The Coffins, having a name it might seem well to consider changing, run unchanged back to the days of William the Conqueror, nearly a thousand years. The name Coffin brings some amusing incidents:

When I first went to Nantucket Island we stopped at the Nesbit House, but the hotel was full. The woman in charge said: "I can feed you, but you’ll have to sleep in Coffins."

The Coffins living next door had rooms to rent, but as she spoke it the statement was startling. That we should find Coffins and Nesbits living side by side in old Nantucket, whither we went to look up the history and monument of Tristram Coffin, struck me as very interesting.

One of the distinguished members of the family was given, as a rare kind of joke, the name of Pine—so Sir Pine Coffin he always was, and a very able and cultured gentleman.

When I was a boy a great family saying used to be: "There is luck in the Nesbit leisure." The Nesbits were all leisurely about doing things, a little inclined to procrastinate. There were instances which were sighted by one or another in defense of not having rushed to do something, and the result turned out to be advantageous. The family crest would seem to justify that family trait.

I quote a letter from Victor Bruce Grant, Heraldic Art Studio, Ann Arbor, Michigan, September 16th, 1930.

The Coat-of-Arms and Crest of the ancient family of Nesbit are recorded in the official register of the Scottish Lyon King of Arms as follows:

Boar’s heads erazed (ragged at neck).

Motto: "I byde liP ancient Doris Scotch, meaning "I wait."

The Nesbits had their origin in Scotland, where for centuries they played a prominent part in great Scottish national events. In the records of the family the name has been variably spelled —Nesbit, Nesbitt, Nesbett and Nesbet, the latter method was the ancient spelling of the family name.

The Nesbits were, because of their large land possessions and prominence, granted armorial bearings in the early Fifteenth Century. A century before, and during the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, they suffered much, and very many members of the family sought fortune on the continent of Europe and in the American Colonies, where some of them achieved distinction. Notable were the Nesbits of Tournaises in France. In spite of the scattering of the family, the Nesbit Arms, as depicted on the panel, have been borne by them, unaltered through the centuries.

The French Nesbits referred to above, have the Nesbit Arms recorded in the Armorial General, Volume IV, plate CCXC, figure 4, which may be consulted in any large public library.

The Nesbit Arms are also duly recorded as previously stated, in the official register of the Scottish Lyon King of Arms, and are so blazoned in Burke’s "General Armoury", page 735.

The Nesbit Armorial bearings are from a heraldic and historical, as well as from an artistic standpoint among the most notable in Armorial Annals. A truly noble escutcheon without blot or blemish, an altogether proud emblem of an ancient and once very distinguished family.

The Reverend John Pratt Nesbit, of Princeton, Indiana, spent several years gathering data concerning the John Nesbit family, and it is from this compilation that I get the following information.

The Nesbit name is of French origin, and the first ancestor seems to have come from France with William, the Conqueror, in 1066 A. D., as William granted to him a large tract of land in Berwick Shire, Scotland, on which was built "The Castles of the Nisbets." They were Normans. In 1097 a De Nisbyth granted a tract of land to an order of monks in Berwick Shire, Scotland.

The original spelling of the name was De Nesbyth. In 1224 to 1253 Phillip DeNesbyth was a witness to the King’s deeds.

In 1296 four Nesbets signed the bond of submission given by the Barons of Scotland to Edward I of England. They were Philip de Nesbit, Thomas de Nesbyte, William de Nesbyte and Joyn de Nesbyte. These are supposed to be sons of Robert de Nesbyte.

The Scotch climate and thrift probably accounts for this abbreviation of the original name. Some one asked my grandfather, when drawing a check to him, if he spelled Nesbit with two "t’s". "No; one," said grandfather, "it saves ink."

The "Land of the. Nisbets" is in Parish Edrom and East Nisbet, now known as Bighouse in Berwick Shire, Scotland. The Nisbets became followers of John Knox during the Reformation. Only Sir Alexander Nisbet, of Nisbet, remained loyal to the King. He betrayed his kinsman into the hands of the King’s army and they were later beheaded. The Covenanters were successful and through reverses Sir Alexander lost his estates. They were later persecuted because of their faith, and emigrated to the north of Ireland and to the United States, and spell the name with many variations, viz., Nesbyth, Nisbet, Nesbit, Nesbet, Nisbit, Nesbitt, Nisbitt; but they are probably all descendants of the Phillip de Nesbyth who was granted crown land in Berwick Shire by William, the Conqueror.

Members of the Nesbit family have made different studies of the records of the family in Scotland. One found a grave slab at Nisbet House, situated two miles south of Duns on the east side of the road to Coldstream, on which is a panel with a shield with three boar’s heads erazed.

The present mansion there was built by Sir Alexander Nisbet during the reign of Charles I.

In 1220 and 1228 in the little church of Nisbet all the differences between the Bishop of Glasgow and the canons of Jedburgh were adjusted. The church has long ceased to be, but the graveyard is still in use.

Hayne, in his State Papers, gives the following account of the burning of Nisbet: "A. D. 1544, Sir Raff Eyre, the garrison of the Middle Marshes, Lindale and Riddesdale, to the number of 1,400 men, rode and bornt Bon, Medworth, and Angram Spittle, with two other towns called Est Nesbit and West Nesbit, and won divers strong bastill houses, and slew all the Scottische men in the same, and the other townes, aforesaid, to the number of 80, and brought away 220 head of nolt, 400 shape, with noche insight goods, slayn 80 Scottishchman, taken 30."

In a religious history of the times we learn that about 1680 Hugh, Allen, John, James, Alexander and Thomas Nisbet crossed over from London, Ayrshire, to Killyeah, Ireland. Finally, the Presbyterians in Nesbit were rendered so exceedingly uncomfortable by reason of the tyranny, greed, and exactions of their despotic monarchs that they fled to America.

 From 1660 to 1888 no less than 18,000 Scotch Presbyterians were put to death in various ways—drowned, shot, hanged, beheaded, their heads stuck upon poles, their bodies chopped in pieces and scattered about—because of their defense of the Covenants and Christ’s headship over the church. "Through their bloodshed in defense of religious liberty we enjoy many and great privileges."

The first wave of Scotch to America began prior to 1700. In 1729, 6,000 Scotch-Irish came to America. They knew their rights and dared to maintain them. They and their descendants held the frontiers and pushed the advancing line of civilization towards the Mississippi. They were men of energy, enterprise, industry and intelligence, and of moral and religious character.

Even in the new country they were not free of persecution. In many instances their lands were taken from them and their homes burnt to the ground.

The Pennsylvania Nesbit family left a good farm, a brick house, a distillery, and a malt mill in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, to live in Lawrence County—where they had acquired a large tract of land—in a round log cabin with clapboard roof, a loft floor and door; their bedstead was of the primitive kind made of small poles laid on forkes driven in the ground.

A split log with feet into it answered for a table, small pieces of split wood with feet set in for chairs, and a couple of leaves of greased paper for window glass.

At the time the Nesbits came here there were but two log houses in Darlington, one of them a tavern partly clinched and daubed. There was then only one house between Darlington and Mt. Jackson and not over a dozen families in the bounds of what is now North Beaver Township and part of them squatters that soon moved away. But during the next two or three years twenty or thirty families came in principally from Cumberland County.

The load of things the Nesbits brought with them from Cumberland County consisted principally of iron and other fixtures for the grist mill, a barrel of salt, one of flour, two sets of china cups and saucers, two sets of pewter plates and a pewter mush basin, a cedar churn and tub.

In affectionate memory of olden times they brought with them a singularly built armchair that had been brought from Scotland about seventy years before. They began at once to build the mill as they had to pay $18.00 per barrel for flour at Beaver Falls, 20 cents for meat and $1.25 per gallon for whiskey, which was considered indispensable in those days and was furnished to the hands with bread and meat.

In 1808 the log meeting-house was built which is now Westfield Presbyterian Church.

ALLEN NESBIT was a twin, and the last of ten children born to Francis Nisbet and his wife, Anne Thompson. He was born July 29, 1796, when his mother was 50 years old and weighed just 14 ounces. He was six years old when his parents settled at Mount Jackson. When a child 13 years old, he was chased by a panther a quarter of a mile. The fright and race gave him heart disease, from which he later recovered. In his 72nd year he wrote without the use of glasses and weighed 135 pounds; could shoulder a sack of wheat and carry a barrel of flour. It is related that at the age of 70 he could run and jump over the poles upon which hung kettles of maple sap for boiling. Those poles were about four feet from the ground. He was a man of rather small physique but very active. He died in 1885.

He became a physician of the botanic or Thompsonian School and got his education chiefly from his sister’s library.

Our line of descent is both through the House of Argyle and the House of Nisbet, according to Allen Nesbit, who wrote:

"I, Allen Nesbit, of Willow Hill Farm, near Mount Jackson, Pa., on which I have lived 68 years, son of Francis Nesbit, deceased in 1802, he being a son of John Nesbit, of Cumberland County, Pa., deceased in 1767, he being a son of Allen Nesbit, deceased in Scotland in 1720—all pure legitimate Scotch blood and belonging to the House of Argyle of North

Scotland—do hereby send to you greeting my beloved daughter."

JOHN NESBIT and his descendants interest us: He was born in Roxburg Shire, Scotland, came with his mother and brother, Allen, after his father’s death, to Philadelphia, where he married Elizabeth McDowell. They later settled in Toboyne Township, Cumberland County, Pa., now a part of Perry County. He died in 1767, leaving his property to his wife and his four sons and five daughters.

John Nesbit and Elizabeth McDowell had five children:

Allen, Francis, James, John and William. Francis married Ann Thompson. Their oldest son was John Nesbit, who was known as Judge John Nesbit. He knew Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson both well. Uncle Scott purchased in Pennsylvania after coming to Washington, D. C., and there is still in "Alwington" the big four-poster mahogany bed Henry Clay slept in when visiting Judge Nesbit. Of Andrew Jackson he told this story which he had from Jackson:

When a mere boy Jackson joined the Revolutionary Army. He was taken prisoner. A British officer ordered Jackson to black his boots. Jackson refused. The officer kicked him and again ordered him to do it. Jackson refused. The officer struck him with his sword cutting a bad gash along the back of Andrew Jackson’s neck and shoulder. It was badly treated or not treated at all and left a welt throughout life and gave Jackson a stiff carriage. He said after the Revolutionary War he never saw a British uniform till he caught and hung Arbuthnot for selling firearms to Indians, and after that not until he saw the "redcoats" advancing on his cotton bale breastworks at New Orleans. "When I saw them this scar," said Jackson, pointing to his shoulder, "burned like fire; it was as hot as a red-hot poker laid on me, but after the battle it felt better." He was my great grandfather, was born in Cumberland County, Pa., April 29, 1782, was married first to Elizabeth Clarke; their children were:

William, Edward J., Walter C. All died young.

Rebecca C., born 1810; died 1895, unmarried.

Anna T. and Eunice, who died young.

John C., born Mt. Jackson, Pa.; died in Lowry City, Mo., 1891.

John C. Nesbit married Harriet Newel Coffin, of Newburyport, Mass. Their children were:

Scott Nesbit died Washington, D. C., December 5, 1925.

D. 2.—HERBERT MICHAEL CLARK, born Washington, D. C., July 22, 1930—

Tradition says that during the persecutions of the Pilgrims, about the year 1630 or 1635, three brothers by the name of Wright, one of whose Christian name was John, left Wales and landed in Massachusetts Bay. He spelled his name IAHN WHRIGHT. One of the brothers settled in Massachusetts, one in Virginia, and John, the son of John from Wales, settled in the valley of the Connecticut, probably at Wethersfield, about 1675 or 1680, where his son, John, was born June 4, 1710. Married Prudence Demming, who was born June 28, 1709. They moved to Goshen, Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1741, and removed to Winsted in 1769; where he died in November, 1784. Their son, John—the fourth John—was born at Wethersfield, January 22, 1743. He married first, Lydia Mason; no children. His second wife was Sarah Case, daughter of Lieutenant Asabel Case, of Norfolk, Connecticut. He was a soldier of the Revolution, served at New York, taken with camp distemper, returned home, and had the smallpox. He was captain, of a militia company in Winsted. He Lived in Winsted as early as 1768. His farm lay bordering on a beautiful pond of water a mile south of Colebrook line. He sold his farm to Luke Hayden, 1802, and started with his family for New Connecticut in the month of June, 1802, and settled in Morgan, Ash County, Ohio, and removed to Tallmadge, Summit County, in 1809, where he died July 29, 1825, aged 82. They are buried in Tallmadge Cemetery. Their names were enrolled in the Congregational Church in Winsted at the first organization, and were transferred from that to the Congregational Church of Morgan and from thence to the Congregational Church of Tallmadge where they united June 2, 1811, and remained until their death.

His wife, my great-great-grandmother, was the granddaughter of Governor Robert Treat, and she died in Tallmadge, Ohio, at 94 years of age. The seventh Benjamin Fenn was born in Milford, Conn., May, 1766, and died in Tallmadge, Ohio, in 1817. He married Comfort Fowler, of Milford, who lived to be 80 years old. They had twelve children, all born in North Milford, Conn. They were—Benjamin, Fowler, Alfred, Sarah, Nathan, Lucinda, Johnathan, Hanna, Clemence, Elmina, Edward. The daughter, Clemence Comfort Fenn, it was who married Dr. Amos Wright. Among my mother’s papers I found this: "The following is a copy of a letter, the last one written by my dear uncle to mother :"

Mrs. C. C. Wright,

My Dear Sister:

I feel myself happy in having three dear sisters, to each of whom I feel under special obligations. I have hoped to live to accomplish a particular object I have long had in view, which would enable me to show my sense of those obligations. And I may yet do it, but God has showed me that I may not attain to the age of eighty—various indications led me to look at death, last Saturday, as possibly near. Have you had an opportunity of reading or hearing the first four letters of our family history? I thought if I did not put in writing what I knew about our family history, it would never be done, and in a few generations more would be so lost.

I have written eight papers on the subject. I have one more to write. In that I propose to copy parts of the wills of so many of the Benjamin Fenns, as to show beyond a question that the eldest son of each generation was Benjamin, from 1640 down to our time. I design also to put on record the description of the property there, in Buckinghamshire, England, which is ours, and which I would go to see if I were a dozen years younger. I should like to see where the first Benjamin Fenn lived, who left his property for conscience sake; to ascertain from record how many Benjamin Fenns were before him. The first Benjamin Fenn must have been a noble man. I hope to see him in Heaven.

Now there is one thing I wish to have done. I have spent some time in collecting these historical data and putting them in a shape to be preserved. Will not our friends in Tallmadge procure a blank book of some thickness and have some one who can write a good copy hand transcribe so much of the nine letters as they think worth preserving, into that book, the Book to be preserved among the archives of the Historical Society in Tallmadge, and the book so large as to have room for additions from generations to come * * *. It is almost my daily prayer that we may be a race living to the glory of God. * * *

The End.