Coggin Genealogy of Blue Hill, Maine

The Coggin lot was the one taken up by Thomas Coggin, who came to it from Beverly, Mass., with his family in 1765. Here he built his humble abode and resided the first years of his life in town – just how many the record does not show. He was born Feb. 14, 1734; married Lydia Obear ¹ Feb., 1755. He died Feb. 11, 1821, aged eighty-nine years; she died Oct. 22, 1800.

He and his wife were baptized by Oliver Noble and taken into the church at the Falls June 13, 1873, and their son Samuel, and Molly his wife, were baptized by Rev. William Lyons and became members of the church August 2, 1791.

The children of Thomas and Lydia (Abear) Coggin were:

1. Hezekiah Coggin, born April 3, 1756.
2. Molly Coggin, born Nov. 17, 1758; married Robert Haskell Wood Dec. 15, 1782.
3. Lydia Coggin, born July 19, 1763; died May 1, 1791.
4. Josiah Coggin, born Nov. 29, 1764; married Molly Pecker, April 19, 1795; she was born Sept. 19, 1773; died July, 1853; he died in the South. Their children were:
   1. Hannah Russell Coggin, born Nov. 22, 1795; married George Clay Jan. 20, 1817; she died Dec. 23, 1840.
   2. Josiah Coggin, born Jan. 16, 1797; married Betsey Carleton; he died no date.
5. Samuel Coggin, born July 19, 1768; married Mary Horton Oct. 2, 1786; he died Sept. 13, 1843 aged 77 years. Children:
   1. Samuel Coggin, born April 1, 1787; married Rebecca Cross.
   2. Mary Coggin, born March 16, 1789; married Lewis H. Green.
6. Elizabeth Coggin, born Jan. 16, 1773; married Nathan Arnold; died July 20, 1819.

The first remembrance the writer has of the “Coggin lot” was when Capt. Isaac Merrill built the house now standing in 1831, and the barn a year after.

Thomas Coggins Family Genealogy

The Thomas Coggins house next south of the landing and adjoining the Joseph Osgood place, was a two-story structure, with brick ends. It was built about 1831, by Capt. Thomas Coggins, who with his family occupied it until he sold to Joseph Hinckley. Capt. Coggins died in 1858, and his wife March 27, 1860.

Capt. Coggins probably came from Surry to Blue Hill, and there married Dec. 30, 1829, Lydia Faulkner (Stevens) Parker, widow of Simeon Parker and daughter of Theodore and Dorcas Stevens, born May 22, 1798. She had three children by her first husband:

1. Simeon Parker, died in infancy.
2. Simeon Parker, died in infancy.
3. Maria Parker, died in infancy.

Simeon Parker, her first husband, died Feb. 14, 1826, and she married Capt. Coggins as above stated.

Capt. Coggins commanded several Blue Hill vessels, and was considered a capable and enterprising shipmaster of his time. The writer in boyhood knew him by report, but had no special acquaintance with him. He was one of the many who made the town noted, sixty or seventy years ago, for the number, skill and reputation of its seamen and master mariners. A chapter upon the lives, characters and achievements of Blue Hill shipmasters would prove instructive and interesting.

1. The source record listed Lydia’s last name as both Obear and Abear. It is unknown which of the two is correct.[↩]