COFFIN GENEALOGY
Compiled by Glenn Gohr


Records show that the COFFIN family of Nantucket Island in Massachusetts were Quakers. This line connects back to Haverhill, Essex, England and to Brixton, Devonshire, England. These Coffins are closely connected to my SWAIN and MACY families also of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

Many thanks to Sonya Tilley and David L. Ray who both descend from the Swains of McNairy County, Tennessee, just as I do, for their assistance in finding out about the early Swains and the connection to the Macy and COFFIN families. Both Sonya and David have Swain information on the Rootsweb Worldconnect Pages at http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com. I suspect they got a lot of their information from Jeffrey D. Kemp who also descends from the Swains of McNairy County, Tennessee, and has worked on tracing the Swains and Macys in the Carolinas and back to New England.

The earliest COFFIN I have found is Peter COFFIN who lived in Portledge, Devonshire, England in the 1500s. Here is my COFFIN lineage as far as I can determine:

  1. Peter COFFIN, b. ca. 1535 Portledge, Co. Devonshire, England ; md. ca. 1555 Butler's Parish, Brixton, Cornwall, England to Mary BOSCAWEN, b. ca. 1545 St. Michael, Penkivel, Cornwall, England, d. 4 September 1622 Pinkerville, Devonshire, England
  2. Nicholas COFFIN, b. ca. 1561 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England, d. 8 October 1613 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England; md. ca. 1577 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England to Joan AVENT, b. ca. 1560 England, d. ca. 1614 Brixton, Co., Devonshire, England
  3. Peter COFFIN, b. ca. 1581 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England, d. 13 March 1627/28 Plymouth, Brixton Parish, Co. Devonshire, England; md. ca. 1605 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England to Joanna KEMBER, b. ca. 1584 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England
  4. Tristram COFFIN, b. 11 March 1607/08 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England, d. 2 October 1681 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA; md. ca. 1630 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England to Dionis STEVENS, b. 4 March 1608/09 Brixton, Co. Devonshire, England, d. 6 January 1682/83 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA
  5. John COFFIN, b. 30 October 1647 Haverhill, Essex, England; md. December 1668 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA to Deborah AUSTIN, b. ca. 1650 Edgartown, Dukes Co., MA, d. 4 April 1718 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA
  6. Deborah Austin COFFIN, b. ca.. 1686 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA, d. 23 Oct. 1760 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA; md. Thomas MACY, b. ca. 1687 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA, d. 16 March 1759 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA
  7. Jedidah MACY, b. 23 November 1759 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA, d. ca. 1791 Guilford Co., NC; md. 29 November 1780 at New Garden Monthly Meeting, Guilford Co., NC to Joseph SWAIN, b. 5 September 1756 Nantucket Island, Nantucket Co., MA, d. May 1829 Guilford Co., NC
  8. William W. SWAIN, Sr., b. 8 Oct. 1781 Guilford Co., SC, d. ca. 1871 McNairy Co., TN; md. ca. 1799 in Guilford Co., NC to Rebecca WILLIAMSON, b. Aug. 1782 Guilford Co., NC, d. ca. 1861 McNairy Co., TN
  9. William W. SWAIN, b. 17 May 1800 Guilford Co., NC, d. 21 Oct. 1857 McNairy Co., TN; md. ca. 1821 to Rachel ANDERSON, b. 6 Feb. 1802 TN, d. 30 June 1876 in McNairy Co., TN
  10. Allen Perry SWAIN, b. 22 Feb. 1822 TN, d. aft. 1860 McNairy Co., TN; md. ca. 1845 McNairy Co., TN to Harriett Ann SEWELL, b. 22 Jan. 1829 McNairy Co., TN, d. ca. 1860 McNairy Co., TN
  11. Sarah Elizabeth SWAIN, b. 12 Oct. 1846 McNairy Co., TN, d. 12 May 1934 McNairy Co., TN; md. 17 Sept. 1867 McNairy Co., TN to William Henry PYRON, b. 8 Jan. 1846 McNairy Co., TN, d. 20 Sept. 1909 McNairy Co., TN (both buried at Mars Hill Cemetery, McNairy Co., TN)
  12. Docia Bell PYRON, b. 5 Oct. 1872 McNairy Co., TN, d. 1 Sept. 1944 Lyford, TX (buried at Combes, TX); md. 28 Oct. 1894 McNairy Co., TN to James David HARRIS, b. 9 Jan. 1871 McNairy Co., TN, d. 22 Sept. 1938 Marlow, OK (buried at Marlow Cemetery, Marlow, OK)
  13. William Earl HARRIS, b. 8 Aug. 1895 McNairy Co., TN, d. 5 Jan. 1967 Cortez, CO; md. 12 Dec. 1915 Parker Co., TX to Orpha Antonia Hazel GARVIN, b. 11 Nov. 1895 Jack Co., TX, d. 21 Dec. 1979 Cortez, CO *These are my grandparents.




ROOTSWEB COFFIN MESSAGE BOARDS

There are several Message Boards on Rootsweb which are set up for the COFFIN surname. These boards are for posting information in the following categories: BIBLE, BIOGRAPHY, BIRTH, CEMETERY, CENSUS, DEATH, DEED, IMMIGRATION, LOOKUP, MARRIAGE, MILITARY, OBITUARY, PENSION, QUERIES, and WILLS. The search perameters and drop down screen on the main page allow you to do a key word search or to view all postings according to one of the above categories. Click on the icon below to access the Coffin Message Boards.

Query Post a query (or information from any one of the above categories) on any COFFIN name or related family. Please give dates, and locations they lived. Try to give as much information as possible.


An online genealogy forum for posting queries has also been set up specifically for the COFFIN family. It can be found at the following address:

    http://genforum.familytreemaker.com/coffin

***Note***During the Fall of 1998, GenForum combined with Family Tree Maker, which means that all queries and information posted to that site becomes the property of Family Tree Maker. This is still a good site to look up information and get contact names for the COFFIN lines you are searching, but be advised that if you now post a new query or a response to something on that site, chances are that sometime in the future Family Tree Maker will include that information on a CD-ROM which they will sell for profit to anyone who is interested. I do not like the idea of someone else using my hard researched information and ideas and selling them for a profit without my knowledge. This same practice is evident on all of the Family Tree Maker pages which are found on the internet, if you will read the disclaimer notices on those pages. I recommend the Family Tree Maker pages as good look up pages, but I don't recommend posting information there. Similar things can be said for Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com which are connected to each other and seek to make a profit from genealogical materials on the internet.




Copyright (c) 1998-2003.

Last updated June 1, 2003.


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