Edmund and Lucy Coffin, Newbury, Massachusetts for Tombstone Tuesday

 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 11^th 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]).