Person:John Coffeen (3)

n 1756, John and his family moved to Watertown, Massachusetts, probably as a result of the reported loss of his sailing vessel on the Connecticut River. This accident and probably some urging from his young pregnant wife, caused him to abandon the sailing profession. It is likely that the young family moved to Watertown to be near Susanna's family for the birth of their third child. Early in 1758, after his father's death, John, Susanna and their three children moved on to Rowley-Canada (Rindge), a town in New Hampshire only about 20 miles across the border from Townsend, to be joined there by brothers Eliezer and Henry. Sister Priscilla may have followed soon after. Rindge is in Cheshire county of which Keene is the county seat.

The town of Rindge was first granted by Massachusetts on February 3, 1737, to inhabitants of Rowley, Massachusetts who were in the Canada expedition and was initially called Rowley-Canada. It was granted again by the Masonian Proprietors on February 14, 1750 to Solomon Stewart and others, and was known as Monadnock # 1 or South Monadnock. The town was incorporated as Rindge on February 11, 1768 in honor of Daniel Rindge. John and his family settled on the farm later owned by Thomas and Charles G. Buswell. A deed in the Cheshire County Courthouse in Keene describes the sale of March 11, 1771 by Aaron Estey To John Busnell for 213 pounds, six shillings and eight pence, of "one centain or parcel of land lying in Rindge being one half of the Lot # 14 in the Third Range, containing by estimation fifty acres".

An "enumeration of the town of Rindge", ordered by the Provincial Legislature in September of 1767, showed a total population of 166 including John and Henry Coffeen as heads of families. Eliezer Coffeen was listed among the unmarried men of the town. In that same year, John Coffeen was licensed as an innkeeper, living in the south part of Rindge. The Coffeen's were active citizens of Rindge. In the town meeting of March 17, 1768, John was elected Tythingman, he was also active as a surveyor and often involved in road building.

Early in 1769, John and his family moved to Cavendish, leaving Eilezer and Henry and his family behind in Rindge. John's property in Rindge was sold to Aaron Esty sometime before 1771. John started to Cavendish with his family of 8 children, two hired men, two horses, a pair of oxen, is household furniture and provisions for one year. Included with the furniture was John's sea chest (which today is in the possession of Mrs. Shirley Moser of Fenton, Michigan, a lineal descendant of Lake Cofeen, John's son.)

John & Susanna probably followed the road which led from Rindge to Jaffrey, then through Marlborough to Keene; from Keene to Marlowe & from there through Acworth to Charlestown # 4 on the Connecticut River. The total journey was about 50 miles and must have consumed about a week in time. The slow pace of the oxen would have limited them to about 10 miles per day or less. When John & his family arrived at # 4, they were unable to cross the Connecticut River. There was a crossing about a mile north of the Fort but no bridge. A crude ferry was the only means for crossing to reach the Crown Point Military Road on the far side. Either ice or flood would have made such a crossing impossible. In any event, John was delayed about three weeks in crossing and it was not until the eighth day of May, 1769 that he arrived at the ten mile encampment on the Crown Point Road, a point near what is now the town of Amsden, Vermont.

Being unable to proceed farther with his teams, he loaded one of his horses with provisions and the other with beds and clothing, and with his wife and eight children proceeded on foot nearly ten miles into a trackless wilderness to the spot which was to be their future residence. Here they arrived about sunset, struck up a fire by the side of a log, near a spring of water, and there passed the first night in Cavendish, with no other shelter than the trees of the forest, and the star-decked heavens. The next day they succeeded in constructing a temporary cabin of poles and bark, and their little dwelling soon began to assume the appearance of comfort. The first summer John cut hay on a nearby wamp and that winter he kept his stock there. The nearest grist mill for grinding grain was 30 miles away.

John's home place was designated as lot # 1 on the original Charter Map for the Town of Cavendish. The original cellar hold can still be seen in the lower half of lot 1, marked by a stone slab at the north side of the road below lot 1. John built his permanent home, barns and tavern in the north half of lot 1 and later deeded the south half to his son Lake. The remainder of John's holdings were also in the northwest corner of Cavendish township.

source: "The Life and Times of Captain John Coffeen" LDS Library on microfilm, roll 1697660, item 13