Person:John Coggeshall (7)

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President John Coggeshall
m. Bef 1601
  1. President John Coggeshall1601 - 1647
  2. Anne Coggeshall1604 - Aft 1645
  3. Katherine Coggeshall1607 - 1640
  • HPresident John Coggeshall1601 - 1647
  • WMary UnknownEst 1604 - 1684
m. Bef 1624
  1. Major John CoggeshallEst 1624 - 1708
  2. Ann Coggeshall1626 - 1687
  3. Mary Coggeshall1628 -
  4. James Coggeshall1629/30 -
  5. Joshua CoggeshallEst 1632 - 1688
  6. Hananeel Coggeshall1635 -
  7. Wait Coggeshall1636 - 1718
  8. Bedaiah Coggeshall1637 -
Facts and Events
Name President John Coggeshall
Gender Male
Christening[3][9] 9 Dec 1601 Halstead, Essex, England
Marriage Bef 1624 to Mary Unknown
Immigration[9] 16 Sep 1632 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United StatesAboard the Lyon
Residence[4] 7 Mar 1637/38 Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States[Original Settler]
Residence[4] 28 Apr 1639 Newport, Newport, Rhode Island, United States[Original Settler]
Death[5] 27 Nov 1647 Newport, Newport, Rhode Island, United States
Burial[8] Coggeshall Cemetery, Newport, Newport, Rhode Island, United States
Reference Number[7] Q6226542

John was taxed at Castle Hedingham on on lands valued at 20s on 17 Dec 1628. On 1 Jun 1629, John and his wife sold lands in Halstead and Sybil Hedingham for £60.[10]

They arrived in Boston in Sept. 1632 on the "Lyon," and John was named a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on Nov 6, 1632. He was a member of the Board of Selectman and a deputy in Boston. "John Coggshall" and "Mary Coggshall, the wife of John Coggshall," were admitted to Roxbury church as members #30 and #31, in the midst of a group of 1632 immigrants [ RChR 75]; "John Coggeshall mercer and Marie his wife ... admitted from Roxbury" to Boston church, 20 August 1634 [ BChR 18]. [11] He supported Anne Hutchinson when she was banished, consequently he himself was banished in March 1638 and went with her to Rhode Island.[12]


History of Rhode Island Profile:[13]

(I) John Coggeshall, progenitor of the family in America, and first president of the Colony of Rhode Island, was a member of an ancient and honorable English family, whose lineage has been traced to the early part of the twelfth century, to one Thomas de Coggeshall, the owner of vast estates in Essex and Suffolk, England, in 1135-54. He was born in Essex, England, about 1591, and died at Newport, R. I., November 27,1647. He emigrated from England to the New World in the ship "Lyon," arriving at the port of Boston, Mass., in 1632, with his wife Mary Surgis, and three children, John, Joshua, and Anne, on September 16,1632. His name and that of his wife are on the original records of the church of Roxbury, of which John Eliot was pastor. He was admitted a freeman of Roxbury, November 6, 1632, and two years later, in 1634; removed to Boston, where he became a merchant. John Coggeshall became one of the leading citizens of Boston, and in the year of his arrival, there was elected a member of the Board of Selectmen and a deacon of the church. His name also heads the list of deputies to the General Court of Massachusetts from Boston, May 14, 1634, and he served, with three interruptions, until November 1637. He was one of the staunchest supporters and defenders of Anne Hutchinson, and upon her banishment was expelled from the Court, and from the State of Massachusetts, in company with eighteen other men, who were also identified with her. These eighteen men....settled on the island of Aquidneck, by the advice of Roger Williams, who had already settled in Providence. ...The colony grew with great rapidity and to accommodate newcomers and the over flow, the town of Newport, R. I., was established. On the return of Roger Williams from England with a charter; they organized a government, in September, 1644. In May, 1647, John Coggeshall was elected president of Rhode Island, with Roger Williams as assistant for Providence, William Coddington for Newport, and Randall Holden for Warwick. While in this office, he was the founder or was largely influential in founding two cities, two states and two separate and independent governments. He died in office, November 27, 1647. at the age of fifty-six years, and is buried on his estate in Newport.

The Rhode Island cemetery transcription index notes the following about Coggeshall Cemetery: [14] "On Coggeshall avenue is a little burial ground of about one acre, inclosed by a handsome stone wall, with an iron gate in the central front, over which is chiselled "COGGESHALL, 1854." The interior is kept in perfect order, the stones free from stain. In the center is a granite obelisk bearing the following inscription: "To the memory of John Coggeshall, First president of the Colony, died Nov. 27, 1647, Aet. 57." The original stone bearing the same inscription is still preserved at the head of the grave."

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article John Coggeshall.


Text References

  1.   The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
    Vo. 173, p. 30-32.
  2.   Coggeshall, Charles Pierce (compiler), and Thellwell Russell (compiler) Coggeshall. The Coggeshalls in America: Genealogy of the Descendants of John Coggeshall of Newport: genealogy of the descendants of John Coggeshall of Newport, with a brief notice of their English antecedents. (Boston, Mass. : C.E. Goodspeed & Co., 1930)
    p. 203.
  3. Coggeshall, Charles Pierce (compiler), and Thellwell Russell (compiler) Coggeshall. The Coggeshalls in America: Genealogy of the Descendants of John Coggeshall of Newport: genealogy of the descendants of John Coggeshall of Newport, with a brief notice of their English antecedents. (Boston, Mass. : C.E. Goodspeed & Co., 1930)
    p. 6.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).
  5. Arnold, James N. Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636–1850: First series, births, marriages and deaths. A family register for the people. (Narragansett Hist. Publ. Co., 1891).
  6.   Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
    1:421.

    JOHN, Roxbury, a mercer from Co. Essex, came in the Lion 16 Sept. 1632, and was adm. freem. 6 Nov. foll. rem. with w. Mary to Boston, had Hannah, bapt. there 3 May 1635; d. Wait, 11 Sept. 1636; and Bedaiah, 30 July 1637, whether s. or d. is not kn. He was rep. in the first Gen. Ct. of 1634, and sev. sess. in after yrs. but in 1637 sympathiz. with Wheelwright, he was expel. from his seat, disarm. and next yr. banish. then went to R. I. was chos. Assist. 1641, and in 1617 Presid. of the Col. He d. 27 Nov. of that yr. aged a. 56 yrs. His d. Ann, b. in Eng. m. 15 Nov. 1643, Peter Easton; Wait m. 18 Dec. 1651, Daniel Gould

  7. John Coggeshall, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
  8. President John Coggeshall , in Find A Grave.
  9. 9.0 9.1 John Coggeshall, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

    ORIGIN: Castle Hedingham, Essex
    MIGRATION: 1632 on Lyon [Hotten 150]
    FIRST RESIDENCE: Roxbury
    REMOVES: Boston 1634, Portsmouth 1638, Newport 1639
    OCCUPATION: Mercer, merchant. (On 4 March 1634/5 he was the Boston delegate to a consortium which was to have a monopoly of trade with vessels in Boston Harbor [MBCR 1:142].)

    BIRTH: Baptized Halstead, Essex, 9 December 1601, son of John and Ann (Butter) Coggeshall [NEHGR 73:21].
    DEATH: Buried Newport 27 November 1647 [RIMM, Deaths 1; see also TAG 34:169].

  10. Coggeshall, Robert. Ancestors and Kin
  11. Great Migration Begins, Profile of John Coggeshall
  12. Coggeshall, Charles P. and Thellwell R. Coggeshall. The Coggeshalls in America: Genealogy of the Descendants of John Coggeshall of Newport
  13. “John Coggeshall, First President of RI”, Transcribed from History of Rhode Island (American Hist. Soc. 1920) and posted in the RI USgenweb archives at http://files.usgwarchives.net/ri/statewide/bios/c2240001.txt.
  14. "History of Newport County, Rhode Island," New York, 1888, ed. Richard M. Bayles



Lyon (1632)
There is some confusion as to the passengers on the Lyon in 1632. Banks listed about 120 passengers. Another list prepared by John Corley in 1984 lists some 350 passengers. [1]
Sailed: 22 Jun 1632 from London, England under Master William Peirce
Arrived: 16 Sep 1632 at Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Passengers:
? (Full List)
Robert Bartlett - John Benjamin family - Richard Benjamin - Daniel Brewer - Nicholas Clark - John Coggeshall - Edward Elmer - William Goodwin - Seth Grant - William Heath - James Olmstead - Nathaniel Richards - Thomas Ufford family - John Whipple - John White family & others

Resources: Primary Sources:
Other information: Comparison of Passenger Lists


Founders of Portsmouth, Rhode Island
On March 7, 1638, a group of religious dissenters signed the Portsmouth Compact. They had been disarmed by leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. William Coddington, Anne Hutchinson, and John Clarke conferred with Roger Williams in Providence, who suggested that they buy land from the Native Americans on Aquidneck Island. They formed the settlement of Pocasset, later Portsmouth, on Aquidneck, later called Rhode Island. Portsmouth and Newport later united with Providence and Warwick in 1654 as the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Text of the Compact: The 7th Day of the First Month, 1638. We whose names are underwritten do hereby solemnly in the presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into a Bodie Politick and as He shall help, will submit our persons, lives and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His given in His Holy Word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby.
Signers: William Coddington - John Clarke - William Hutchinson, Jr. [husband of Anne Hutchinson]- John Coggeshall - William Aspinwall - Samuel Wilbore - John Porter - John Sanford - Edward Hutchinson, Jr. Esq. - Thomas Savage - William Dyre [husband of Boston martyr Mary Dyer] - William Freeborne - Philip Sherman - John Walker - Richard Carder - William Baulston - Edward Hutchinson, Sr. - Henry Bull - Randall Holden

Current Location: Newport County, Rhode Island   Parent Towns: Boston   Daughter Towns: Newport

Founders of Newport, Rhode Island
Newport was founded in 1639. Its eight founders and first officers left Portsmouth, Rhode Island after a political fallout with Anne Hutchinson and her followers. As part of the agreement, William Coddington and his followers took control of the southern side of the island. They were soon joined by Nicholas Easton, who had recently been expelled from Massachusetts for holding heretical beliefs. The settlement soon grew to be the largest of the four original towns of Rhode Island. Many of the first colonists in Newport quickly became Baptists, and in 1640 the second Baptist congregation in Rhode Island was formed under the leadership of John Clarke. Portsmouth and Newport later united with Providence and Warwick in 1654 as the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Original Founders: Nicholas Easton - William Coddington - John Clarke - John Coggeshall - William Brenton - Jeremy Clark - Thomas Hazard - Henry Bull

Current Location: Newport County, Rhode Island   Parent Towns: Portsmouth   Daughter Towns: