The Coffin Dynasty: 1066 to Nantucket
Tristram Coffin is your ~8th great-grandfather. He purchased Nantucket Island in 1659.
The Norman Conquest (1066)
According to Coffin family records and the Domesday Book of 1086, the family traces to Sir Richard Coffin, a general who fought for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. After the Norman victory, Sir Richard was granted the Manor of Alwington in Devonshire. The family seat at Portledge Manor, perched on the edge of Bideford Bay looking out over the Bristol Channel, remained in Coffin hands for over 900 years, finally sold in 1998. The Coffin coat of arms bears three bezants between eight crosses crosslet on an azure field. Read more about the Domesday Book and the Coffin arms.
Portledge Manor, Devon
The Medieval Line: Portledge, Devon
| Name | Born | PID | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir Richard Coffin | ~1066 | — | ~25th great-grandfather — General at Hastings |
| Richard Coffyn | ~1280 | — | ~20th great-grandfather — Alwington |
| John Coffyn | ~1301 | — | ~19th great-grandfather |
| David Coffyn | ~1332 | — | ~18th great-grandfather — m. Thomasin |
| John Coffyn | ~1392 | — | ~17th great-grandfather — m. Thomasin Hartley |
| William Coffyn | ~1420 | — | ~16th great-grandfather — m. Margaret Giffard |
| Richard Coffyn | ~1425 | — | ~15th great-grandfather — m. Alice Gambon |
| John Coffyn | 1450 | — | ~14th great-grandfather — m. Phillippa Hingston |
| Richard Coffyn | ~1475 | — | ~13th great-grandfather — m. Wilmont Chudleigh |
| James Coffyn | 1514 | — | ~12th great-grandfather — m. Mary Cole |
| Peter Coffin | 1535 | — | ~11th great-grandfather — m. Mary Boscawen |
| Nicholas Coffin | 1560 | LZJ8-Z91 | ~10th great-grandfather — m. Joan Advant |
| Peter Coffin | Jan 1580 | LCRH-YMG | ~9th great-grandfather — Brixton, Devon |
| Tristram Coffin | 11 Mar 1609 | L8BH-G24 | ~8th great-grandfather — Founder of Nantucket |
Sir William Coffin and the Court of Henry VIII
Sir William Coffin (1495–1538) was a courtier under Henry VIII who served as Master of the Horse at the coronations of both Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, and as a Member of Parliament for Derbyshire. He once ordered a priest buried alive for refusing to perform a funeral without payment. Summoned before Parliament, he turned the inquiry around by drawing attention to the corrupt practice of mortuaries—forced payments extracted by the clergy upon a parishioner’s death, a system widely regarded as extortionate—and Parliament passed an Act abolishing the practice entirely. He died in 1538.
Tristram Coffin: From Devon to Nantucket
Tristram Coffin was baptized on March 11, 1609, at St. Mary’s Church in Brixton, Devon. He married Dionis Stevens (PID: MCCT-B3T) and emigrated to Massachusetts in 1642. The family first settled in Pentucket (now Haverhill), where Tristram helped establish the town. He later operated a ferry across the Merrimack River in Newbury. Dionis earned a footnote in colonial history when she was brought to trial for brewing and selling beer—one of the earliest recorded cases of a woman tried for such an offense in New England.
The Purchase of Nantucket (1659)
On July 2, 1659, Tristram Coffin and eight other men purchased the island of Nantucket for thirty pounds and two beaver hats. These nine original purchasers—Coffin, Thomas Macy, Edward Starbuck, Thomas Barnard, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleaf, John Swain, Tristram Coffin Jr., and Robert Barnard—were later joined by eleven others to form the twenty proprietors. To build a self-sufficient community, the proprietors recruited tradesmen—a carpenter, a blacksmith, a weaver—each offered a half-share of land in exchange for their skills. The island was divided into lots, and settlement began in earnest. Richard Gardner, one of the half-share men, would play a central role in the conflicts to come. As the island’s farmland was overgrazed and depleted, the settlers turned to the sea, and Nantucket became the whaling capital of the world.
Nantucket became the whaling capital of the world.
The Coffin–Gardner Feud and the Oldest House
Tension on Nantucket grew between the full-share men (the original proprietors) and the half-share men (the recruited tradesmen). The full-share families, led by the Coffins, held political power and larger allotments. The half-share men, led by the Gardner family, resented their lesser standing. The conflict turned bitter. Peter Folger, the island’s schoolmaster and interpreter, sided with the half-share men and was jailed for his trouble. Tristram Coffin died in 1681, but the feud outlasted him. The resolution came through marriage: in 1686, Jethro Coffin married Mary Gardner, uniting the two feuding families. Their wedding gift was a new house—now known as the Oldest House on Nantucket, still standing today at 16 Sunset Hill Lane.
The Oldest House, Nantucket (1686)
Notable Coffin Descendants
Mary Coffin Starbuck(1645–1717), daughter of Tristram, became the most influential woman on Nantucket. Known as the “Great Woman,” she served as an unofficial judge and mediator. She embraced Quakerism and opened her home to the first Quaker meetings on the island, establishing practices that shaped Nantucket society for generations.
James Coffin carried the family’s legacy into the whaling industry, helping to build Nantucket into the center of the global whale oil trade.
Sir Isaac Coffin (1759–1839) was born in Boston and became an Admiral in the Royal Navy. Despite fighting against the American colonies, he later endowed a school on Nantucket for Coffin descendants. Read more in the Coffins in the Revolution.
Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793–1880), born on Nantucket, became one of America’s most prominent abolitionists and women’s rights advocates. She co-organized the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the first women’s rights convention in the United States. Read her full story.
Charles A. Coffin (1844–1926) co-founded the General Electric Company, serving as its first president. He guided GE through its formative years, transforming it into one of the world’s largest corporations.