,
received in full satisfaction of the aforesaid patent right of the aforesaid

island.

• And in witness hereof I have set my hand and seal.

Per me, Thomas Mayhew.
Witness hereunto :

Roger Wheeler,
George Wheeler.

GLEANINGS. 1 23

Deed of Wanockmamack .

This witnesseth that I, Wanochmamack, chief sachem of Nantucket,
hath sold unto Mr. Tristram Coffin and Thomas Macy, their heirs and
assigns, that whole neck of land called by the Indians, Pacummohquah,
being at the east end of Nantucket, for and in consideration of five
pounds, to be paid to me in English goods or otherwise to my content by
the said Tristram Coffin aforesaid, at convenient time as shall be de-
manded. Witness my hand or mark this 22d of June, 1662.

Wanockmamak.
Witness hereto :

Peter Folger & Wawinnesit whose English name is Amos.

Indian Deed of Nantucket.

[Deeds, iii, 54, Secretary's Office.]

Recorded for Mr. Tristram Coffin and Mr. Thomas Macy, the 29th of
June, 1 67 1, aforesaid.

These presents witness, that I, Wanackmamack, head sachem of the
island of Nantucket, have bargained and sold, and do by these presents
bargain and sell, unto Tristram Coffin, Thomas Macy, Richard Swayne,
Thomas Bernard, John Swayne, Mr. Thomas Mayhew, Edward Star-
buck, Peter Coffin, James Coffin, Stephen Greenleafe, Tristram Coffin,
Jr., Thomas Coleman, Robert Bernard, Christopher Hussey, Robert
Pike, John Smythe, and John Bishop, these islands of Nantucket,
namely, all the west end of the aforesaid island, unto the pond commonly
called Waquittaquay, and from the head of that pond to the north side
of the island Manamoy ; bounded by a path from the head of the pond
aforesaid to Manamoy ; as also a neck at the east end of the island called
Poquomock, with the property thereof, and all the royalties, privileges,
and immunities thereto belonging, or whatsoever right I, the aforesaid
Wanackmamack have, or have had in the same ; That is, all the lands
aforementioned, and likewise the winter feed of the whole island from the
end of an Indian harvest until planting time, or the first of May, from
year to year forever ; as likewise liberty to make use of wood and timber
on all parts of the island ; and likewise half of the meadows and marshes
on all parts of the island, without or beside the aforesaid tracts of land
purchased ; and likewise the use of the other half of the meadows and
marshes on all parts of the island, without or beside the aforesaid tracts

1 24 GLEANINGS.

of land purchased ; and likewise the use of the other half of the meadows
and marshes, as long as the aforesaid English, their heirs and assigns, live
on the island ; and likewise I, the aforesaid Wanackmamack, do sell unto
the English aforementioned, the propriety of the rest of the island belong-
ing unto me, for, and in consideration of forty pounds already received
by me, or other by my consent or order. To have and to hold, the afore-
said tracts of land, with the propriety, royalties, immunities, privileges
and all appurtenances thereunto belonging to them, the aforesaid pur-
chasers, their heirs and assigns forever.

In witness whereof, I, the aforesaid Wanackmamack, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the day and year above written.

The sign of Wanackmamack.

Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of
Peter Foulger,
Eleazer Foulger,
Dorcas Starbuck.

Jndiaft Receipt for Land — Receipt of Wanackmamack.
[Nantucket Records, Old Book, page 27.]
Received of Tristram Coffin, of Nantucket, the just sum of five pounds
which is part of the seven pounds that was unpaid of the twenty pound
purchase of land that was purchased of Wanackmamack and Neckanoose,
that is to say, from Monomoy to Waquettaquage pond, Nanahumack
neck, and all from Wesco westward to the west end of Nantucket, I say,
received by me, Wanackmamak, of Tristram Coffin, five pounds sterling,

the iSth of the eleventh month, 1671.

The X mark of

Witness hereunto : Wanackmamack.

Richard Gardner,

Elezer Folger.

Two Letters or Certificates from the Lnhabitants of Nantucket.
[Deeds, iii, 58, Secretary's Office, Albany.]

Recorded for the aforesaid Mr. Coffin and Mr. Macy, two lives on certi-
ficates, from the inhabitants of Nantucket, as follows, viz. : —

Whereas, the Honorable Colonel Lovelace, Governor of New York,
gave forth his summons for the inhabitants of the isle of Nantucket to

GLEANINGS. 1 25

make their appearancfe before His Honor at New York, either in their
own person or by their agent, to show their claims in respect to their
standing or claim of interest on the aforesaid island. Now we, whose
names are underwritten, having intrusted our father, Tristram Coffin, to
make answer for us, we do empower our father, Tristram Coffin, to act
and do for us with the honored Governor Lovelace, so far as is just and
reasonable, with regard to our interest on the isle of Nantucket and
Tuckanuckett.

Witness our hands the second day of the fourth month, sixteen hundred
and seventy-one (1671).

James Coffin,
Nathaniel Starbuck,
John Coffin,
Stephen Coffin.

This is to signify that the inhabitants of Nantucket have chosen Mr.
Thomas Macy their agent to treat with the Honorable Colonel Lovelace
concerning the affairs of the island, to act for them in their behalf and
stead, and in all considerations to do what is necessary to be done in
reference to the premises, as if they themselves were personally present.

Witness their hands, dated June 5, 1671.

Edward Starbuck,
Peter Folger,
John Rolfe.

The inhabitants aforesaid do also, in the name of the rest, desire Mr.
Tristram Coffin to assist their aforesaid agent what he can in the matter
or business concerning the Island Nantucket.

Proposals to the Governor from the InJiabitants of Nantucket about

Settling that Government.

[Deeds, iii, 59, Secretary's Office.]

Imprimis. We humbly propose liberty for the inhabitants to choose
annually a man or men to be chief in the government, and chosen or
appointed by His Honor to stand in place, constantly invested with power
of confirmation, by oath or engagement, or othei-vvise as His Honor shall
appoint, one to be chief in the court and to have magistratial power at
all tim.es with regard to the peace, and other necessary considerations.

126 GLEANINGS.

Second. We take for granted that the laws of England are standard
of ofovernment, so far as we know them, and are suitable to our condi-
tion ; yet we humbly propose that the inhabitants may have power to
constitute such law or orders as are necessary and suitable to our condi-
tion not repugnant to the laws of England.

Third. In point of carrying on the government from time to time, we
are willing to join with our neighbor island, the Vineyard, to keep
together one court every year, one year at our island, the next with them,
and power at home to end all cases not exceeding twenty pounds ; and
in all cases liberty of appeal to the general court in all actions above
forty pounds. And in all actions amounting to the value of one hundred
pounds, liberty of appeal to His Highness, his court at the city of New
York, and in capital cases, or such matters as concern life, limb, or
banishment. All such cases to be tried at New York.

Fourth. And feeling the Indians are numei'ous among us, we propose
that our government may extend to them, and power to summon them
to our courts with respect to trespass, debt, and other miscarriages, and
to try and judge them according to laws, when published amongst them.

And, lastly, some military power committed to us respecting our
defence, either in respect of Indians or strangers invading, etc.

The Answer to the Nantucket Proposals.
[Deeds, iii, 60, Secretary's Office.]

At a council held at Fort James, in New York, the 28th day of June,
in the twenty-third year of His Majesty's reign, Anno Domini 1671.

In answer to the proposals delivered in by Mr. Coffin and Mr. Macy
on the behalf of themselves and the rest of the inhabitants upon the
Island Nantucket, the governor and council do give their resolutions as
follows, viz. : —

Imprimis. As to the first branch in their proposals it is thought fit
that the inhabitants do annually recommend two persons to the governor,
out of which he will nominate one to be the chief magistrate upon that
island, and the island of Tuckanuckett, near adjacent, for the year ensu-
ing, who shall, by commission, be invested with power accordingly.

That the time when such a magistrate shall enter into his employment
after the expiration of this first year shall commence upon the 13th day
of October, being His Royal Highness's birthday, to continue for the space

GLEANINGS. 12/

of one whole year, and that they return the names of the two persons
they shall recommend three months before that time to the governor.

That the inhabitants have power by a major vote annually to elect and
choose their inferior officers, both civil and military, that is to say, the
assistants, constables, and other inferior otficers, for the civil government,
and such inferior officers for the military as shall be thought needful.

Second. The second proposal is allowed of: That they shall have
liberty to make peculiar laws and orders at their General Court for the
well government of the inhabitants, the which shall be in force amongst
them for one whole year, during which time, if no inconvenience do
appear therein, they are to transmit the said laws or orders to the
governor for his confirmation. However, they are (as near as may be)
to conform themselves to the laws of England, and to be very cautious
they do not act in any way repugnant to them.

Third. To the third it is granted that they join with their neighbors
of Martha's Vineyard in keeping a General Court between them once a
year, the said court to be held one year in one island, and the next year
in the other, where the chief magistrate in each island where the court
shall be held is to preside, and to sit in their respective courts as presi-
dent, but, withal, that upon all occasions he counsel and advise with the
chief magistrate of the other island.

That the said General Court shall consist of the two chief magistrates
of both islands, and the four assistants, where the president shall have a
casting voice ; for the time of their meeting, that it be left to themselves
to agree upon the most convenient season of the year.

That in their private courts at home, which are to be held by the chief
magistrate and two assistants, where the chief magistrate sl)all have but a
single voice, they shall have power finally to determine and decide all
cases not exceeding the value of five pounds without appeal ; but in any
sum above that value they have libei'ty of appeal to their General Court,
who may determine absolutely any case under fifty pounds without
appeal ; but if it shall exceed that sum the party aggrieved may have
recourse, byway of appeal, to the General Court of Assizes, held in New
York.

And as to criminal cases, that they have power both at their private
courts at home, as well as at the General Court, to inflict punishment on
oflTenders so far as whipping, stocks, and pilloring, or other public
shame. But if the crime happen to be of a higher nature, where life,
limb, or banishment are concerned, that such matters be transmitted to
the General Court of Assizes likewise.

128 GLEANINGS.

Fourth. In answer to the fourth, it is left to themselves to order those
affairs about the Indians, and to act therein, according to their best dis-
cretions, so far as life is not concerned : wherein they are also to have
recourse to New York, but that they be careful to use such moderation
amongst them that they be not exasperated, but by degrees may be
brought to be conformable to the laws ; to which end they are to nomi-
nate and appoint constables amongst them who may have staves with the
King's arms upon them, the better to keep their people in awe and good
order, as is practised with good success amongst the Indians at the east
end of Long Island.

To the last, that they return a list of the inhabitants, as also the names
•of two persons amongst them ; out of whom the governor will appoint
one to be their chief military' officer, that they may be in the better ca-
pacity to defend themselves against their enemies, whether Indians or
.others.

Nantucket Affairs.
[Deeds, iii, 85, Secretary's Office.]

Additional instructions and directions for the government of the Island
Nantucket, sent by Mr. Richard and Captain Jno. Gardner, April the
iSth, 1673.

Imprimis, that in regard that the town upon the island of Nantucket
is not known by an}^ peculiar or particular name, it shall from henceforth
be called and distinguished in all deeds, records, and writings by the
name of the town of Sherborne, upon the Island Nantucket.

That all ancient and obsolete deeds, grants, writings, or conveyances
of lands upon the said island, shall be esteemed of no force or validity,
but the records of every one's claim or interest shall bear date from the
first divulging of the patent granted to the inhabitants by authority of His
Royal Highness, and so foiward, but not before the date thereof.

That the time of election of the chief magistrate, and other civil
officers, be and continue according to the directions and instructions
already given ; but in regard of the distance of the place and the uncer-
tainty of the conveyance betwixt that and this place, the chief magistrate
and all the civil officers shall continue in their employments until the
return of the governor's choice and approbation of a new magistrate be
sent unto them, which is to be with the first convenient opportunity.

That in case of mortality, if it shall please God the chief magistrate
shall die before the expiration of his employment, the assistants for the

GLEANINGS. 1 29

time being shall manage and carry on the affairs of the public until the
time of the new election, and the governor's return and approbation of a
new magistrate in his stead.

That the chief military officer shall continue in his employment during
the governor's pleasure, and that he have power to appoint such persons
for inferior officers as he shall judge most fit and capable.

That in case of the death of the chief military officer during the
time of his employment, that then the inhabitants do forthwith make
choice of two persons, and return their names unto the governor, who
will appoint one of them to be the officer in his stead.

That in regrai-d to the General Court to be held in the Island Nantucket
or Martha's Vineyard is but once in the year, where all causes or actions
are triable without appeal to the sum of fifty pounds, liberty be granted
to try all actions of debt or trespass at their ordinary courts to the value
of ten pounds without appeal, unless upon occasion of error in the pro-
ceedings there, because of complaint from the ordinary court unto the
General Court, or from the General Court to the Court of Assizes.

That what is granted in the general patent to the inhabitants, free-
holders of the Island Nantucket, is to be understood, unto them alone who
live upon the place and make improvement thereof, or such others who
having pretences of interest shall come to inhabit there.

Given under my hand at Fort James, in New York, the day and year
afore written ; and in the twenty-fifth year of His Majesty's reign.

Soon after the marriage of Mary Coffin, the youngest daughter ot
Tristram, with Nathaniel Starbuck, the old gentleman concluded to
make his son-in-law a landed proprietor ; and, with as much care for the
contingencies of the future as kind parents exercise in the present age,
and with equal nicety in the choice of language as may be found in
modern conveyances, executed the following deed to his daughter and
her husband. It will be seen that it was made some years before it was
acknowledged, and acknowledged some years before it was recorded : —

Tristram conveys to daughter^ Mary Starbucks and her husband^
Nathaniel^ 07te-half of all estates.

[Nantucket Records, ist Book, Page 97.]
Know all men by these presents, that I, Tristram Coffin, of Nan-
tucket, do for divers good considerations, as also in regard of my fatherly

1 30 GLEANINGS.

affections, do give unto my daughter, Mary Starbuck, the one-half of my
accommodation of my purchase, on Nantucket Island, namely, the half
of my tenth part which I bought with the other nine first purchasers
of Mr. Thomas Mayhew, in patent right, and of the Sachems Indians
right, as by their grant in the deed will at large appear : I do as afore-
said give and grant unto my daughter, Mary Starbuck, all the one-half
of my accommodation of patent right, and all my right of the half of all
lands, meadows, marshes, commons, timber, wood, and all appur-
tenances thereunto belonging, as fully as myself or any of the other
twentv part shares have or ought to have, in manner and form follow-
ing : the one-half to her own and her husband's disposal, namely, her
husband, Nathaniel Starbuck, to them and their heirs and assigns, for-
ever, the other half to my aforesaid daughter, Mary Starbuck, and
Nathaniel Starbuck, her husband, during their lives, and when they die,
then it shall be for the use of my daughter, Mary Starbuck's child, or
children, to him, her, or them, and their heirs, forever ; but if my
daughter, Mary Starbuck, have no child or children living when she
dieth, then it shall be in the power of her husband, Nathaniel Starbuck,
to dispose of all the aforesaid lands and accommodations, with all appur-
tenances, as he shall judge most meet. In witness whereof, I, the said
Tristram Coflin, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 14th fourth
month, 1664.

Tristram Coffyn.
[Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of —

Thomas Macy,

Mary Swain,

Sarah Macy.

This deed was acknowledged before me, Thomas Mayhew, upon
the island of Nantucket, this 15th day of January, 1677; I say before me,

Thomas Mayhew, Mag.

July 26, 1736. — Then received the original of this above written
deed, and by the desire of same concerned, perfected the record above
by making the sign of the seal. Attest :

Elezer Folger, Regr.

While Tristram was generally reputed to be quite wealthy in goods
and lands, owning, together with his sons, at one time about one-

GLEANINGS. 131

fourth part of the island of Nantucket and the whole of Tuckernuck,
he did not die rich. He fully realized that he could not take his riches
with him to another world, and that the amount of land he would re-
quire at his death would be very small. He made no will, but disposed
of much of his land while he lived, by deeds, the consideiation always
being his ' regard and natural affection.' Most of the remainder of his
estate he deeded to his two youngest sons, John and Stephen, and they
were to take after the decease of both himself and his wife. To each of
his grandchildren he gave ten acres of land upon the island of Tucker-
nuck, or to such of them as would plant it.

Tristram to Stephen^ his youngest son., conveying half his accommo-
dations., exceptiftg his new house on the hill.

[Nantucket Records, Old Book, Page 63. 1

Know all men by these presents that I, Tristram Coffin, of Nan-
tucket, Senior, do give, grant, bargain, and sell unto my son, Stephen
Coffin, the one-half of my land at Cappam, alias Northam, within the
township of Sherborn, situated upon Nantucket island, that is to say, the
one-half of my house lot, with half my accommodations and privileges
and appurtenances whatsoever thereunto belonging, all buildings, except
that is to say, my new dwelling-house upon the hill, and my old dwell-
ing-house under the hill, by the herb-garden ; now, for and in consid-
eration of the aforesaid premises, my son, Stephen Coffin, shall always
from time to time do the best he can in managing of my other half of
my lands and accommodation during mine and my wife's life, and that he
be helpful to me and his mother in our old age and sickness, what he
can : now I, Tristram Coffin, abovesaid, do for this and for divers other
considerations me moving thereunto, do, as abovesaid, give, grant,
bargain, and sell unto my son, Stephen Coffin, his heirs and assigns, all
my one-half of my house lot, with all appuitenances thereunto belonging :
To have and to hold forever, to him, the said Stephen Coffin, his heirs
and assigns, executors and administrators, upon the conditions afoi-esaid :
and my son, Stephen Coffin, shall always, from time to time, have free
liberty to go to and fro to the new barn that he hath lately built with
horse, foot, and cart, as he hath occasion, and to have the free use of
half an acre of land adjoining the said barn on the east side, and south

132 GLEANINGS.

and north side. In witness whereof I have set my hand and seal, the
fifteenth of the eleventh month, one thousand six hundred and seventy-
six. Tristram Coffyn.

Acknowledged before me the deed within written this 15th day of
June, 1677. Thomas Mayhew,

Magistrate.

Agreement bet-ween Stephen Coffijt and his father^ as to rights in barn
to Tristram and his wife Dionis.
[Nantucket Records, 2d Book, Page I3.]
Articles of agreement between Tristram Coffin, Senior, and Stephen
Coffin, son of the aforesaid Tristram Coffin, both of the town of Sher-
born, on the island of Nantucket, as follows : imprimis, we do jointly
and severally agree that whereas there is a barn built at Coppamet by
us, this present year, one thousand six hundred seventy-seven, that the
aforesaid Stephen Coffin had been at the most part of the charge, there-
fore I, Tristram Coffin, do covenant and agree with niy son, Stephen
Coffin, that he shall have the aforesaid barn and lean-tos for himself, and
his heirs and assigns, forever : to have and to hold and quietly to enjoy,
in consideration whereof, as also in consideration of the receiving of
two thousand feet of boards, and some timber, and some labor of
several persons in framing the works, I, Stephen Coffin, do consent and
agree that my father, Tristram Coffin, and my mother, Dionis Coffin,
shall have the use of the one-half of the aforesaid barn, coming in and
going to the barn and lean-tos without any kind of hindrance, let, or
molestation, by, from, or under me, Stephen Coffin, my heirs, executors,
administrators, or assigns ; and if my father and mother aforesaid do
happen to die in some short time, as namely, within seven years after
the date hereof, then I, Stephen Coffin, do engage to pay the sum often
pounds to my father or mother's order, within one year after their de-
cease, if they or either of them order me so to do. Witness our hands
and seals to this agreement, the i8th of July, 1677.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of "
us, who are witness to these present within
written articles of agreement.

Martha Hussey. Thomas Macy.
Nathaniel Barnard,
This deed was acknowledged this 24th day of July, before me,

Thos. Macy, Mag.

Tristram Coffyn.
Stephen Coffin.

GLEANINGS. 133

Tristram grants his new dwclli ng-house to his son John.

[Nantucket Records, 2d Book, Page 19.]

To all Christian people to whom these presents shall come, Tristram
Coffin, Senior, in the town of Sherborn, on the Island of Nantucket,
sendeth greeting, and declareth that, in regard to my natural affection
unto my son, John Coffin, now of Sherbon, as also for divers other good
and lawful considei'ations, I, the above said Tristram Coffin, do freely
give unto my son, John Coffin, and to his heirs, forever, my new dwell-
ing-house, with all other houses adjoining unto it ; and also the whole
half share of land and accommodation and appurtenances thereunto be-
longing, namely, my part of the house lot and all commonage of timber,
wood, pasturages, and all meadows, marshes, and creek grass thereunto
belonging; and, I, the aforesaid Tristram Coffin, do freely and firmly by
these give, grant, and confirm the above said dwelling-house, with all
privileges and appurtenances as aforenamed, unto my son, John Coffin,
and to his heirs : to have and to hold forever, immediately after the decease
of me, the aforesaid Tristram Coffin, Senior, and my now wife, Dionis
Coffin, free and discharged against all persons or person la^'ing any claim
unto the above said house or any appurtenances thereunto belonging, in,
by, or under me ; and in witness hereof I, Tristram Coffin, Senior, have
set my hand and seal the third day of December, one thousand six hun-
dren and seventy-eight.

Tristram Coffyn, Senior.
Witness hereunto :

James Coffin,

Stephen Coffin.

This was acknowledged by Mr. Tristram Coffin to be his act and deed
the 3d 10 m., 167S.

A true copy : William Worth, Assistant.

William Worth, Recorder.

Tristram grants ten acres of land to each of his grandchildren to

plant.
[Nantucket Records, 2d Book, Page 17.]
All men shall know by these presents that I, Tristram Coffin, of
Sherborn, on the island of Nantucket, with or in regard of my natural

134 GLEANINGS.

affection unto my grandchildren, I do freely give unto every one of
them ten acres of land to plant or sow English grain on, or any other
improvement, for oats, or what is fit for food for men. And I, the above
said Tristram Coffin, senior, do freely and firmly give unto all and every
one of my grandchildren that are now living, or that shall be born here-
after, each of tliem ten acres of land upon the island of Tuckernuck :
To have and to hold, to plant Indian corn, or to sow or plant any other
grain on, and if they or any of them shall sow their land with English
hay-seed they shall have liberty to keep four sheep upon every acre
during the lifetime of any one that shall so improve the above-named
land or any part of it. In witness hereof, I, Tristram Coffin, have set
my hand and seal 3d loth, 1678.

Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of
us the within written deed.

James Coffin, John Coffin,
Stephen Coffin.

>■ Tristram Coffyn.

This deed was acknowledged by Mr. Tristram Coffin, to be his act
and deed before me, William Worth, assistant, 3 m loth 167S.

This is a true copy of the original by me. — William Worth, Regr.

By these deeds above quoted we shall learn that Trystram Coffyn had
a new dwelling-house, which stood on a hill, and another dwelling-
house which stood under the hill. Also, that he last lived in his new
house on the hill. With this information, and by tracing the title of the
new house on the hill, which was conveyed to John Coffin, and from
John to his son Peter, and from Peter to his son Robert, the said
Robert's estate being defined within the recollection of the present
generation, I think we can know the exact spot where Tristram Coffyn
last resided, and from which place his mortal put on immortality. His
wife, who survived liim, doubtless breathed her last in the same mansion,
as she was to have a life-right carved out of the estate which subsequently
became vested in John and Stephen Coffin. The Court of Sessions, at
that time exercising probate jurisdiction, allow'ed to Mrs. Dionis Cofiyn
the use of the entire estate of her husband during her life, the three sons,
James, John, and Stephen, as administrators, so recommending."

GLEANINGS. 1 35

NOTE.

p. 25.
Tristram Coffyn left a posterity of seven children, sixty grandchildren,
and a number of great-grandchildren. His posterity is more numerous
now. In 1722 there had been born 1,138 descendants, of whom 871
were then living. In 1728, six years later, there had been added to the
number born 444, making the total number born 1,582; and of that
number 1,128 still survived. This computation, by Stephen Greenleaf,
the first grandchild, was made more than one hundred and fifty years
ago. What the number now is will never be definitely ascertained.
Their name is legion.

136 GLEANINGS.

OBITUARY OF ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BART.

[ " Gentleman's Magazine," 1840, vol. xiii., p. 205.]

July 23. At Cheltenham, aged 80, Sir Isaac Coffin, Bart. G.C.B.,
Admiral of the Red.

This gallant old officer was the fourth and youngest son of Nathaniel
Coffin, Esq., Cashier of the Customs in the port of Boston, America,
by Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Henry Barnes, merchant, of the same
place.

He entered the Royal Navy in May, 1773, under the auspices of Rear-
Admiral John Montagu, who confided him to the care of the late Lieut.
Wm. Hunter, of Greenwich Hospital, at that period commanding the
brig "Gaspee"on the American station. "Of all the young men,"
said Lieut. Hunter, " I ever had the care of, none answered my expec-
tations equal to Isaac Coffin. . . . Never did I know a young man
acquire so much nautical knowledge in so short a time."

Mr. Coffin afterwards served as midshipman in the "Captain," " King-
fisher," "Fowey," and "Diligent," on the Halifax station; and from
the last named was removed into the " Romney " of 50 guns, bearing
the flag of his patron at Newfoundland. In the summer of 1778 he
obtained a lieutenancy, and the command of the "Placentia" cutter;
and the following spring he served as a volunteer on board the " Sybil "
frigate, commanded by Captain Pasley, and was soon after appointed to
the command of le " Finson " armed ship; in which he had the mis-
fortune to be wrecked on the coast of Labrador, but on a court-martial
was acquitted of all blame.

Having visited England he was, in November, 1779, appointed to the
" Adamant," about to be launched at Liverpool ; and in the following
year he escorted in her the outward-bound trade to New York. He was
next appointed to the " London 98," the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral
Graves, on the coast of America ; and from her he removed into the
" Royal Oak," a third-rate, under Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot, to whom
he acted as Signal-Lieutenant in the action off' Cape Henry, March 16,
1781.

In July following he was made Commander, and on his arrival at New

GLEANINGS. 1 37

York joined the " Avenger" sloop. He was afterwards received as a
volunteer, by Sir Samuel Hood, on board the " Barfleur 98," in which
he shared in much active service. Having subsequently rejoined his
sloop, he was appointed Captain of the " Shrewsbury 72," at Jamaica,
and confirmed in that rank June 13, 1782. In the following December
he exchanged to the " Hydra 20," in which he returned to England,
and was put out of commission.

After spending some time in France he was, in 1786, appointed to
the " Thisbe " frigate, and ordered to take Lord Dorchester and his
family to Quebec.

In the course of 1 7S8, being irritated by some treatment experienced
from the Admiralty, Captain Coffin took the extraordinary' step of pro-
ceeding to Flanders, where he entered into the service of the Brabant
patriots ; but the event which shortly ensued, of the conduct of Lord
Howe and his colleagues at the Board being declared illegal by the
twelve judges, decided his return to the sei^vice of his King and country ;
and at the Spanish armament in 1790 he was appointed to the " Alli-
gator" of 28 guns. At that period, when lying at the Nore, during a
strong wind, a man fell overboard, and Captain Coffin, impelled by his
generous spirit, immediately leaped after him. He succeeded in rescu-
ing a fellow-being from death ; but his exertions produced a severe
rupture, which frequently afterwards reminded him of this act of
humanity.

In the spring of 1791 our officer, having previously been to Cork,
where he received the flag of Admiral Cosby, was once more ordered
to America, from whence he returned with Lord Dorchester and his
family in the ensuing autumn. The " Alligator " was soon after paid
off at Deptford.

At the commencement of the war with the French republic Captain
Coffin, who had in the interim visited Sweden, Denmark, and Russia,
obtained the command of the " Melampus " frigate, in which he was
employed on Channel service until the close of 1794, when one night,
by exerting himself too violently, he became ruptured on both sides,
which obliged him to quit his ship, and for some months he was literally
a cripple. On his recovery he went to Leith, being appointed to the
recruiting service at that port; and in October, 1795, he proceeded to
Corsica, where he served as Resident Commissioner until the evacua-
tion of that island, Oct. 15, 1796. From thence he removed to Elba,
and subsequently to Lisbon, where he continued for two years, actively
employed as the head of the naval establishment of that place.

138 GLEANINGS.

Towards the latter end of 1798, when Minorca fell into the hands of
the English, Commissioner Coffin was appointed to the superintendence
of the arsenal at Port Mahon ; and after the lapse of a few months
returned to England on his way to Nova Scotia, whither he proceeded
in the " Venus " frigate.

Our officer continued to perform the arduous duties of a Resident
Commissioner of the Navy, first at Halifax, and subsequently at
Sheerness, until April, 1S04, when he was advanced to the rank of Rear-
Admiral, and soon after hoisted his flag on board the " Gladiator,"
being appointed to superintend the harbor duty at Portsmouth. On
the 19th of May, 1804, he was created a Baronet as a reward for his
unremitting zeal and persevering efforts for the good of the public
service.

Sir Isaac Coffin hauled down his flag on being promoted to the
i-ank of Vice-Admiral, April 28, 1808. He became full Admiral
June 4, 1814.

At the general election of 181 8 he was returned to Parliament for the
borough of Ilchester, for which he sat until the dissolution in 1826. In
Parliament he constantly paid much attention to naval matters, and not
unfrequently in a style of facetiousness that relieved the subject of its dry
technicality. His charity was extensive ; and within a few weeks of his
death he remitted an additional and liberal donation to the Royal Naval
Charity, " for fear," as he humorously expressed himself, " he should
slip his wind and forget all about it."

Sir Isaac Coffin married, March, 181 1, Elizabeth Browne, only child
of W. Greenly, Esq., of Titley Court, Herefordshire. She died not
long before her aged partner, on the 27th January, 1839, having had no
issue. Previously to his marriage Sir Isaac obtained the royal permis-
sion to take the name and arms of Greenly, in addition to his own, but
he relinquished that name in March, 1S13.

He was possessed of considerable estates in the Magdalene islands, in
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He had crossed the Atlantic on service or
pleasure no less than thirty times.

GLEANINGS.

139

Gaspee.

Captain.

Kingfisher.

Fowey.

Diligent.

Romney frigate.

Placentia cutter.

Sybil frigate.

Pinson.

Adamant.

London.

Vessels to -which Coffiit was attached.

Royal Oak.

Avenger.

Pocahontas.

Barfleur.

Shrewsbury.

Hydra.

Thisbe.

Alligator.

Melampus.

Venus.

Well-known Officers in the Navy, friends of Coffin.
Sir John Montague.

Sir George Montague.

Graves.

Arbuthnot.

Hood.

Rodney.

Linsee.

Hallowell.

Cochrane.

Drake.

William IV.

Pasley.

Hunter.

I40 GLEANINGS.

CONCLUSION.

The preface of a book usually contains its last words to the reader.
Our own has long since been struck off, and it still remains to account
for some lack of arrangement too glaring to escape unobsei-ved, for
which, if explained, some allowance may be made. This sketch of my
subject had long been in manuscript, much more minute in detail, when
invited to condense it into a discourse. In order to bring it within the
specified limit of an hour for delivery, much that had been prepared
was omitted. When printed for the January Record the twelve pages
originally allotted were extended to nearly as many again. It was
impossible, even within these limits, to embrace all that might be useful
or interesting for the descendants of Tristram to know, or for the
many besides who, for other reasons, should find it instructive. It
seemed better that it should contain too much than too little, enough to
make the rest understood.

Besides, its value depended upon finding a place upon the shelf as a
volume, where it could be easily consulted, not among the pamphlets in
a closet to pass out of view. It seemed, also, an object that its title
should be in the catalogue of bound books in the libraries where it could
easily be found. That it might not only attract attention, but be of use
to the numerous class whose history it partially related, it seemed worth
while to improve the occasion, without neglecting the principal subject,
and incorporate whatever else would shed new light on the family annals.
While passing through the press many precious documents and other
papers, previously unknown, came to my knowledge ; to insert some of
them appeared indispensable to a full and fair view of the career of the
admiral.

The writer would be glad to have copies of all correspondence that
exists of Sir Isaac, letters that he wrote or which were addressed to him,
and to learn all incidents and anecdotes of him or other members of the
CoflSn race, which if known would have added to the value or entertain-
ment of this volume. If not his privilege to perfect this work by adding
such contributions now, they will be kept together where they cannot be
lost. There will be perhaps other memoirs to be written in the times to

GLEANINGS. I4I

come where they will find a place. There are reasons why biographers
should be of other names than their subjects. Sharing their stock and
familiar with all that concerned the admiral from his earliest days, he
hopes that it may not be considered presumption in him to have
undertaken the task.

It has been an ancient custom, not yet passed away, for educational
and eleemosynary institutions in our mother-country and other lands, to
hold in remembrance the birthdays of their founders In " Pendennis,"
Col. Newcomb celebrated such an anniversary among the Blue Coats of
London. Sir Isaac, setting forth in his revoked will the rules for his
nautical schools, followed simply this time-honored custom in providing
that his own should be kept, and that prizes and presents should be
bestowed on that day upon the pupils, that he, too, might be pleasantly
remembered. He was not sanctimonious enough to be canonized for a
saint, nor will it be fifty years since he died before 18S9. He possessed
nevertheless many of the qualifications for such a place in the calendar,
in his generous consideration of others. This tribute is paid to his
memory, about whom much more that is interesting might be said, on
this anniversary of his birthday.

Boston, May 16, 1SS6.

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ance, and a genuine inborn liking for tlie
antiiiue, — i. e., anti<iaity as displayed
in the now fast crumbling-away edilices
reared by our comfort-loving ancestors in
the ohi Colonial times. . . . That task he
has done well; and in a manner that will
bring upon him the obligations of that
fast-growing class whose taste Incline
them to revering thi honest, sturdy work
executed a century or more ago: to such
the book will be a boon. To those far
■listant unfaiailiar with the nooks and
corners ot New England, and prone to
consider the work of the Puritanical Col-

onist noticeable only for its lack of taiite
and conspicuous simply for green blinds
and white painteil walls, these sketchci!
will be revelations. They will ever be so
to the New Englander. . . . The creiiit
of following in the footsteps of Nash, and
of first attempting to do for New England
what was done so nobly for Old England
ill the famous " Stately Mansions," be-
longs, therefore, to the delineator of the
sketches before us. Many of the interiors
he has portrayed, especially of those old
halls where carved staircases are shown,
and the ornamental work on and around
windows, are exceedingly well done; and
the proper degree of light thrown in,
here and there, to show up the architect-
ure, and to get at a clear aspect of the
whole, supposing one to be entering at
the porch door, is marvellously bronght
out, to say the least. . . . Nothiiig li:ie
escaped his eye to what is interesting ami
picturesque. — Boston Daily Adverliaer.

4 Work to be studied by all contemplating remodelling old hou$p.s.

Published by CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO.

2S;J Wa.suixotox ."SriJKLT, Boston

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