Category Archives: Barnard

Barnard, Coffin Family

Ebenezer Coffin & Eleanor Barnard, Nantucket, 1700s

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It took me many years to find a family for my 4X great grandfather, Joseph Coleman, but when I did, it filled in a huge branch of Nantucket, Massachusetts ancestors. I’ve written about most of them.

Today, the family sketch of Ebenezer Coffin and Eleanor Barnard completes the stories of most of my Nantucket ancestors.

Ebenezer Coffin was born on 30 March 1678, on Nantucket Island, the child of James Coffin and Mary Severance. Eleanor Barnard, fifteen months younger than her husband, was born 19 June 1679, also in Nantucket, to Nathaniel Barnard and his wife, Mary Barnard (subjects of yesterday’s post). They lived their entire lives on the island. Ebenezer died on 17 October 1730. Eleanor survived Ebenezer by many years, passing away at the age of 90 years, five months and six days, on 25 November 1769.

Ebenezer and Eleanor married on 12 December 1700, in Nantucket, and raised a large family of ten children, although two died in childhood.

Ebenezer and Eleanor also strayed from the common given names found so often in colonial Massachusetts. Yes, they had Hannah, Joseph and Benjamin, but they also named children Oliver, Prince, Love, Cromwell, Alexander, Valentine and Kimbal, which were much less common in Massachusetts in the early 18th century.

Children, all vitals in Nantucket, unless noted:

1. Oliver, born 30 August 1701; no further record
2. Prince, born 19 June 1703; died 10 October 1729, Chilmark, Dukes, Massachusetts; married Mercy Skiff, 10 September 1727.
3. Love, born 17 January 1705; died 25 May 1782; married Elias Coffin, 15 January 1728/29
4. Hannah, born 20 July 1707; died 2 October 1708
5. Cromwell, born 1 September 1709; died about 5 April 1783, Newport, Rhode Island; married Ruth Coffin, 25 November 1731
6. Alexander, born 20 December 1713; died 4 November 1741, West Indies; married Judith Bunker, 12 January 1737
7. Valentine, born 21 December 1716; died 1782, at sea; unmarried
8. Joseph, born 19 November 1719; died 1805; married Judith Coffin, 1740
9. Kimbal, born c1722; died 1782, Virginia; unmarried
10. Benjamin, born 27 January 1725/26

This family was a bit unusual in a couple of other ways. Three of their children – Love, Cromwell and Joseph – all married Coffin cousins. Intermarriage was widely accepted on Nantucket Island, given the many marriage records I’ve reviewed. I guess when there are only X number of people living on a relatively small island (Nantucket is just under 48 square miles), the marriage pool is quite small after a couple of generations.

Next, although life at sea was a major occupation for island dwellers, mariners still married and came home to families. Valentine and Kimbal both died far from home and left no descendants.

My Coffin line of descent:

Peter Coffin = Joan Kember
Tristram Coffin = Dionis Stevens
James Coffin = Mary Severance
Ebenezer Coffin = Eleanor Barnard & James Coffin = Ruth Gardner
Cromwell Coffin = Ruth Coffin
Joseph Coleman = Eunice Coffin
Joseph Coleman = Ruth Spurr
Thomas Coleman = Mary Elizabeth Astle
William Coleman = Sarah Moriah Crouse
Hartwell Thomas Coleman = Anna Elisabeth Jensen
Hazel Ethel Coleman = Vernon Tarbox Adams
Doris Priscilla Adams = George Michael Sabo
Linda Anne Sabo Stufflebean – me!

 

Barnard

Nathaniel Barnard and Mary Barnard, Nantucket, 1600s

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Nathaniel Barnard, son of Thomas Barnard and wife Eleanor of Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts was born in Salisbury on 15 January 1642/43. He grew up in Salisbury, too, but Thomas’s family kept in touch with Thomas’s brother, Robert, and his family, although Robert had left Salisbury for Andover and then, finally, Nantucket, where he spent the remainder of his life.

It seems likely that Nathaniel knew his cousins for most of his young years and, at some point, married Mary Barnard, daughter of his uncle Robert and aunt Joanna (?Harvey.) Where the couple married isn’t known, but they probably married in late 1665 or early 1666.

Nathaniel and Mary settled on Nantucket Island and spent the rest of their years living there. They became the parents of nine known children, although the births of their last two children aren’t recorded in Nantucket, or anywhere else that I’ve found.

Children, all vitals in Nantucket unless noted:

1. Mary, born 24 February 1667; died the 8th month of 1737; married John Folger, c1689
2. Hannah, born 19 July 1669; no further record
3. John, born 24 February 1670 (perhaps should be 1671 or 1672, although the vital records say 1670); died 4 December 1745; married Sarah Macy
4. Nathaniel, born 24 November 1672; died 28 April 1718; married (1) Elizabeth Starbuck, widow of Peter Coffin. She died 1706. (2) Dorcas Manning, died 1708 (3) Judith Coffin, widow of Peter Folger, 1 February 1709
5. Stephen, born 16 February 1674; died 12th day, 5th month of 1748; married Damaris (or Hopcot) Gardner, 25 May 1708
6. Sarah, born 23 March 1677; died after 10 May 1717, when she gave birth to her last child in Amesbury; married Thomas Currier, 19 September 1700, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts.
7. Eleanor, born 18 June 1679; died 25 November 1769; married Ebenezer Coffin, 12 December 1700
8. Benjamin; died 22nd day, 10th month of 1729; married Judith Gardner, 3 January 1711
9. Timothy; apparently unmarried; died 1707 on Scilly Rocks, near Cornwall, England while in an English fleet

Here ends my line of Barnards, as I descend from daughter Eleanor who married Ebenezer Coffin.

My line of descent from a double line of 9X great grandparents:

Thomas Barnard & Eleanor + Robert Barnard & Joanna (?Harvey)
Nathaniel Barnard = Mary Barnard
Eleanor Barnard = Ebenezer Coffin
Cromwell Coffin = Ruth Coffin
Joseph Coleman = Eunice Coffin
Joseph Coleman = Ruth Spurr
Thomas Coleman = Mary Elizabeth Astle
William Coleman = Sarah Moriah Crouse
Hartwell Thomas Coleman = Anna Elisabeth Jensen
Hazel Ethel Coleman = Vernon Tarbox Adams
Doris Priscilla Adams = George Michael Sabo
Linda Anne Sabo Stufflebean – me!

 

 

Barnard

Thomas and Robert, Barnard Brothers in MA, 1640s

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While reviewing my posts on early New England ancestors, I realized that I skipped over my Barnard line, which is another of my multiple double descents.

I am descended from brothers Thomas Barnard, born perhaps c1616 in England, if he married at age 25, and Robert Barnard, born c1615, also in England. I’ve seen parental names for them online, with no documentation, and the fathers’ names aren’t even the same, so I won’t mention them here. It’s also been suggested that the Barnards hailed from Suffolk County, England, which is certainly possible. However, I’ve seen no proof of that either.

Let’s begin with the older brother, Thomas. Thomas, like Robert, is said to have settled in the Salisbury area, although their children removed to other nearby towns.


Source: Google Maps

He reportedly was in Massachusetts by the early 1640s. He married, c1641, Hellena/Helen/Eleanor (MNU). It isn’t known whether they married in Massachusetts or in England. Thomas died in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts before 21 August 1677 when an inventory of his estate was taken. His widow, Eleanor, was approved as his estate administrator on 9 October 1677. The court record notes that he was killed by Indians. Eleanor was born c1615, if she was about aged 42 when her last child was born, but more likely about 21 when she married, so born perhaps c1619. She married (2) George Little, 19 July 1681, Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts and died on 27 November 1694, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts.

The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts found on AmericanAncestors are a huge help in identifying Thomas’s and Eleanor’s children and children-in-law:

Children of Thomas and Eleanor/Hellen Barnard, all born and married in Salisbury, unless noted:

  1. Thomas, born 10 May 1641; died before 5 December 1715; married Sarah Peasley, by 1664
  2. Nathaniel, born 15 January 1642/43; died 3 June 1718, Nantucket, Massachusetts; married Mary Barnard, by 1667. (See 4th child of Robert, below.)
  3. Martha, born 22 September 1645; died after 1697; married (1) Thomas Hayes (2) Samuel Bucknam, by 1687
  4. Mary, born 22 September 1645 (twin); died c1712, as Philip remarried that year; married (1) Anthony Morse, 10 November 1669, Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts (2) Philip Eastman, 22 August 1678, Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts
  5. Sarah, born 28 September 1647; died 10 September 1717, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts; married William Hackett, 31 January 1666/67,
  6. Hannah, born 24 November 1649; died 27 February 1711/12, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts; married Benjamin Stevens, 28 October 1673
  7. Ruth, born 16 October 1651; died 5 November 1723, Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts; married Joseph Peasley, 21 January 1671, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts
  8. John, born 12 January 1654; died 15 July 1718, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts; married Frances Hoyt, widow of John Colby (who she married on 14 January 1655/56), 27 December 1676, Amesbury, Massachusetts
  9. Abigail, born 20 January 1656; died after 20 July 1697, when she gave birth to her last child in Shelburne, Franklin, Massachusetts; married Samuel Fellows, 2 June 1681, Shelburne, Franklin, Massachusetts, but she was noted as being of Salisbury.

My ancestor is Nathaniel Barnard, second child of Thomas and Eleanor. He married Mary Barnard, daughter of Robert and Joanna (Harvey?) Barnard, by 1667. She was his first cousin.

Robert Barnard was born c1618, also in England and married Joanna (Harvey?), c1641, place unknown. Robert died c1682. However, for whatever reason, there was no administration of his estate until 1715. Stephen Barnard asked that his son, Robert, be allowed to serve in his behalf as administrator because Stephen was elderly and unable to attend court.No other heirs were mentioned, although Martha and Mary were also still living.

Note that son John’s birth is recorded in Salisbury, while Martha’s birth is noted in Nantucket records. Twins seem to run in this family and it’s possible that she and John were twins. Joanna was likely born c1620 in England; died on 31 March 1705, Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Robert lived first in Salisbury, then Andover and, finally, Nantucket:

Source: Google Maps

Children of Robert Barnard and Joanna (Harvey?):

NOTE: John, Martha and Marcy are proven children of Robert per birth records. Stephen is a proven child, as he relinquished probate of his father’s estate. Hannah, Mary and Sarah are attributed to Robert because of their birth years and places where they lived.

  1. John, born 2 March 1642, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts; died 6 June 1669, drowned between Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard; married Bethiah Folger, 26 February 1668, Nantucket, Massachusetts. She drowned with her husband.
  2. Martha, born 2 March 1642, Nantucket, Massachusetts; died 23 January 1717/18, Nantucket, Massachusetts; married William Rogers of Martha’s Vineyard by 1673 when daughter Experience was born.
  3. Hannah, born c1644; died 13 March 1674/75, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts; married John Stevens, 13 June 1662, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts. He married (2) Esther Barker, 10 August 1676, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts.
  4. Mary, born c1646; died 17 March 1717/18, Nantucket, Massachusetts; married Nathaniel Barnard, by 1666.
  5. Stephen, born c1650; died 12 February 1722/23, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts; married Rebecca Howe, 1 May 1671, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts
  6. Sarah, born c1652; died 24 October 1732, Nantucket, Essex, Massachusetts; married James Skiff, March 1677, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He married (1) Elizabeth Nabor/Tabor, 18 November 1659, but they divorced in Sandwich, Massachusetts in 1670.
  7. Marcy/Mercy, born 8 April 1658, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts; no further record.

Next week, I’ll post about my last two Barnard ancestral families.