Mary (Gardner) Coffin

see nha.org

This post has some information about one of the Nantucket Gardners. Earlier, we took a brief look at the Whaling Gardners. We will have to gather more information about John and Richard who were sons of Thomas and Margaret.

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Mary was the daughter of John Gardner who had moved to Nantucket at the offer of some land. She was born in Salem in 1670. The Nantucket Historical Association has a painting of Mary (see Search Collections) that was done in 1717 by the Pollard Limner (see Timeline).

In 1686, Mary married Jethro Coffin (example descendants list). Also, their house is the 'oldest house' on Nantucket.

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There is a painting at the NHA that shows Mary, as a young woman, running from an Indian. It will be interesting to find the story behind this painting.

Remarks:

01/07/2020 -- While looking for information on Joseph Gardner (brother of John) and Ann Downing, I found a reference to Thomas. It was written a year ago - The Gardners: Cape Ann planters that they were called. Also, there was some information on the Coffin family. In particular, there is a post about Mary (Coffin) Starbuck with the photo (above) of Mary (Gardner) Coffin. NHA and the National Gallery of Portraits say that the painting of of Mary Gardner. Looks like a task for Gardner Research to look into. See Gardner's gate.

04/20/2015 -- John helped map the Merrimack, as a young man. ... Mary in Eliza's database.

06/02/2012 -- Search results expired so brought in the image.

03/28/2012 -- Mark E. Miner's site has an interesting look at the Coffin/Gardner conflict that was related to full, versus half, ownership.

12/18/2011 -- Cotton Mather described John Gardner as being well acquainted with the Indians. Nantucket Town provides an interesting story about the Coffin and Gardner families and about the feud that went on between the family heads. The marriage of Mary and Jethro helped to settle, it is said, the controversies (as did the demise of the older guys). Her uncle, Richard, is said to have been of considerable education. John and Richard were both Magistrates, several times. Too, they performed many roles within the community.

12/18/2011 -- Added snapshot of the nha.org page with Mary's portrait. The site has over 600 images related to the Gardner family, including historical photos. 

Modified: 01/07/2020

Richard and John (and Thomas)

While browsing, I found a short piece that covered some of the Nantucket families. It was written by Lydia Swain Mitchell Hinchman in 1896. Some of the families were Mitchell, Coffin, Swain, Swift, Folger, and Stanton.

Earlier, we looked at Coffin (Lucretia (Coffin) Mott) and some of the whalers. In a couple of places, we have considered that collateral families are something to look at in depth. From Lydia's list, it is easy to identify the descendants of Thomas.

For instance, we can consider Edwin M. Stanton (Clemons, et al). He served, for a time, as Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

A search finds other Stantons that would be interesting to look at.

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A real treat, though, was a collection of Coffin stories. As depicted on the first page, the Gardners and the Coffins met on Nantucket; of course, early associations seemed to be iffy given the strong mindedness of the parties. However, things eventually work out as we see with all of the genealogy trees with both families on them.

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One thing to note is that John wanted the main town of Nantucket to be called Sherborne. We saw that, too, in the post related to the Folger writeup. Sherborne is in Dorset. John said that it was his hometown which he would have heard from his father, being too young to know when they left.

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If we searched, how many of these types of stories could we find? Would not they then go into an interesting account?

That is, would you not want to know some quote, or such, that could be attributable to Thomas?

Remarks:

03/01/2019 -- We're building an index by images on our Portal to truth.

09/25/2018 -- Recently the Profile for Thomas Gardner on WikiTree changed to only have the two wives. This was due to research and discussion to which Gardner Research contributed. Earlier, there was a post that summarized the issue and accomplishment: Margaret, anew. Thanks are extended to all who made this update possible. The Profile is managed by the Puritan Great Migration Project sponsored by the NEHGS, publisher of the Great Migration books. So, Sherborne, as John said (see this page for images of documents).

11/23/2016 -- Looking further into Dr. Frank's periodical, "The Massachusetts Magazine," we found R.A. Douglas-Lithgow as a contributor. He also wrote on Nantucket, and more.

07/12/2015 -- We mention abductive approaches (my career was spent in advanced computing - software and modelling, essentially). Please refer, at least, to C.S. Peirce's (we mentioned him in an earlier post - Benjamin Peirce) work in the area. [Love it: From Ugly Duckling to Swan]

07/12/2015 -- Okay, turtle speed. But, we get there. Announcing a new project: Sherborne, Dorset. No doubt, it is about time. When finished with the data collection and analysis, we will present the strongest story (the prerogative of the family) that the facts, and abductive reasoning, will support. As such, we hope to demonstrate some very much needed research viewpoints.

10/03/2014 -- Recent find of a marriage record for Thomas Gardner and Margaret Friar in the records of Sherborne.

04/20/2012 -- Story about John's efforts to establish peaceful relationships with the Indians.

03/28/2012 -- Mark E. Miner's site has an interesting look at the Coffin/Gardner conflict that was related to full, versus half, ownership. See post on Mary (Gardner) Coffin.

Modified: 03/01/2019

Lucretia (Coffin) Mott

Thomas' descendants list contains many social reformers. Lucretia (Coffin) Mott stands out for her activism activities, such as co-founding the Pennsylvania Anti-slavery Society and the American Equal Rights Association.

She spoke at the International Anti-Slavery Convention that was held in London, England in 1840. She, along with other women attendees such as Baroness Byron, was included in the commemorative painting of the convention.

 Lucretia (Coffin) Mott
 Ancestory Archives

Lucretia was a descendant of Thomas and Margaret through son Richard. Both of her parents (Thomas Coffin and Anna Folger) were from families who arrived early to New England. She grew up on Nantucket Island and then attended a Quaker School in New York (Nine Partners Meeting House and Cemetery). After graduating, she also taught at the school which is where she met her husband (James Mott).

Lucretia, in 1864, helped found Swarthmore College.

Remarks:

02/16/2019 -- Lucretia's family leased land to the government to establish a military training ground: Camp William Penn.

12/14/2018 -- Added image from Ancestory Archives.

07/19/2015 -- A Swarthmore alumni: James A. Michener.

01/07/2014 -- Thanks to Melissa Berry for using this on anceSTORY archives.

01/07/2014 -- Removed the tree pointers (see rationale).

02/01/2013 -- Update rootsweb references for Larson tree.

03/07/2012 -- Updated links to George Larson, II's work (internal pointers changed due to a database update -- one problem with the current link method, since it is dependent upon the structure of the tree).

07/21/2011 -- More on Nantucket.

Modified: 02/16/2019

Whaling Gardners

Last time, we looked at Ebenezer who moved from Nova Scotia to Maine during the war. Then, we discovered a book on the Maine Gardners.

This time, let's consider some of the families on Nantucket. Recall that we earlier quoted William C. Folger in talking about how family stories abound. One of our tasks is firming up the basis for these in order to carry forward a strong foundation to the future (arguable, of course).

Earlier, I saw a page on Wikipedia about the Whaling Gardners. I did not, at the time, know whether they were related to Thomas and Margaret. Now, I know that they are.

Essex Disaster

I put Gideon Gardner (Thomas, Richard, Richard -- pedigree via Coffin family) on the Descendants list. One goal for the descendants list has been to have a wide collection, and varied to show the expanse, as Thomas' progeny set is very large both in accumulation (across all of the generations) and in count of those who are, concurrently, on the planet and who have Thomas and Margaret among their ancestors.

We could also look at possible interactions between cousins, such as we saw in the post on Lady Franklin Bay expedition. Captain George William Coffin (Thomas, Richard, John) was of the Nantucket family.

Dr.Frank's book lists many mariners. It might be interesting to collect these. For instance, in my readings of the past few days, I saw a reference to John Paul Jones in some situation with which a Gardner was involved. I'll have to find that.

Remarks: Modified: 12/30/2021

07/21/2011 -- More on Nantucket.
12/30/2015 -- The settlers of Nantucket (Donahue family site).
03/19/2021 -- Added photo to use for icon for our portal listing. 

Two cousins

The descendants list for Thomas and Margaret holds a lot of potential stories, from the early times onward. As mentioned before, we want to look at some of these before coming forward with Dr Frank A.'s tree (RD, et al). In some cases, we have separate lines merging back together.

So, we can talk about the meeting of two cousin lines. The first of the cousins, General Adolphus Greely (ancestors) is from John and Sarah (Gardner) Balch through their son, Freeborn. After serving in the Army in the Civil War, he became an explorer. He led, as a First Lieutenant, the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-1884) that found itself stranded because of the inability of supply ships to reach their location. There were follow-up attempts, but his wife succeeded in her efforts to keep the interest up. What was left of the team was rescued by Admiral Schley.

3 -- Coffin, 22 -- Greely
July 1884, USS Thetis

Now, the second of the cousins commanded one of the rescue vessels. He was Captain George William Coffin (ancestors). He is a descendant of Richard and Sarah (Shattuck) Gardner through their son, John. George was a US Naval Academy graduate and spent much of his career at sea. For the rescue, George captained the HMS Alert which had been lent to the US by Britain for the specific purpose of the relief mission.

Needless to say, the Schley attempt was successful, as one descendant, of Thomas and Margaret, came to the aid of the other in an event that was five generations removed from the early times.

Remarks:

04/18/2023 -- While researching Donner Pass and the California Trail, we ran into Horace Greeley's writeup of his trip west in 1859. ... He shares an ancestor with Adolphus. Also, here is the Naval Career for Capt. George William Coffin. 

06/03/2021 -- Sir Franklin had been in the area in the 1840s while looking for the Northwest Passage. He and his crew disappeared. In the 1850s, a rescue attempt was made that included the ship, H.M.S. Resolute which got stuck. It was abandoned and discovered later by a whaling crew. And, the Resolute was returned to England. Queen Victoria had its timber used for ceremonial furniture. A desk in the White House was one of the pieces.  

02/18/2018 -- Written seven years ago, when I was still a newbie. Such as, I didn't know the different towns of Essex County. I had to wonder what North Shore meant. In the western part off the U.S., towns are far apart. What is it like to live cheek to jowl with your neighbors? 

10/31/2014 -- AnceSTORY archives (02/18/2018, this blog is no longer around).

07/06/2013 -- While researching for Gardner's Beacon, Vol. III, No. 2, I ran across this photograph (Wikipedia) that has both of the cousins in close proximity on the USS Thetis. The team lost several men (there is another photo of the team in 1881), but there were some accomplishments. For instance, a new farthest north was attained by two of the members: 83°24′N 40°46′W.

05/21/2011 -- Sarah (Gardner) Balch.

Modified: 04/18/2023