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

-------------

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 

 ------------------------

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]). 

Reverend Ebenezer Coffin, died 1816 Newbury, Massachusetts for Tombstone Tuesday

 This tombstone was photographed at the First Parish Burial Ground in Newbury, Massachusetts.

In memory of

EBENEZER COFFIN, A.M.

aged 45

Faith, hope and Charity

His soul possesses the three.

Erected by his son

Robert Stevenson Coffin

1826

Ebenezer Coffin was born 15 February 1769 in Newbury, Massachusetts, the son of Reverend Joshua Coffin and Sarah Bartlett. He went to Harvard College, and graduated in 1789. He was ordained as a Congregational pastor at the church in Brunswick, Maine in 1792.   Ebenezer married Mary Newhall on 25 September 1793 in Brunswick. She was the daughter of Samuel Newhall and Elizabeth Sprague of Newburyport. They had five children born in Brunswick and removed back to Newbury in 1802 where he was the school teacher.  Ebenezer died on 26 January 1816.  

Robert Stevenson Coffin was the second child of Rev. Ebenezer Coffin.  He was born in Brunswick and when the family relocated to Newbury he was apprenticed to a printer. During the War of 1812 he was a sailor aboard a ship that was captured by the British and the entire crew was imprisoned, and later released. He worked at a printer in Boston and in Philadelphia. He was a poet known as the "Boston Bard", but later became "intemperate" and died in Rowley, Massachusetts in 1827.  Robert Stevenson Coffin never married. 

Ebenezer Coffin's other children were Newhall, Eloisa, Horace, and Cazneau Bayley, who died in September 1826 when struck by lightning on the ship Hogart off the coast of Texas.   

-------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Reverend Ebenezer Coffin, died 1816 Newbury, Massachusetts for Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 9, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/04/reverend-ebenezer-coffin-died-1816.html: accessed [access date]). 

Major Joshua Coffin, died 1774 - Tombstone Tuesday

 This tombstone was photographed at the First Parish Burial Ground in Newbury, Massachusetts.

In Memory of

Major JOSHUA COFFIN

who was born January 9th 1732

& died march 30th 1774

He was a Gentleman of

Ingenuity Humanity & Piety

Lived Greatly usefull &

Died Generally Lamented

The sweet Remembrance of the Just

Shall Flourish when they sleep in the Dust

Joshua Coffin, son of Joseph Coffin and Margaret More, was born on 9 January 1732 in Newbury, Massachusetts, and died on 30 March 1774.  He married Sarah Bartlett, the daughter of Thomas Bartlett and Hannah Moody,  on 21 January 1755 in Newbury and they had twelve children, and eight survived to adulthood. Two sons, Edmund and Joseph Coffin, inherited their father's house, originally built by Tristram Coffin in 1678. In 1929 the Coffin family donated the Coffin house to Historic New England.   

Joshua's papers and manuscripts are stored at Historic New England under the title "Coffin Family Papers" MS010. Please see this web page for more information: https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/187800/  

For the truly curious:

See the book Coffin Gatherings: Five Generations of Descendants of Tristram Coffin of Newbury and Nantucket, By W. S. Appleton. Boston: Press of David Clapp & Son, 1896, p 19.

-----------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Major Joshua Coffin, died 1774 - Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted 12 December 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/12/major-joshua-coffin-died-1774-tombstone.html: accessed [access date]). 

My 10th Great Grandmother, Judith Greenleaf Somerby Coffin, d. 1705, Newbury, Massachusetts - Tombstone Tuesday

 These tombstones were photographed at the First Parish Burial Ground, Newbury, Massachusetts. 

To the memory of Mrs. Judith

late vituous wife of Deacon Tristram Coffin, Esq.,

who having lived to see one hundred and seventy-seven

of her children and children's children to the third generation,

died 13 Dec. 1705, age 80.

Grave, sober, faithful, fruitful vine was she,

A rare example of true piety;

Widowed awhile she waited, wished for rest,

With her dear husband in her Savior's breast.

Mrs. JUDETH

COFFIN WIFE TO

TRISTRAM COFFIN

ESQr. 

Judith Greenleaf, daughter of Edmund Greenleaf (1574-1671) and Sarah Dole (1588 - 1663), was born 2 September 1625 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England and died 15 December 1705 in Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts.   She married first to Henry Somerby in 1644 and had four children, and I descend from her second daughter, Elizabeth Somerby (1646 - 1716) who married Nathaniel Clark.  She married second to Tristram Coffin and had ten more children.  Tristram Coffin had been her first husband's apprentice. Both men were merchant tailors. 

The headstone is mostly illegible now in the midday sun when we visited, and her elaborate footstone is very legible.  

Click here to see a blogpost about the tombstone of Tristram Coffin:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/06/tristram-coffin-died-1704-newbury.html   

-------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My 10th Great Grandmother, Judith Greenleaf Coffin, d. 1705, Newbury, Massachusetts - Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 29, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/11/my-10th-great-grandmother-judith.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tristram Coffin, died 1704, Newbury, Massachusetts - Tombstone Tuesday

 This tombstone was photographed at the First Parish Burial Ground in Newbury, Massachusetts

Tristram Coffin is my 11th great-uncle, and the brother of my 10th great grandmother, Elizabeth Coffin (1635 - 1678) who married Stephen Greenleaf.  Tristram Coffin was born 1 February 1632 in Brixton, Devonshire, England and died 4 February 1704 in Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts.  He married Judith Greenleaf on 2 March 1652 (yes, two brothers married two sisters!) The most interesting thing about these two couples is that Judith Greenleaf is also my 10th great grandmother through her first marriage to Henry Somerby in 1644. I descend from their daughter, Elizabeth Somerby who married Nathaniel Clark in Newbury in 1663. 

Tristram lived in Newbury, and all the Coffins of that town are descended from him. His house was standing in 1869, two hundred years old. He was a very active and influential citizen. He was made Lieutenant of the first military company of Newbury,16 May 1683; was a Representative to General Court in 1695, 1700, 1701, and 1702; was a Deacon in the church for twenty years. He was a merchant tailor.   His house still stands on High Road, Newbury, Massachusetts and is operated as a house museum by Historic New England. 

His epithet reads:  "To the memory of Tristram Coffin Esq., who having served the church of Christ in the office of deacon 20 years died Feb. 4th 1703-4 aged 72 years.  On earth he purchased a good degree, Great boldness in the faith and liberty And now possesses immortality."

---------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tristram Coffin, died 1704, Newbury, Massachusetts - Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 28, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/06/tristram-coffin-died-1704-newbury.html: accessed [access date]).