Notes
Note N212
Index
He arrived in the "Susan and Ellen" in 1638
The Susan and Ellen left London April 11, 1638 with her Master, Edward Payne, arriving in New England on July 17, 1638.
Notes
Note N213
Index
After 1630 Robert 9 Coe and his family totally disappear forever from the registers of Boxford and all the neighboring parishes. On Apr. 30, 1634, there embarked at Ipswich, the port of co. Suffolk and fifteen miles east of Boxford, on the ship Francis bound for New Eng- land, Robert Cooe aged 38, Anna Cooe his wife aged 43, and children John Cooe aged 8, Robert Cooe aged 7, and Benjamin Cooe aged 5. (Custom House Archives at Record Office, London, printed in Hotten's "Original Lists" of early emigrants to America, pp. 278-80.) Except for the name of the eldest son (which discrepancy is explainable), the names and ages of the family of the Robert Coe of the shipping-list agree with the records of the family of the Robert 9 Coe of Thorpe- Morieux and Boxford who disappear from there; so the identity of the two families must be regarded as certain, as for two different families to have such duplicate records is incredible. That Robert Coe, the colonist of New England, was identical with Robert 9 Coe of Boxford, England, is further indicated by the following evidence. In a petition to the Dutch government at New Amsterdam [New York] in 1661 by Robert Coe the colonist, he calls Richard Crabb "brother-in-law." (Dutch Mss., Albany, N. Y., vol. 9.) Just how this relationship existed is not clear; Coe may have married a sister of Crabb, the latter may have married a sister of Coe, or Coe and Crabb may have married sisters. This Richard Crabb appears in Wethers- field, Conn., in 1637, was later at Stamford and Greenwich, Conn., and finally at Oyster Bay, L. I., where he died in 1685. We have not been able to find the name of his first wife whom he married in England; his second wife, whom he married after 1675, was Alice, widow of Peter Wright of Oyster Bay, L. I. In the early part of the seventeenth century there were Crabb families in numerous parishes in Essex county, England, but Boxford and Groton are the only Suffolk parishes in which the name appears at that period. A John Crabb of Boxford had three grandsons named Richard Crabb, born respectively in 1597, 1600, and 1605; doubtless one of these was the emigrant to New Eng- land and "brother-in-law" of Robert Coe, progenitor in New England of the Coe family of America.
1. ROBERT COE (Henry 8 , John'' "the elder," John 6 "the younger," John s , Thomas*, John 3 , John 2 , John 1 ), the progenitor in New England of most of the Coes in America, was born at Thorpe-Morieux, a small rural parish in Suffolk county, England, and was baptized in the ancient and picturesque church there, Oct. 26, 1596, as recorded in the old parish registers still preserved. His father Henry Coe was a substantial yeoman, probably also a clothmaker, and a man of character and stand- ing in the community, holding for several years at Thorpe-Morieux the honorable position of church warden. But few memorials of Robert Coe in England have been discovered, and of his early life no details are known. Doubtless he remained in his native parish with his parents during their residence there until after 1610, but his exact residence thereafter is uncertain until he appears in 1625 in Boxford, co. Suffolk (then a populous and thriving rural and manufacturing parish), about eight miles south of Thorpe-Morieux, where he lived until his removal to America in 1634. His education was superior to that of the majority in his station of life at that period, and perhaps at some time he may have attended the Boxford Grammar School, founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1596. It is also likely that he early learned the clothmaking business, then flourishing in Suffolk, as the first record found of him in manhood is his election to the office of over- seer of cloth at Boxford, Apr. 18, 1625, implying he was versed in that business. That he was of good repute and held in esteem is shown by the fact that in 1629 he was chosen "questman" of the Boxford church, an office now called sidesman. (Church Wardens' Accounts of Boxford.) Religious conditions and environment were the dominant factors in determining for Robert Coe a career different from the lives of his ancestors. During his early manhood Puritanism, which had been growing in England for a generation, became paramount in Essex and Suffolk, and persecution of its adherents resulted in the great Puritan emigration to New England in 1630 under the leadership of Gov. John Winthrop of Groton, co. Suffolk, the parish adjoining Boxford on the north. Brought up amid Puritan influences, Robert Coe became imbued with their fervid faith and desire for religious liberty, and joined the throng that left their beloved ancestral home and braved the perils of the deep and the hardships of pioneer life in a wilderness infested with hostile savages, to found a nation in the New World. "What sought they thus afar? - Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? - They sought a Faith's pure shrine " 72 ROBERT COE, PURITAN In the spring of 1634, Robert Coe took his family to Ipswich, the port of Suffolk county, and about fifteen miles east of Boxford, and there on Apr. 30, 1634, they were among the eighty-three passengers who embarked for New England in the ship Francis, commanded by Capt. John Cutting. At the Record Office in London is still preserved the roll of the ship's passengers taken at the Custom House in Ipswich, on which appears Robert Cooe aged 38, Anna Cooe his wife aged 43, and children John Cooe aged 8, Robert Cooe aged 7, and Benjamin Cooe aged 5. (See Hotten's "Original Lists" of early emigrants to America, pp. 278-80.) In those days a voyage to New England took about ten weeks, so Robert Coe probably arrived in Boston in July 1634, and he immediately went to Watertown, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, where he found located many settlers who came with Gov. Winthrop in 1630 from the vicinity of Boxford in England. The first mention of his name in New Eng- land is his admission as a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on Sept. 3, 1634, showing previous admission to the church which was a re- quisite to be freeman, i. e., a citizen entitled to vote and hold public office. (Records of Massachusetts Bay Colony, vol. 1, p. 369.) His residence at Watertown lasted less than a year as the town became crowded by the influx of new settlers; so in June, 1635, Robert Coe joined with a few others in starting a new plantation at Wethersfield, Conn., in the fertile valley of the Connecticut River, being dismissed from the Water- town church May 29, 1635, as appears from the following document: "Whereas there was a dismission granted by the C [hurch] of Waterton in the Masachusetts, dated 29 th of May last to Andrewe Warde, Jo: Sherman, Jo: Stickland, Rob'te Coo, Rob'te Reynoll, & Jonas Weede, w ,h intent to forme anewe in a Ch: Covennte on this River of Conecte- cott, the saide p r ties have soe accordingly done w tb the publicke allow- ance of the rest of the members of saide Churches, as by certificate nowe p r duced app rs . It is therefore in this p r sent Cort ratified & confirmed, they p r missing shortlie publicquely to renewe the [said] Covennte uppon notice to the rest of the Churches." April 26, 1636. (Col. Rec. of Conn., vol. 1, p. 2.) Robert Coe resided at Wethersfield, Conn., about five years. His house stood on a three acre homelot situated at what is now the north- west corner of East Main and Broad Streets. Besides this homelot he also owned several other parcels of land in Wethersfield, amounting to twelve acres of meadow, thirteen acres of swamp, and over a hundred acres of upland, recorded Apr. 28, 1641. (Town Records, vol. 1, p. 196.) These lands he sold to James Boosey who had them recorded May 11, 1644. (Ibid. p. 81.) On May 4, 1641, Robert Coe had recorded a tract of nine hundred acres which he bought of Matthew Mitchell, bounded west on the Connecticut River and south on Sturgeon River [now called Roaring Brook] and extending three miles easterly up same, and north on land of Mr. Chaplin. This latter great tract, situated in the present town of Glastonbury, he sold to Robert Rose who had it recorded Nov. 4, 1643. (Ibid. p. 117.) A few years after >s s^ HIS SETTLEMENT AT STAMFORD 73 the settlement of Wethersfield a disagreement arose in the church there, the exact nature of which is not certainly known, but it has been claimed that it was caused by a faction to which Robert Coe belonged desiring a form of church government of a nature similar to that of the present Presbyterian church. After fruitless efforts by the churches at Water- town and New Haven to reconcile the dissension, it was proposed that one faction should withdraw. Accordingly in November, 1640, Robert Coe and his adherents purchased lands for a new plantation at Stamford, Conn., and removed thither, under the following agreement: Nov. 4, 1640. "Whereas Andrew Ward and Robt. Coe of Weathersfield were deputed by Weathersfield men on the 30 th of the 8 th moneth comonly called October 1640 to treate w'h the court att Newhaven about the plantatio (lately purchased by said towne) called Toquams, w°h being considered of, itt was agreed upon by the said court and ptyes aforesaid that they shall have the said plantatio upon these tearmes following: First, thatt they shall repay unto the said towne of Newhave all the charges w c h they have disbursed about itt, w c h comes to 33 1. as appeares by a note or scedule hereunto annexed. Secondly thatt they reserve a fift pt of the said plantatio to be disposed off att the appoynt of this court to such desireable psons as may be expected, or as God shall send hither, provided that if wthin one whole yeare such psons doe not come to fill up those lotts so reserved, thatt then itt shall be free for the said people to nominate and present to this court some psons of their own choyce w c h may fill up some of those lotts so reserved, if this court approve of them. Thirdly thatt they joyne in all poynts w th the plantatio in the forme of goverm' here settled according to agreem 1 betwixt this court and Mr. Samuell Eaton about the plantatio of Totokett. These articles being read, together w th Mr. Sam: Eatons agreem ts in the hearing of the said partyes or deputyes, itt was accepted by them and in witnes thereof they subscribed their names to the articles in the face of the court." (Colonial Records of New Haven, vol. 1, p. 45.) The settlement at Stamford, Conn., took place in the early spring of 1641, and Robert Coe was granted a homelot of fourteen acres, but two of the company of twenty-eight proprietors having a larger amount. * (History of Stamford, p. 19.) He seems to have been the leading man at Stamford, being appointed a magistrate there on Apr. 5, 1643, and serving as deputy to the General Court at New Haven the same year and also in 1644 (Colonial Records of New Haven, vol. 1, pp. 85, 129); but his residence there was destined to be of brief duration. With the growth of the town from new settlers and attempts by the government *On Dec. 7, 1641, a John Coe was granted a houselot of two acres and a wood-, lot of three acres at Stamford, as appears by the town records. (This cannot refer to John 2 Coe, son of Robert 1 , who was then but a boy of sixteen years.) It is likely this John Coe had recently arrived from England and he was probably a relative of Robert Coe, perhaps the John ' ° Coe bapt. at Stoke-Nayland, co. Suffolk, Apr. 14, 1622, son of Henry 9 Coe own cousin of Robert Coe. (See ante p. 62; and for account of this John Coe and his descendants, see Appendix I.) 74 ROBERT COE, PURITAN at New Haven to regulate its affairs, in a short time a difficulty arose in the Stamford church similar to that which had caused the withdrawal from the Wethersfield church; and the faction led by Rev. Richard Denton and Robert Coe, despairing of success in living at peace in their views under Connecticut jurisdiction, in 1644 crossed the Sound to Long Island (then under the Dutch government at New Amsterdam, after its conquest by the English in 1664 called New York), where a new settlement was established which was named Hempstead. A church was immediately organized of which Robert Coe is said to have been chosen elder, and here he remained eight years, acquired extensive grants of land, some of which he retained until near the close of his life, and was the magistrate of the town under the Dutch government. But the energetic and enterprising spirit of Robert Coe craved for further activities, and in the spring of 1652 he was the leader in the for- mation of another new settlement a few miles further west on Long Island at a place then known as Mespat, which had previously been settled in 1642, but had been destroyed in the following year in an Indian attack, and abandoned. ("Annals of Newtown," pp. 17-20.) A patent was obtained from the Dutch government at New Amsterdam (later New York) and the land was bought from the Indians. The pro- prietors immediately organized a new church of which Rev. John Moore became pastor and Robert Coe elder. The new settlement was at first called Middleburg, and later for a few months in 1664, Hastings, but in 1665 was permanently named Newtown. On a rate made in 1656 for the Indian payment, fifty-five proprietors appear; the land was purchased at 1 sh. per acre and the assessments varied from 2 sh. to £4, only Robert Coe and Edward Jessup paying this largest sum. ("Annals of Newtown," p. 43.) Mr. Coe remained at Middleburg (New- town) for four years, being the most prominent man in the town and the local magistrate during the whole period of his residence there. (Ibid. p. 418.) In 1653 he went to Boston as the deputy of the town to invoke the protection of the Massachusetts Bay Colony against the Indians who were threatening to attack the English settlements on Long Island, and in November of the same year he was sent as a deputy to New Amsterdam to confer with the Dutch government for the common safety. (Ibid. pp. 31-3.) The settlement at Newtown being well established, Robert Coe made over his interests there to his eldest son John 2 Coe, and in the spring of 1656 was again the leader of another new settlement, he and his youngest son Benjamin 2 Coe and several others having purchased of the Indians in September preceding, a large tract of land south of Newtown, and removing thither founded the town of Jamaica (in the Dutch records also called Rustdorp), by patent from the Dutch govern- ment dated Mar. 21, 1655-6. At the first town meeting held Feb. 18, 1655-6, a house lot was granted to Robert Coe and another to his son Benjamin 2 Coe; also on Jan. 13, 1657-8, is recorded, "It is this day granted by ye town that Mr. Robert Coe and his son Benjamin shall take up, possess, and enjoy ten acres of land apiece at ye rear off theire HIS SETTLEMENT AT JAMAICA, L. I. 75 home lots." (Records of Jamaica, vol. 1, pp. 1, 5, 6.) The Records of Jamaica contain also the following references to Robert Coe: Apr. 30, 1659, the town engaged to pay Mr. Coe of Rustdorp £11-17-0 (vol. 1, p. 20); Dec. 20, 1662, the town appointed Mr. Coe, goodman Benedict, goodman Smith, and Daniel Denton a committee to settle the minister (vol. 1, p. 22); Feb. 14, 1662-3, Mr. Coe, goodman Bene- dict, and Daniel Denton appointed to make a rate for the maintenance of Mr. Walker, the minister (vol. 1, p. 25); Aug. 30, 1663, Mr Coe and Ralph Keeler appointed to make a contract with George Norton to build a meeting-house 26 ft. square (vol. 1, p. 27). Robert Coe's title of "Mr." (then a mark of distinction) shows his high position in the community. On Nov. 20, 1660, Robert Coe aged sixty-four years deposed in regard to certain boundaries in Hempstead; and in a petition to the Dutch government dated May 9, 1661, Robert Coe refers to Richard Crabbe as his brother-in-law. (Dutch Mss. at Albany, N. Y., vol. 9.) (Just how Robert Coe bore this relationship to Richard Crabb has not been established. The latter was of Wethersfield 1637 to 1641, and then successively at Stamford and Greenwich, Conn., and Oyster Bay, L. I., where he died in 1685. The name of his first wife is not known. He married second, after 1675, Alice, widow of Peter Wright of Oyster Bay.) Robert Coe was appointed by the Dutch government in 1658 the magistrate for Jamaica, and held that office until 1664. During this period a turmoil arose in Jamaica over the prosecution of some Quaker, and on Jan. 28, 1662-3, it was ordered that all records at Rustdorp be delivered to Mr. Robert Coe, actual magistrate and oldest inhabitant of the town. In the autumn of 1663 the English population on Long Island revolted from the Dutch government at New Amsterdam and transferred their allegiance to Connecticut; following this revolution, in May 1664, Robert Coe was deputy for Jamaica to the General Court at Hartford, by which body he was appointed commissioner (or magistrate) for Jamaica. (Col. Records of Conn., vol. 1, pp. 425-8.) Aug. 27 the same year New Amsterdam surrendered to an English fleet and force commanded by Col. Richard Nicolls who became its governor as an English province, the name being changed to New York. On the reorganization of the government by the English, Long Island returned to the jurisdiction of New York as a county called Yorkshire; Robert Coe was appointed judge of courts of oyer and terminer held Apr. 7, and July 2, 1669, and from October 1669 to September 1671, he was high-sheriff of Yorkshire. (Report of Historian of N. Y., vol. 1, pp. 237 and 246; also N. Y. Civil List, p. 421.) At the age of seventy-five the patriarch retired from the office of high sheriff, and withdrew to private life, appearing no further in public office. In July 1673 New York surrendered to a force of Dutch who again controlled the government until November 1674, when by treaty between England and Holland it was ceded to the former. At a court held 76 ROBERT COE, PURITAN under this temporary Dutch regime on Dec. 12, 1673, Robert Coe was unjustly sued by a Dutchman for £15, and the fearless independence of the aged Puritan is shown when at the next court held Jan. 30, 1673-4, the court messenger announced he had served a summons on Coe to appear "who said he had nothing to do with this Council and would not come." (Records of New Amsterdam, vol. 7, pp. 33 and 48-49.) Of the patriarch's old age but few glimpses are seen. During his active life he settled most of his estate on his three sons; and in February 1674-5 when almost an octogenarian he married a third wife Jane, formerly wife of John Smith and also of Edward Rouse, she being nearly a score of years his junior. On Nov. 29, 1678, he bought of Jonah Fordham a farm of fifty acres at Foster's Meadow in Hempstead where he settled with this bride of his old age and passed his declining days. (Printed Records of Hempstead, vol. 1, p. 441.) The following land records furnish the final mention of him: On June 9, 1687, Robert Coe and Jane his wife conveyed to their son John Smith, late of Jamaica, a house and fifty acres of land at Foster's Meadow, after their decease, etc.; June 28, 1690, Know all men by these presents that since my son John Smith has been so kind as to make over above deed by bill of sale for me to sell for my comfort, I the said Jane Coe of Foster's Meadow in Hempstead do give to my son John Smith of St. Jonses in Kent Co. upon Dover River in the Province of * Penn., whatever estate I may leave at my decease. (Printed Records of Hempstead, L. I., vol. 8, pp. 246-7.) From this document it seems likely that Robert Coe died about 1689 at the advanced age of about ninety-two years. No record of his death or place of burial has been found, and as he disposed of all his property in his lifetime there are no probate records of him. In the foregoing records gleaned of Robert Coe we see in him a fine example of the Puritan of his day; a man of vigorous physique, restless energy, strict integrity, strong convictions, and great force of character; and these characteristics have remained impressed on his descendants for generations. His abilities and worth were recognized by his con- temporaries by whom he was honored for many years with numerous positions of trust which he filled with ability, performing well his part in laying the foundations of a new nation. Robert Coe married first in England about 1623, Mary , who was the mother of all his children. Her burial is recorded, "Marie Coe the wife of Robert Coe the 27 th of October, 1628." (Burials in Registers of Boxford.) Efforts to ascertain her ancestry have been fruitless. His second marriage is recorded in the Registers of Assington, co. Suffolk, the parish adjoining Boxford on the south: "Robert Coe & Hannah Dearslay, April 29 th 1630." She came to New England with her husband, but the time of her death is unknown. Whether she were a maid or widow when she married Robert Coe does not appear. She was doubtless connected with a Dearsley family of Edwardstone, co. * That part of Pennsylvania later and now Delaware. HIS DESCENDANTS. SECOND GENERATION 77 Suffolk (the parish adjoining Boxford on the northwest), one of whom, Thomas Dearsley, became rector there about 1590, and held the living half a century; but a careful search among all available Dearsley records fails to establish her place in the family. He married third, at Long Island, by license dated Feb. 15, 1674-5, Jane Rouse. (Printed N. Y. Marriage License Bonds, p. 83.) Fur- ther details of this marriage appear in the Records of the Council of N. Y. : "Feb. 15, 1674-5. Read and considered the petition of Robert Coe of Rustdorp, requesting to be admitted in marriage state with Jane Rause, widow of Edward Rause, who died two and a half years ago at Carolina; ordered that the Magistrates of the town of Rustdorp inquire as to the certainty of said Edward Rause's death, and report their conclusions." (Printed Col. Doc. of N. Y., vol. 2, p. 688.) Jane the third wife of Robert Coe, was first the wife of John Smith of Taunton, Mass., to whom she was married about 1633; they were pioneers in the original settlement at Mespat, L. I., where her husband was killed in the Indian raid which destroyed the settlement in 1643. Her second husband was Edward Rouse who died in 1672, and she married third Robert Coe, as above. In 1701 she deposed before John 3 Coe and Nicholas Everett, justices, as to the birth of John Ludlam, son of William and Elizabeth Ludlam. (N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Record, vol. 15, p. 93.) Children of Robert and Mary Coe recorded at Boxford, co. Suffolk, England :