A House Divided: The Coffins in the American Revolution
General John Coffin is your distant cousin. His line diverged at Capt. Nathaniel Coffin (1671). He fought at Bunker Hill and became a Major General in the British Army.
The Coffin family offers one of the most striking illustrations of a family torn apart by the American Revolution. From a single ancestor—Magistrate James Coffin (1640–1720), third son of Tristram Coffin—two branches diverged that would end up on opposite sides of the war, and of history itself.
James Coffin’s son Captain Nathaniel Coffin (1671–1721, PID: L542-FYN) married Damaris Gayer, daughter of Magistrate William Gayer and granddaughter of English baronial stock. Captain Nathaniel is your direct ancestor, roughly your 8th great-grandfather. Nathaniel and Damaris had at least two sons whose descendants took radically different paths:
William Coffin (b. 1699)– your 8th great-uncle – moved to Boston, became a prosperous tavern owner and merchant. His sons and grandsons became devoted Loyalists, fleeing to Canada and England after the Revolution. They produced British generals, admirals, and baronets.
Benjamin Coffin (1705–1780)– your direct ancestor – stayed on Nantucket, became a Quaker elder, schoolmaster, and the island’s first banker. Your line runs through Benjamin, making every person on this branch a cousin.
Two brothers. One became the patriarch of an empire of Loyalist soldiers. The other became the patriarch of America’s conscience. Both are in your tree.
The Loyalist Branch: William Coffin of Boston
William was born in 1699 and moved to Boston, where he became the proprietor of the Bunch of Grapes Tavern on King Street (now State Street) in 1731. The tavern had operated since 1640 and was one of the most important gathering places in colonial Boston. Twenty Coffin families lived along Washington Street. William married Ann Holmes and had four sons: William Jr., Nathaniel, John, and Ebenezer. All four were proscribed and banished by Act of the Massachusetts Legislature. William’s sisters married into leading Boston families and took the Patriot side.
| Name | Born | Died | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Coffin Jr. | 1723, Boston | — | Addresser of Gen. Gage; proscribed & banished; evacuated to Halifax 1776 |
| Sir Thomas Aston Coffin Bt. | 1754, Boston | 1810, London | Harvard 1772; Secretary to Sir Guy Carleton; Commissary General; created Baronet |
| Nathaniel Coffin | 1725, Boston | 1780, at sea | Harvard 1744; King’s Cashier of Customs; died returning from England |
| Nathaniel Coffin Jr. | 1749, Boston | 1831, London | Cut down the Liberty Tree; fled Boston; Collector of Customs St. Kitts 34 years |
| John Coffin | 1729, Boston | 1808, Quebec | Defended Quebec against Montgomery 1 Jan 1776; saved British North America |
| General John Coffin | 1756, Boston | 1838, New Brunswick | Fought at Bunker Hill with a boat tiller; commanded Orange Rangers; Major General |
| Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin | 1759, Boston | 1839, England | Admiral Royal Navy; Battle of the Saintes; Baronet; MP for Ilchester; founded Coffin School Nantucket |
| Admiral Francis Holmes Coffin | 1768, Boston | 1835 | Royal Navy; served in Napoleonic Wars |
General John Coffin is your distant cousin. His line diverged at Capt. Nathaniel Coffin (1671). He fought at Bunker Hill and became a Major General in the British Army.
General John Coffin (1756–1838): The Soldier
John Coffin was born in Boston in 1756, the son of John Coffin of Quebec. At the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, the nineteen-year-old Coffin seized a boat tiller and fought alongside the British regulars storming the redoubt. He was commissioned and went on to command the Orange Rangers, a Loyalist regiment that fought throughout the southern campaign.
At the Battle of Eutaw Springson September 8, 1781, Coffin led the cavalry charge that captured Colonel William Washington (George Washington’s second cousin). The American command placed a $10,000 bounty on his head. According to family tradition, when British soldiers came to arrest a suspected rebel at the home of his fiancée Ann Matthews, she hid him under her hoopskirt.
After the war, Coffin settled in New Brunswick, where he built Alwington Manor and became one of the province’s leading figures. He rose to Major General in the British Army and died in 1838 as the oldest general in the British service.
Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin is your distant cousin. Royal Navy Admiral, Baronet, founded the Coffin School on Nantucket.
Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin (1759–1839): The Sailor
Sir Isaac Coffin was born in Boston in 1759 and entered the Royal Navy at fourteen under Rear Admiral Montague. He spent the entire Revolutionary War at sea. At the Battle of Cape Henry in 1781, he served in the fleet that contested French control of the Chesapeake. On April 12, 1782, at the Battle of the Saintes, he served aboard Admiral Hood’s flagship Barfleur as the British fleet destroyed the French flagship Ville de Paris. He became captain of a 74-gun ship of the line at the age of twenty-two.
He was created a Baronet in 1804 and served as Member of Parliament for Ilchester from 1818 to 1826. Despite having fought against the American Revolution, he made over thirty voyages back to America and never lost his affection for his birthplace. He endowed $12,000 (later increased to $60,000) to establish the Coffin School on Nantucket for the education of Coffin descendants.
John Coffin of Quebec(1729–1808): The Defender
John was the third son of William Coffin of Boston. When the Revolution broke out, he loaded his wife and eleven children onto the schooner Neptuneand sailed to Quebec. There he built a distillery that doubled as a battery overlooking the St. Lawrence. On January 1, 1776, he directed fire against Richard Montgomery’s assault on Quebec. Montgomery fell in the attack. The defense of Quebec saved British North America from the Continental Army. Read the full account of the Battle of Quebec.
John Coffin died in 1808 as a Justice of the Peace. He left thirteen children, many of whom received British patronage and commissions in recognition of his service.
The United Empire Loyalists
Approximately 80,000 Americans left the United States after the Revolution. Their estates were confiscated by the new state governments. Britain rewarded them with land grants, military commissions, and titles. Their descendants organized as the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada, which continues to this day.
Your family had members on both sides of the American Revolution. Through the Coffin line, you are connected to Patriot founders who built a new nation and Loyalist soldiers who carved new provinces out of the Canadian wilderness. The family was divided by principle, not by cowardice. Both sides fought with distinction.