Editor's note: Today's post was written by Sandra Gardner-Benward with help from Marilyn Richter-Ulbricht, Charlene Harvey-Eberwine and Toni Couch-Ryan
You always dream about being somewhere and you actually run into a living descendant. Someone you don't know but run into each other and discover just by chance that you are related. It seems a long shot but it does happen. AND it has happened just lately to two of our members of
Root Cellar SGS.
Our extraction committee meets every Friday morning at the
Center for Sacramento History. We are a pretty close knit group and follow each others adventures,trips and vacations.
COFFIN / COFFYN
During one Friday morning at the Center ....
As we were all gathering on a Friday morning to begin our ritual of extraction members are greeting each other and welcoming others back from breaks or vacations. Linda (Johnson)Wensrich was talking to Charlene Harvey) Eberwine about her Boston trip. We were all very interested in the details of her trip. Charlene mentioned she had ancestors from
Newbury, Massachusetts by the surname of COFFIN.
Toni and Charlene
As a member of Colonial Dames of the XVII
Century, Toni (Couch) Ryan has been immersed in genealogy for the last 4 years or so in
order to provide proof that she descends from immigrants to the original
colonies of
America. She had spent numerous hours researching her
COFFIN ancestry, so was very familiar with that surname!.
The two Coffin women then “compared notes”, "searched their family trees" and discovered that
they share a
9th great-grandfather, Tristram Coffyn [Coffin]
(1608-1681). He came to Massachusetts from England in 1642. Toni told some
of the interesting history of Tristram and his family with her
new-found ninth cousin once removed. The Coffin name
is still well known in some areas of Massachusetts. Tristram was one of the original owners of
the Island of Nantucket. In 1659 he
headed up a consortium of 20 men (including 2 of
his sons and a son-in-law and a GREENLEAF ancestor of
Charlene’s) who purchased Nantucket for the whopping amount of thirty
pounds, two beaver hats, one for the seller
himself and one for the seller’s wife! Tristram Coffyn’s ancestry has been traced
to Sir Richard Coffyn, Knight, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England
in the year 1066. As a result, the manor
of Alwington in the County of Devon, England was assigned to Sir Richard. There’s no doubt that Toni and Charlene have
a very deep ROOT CELLAR! [sorry chart is not readable in this shot]
What a great story! It pays to get involved. It pays to talk to people about your family and your finds. It pays to listen to what others are talking about, you never know where their ancestors are from or who they are.
Be open, listen and talk to others.
Have you met a new 'someone' you are related too? Want to share? Send to Sandi
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