Chapter Three

Upper Canada

Haffel Coy the Shipbuilder

John Coy the Tailor

Family Tree Kingston 1815-1889

John Coy’s Will

 

The next hundred years of the Coy family history in Gravesend took place within the continued reign of the House of Hanover.  At the turn of the nineteenth century George III was forty years through his sixty year reign although his son was regent during the latter years.  George was succeeded by William IV and then followed the sixty year reign of Queen Victoria.  However other events were unfolding in the New World and were to beckon two young Coys.

Family Tree 1761-1815

 

Haffel Coy the Shipbuilder

Haffel Coy, the fourth child and eldest son of Haffel Coy and Elizabeth Livesay Evans was born in Gravesend in 1789.  On the 5^th November 1803 he was apprenticed for seven years to William Gladwell the Elder and William Gladwell the Younger, Shipwrights and Boatbuilders of Gravesend.  Twenty-seven years earlier, his father had been apprenticed in 1776 to William Gladwell the older, so the young Haffel was following in proud family tradition.  (William Gladwell the Younger was baptised in Gravesend in July 1767.)

 

The Indenture of Haffel Coy was passed down within his family and a transcription of the document can be read in more detail in Appendix Three.  The indenture was to expire on 20^th March 1809, even though this was shorter than the usual seven years.  In 1811 at St. Mary the Virgin, Stone next Dartford, Haffel married Mary Westgate.  Stone is near to the River Thames, west of Gravesend and at that time had a population of well under a thousand people.

 

One is left to speculate as to whether Mary died soon after their marriage because by 1814, Haffel had volunteered to serve in George III’s navy.  He enlisted at Chatham dockyard as a ship’s artificer and carpenter and sailed for Kingston, Canada. 

 

Records found in Canada are a little confusing because of the dates, but it seemed that a person at the Chatham dock yards advanced Haffel's pay and a record of it was noted later.  The entry is titled: ‘Haffel Coy Shipwt from Chatham Yard embarked in The Dover for a passage to Canada on the 4^th March 1814’ and still in the heading area is: ‘See Wm Pallisers Letter dated 4 March 1814 sent to Secretary's office on 5 March 1814’.

 

It seems that this records his pay advance from 4 March 1814 (day of embarkation) to 31 Jan 1815.  The time is shown as 11 months 3 weeks and 5 days and the sum paid was £19 1 shilling and 8 pence.  His rate for a lunar month was 32 shillings.

 

Haffel would have seen posters advertising for men and would have known of the War of 1812 and the need for carpentry and boat-building skills in Kingston where there was a massive ship building effort taking place in Upper Canada (later known as Canada West and now Ontario).

 

In Canada the War of 1812 had taken place, a war between Britain and the US.  The British had the habit of stopping American ships and "pressing" sailors they believed to be of British origin.  In addition the blockade of France was upsetting the Americans as they were not involved in the war.  This (plus other factors) lead to the Americans declaring war.

 

The control of the Great Lakes became a critical factor.  The Americans had available inland supply routes to supply the area around the Great Lakes and west from there.  However in Canada the only real supply route was the St. Lawrence, Lake Ontario and a road that ran close to them.  If the Americans could control Lake Ontario then from Ontario west was likely to fall into their hands.  There was never any major battle fought on Lake Ontario, as first one side then the other would launch a larger ship and the other side would hide in harbour until it launched an even finer ship.  At the start of the war very small vessels were being used, but by the end of the war the British had launched a 120 gun 3 deck ship of the line the "St. Lawrence" from Kingston, while the Americans had four ships of the line on the stocks.  In this environment trained shipwrights were of great value.

 

Haffel successfully settled in Canada, presumably putting his shipwright skills to effective use.  Remarkably, no sooner did he arrive in Canada than he married again, in January 1815 to a widow ten years his senior.  His new wife was Catherine Poncet née Vent, the daughter of Adam Wint/Vant/Vent who was born in 1738 in Germany.  Adam was one of the early settlers in Kingsbury, NY.  In an early history book of Washington County (somewhat biased against the Tories/Loyalists), there is a note that:

 

In fact, the town was known as the headquarters of a nest of Tories of the most desperate and malignant type, many of whom enlisted in the royal cause, but were more murderers and robbers than soldiers, and more barbarous in their deeds than Hessians [these were German's enlisted mainly from the area of Hesse into the British army] or savages; hesitating at no crime, and wholly disregarding the ties of neighborship or even of consanguinity.  Among these were Caleb Closson, Griffin, Bell, Andres Rakely, Adam Wint, and many others less notorious ...

 

and later when discussing the capture of Kingsbury, in the “invasion” of upper New York State in 1780:

 

Immediately after the surrender the Indians and Tories of the party proceeded south into this town, everywhere marking their track with fire and pillage.  Among the number of those who from their acquaintance with the locality acted as guides and promoters of the work of devastation was Adam Wint ...

 

In order for Haffel to make provision for his family in Upper Canada he required land and for this it was necessary to make a land petition.  (His father-in-law Adam Vent had been entitled to 400 acres of land since Adam was a ‘loyalist’ and Adam’s children were each entitled to 200 acres.  Haffel’s wife Catherine had applied for her land in 1803.)  These land petitions were done when anyone wanted to acquire free land from the government from the late 1700's to the mid 1800's.  In the early years, even if the applicant wanted to purchase land from the Crown they were required to present a petition. 

 

Extracts from the Haffel Coy Petition show:

 

To His Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland K.C.B. Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Upper Canada and Major General Commanding his Majestys forces in the same…

 

The Petition of Haffel Coy of Kingston in the Midland District Humbly sheweth that your Petitioner was born in England and volunteered in the year 1814 from his Majestys Dockyard at Chatham to serve as an artificer in the Naval Department on the Lakes of Canada, where has served three years to the satisfaction of his superior officers as will appear by the annexed Certificates that your Petitioner having married and being possessed of sufficient means to cultivate a farm of considerable extent prays that your Excellency will be pleased to grant him four hundred acres of the wastelands of the Crown or such quantity as your Excellency shall deem meet and permit Isaac Fraser Esq. M.P. to locate the same.

 

Kingston 31^st May 1819

 

The document continues:

 

I certify that since Mr Haffel Coy has been discharged from the Dock yard he has principally resided at Kingston, that he is married to the Widow Poncet and is an active industrious man and I believe well deserving of the Kings Bounty in Land.

 

Page Three of the document certifies on the 6^th day of March 1817:

 

This is to certify that the bearer here of Haffel Coy Shipwright was sent from Chatham Dock Yard England the 3^rd day of March 1814 to serve three years in Canada and has conducted himself during that period with diligence and sobriety always attentive to his duty (a good workman) and obedient to command.

 

Having successfully obtained land, Haffel settled down to family life.  He and Catherine had a daughter Mary Ruth who was born in 1816.  This was to be their only child and so the surname Coy died out at this point although the forename/middle name Haffell continued to be passed down in male children for the next six generations after Mary.

 

Haffel’s second wife Catherine outlived her husband since she died in 1838.  He had died sometime earlier between 1824 and 1829 aged about forty years.

 

 

John Coy the Tailor

Meanwhile another Coy from Gravesend aspired to adventure and riches and also crossed the Atlantic Ocean.  John Coy, a tailor by trade followed his elder brother Haffel to Kingston.  Since the baptism records of John have not been found to date, his exact year of birth is not known although it can be postulated as being around 1799.

 

It will probably never be discovered as to why John Coy the tailor left England to join his brother in Canada.  Their mother Elizabeth Livesay Evans who died in 1799, had possibly died at or around the time of John’s birth and perhaps John never settled down with his new step-mother Mary Evans.  On 3^rd October 1808 when John was about eight or nine years old, he was apprenticed as a tailor to Mary Wilson Rackstraw and John Lukes of Gravesend.  It can only be guessed that he might even have left home at this age to live at the tailoring premises.  Many years later Lukes and Rackstraw ran a tailoring business at 23, West Street, Gravesend.

 

In Kingston, at the tender age of eighteen years John married the widow Hannah Brezee née Vent, the younger sister of Catherine Vent.  Hannah had been married to Henry Brezee of Ernestown.  She was also a land-owner in her own right because in 1810 she had successfully applied for land and had received 200 acres in Portland Township, Frontenac County. 

 

Six children were born in Kingston to John and Hannah Coy, of whom the first two died as infants.  They were Henry (1819-1824), Elizabeth (1821-1822), Henry, John (b.1827), Sarah (1831-1891) and Maria (born about 1838). 

Family Tree Kingston 1815-1889

 

John Coy applied for a town lot in Kingston and described himself as a merchant/tailor from England.  Later he applied for farm land and described himself as a farmer.  Land speculation was rampant at this time and he probably used these descriptions to justify his petition for the land.  The application for farm land was quite informative.  The John Coy Petition states:

 

To His Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland K.C.B. Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada in Council.

 

The Petition of John Coy of the Town of Kingston Farmer

 

May it please your Excellency

 

That your Petitioner a native of Gravesend in the County of Kent proceeded from England to this country for the express purpose of becoming a settler and carrying on agricultural pursuits and having been informed that your Excellency intends to grant lands to actual Settlers on the Mohawk Lands in the Bay of Quinte, Petitioner humbly solicits your Excellency’s indulgency towards him.

 

Your Petitioner therefore Humbly prays your Excellency may be pleased To grant unto Petitioner Who has a wife and One child, such a Quantity.

 

Kingston 17 July 1819

 

This document which proves that John Coy came from Gravesend helps to support the view that almost certainly John was the last child of Haffel Coy and Elizabeth Livesay Evans (Elizabeth died in 1799).  This is because his birth date derived from census and marriage data was probably 1799 and his parents were listed as Haffel Coy and Elizabeth.  (His parents are listed in his second marriage, to Sarah Filmer.)

 

The petition of John Coy for land would have been well received.  There was great concern in Upper Canada about the large number of American settlers coming into the area to establish themselves on the available land.  Since the war of 1812 was a recent memory, there were concerns about the loyalty of these new immigrants and a settler from England would have been encouraged.  Awards of land were reasonably standard; there was much available land in Upper Canada and land was cheaper to give than money.

 

John’s wife Hannah died in 1843 and twenty years passed before he remarried in 1861.  His bride was Sarah Filmer and in 1862 they had a son William Filmer Coy.  Records from the First Congregational Church in Kingston revealed that John Coy, aged 62 of Kingston, born in England son of Haffel and Elizabeth Coy, married Sarah Filmore aged 36 of Kingston, born in England daughter of William Filmore and Sarah Elizabeth Wale.  The exact year of the marriage date is unclear - either 1861 or 1862.  However the 1861 census of Kingston shows John to be widowed thus his second marriage must have occurred later:

 

 

Given that there were two families in the two storey frame house and the age of Henry is stated as 11, this Henry is most likely John’s grandson, probably living with his grandfather in Kingston in order to attend school.  Since Henry lived with John Sr. for a period of time, this might help to explain why Henry is the only grandchild of John mentioned specifically in his will.

 

For most of his life John Coy was called a tailor, but in his later years he was listed as a gentleman.  This usually indicated someone of sufficient means that they had no particular occupation.

John Coy’s Will

In 1869, when John was nearly seventy years old, he made a will:

 

In the name of God Amen.  I John Coy of the City of Kingston Province of Ontario considering the uncertainty of this mortal life and being of sound mind and memory blessed be Almighty God for the same Do make and publish this my last will and testament...

 

Land purchased in Kingston was bestowed in equal shares to his son Henry and daughter Sarah.  The farm and stock in the township of Leeds was left to his son John.  Property purchased in Kingston was bequeathed to William when he reached the age of 23.  Household furniture was to pass to Sarah and John’s silver watch was left for William.  “Eighthly I desire my administrators Shall pay to my Son John’s Son Henry the Sum of Two hundred dollars at such time as they find convenient so to do.”

 

Also in the will of John Coy was money left, in pounds, to the widow and children of his brother Isaac.  Since John was leaving pounds, whereas all the rest of the bequests were in dollars, it can be assumed that Isaac was in England.  One is left to surmise that Isaac was Francis Isaac Coy, who was known by the name Isaac.  He and his wife Mary Jane had produced a family of ten children and were probably living in quite cramped and humble circumstances in Gravesend.

 

Specifically the will stated that, if John’s son (from his second marriage) William Coy died without heirs, before the age of 23, then his inheritance was to be divided between the other of John’s children, Henry and Sarah Coy, with the provision that 100 pounds be paid "to each of the Sons of my Brother Isaac Coy ..." and to each of his daughters 50 pounds and to his widow (if living) the sum of 50 pounds. 

 

Therefore John knew that his brother Isaac was dead when he signed his will in 1869.  (In fact Francis Isaac Coy had died in 1841.)  Although inherited income would have been most welcome to the relations in Gravesend, the money would never have gone to Isaac’s children since John’s son William was 26 when he married Mary Elizabeth McMahon.

 

Two years after signing his will, John Coy died in Kingston in 1871.

 

Top

 

Chapter Two

 

Chapter Four

 

Return to Main Menu

 

If you have further information on this chapter, contact Robin Potter at

potter@reach.net