Category Archives: Coleman

Coleman

Joseph Coleman (c1770-1852) of Bowdoinham, Maine & Wives Ruth Spurr and Hannah (Pottle?)

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When I wrote about Joseph Coleman and Eunice Coffin a week or so ago, I mentioned how all the new documents turned my ideas about their lives upside down.

Well, those findings kind of did the same thing to my beliefs and wonderings about Joseph Coleman, their son, and my 4X great grandfather.

Joseph’s and Eunice’s son, Joseph, made his last appearance in the 1850 census:


Joseph Coleman with Daughter Elvira’s Family

Being quite aged, Joseph isn’t listed with any occupation. However, Maine, being wooded and lush with plants, brings to mind the idea that one might be a farmer and, in fact, many of the Prebles’ neighbors were farmers. (I’ll come back later to Dexter’s occupation as a brick mason.)

Many years ago, when I first investigated Joseph and his family, I found very limited records.

First, Joseph, who was living in Roxbury, Massachusetts at the time, married Ruth Spurr on 24 August 1793 in Roxbury.


Marriage of Joseph Coleman and Ruth Spurr, 1793

The Spurr family had settled in Dorchester in the 1600s and Ruth was born there on 2 September 1762, the daughter of John Spur and Rebecca Blackman.

Roxbury and Dorchester are actually neighboring communities, so Ruth wasn’t far from home when she was living in Roxbury.

Ruth was definitely a few years older than Joseph, as his birth year has ranged from 1768-1772. It was a bit unusual for the bride to be 4-10 years older than the groom, particularly for a first marriage.

It was also a bit of an anomaly that Joseph was the only Coleman to be found anywhere nearby (and it took mostly a process of elimination to figure out to which family Joseph belonged, but I digress.)

I also wondered how Joseph came to the decision to settle in Bowdoinham, Lincoln, Maine, which is where I originally thought they were headed after they married.

James Bowdoin of Dorchester sold to Joseph Coleman of BOWDOINHAM land for just five shillings in consideration of their friendship. (He was already a resident of Bowdoinham before he bought this land!) That doesn’t seem like a lot of money for 49 acres of land, which is what he purchased. It’s the equivalent of about $30 today.

Even more surprising to me was the fact that just two years later, Joseph sold this same piece of land to Joseph Robinson for $250, which seems to be a hefty profit.

The next surprise is that Joseph NEVER bought or sold another piece of land in Maine, in spite of appearing in each and every census from 1800 through 1850, with the exception of 1810!


1800


1820


1830


1840
Ancestry

If Joseph was a farmer, why wouldn’t he have bought more land? I can’t imagine him wanting to rent for half a century. His known sons didn’t buy a single piece of land in Maine either. How did they make their living?

That seems like a sure tip off that their occupations were something other than working the land. Plus, the family is missing in 1810. I don’t know if they were skipped or they were gone from the area. I’ve never found a clue about that.

Back to my topsy-turvy beliefs about the Joseph Coleman and Eunice Coffin family. Among the records I recently discovered are two land deeds recorded in New York by Joseph Coleman Jr., referencing the estate of his father, Joseph Coleman, deceased.


Orange County, New York Deed Book H: 357-360, 1802
Family Search

There is really only one important detail in this land transaction between Joseph Coleman, selling his share of his father’s estate, to his brother-in-law, Isaac Belknap on 4 February 1801:

The word is divided between two lines: MARINER! Joseph followed his father to a life at sea.

This put an entirely new perspective on Joseph’s life and it certainly explains the lack of land transactions during his lifetime. Although I have no idea if they were skipped or left the area, it could also explain why Joseph isn’t found in the 1810 census in Bowdoinham.

Joseph, I believe, was way more mobile that I ever believed, just as his father was also very mobile. Following the sea was definitely an advantage if one wanted to travel long distances!

The second land deed, filed at almost the same time although drawn up on 9 April 1796, confirmed the relationship of Joseph and his siblings. It’s a bit odd that their mother, Eunice, wasn’t mentioned, as she was living as of 1799.


Orange County, New York Deed Book H: 351-354
FamilySearch

As with the first deed, the only important bits of information are that these are the heirs of Joseph Coleman and Tamar Birdsall, Jennet Watts and Mary Griswold are named with their respective husbands.

Joseph Coleman married twice. (1) Ruth Spurr was living as late as 19 December 1798, as she is named in the land deed when Joseph sold his only known piece of real estate.

Joseph’s households have always been a bit confusing, as they have members who appear to be too old to be their children. The 1800 census doesn’t have a female in Ruth’s age range, so it appears she died between 19 December 1798 and the 1800 census.

Joseph married (2) Hannah (Pottle?), no later than 1810 and perhaps as early as 1800 or 1801. Hannah’s birth year isn’t known. She predeceased Joseph, passing away on 6 September 1848. Her gravestone gives an age of 76 years, so born c1772. Census records support a birth from 1770-1780. If she was actually born in 1772, then the female aged 16-25 is too young to be her. Hannah may have been the sister of David Pottle, who lived 6 doors away from Joseph in 1800.

Silas Adams’ History of the Town of Bowdoinham 1762-1912  mentions that the First Free Will Baptist Church, organized 22 October 1825. On 26 September 1840, Joseph and John signed to organize a church which met at Abagadasset School House. Joseph was on the committee to choose a deacon. On 19 October 1840, the church meeting voted to dismiss Joseph, Hannah and John P. to the 4th Church, Raymond District.

Because no marriage record has been found for Joseph and Hannah, I also don’t know if Hannah was a widow when she married Joseph. Do all four of the children in the 1800 household belong to both Joseph and Hannah?

As to a source for Hannah’s maiden name, daughter Elizabeth’s death certificate names her parents as “Colburn” and “Potter.” There were no Colburn or Potter families in the area at the time when Joseph and Hannah would have married, but there was the family of David Pottle, which I mentioned earlier, and who lived 6 doors away from Joseph in 1800.

Because of this uncertainty and the lack of land records for Joseph and his children, the mothers of his children are uncertain. I’ve never been able to figure out who two of the sons and two of the daughters were either!

Children of Joseph Coleman:

NOTE: It is believed that all children were born in Bowdoinham. Thomas Coleman’s death certificate gave his place of birth as Richmond, Maine. However, Richmond was originally part of Bowdoinham and was set off as a new town on 23 February 1823.

  1. Joseph, born c1794; died 18 May 1830, Bowdoinham, Lincoln, Maine; married Abigail Sedgley (1795-1888), 28 December 1822, Bowdoinham, Lincoln, Maine
  2. Son, born c1798; died after 1810
  3. Daughter, born c1798; died after 1810
  4. Thomas, born 23 January 1800, Bowdoinham, Lincoln, Maine; died 9 May 1888, Calais, Washington, Maine; married Mary Elizabeth Astle, 22 June 1830, Nelson, Northumberland, New Brunswick, Canada
  5. Son, born c1802; died after 1810
  6. Daughter, born c1804; died after 1810
  7. Philip B(urril?), born 25 December 1805; died 21 January 1893, Whitestown, Oneida, New York; married Rachel Sedgley, 18 February 1826, Bowdoinham, Lincoln, Maine
  8. John P., born 25 April 1807; died 19 August 1864, Bowdoinham, Sagadahoc, Maine; married Sarah J. Potter, c1852, probably Maine. She was born c1834; died 1893; married (2) Leonard Preble, who lived next door to Dexter Preble, wife Elvira, child Lydia Ann and Joseph Coleman in 1850.
  9. Elvira, born between August 1809-1812; died 23 October 1886, Bowdoinham, Sagadahoc, Maine; married Dexter Preble, 1 October 1837, Bowdoinham, Lincoln, Maine
  10. Ruth, born between April 1811-1812; died 18 September 1887, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts; married Ezra Morrill, 4 August 1834, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts
  11. Elizabeth, born cFebruary 1814; died 24 December 1899, Richmond, Sagadahoc, Maine; married Sewell Preble, 24 October 1841, Bowdoinham, Lincoln, Maine

How did I eventually piece together Joseph the father with Joseph the son? That’s an entirely different story, which will soon be told.

 

 

Coffin Family, Coleman

Joseph Coleman: When Is a Death Record Not a Death Record? When It’s Not!

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I feel like I’ve been tossed and turned on the sea. It’s an appropriate analogy, I believe, because Joseph Coleman was a mariner. If you’ve been following my Coffin and Coleman family posts, you’ll remember that I discovered some land deeds that appear to disprove the Nantucket vital record stating that Joseph Coleman died at sea of yellow fever off the coast of Guinea on 17 April 1775.


Death of Joseph Coleman?

On the surface, this looks pretty definite, doesn’t it? It’s in the collection of official Nantucket vital records. Note the P.R. 38 and P.R. 63. Those abbreviations are the sources of this information and mean that this came from private notes and manuscripts. One is the Isaac Coffin collection and the other is the William Folger collection.

I’ve spent months working on Joseph Coleman’s family because Nantucket records are incomplete. Many births aren’t recorded and deaths are missing. Early Nantucket genealogists compiled data to fill in some of these gaps. However, they were human and sometimes made mistakes.

The Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 series for Nantucket contains this caveat for P.R. 38:


P.R. 38

I had always had lingering questions about this family. Eunice never remarried, but supposedly had several small children. How did she survive? It didn’t seem likely that her cousin Benjamin Coffin supported them out of the goodness of his heart. I also wondered about Joseph Coleman’s 1791 probate. Why had so many years passed between 1775 and then with no probate being administered? I could understand it being delayed until the war ended in 1783, but not until 1791. I theorized that perhaps Joseph owned land and son Joseph Jr. came of age, as he married in 1793. Some of my questions have now been answered with the discovery of several new primary documents.

Timelines can be invaluable when there are a number of events and dates. Here is one for the lives of Joseph and Eunice (Coffin) Coleman and it demands a complete retelling of the story of this family’s life.

1739.Sep30 – Joseph Coleman born in Nantucket, son of Joseph & Rachel (Norton) Coleman
1742.Jul18 – Eunice Coffin born in Nantucket, daughter of Cromwell & Ruth (Cromwell) Coffin
1760.Jan24 – Joseph Coleman & Eunice Coffin married in Nantucket
1760-1773 – Tamar, Jennet & Elizabeth born to Joseph and Eunice. The three girls were baptized on 19 December 1773, Nantucket.
1768-1772 – Joseph born to Joseph and Eunice. Age range based on gravestone age and age in 1850 census.
1774.Oct20 – Joseph Coleman of Nantucket purchases land from Morris Flewelling in Ulster County, New York
1775.Apr17 – Death of Joseph Coleman entered in Nantucket vital records, having died of yellow fever off the coast of Guinea.
1775.Apr17 – Joseph, mariner, and Eunice Coleman appeared in person to register a deed of sale to Francis Chase. Deed registered 24 April 1775.
1775 – Mary Ann, estimated birth year, born to Joseph and Eunice
1781.Feb7 – Tamar Coleman married Daniel Birdsall, New Windsor, Orange, New York
1786.Jan31 – Elizabeth Coleman married Isaac Belknap, New Windsor, Orange, New York
1788.June5 – Joseph and Eunice Coleman with Timothy and Mary Coleman, all of Nantucket, sold their share of their deceased father’s estate to Ebenezer Coleman.
1790 – Census shows Henry Watts, male over 16 and one female in a household next door to Benjamin Coffin, Orange County, New York. Henry Watts married Jennet Coleman, c1790.
1790.Jan5 – Joseph Coleman bought land from Thomas Palmer of Ulster County, New York
1791.Apr5 – Probate filed for estate of Joseph Coleman, Eunice Coleman administratrix. Papers filed both in Ulster County, New York and Nantucket, Massachusetts. Probate inventory shows continued contacts in both New York and Nantucket.
1793.Aug24 – Joseph Coleman Jr. married Ruth Spurr of Dorchester, Massachusetts
1795.Feb9 – Mary Ann Coleman married Chauncey Griswold, New Windsor, Orange, New York.
1796.May5 – Birdsall, Watts, Belknap and Griswold heirs + Joseph Coleman sell their shares of estate of Joseph Coleman, deceased.
1796.May5 – before 1799.Mar9 – Tamar (Coleman) Birdsall died.
1799.Mar9 – Benjamin Coffin wrote his will. Bequests given = 1/3 to children of sister Love Coffin, 1/3 to children of sister Jean Ramsdal, 1/3 to widowed cousins Abigail Gardner, Eunice Coleman and Mary Fosdick, sisters and daughters of Cromwell and Ruth (Coffin) Coffin.
1800.May22 – Will of Henry Watts proved. Widow Jennet. Sons Hiram and Harvey, Orange County, New York
1800 – Census shows Jannet Watts, head of household, with 1 F 45+, 1 F 26-44, 1 F 16-25, 2 M -10. Female over 45 may be Eunice. Coleman. No further record found for Jennet (Coleman) Watts or sons Hiram and Harvey Watts.
1802.Apr19 – Will of Benjamin Coffin proved. Eunice Coleman apparently still living.
1806-1810 – Mary Ann (Coleman) Griswold died, probably Orange County, New York
1852.Apr15 – Joseph Coleman Jr. died, Bowdoinham, Lincoln (today Sagadahoc), Maine

Joseph Coleman was robbed of about 16 years of his life by the data in the William C. Folger collection. His children would have grown up without a father and his widow most likely would have had to have remarried to survive.

Instead, this timeline makes it evident that Joseph planned his move to New York in 1774. Was it because of the chance of impending war with England or did he want a change of pace?

Since his occupation was mariner, did he continue that life after removing to New York? How often did he move back and forth between New York and New England?

Being a mariner, did he sail down the Hudson River to New York to access the ocean, or did he travel by land to perhaps Bridgeport or New Haven and sail from there to Nantucket?

By following all my Coffin family leads, I literally stumbled into all these new records for the Coleman family. I’d also searched some of these records in the past, but many more are digitally available now from home.

It’s turned out to be quite a story, as I’ve filled in so many details about the lives of Joseph, Eunice and their children. It looks like Joseph Jr., my ancestor, had the longest lifespan, by far.

This is a perfect example of how following collateral lines and extending the search to include more than vital records can be just the ammunition to crack open a brick wall.

 

 

 

 

 

Coffin Family, Coleman

A Bit More Mystery: Joseph Coleman & Eunice Coffin

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That’s me – a dog with a bone! And I can’t let it go!! It’s funny how research can sometimes take you down a completely unexpected path. While piecing together the Coffin families, new information about my Joseph Coleman emerged.

Joseph Coleman married Eunice Coffin, daughter of Cromwell Coffin and Ruth Coffin from last week’s mystery deed.

The lives of Joseph and Eunice (Coffin) were quite straightforward up to 1775. Joseph Coleman was a Nantucket, Massachusetts mariner, likely a whaler, who traveled far and wide – I mean really far to Africa – and was gone from home for long periods of time.

Joseph Coleman was born 30 September 1739. Eunice Coffin was born 18 July 1742. They were born in, married on 24 January 1760, and raised their children together in Nantucket.

At least they did until 1775, when the Nantucket vital records list Joseph’s death from yellow fever.


Source: American Ancestors

The Massachusetts vital records series do give source citations, at least generally. This entry is marked P.R. 38 and P.R. 63, which means Private Record. P.R. 63 is the William C. Folger collection, which in 1910 when this book was published, was housed at the Nantucket Historical Association. It also notes P.R. 63, which corresponds to:


Source: American Ancestors

I’ve spent countless hours trying to locate this manuscript, but I haven’t found any place that claims it in its collection today.

Between the two records, Joseph’s death date is given as 17 April 1775, assuming that April is the fourth month and not July. It’s difficult to tell; no annotations have been made in the record itself.

While in the morass of Coffin deeds, I came across two deeds recorded by Joseph Coleman and Eunice Coffin. Both piqued my interest because of the dates.


Coleman Deed on the Right
Source: FamilySearch

The sale isn’t of any interest, but the date certainly is:

Joseph and Eunice Coleman both personally appeared on 17 April 1775 and the deed was recorded on 24 April 1775!

Joseph may well have died of yellow fever in 1775, but not on 17 April. It looks like I’d be safe saying Joseph died AFTER 17 April 1775, based on the deed date, yes?

Take a look at the second land deed I found for Joseph and Eunice.


Coleman Deed on the Right

This time, Joseph Coleman and wife Eunice, along with Timothy Coleman and wife Mary, are selling land that was part of the estate of their deceased father, Joseph Coleman.

So far, so good here, too, as Joseph and Timothy were sons of Joseph Coleman.

Look at the date, which is problematic for two reasons:

Either the clerk lied when he said “the above named Joseph Coleman & Wife personally Appeared before me. . . .on June Second 1788 or Joseph Coleman didn’t die of yellow fever off the coast of Guinea in 1775 or maybe ever!

Somehow, I don’t think the clerk made up a date, as he also noted the appearance of Timothy and Mary Coleman on 21 March 1789.

The second problem is that Eunice reportedly removed to Orange County, New York with her cousin, Benjamin Coffin, and other friends and relatives no later than 1781, when Joseph’s and Eunice’s daughter, Tamar, married Daniel Birdsall on 7 February 1781 in New Windsor, Orange, New York.

Eunice is last mentioned in 1799 in the will of her cousin, Benjamin Coffin, who died in Orange County, New York, and called her the widow Coleman.

There is no doubt that Eunice and her children removed to Orange County, New York, as there are documents that support their life in that locale.

Until I found this 1788 land deed, I had no evidence that Joseph Coleman ever left Massachusetts unless he went to sea, and, what occupation would a mariner follow in landlocked Newburgh, New York?

It is for certain that Joseph Coleman died before April 1791, as both the probate court in Nantucket and the court in Ulster County, New York (which borders Orange County) note Eunice Coleman as administratrix of the estate of Joseph Coleman, deceased.

These records beg the question then – exactly when and where did Joseph Coleman die?

Phew! I thought I was pretty much finished with researching that one Coleman family.  I need to take a step back and re-examine all of the records I’ve now accumulated about the family of Joseph and Eunice Coleman. Until today, I thought they were a stable family, having lived in Nantucket for generations, and life didn’t really change until Eunice was widowed in 1775 and chose to move the family to Newburgh, New York. That decision was one made by many Nantucket families, as they felt like they were sitting ducks, living on the war front and on an island no less,  during the Revolution.

More on this family is coming up soon.