| Note* | | There are a lot of colorful characters among the Coffins, includingknights, sea captains, abolitionists, suffragettes, ministers, andbrewers. One of our ancestors (Owen Coffin) was eaten by hungry shipmatesat age 17 after his ship was rammed by a whale. The incident inspired thebook Moby Dick, as well as Nathaniel Philbrick's book, In the Heart ofthe Sea (Viking Press, 2000). The word 'Coffin' appears to mean container or basket. The name appearsto have originated in France, where the early Coffins may have beenoccupied as armorers and blacksmiths (1). According to some sources, theCoffin family lived in Normandy before 1066. One of the British seats of the Coffins, Portledge Manor near Bideford,Devon, is believed to have been granted to Sir Richard Coffyn, Knight,'for valuable services rendered the Conqueror.' The earliest record ofownership for Portledge is from 1254; it is a deed in Latin. Around thistime (1066-1307) there was a great deal of feudal, civil unrest inDevonshire. Portledge was held by the Coffins for 'six or sevencenturies.' It should be noted that the link between Tristram Coffin (thepatriarch of the largest American Coffin line) and Portledge is unclear.There may be no direct link. For more information, see the Coffin FamilyNewsletter, vol. XV, No. 2. I visited Portledge Manor in 1977, when it was a hotel. It is a bigrambling building surrounded by green hills and oak trees. Ancestralportraits hang on the walls, and a coat of arms is set into the ceilingof the dining room. Volume VIII Number 3 of the Coffin Family Newsletterincludes an article about Portledge Estate. The estate was recentlypurchased by a private owner (Address: Estate Office, Portledge, FairyCross, Bideford, Devon, EX39 5BX) but is still accessible to Coffinfamily members. Tours and rental units are available. The nearby parishchurch at Alwington also has Coffin tombstones and memorial plaques. There are many records of Coffins in Devon, and it is hard to trace theirlineages. A vicar named Nicholas Coffin (or Coffyn) lived in Devon in1337. Other Coffins of that era include Sir Geoffrey Coffin, ofCombe-Coffin, around the time of King Henry III; Sir Elias Coffin ofIngarly, around the time of King John; and many different Sir RichardCoffins. A Sir Richard Coffin was the high sheriff of Devon in the secondyear of the reign of King Henry VIII. Around the same time, Sir William Coffin was a Knight under Henry VIII.He was married to Margaret Dymoke; it was her second marriage of three.Allen Coffin writes that Sir William's 'education and accomplishmentswere such that they introduced him with advantage to the Court of HenryVIII, where he came to be highly preferred.' He was an 'expert at featsof arms' (jousting), and was Master of the Horse at the Coronation ofAnne Boleyn in 1534. He was also one of the gentlemen of the PrivyChamber of Henry VIII -- a 'man-in-waiting.' Sir William bequeathed hishunting hawks to Henry VIII upon his death, and was buried at Standon,England in 1538. His tombstone says: Here lieth William Coffin, Knight, sometime of the Privy Chamber of hisSovereign Lord, King Henry VIII; and Master of the Horse unto Queen Anne,the most lawful Wife unto the aforesaid King Henry VIII and High Stewardof all the Liberty and Manor of Standon, in the county of Hereford, whichWilliam deceased the 8th day of December, in the Year of our Lord, 1538,the 30th of the reign of King Henry VIII. There is some question about the line of descent from William Coffin toTristram Coffin, who with his wife Dionis Stevens was the originator ofthe Coffin line in the United States. The connection between TristramCoffin and the Coffin family who inhabited Portledge Manor in Devonshireis unclear.1 |