Mary COFFIN

1645 - 1717  (72 years)

• Name	Mary COFFIN
  Nickname	Great Mary
  Birth	20 Feb 1645	Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony
  Gender	Female
  Reference Number	102848
  Reference Number	115615
  Reference Number	60
  WWW	https://www.WikiTree.com/wiki/Coffin-183
  Death	13 Sep 1717	Nantucket, Massachusetts Bay Colony
  Person ID	I305	Gummer
  Last Modified	1 Aug 2024

  
  

  Father	Governor Tristram COFFIN, Sr.,   b. 11 Mar 1608, Brixton, Devon, England d. 2 Oct 1681, Nantucket, Dukes, New York (now Massachusetts) (Age 73 years)
  Mother	Dionis STEVENS,   b. Bef 4 Mar 1610, Brixton, Devon, England d. Aft 2 Oct 1681, Nantucket, New York Colony (Age > 71 years)
  Marriage	1630	Braxton, Devon, England
  Family ID	F72	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Nathaniel STARBUCK, Sr.,   b. 20 Feb 1635, Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire d. 6 Aug 1719, Nantucket, Nantucket, Massachusetts Bay (Age 84 years)
  Marriage	1662	Nantucket, Nantucket, Massachusetts
  Family ID	F308	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	1 Aug 2024

  
  

• Photos

  The Coffin Family Page 92

  
  

• Notes

  [[Category:Haverhill, Massachusetts One Place Study]] {{Nantucket Founders and Descendants|descendant}} [[Category: Descendants of Tristram Coffin-221]] [[Category: Nantucket Founders and Descendants]] [[Category: Haverhill, Massachusetts]] [[Category: Nantucket, Massachusetts]] [[Category: Nantucket Island Quakers]] [[Category: Founders Burial Ground, Nantucket, Massachusetts]] [[Category: Nantucket Monthly Meeting, Nantucket, Massachusetts]] == Biography == {{OnePlaceStudy| place = [[Space:Haverhill, Massachusetts One Place Study-1|Haverhill, Massachusetts]] | category = Haverhill, Massachusetts }} {{Quakers Sticker}}:Mary was the leading spirit in the organization of the Society of Friends. She became known as "The Great Mary" of Nantucket. She was a most extraordinary woman, participating in public gatherings and especially in Town Meetings, which were frequently held in her house. In 1701, under the influence of John Richardson, the famous Friend from England, and during his visit to Nantucket, she became a Friend and became the leader of a movement to establish a Friends Meeting on the island. This became a powerful influence in the lives of many persons, and for a long period exercised control over the affairs of the town. On account of her superior judgement, she was often consulted in town affairs as well as in religious matters. Until her death, she was probably the most influential person living on the island of Nantucket. :Mary Starbuck was called by writers of that period 'the great woman,' a 'Deborah' among them for her wisdom and great ability, being as often consulted in town affairs as she was in religious matters. She is said on the anthority of her eldest son, Nathaniel, Jr. to have been baptized by Peter Folger, in Waiptequage Pond; but about 1704 she became convinced of the truth as taught by the Friends, joined them, and became one of their ministers. Her family after that generally became Friends, and her son Nathaniel, and daughter Priscilla Coleman, and grandsons Elihu and Nathaniel Coleman, were at a later period Quaker ministers." :Nathaniel, Sr., and Mary Starbuck probably lived on the Cornish farm; Nathaniel, Jr., near the south end of Maxcy's Pond." :Reverend" Mary Coffin was born February 20, 1645 in Haverhill, Massachusetts just two years after her parents' arrival from Devonshire, England. She moved to Nantucket Island with her father, Tristram Coffin, who led the colonization of the island in 1660-1661. In 1662 she married Nathaniel Starbuck, a prosperous farmer, local official, and partner with her father.:"Great Mary," or the "Great Woman," as she is frequently referred to, was an exceptional woman. Born off-island in 1645, she and her husband Nathaniel were the first English couple married on Nantucket and parents of the first white child (a daughter, Mary) born on Nantucket Island, in 1663.:Mary (the mother) was the island's first storekeeper and Nathaniel invested in whaling. In later life she had a deep commitment to Quaker ideals and was instrumental in the growth and development of Nantucket's Religious Society of Friends.:Mother of ten children, of whom five daughters and three sons lived to maturity, Mary and her eldest son Nathaniel helped make Quakerism the leading religion on the island sometime after her own conversion from Puritanism by the Quakers of Providence, RI in 1701 at the age of 56. She was a minister, as were her children and grandchildren.:"The islanders esteemed [Mary Starbuck] as a judge among them, for little was done without her, as I understood," wrote Englishman John Richardson, describing his 1701 visit. He bestowed on her the epithet "the great woman," and in the same journal entry deprecated her husband as "not a man of mean parts but she so far exceeded him in soundness of judgment, clearness of understanding, and an elegant way of expressing herself ... that it tended to lessen the qualifications of her husband.":Mary was a "most extraordinary woman, participating in the practical duties and responsibilities of public gatherings and town meetings, on which occasions her words were always listened to with marked respect." For several years, Meetings or worships as well as Nantucket's political affairs were held in the "great fore-room" of her home which became known as "Parliament House," situated on what is now known as Island View Farm between the Macy's and the north head of Hummock ponds.:Despite Mary's involvement in the weighty matters of religion, she did not neglect domestic issues, as evidenced by a letter which Lydia Hinchman quotes in Early Settlers of Nantucket. In the aftermath of a fire experienced by her granddaughter, Eliza Gorham, Mary wrote to her: :Nantucket 17th of 1st mo 1714 :Dear Child E.G.:These few lines may certify thee that thou art often in my remembrance, with thy dear husband and children, with breathings to the Lord for you, that you may find rest in all your visitations and trials: and also that there is a trunk filled with goods which is intended to be put on Eben Stewards vessel, in which are several small tokens from thy friends which thou may particularly see by the invoices here enclosed, and by some other marks that are upon the things.:Thy Aunt Dorcas in a new pair of Osnaburg sheets, thy Aunt Dinah in a pair of blankets. Thy Grandfather intends to send thee a bbl. of mutton, but it is not all his own, for cousin James Coffin sent hither 17 pieces. Cousin James said he intended to send thee two or three bushels of corn.:There is likewise sent from our women's meeting £7 which thy uncle Jethro said he would give an order for, for thee to take to Boston.:Sister James told me she intended to send thee two bushels of corn and some wool and likewise that Justice Worth said he would send thee some corn.:More meat and corn will be sent which will be in larger quantities, which thy uncle Jethro Starbuck will give thee an acct. of or to thy husband.:I should have been glad if he had come over with Steward, but I hope we will see him this summer, if not both of you.:So with my kind love to thee and thy husband, children and to all our frds. committing you to the protection of the Almighty who is the wise disposer of all things and remain thy affectionate grandmother. === Marriage === : Husband: [[Starbuck-87|Nathaniel Starbuck]] : Wife: [[Coffin-637|Mary Coffin]] : Child: [[Starbuck-88|Mary Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-95|Elizabeth Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-97|Nathaniel Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-96|Jethro Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-90|Barnabas Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-91|Eunice Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-89|Priscilla Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-93|Hephzibah Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-94|Ann Starbuck]] : Child: [[Starbuck-98|Paul Starbuck]] == Research Notes ==(https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nantucket-came-to-be-whaling-capital-of-world-180957198/) Throughout the 17th century, English Nantucketers resisted all efforts to establish a church on the island, partly because a woman named Mary Coffin Starbuck forbade it. It was said that nothing of importance was undertaken on Nantucket without her consent. Mary Coffin and Nathaniel Starbuck had been the first English couple married on the island, in 1662, and had established a profitable outpost for trading with the Wampanoag. Whenever an itinerant minister arrived in Nantucket intending to establish a congregation, he was summarily rebuffed by Mary Starbuck. Then, in 1702, she succumbed to a charismatic Quaker minister, John Richardson. Speaking before a group assembled in the Starbucks’ living room, Richardson succeeded in moving her to tears. It was Mary Starbuck’s conversion to Quakerism that established the unique convergence of spirituality and covetousness that would underlie Nantucket’s rise as a whaling port. == Sources == * ''Nantucket County, Island and Town'', by Alexander Starbuck, publ. 1924 * ''The Island of Nantucket: What It Was and What It Is'', by Edward K. Godfrey, publ. 1882 by C.T. Dillingham. * ''Genealogy of the Gardner Family'', by Benjamin Hard Gardner, publ. 1953 in Aiken, South Carolina * Findagrave memorial [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=85295575 Mary Coffin Starbuck] * Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890, by Nathaniel Philbrick. New York: Penguin Books, 2011. Chapter 8 - Mary Starbuck, High Priestess of the Company Store. * Coffin, Allen, 1881. The Coffin Family: the life of Tristram Coffyn, of Nantucket, Mass., founder of the family line in America. Hussey & Robinson, publishers, Nantucket, Mass., [https://archive.org/details/coffinfamilylife00coff/page/53 pages 53, 56] * Coffin, Louis, ed. ''[[Space:The Coffin Family.|The Coffin Family.]]'' (Published by Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Mass., 1962). [https://archive.org/details/coffinfamilywith00coff/page/92/mode/1up Page 92] : Note: Letter to Granddaughter Eliza Gorham:: http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=78cb5e9b-19b4-470f-8742-0168ef5d16d0&tid=13989820&pid=1195898101 : Note: Mary Coffin - Early Settlers of Nantucket:: http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=01bf82cf-ddff-449f-b19c-01706dc80f87&tid=13989820&pid=1195898101 : Note: The Great Mary Starbuck:: http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=7777b600-2728-4539-8259-0a6ef6eb1c4b&tid=13989820&pid=1195898101