These two tombstones were photographed at the First Parish Burying Ground, Newbury, Massachusetts
LUCY,
Wife of Edmund Coffin,
Born
April 17, 1776,
Died
Dec. 3, 1858
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There remaineth a rest to the people of God.
In memory of
MR. EDMUND COFFIN
who died Suddenly
Octr. 23, 1825;
aged 61 years.
A noble mind! Just generous, bold, sincere
of such a spirit, see! The dust is here,
But while this ground, with fondest thoughts we tread;
Let no the partial living praise the dead;
The kindest tears that Friendship here can pay,
Is Sorrow weeping all her sins away.
Lucy and Edmund Coffin, side by side in the Burying Ground
Edmund Coffin was born 14 January 1764 and died on 23
October 1825, the son of Major Joshua Coffin and Sarah Bartlett. He was married twice, first to Mary Moody on
13 November 1792 in Newbury (six children), and then to Lucy Kimball on 25
April 1809 in Ipswich, Massachusetts (five more children).
Interesting trivia:
“In 1785, the Coffin House, which had for so many years seen
multiple generations living as one family, was legally divided. Edmund Coffin,
one of two adult sons of Joshua Coffin, reached twenty-one and wanted his share
of his deceased father's estate. Consequently, a division was made first
between the two sons and their widowed mother, and after her death in 1798,
between the two sons, Edmund and Joseph. Each had exclusive use of certain
rooms, stairways, and cellars with the right of passage through some of the
other rooms. The "families" lived almost completely separately under
one roof, using different kitchens and entertaining rooms. The house remained
divided this way through the last generation of Coffins to occupy the house.” [From The Coffin House Facebook page
published 2 June 2017]
Lucy Kimball is the daughter of Nathaniel Kimball, born
about 1776 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and Elizabeth Low. She died on 3 December 1858. Lucy is my relative through her great
grandmother, Mary Thompson of Ipswich (the daughter of my Scottish Prisoner of
War ancestor Alexander Thompson (about 1636 – 1695), and her 2x great
grandfather, Richard Kimball (about 1595 – 1675), an early settler at Ipswich,
Massachusetts. On her tombstone is a quote from Hebrews 4:9-16 KJV "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his."
Edmund and Lucy are buried at the First Parish Burying
Ground in Newbury, Massachusetts, right across the street from the First Parish
Meeting House. The Coffin House is
located nearby and is operated as a museum by Historic New England. It was built by Edmund’s 4x great
grandfather, Tristram Coffin (1632 – 1704), who came to New England from
Brixton, Devonshire, England. Tristram’s
parents (Tristram Coffin (1609 – 1681) and Dionis Steven came to New England in
1628 and settled in Salisbury, Newbury and finally the island of Nantucket, and
they are also my 11th great grandparents.
For the truly curious:
The webpage for the Coffin House Museum (1678) https://www.historicnewengland.org/property/coffin-house/
Edmund Coffin’s personal papers and manuscripts are stored
at Historic New England Folder C.1.19-C.1.26 and GUSN-296354. There is a description of these papers online
at https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/296354
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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Edmund and Lucy
Coffin, Newbury, Massachusetts for Tombstone Tuesday”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 4, 2025, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/03/edmund-and-lucy-coffin-newbury.html: accessed [access date]).
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