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Photo Album: Coffin-Carlisle and Allied Families

Illustration: flag of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Credit: NuclearVacuum; Wikimedia Commons.

Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series about the founders of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and their descendants, showing photos of the Coffin-Carlisle family. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

The vast collection of the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) contains volumes of Coffin and allied families’ history. Among the many gems are the photo albums, journals, papers, relics, and oral histories left behind by the Coffin-Carlisle family.

Henry Coffin Carlisle (1886-1964), a 7th lineal descendant of Tristram and Dionis Coffin, preserved some of most significant and endearing oral histories of Nantucket island via audio recordings. More on that in another story.

Photo: Henry Coffin Carlisle. Credit: Nantucket Historical Association.

Henry Coffin Carlisle was born to George Lister Carlisle (1852-1930), a successful barrister from England, and Mary Swift (Coffin) Carlisle (1851-1935). He married Mary Gorgas, daughter of Lieutenant Commander Miles Carpenter and Kate Coffee (McDougal) Gorgas, and left descendants.

Henry had two siblings: George Lister Carlisle Jr. (1877-1954), married Leila Irwin Laughlin; and Elise Carlisle (1880-1952), who both appear with their mother and aunt in this tintype below: (left, seated in chair) Mary Swift (Coffin) Carlisle; (middle, seated in chair) Mary’s son George Lister Carlisle Jr.; (right, seated in chair) Mary’s sister Lydia (Coffin) Everett, married Richard Boardman Everett; (left, seated on floor) Mary’s daughter Elsie Carlisle; (right, seated on floor) possibly a young Coffin; (standing) Alice M. Johnson (listed in the 1900 Census with the Everett family).

Photo: Coffin-Carlisle family. Credit: Nantucket Historical Association.

From his maternal side Henry descends from several Nantucket settlers. His mother Mary Swift (Coffin) Carlisle was born to Henry and Elizabeth “Eliza” (Starbuck) Coffin.

Photo: Mary Swift (Coffin) Carlisle, c. 1876. Studio: H.G. Smith, Studio Building, Boston Publisher. Credit: Nantucket Historical Association.

Mary, along with her siblings, was reared in Nantucket in a splendid mansion on 75 Main Street. It was built in 1834 by her father Henry Coffin, a successful Quaker whaling merchant

Photos: exterior and interior of the Henry Coffin House, 75 Main Street, Nantucket, Massachusetts. Credit: Nantucket Historical Association.

Henry Coffin (1807-1900) was the son of Zenas Coffin, one of the most successful whaling merchants in Nantucket’s history, and Abial (Gardner) Coffin.

Photo: framed and matted oval portrait of Henry Coffin. Gift of Miles Carlisle. Credit: Nantucket Historical Association.

I found an obituary for Zenas Coffin published in the Nantucket Inquirer. It speaks of his benevolent nature, generous spirit, and great contribution to the community and to the betterment of mariners on the island.

Nantucket Inquirer (Nantucket, Massachusetts), 12 July 1828, page 3

Here is the last stanza of the poem that accompanies his death notice:

Though marble may not indicate the spot,
Where lie the relics of the truly great;
But yet his name can never be forgot,
While love and justice bear their proper weight.

Here is an obituary for Henry Coffin, published in the Boston Daily Advertiser.

Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston, Massachusetts), 9 March 1900, page 5

This obituary reports:

Nantucket, Mar. 8 – After 67 yrs. of married life, Henry Coffin, one of the oldest citizens of this town, died early Tuesday morning at the age of 93 years. Henry Coffin was a native of the island and did a large mercantile business in connection with his older brother C.G. [Charles Gardner] Coffin, during the years when Nantucket’s whaling industry was at its height.

A trunk used by Mary Swift (Coffin) Carlisle was made by her grandfather Captain Levi Starbuck (1769-1849), son of Thomas and Dinah (Trott) Starbuck. Levi married Elizabeth “Betsey’ Ramsdell, daughter of William and Ruth (Gardner) Ramsdell. Captain Starbuck, master and owner of the whale ship Harlequin, is believed to have been the inspiration for the character Starbuck in Moby Dick.

Illustration: Levi Starbuck. Credit: Nantucket Historical Association.

Captain Starbuck made the trunk around 1820. It was gifted to NHA by Miles Carlisle.

Photos: trunk made by Captain Starbuck and later used by his granddaughter Mary Swift (Coffin) Carlisle, and an inscription written on the underside of the lid. Credit: Nantucket Historical Association.

The inscription reads:

“Mary Swift Coffin/made by Levi Starbuck the 1st/Grandfather”

To be continued…

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Note on the header image: flag of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Credit: NuclearVacuum; Wikimedia Commons.

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