COFFIN
family
of Sunny Bank
| It is believed by some that the Coffin (or Coffyn)
family originated in Palestine or Greece. At the time of
the Norman Conquest, when the name first appears in
British history, the family showed signs of Norse or
ancient British characteristics. The Coffin family from
which the Gaspe Coffins descended lived in the northern
coast of Devonshire, England, within the parish of
Brixton. Tristram Coffin left his homeland in 1642 with
his wife, his mother, and two unmarried sisters, and
moved to America. Finally in 1660 he settled permanently
on Nantucket Island, of which he was one of the original
proprietors. It is from Tristram and his wife, Dionis Stevens, that most of America’s vast number of Coffins have descended. A great-great-grandson of his, Abraham, served as an officer on a British Navy Vessel during the American Revolution. This ship made frequent excursions into the St. Lawrence and often came to port in Gaspe. On one of these visits, in 1779, Abraham married Hannah Ascah. He received 600 acres of land in L’Anse aux Cousins, on which several members of the Coffin family still reside. Abraham built his house near the Mill Brook in L’Anse aux Cousins. Here he raised a family of 8 children. His fifth child, also called Abraham, married Annabella Boyle and moved to Wakeham. Their fourth child, again Abraham, settled in York. This Abraham’s son, Edward McGregor, settled on lot #19 in Sunny Bank, on what is now vacant property owned by Ralph Patterson. Only two families of Coffins were raised in Sunny Bank, and today not even a trace of their homestead remains. |