Basement · Unproven traditions
Not proven ancestors. A family tradition with no record linking these people to John's line.
The Coffins of Alwington
temp. Henry II – 1613
What the tradition claimed
Compiled pedigrees made Peter Coffin of Brixton, Tristram Coffin's father, a son of Nicholas Coffin and a grandson of Peter Coffin of Portledge and Mary Boscawen, and so carried the family up through the medieval Coffins of Alwington in Vivian's Visitations of Devon.
Where the chain breaks
Peter Coffin of Brixton is proven by his will of 1627, which names his son Tristram; no record names Peter's own parents, and the will names a brother Nicholas, not a father. Everyone above Peter rests on the pedigree tradition.
The generations the tradition placed above Peter Coffin of Brixton
As the archive formerly listed them, from Vivian's pedigree of Coffin of Porthledge and later compilations:
- Richard Coffin, in the reign of Henry II (1154–1189); Sir Elias, Sir Jeffrey and Combe Coffin at Alwington, 1199–1272
- Richard Coffyn, about 1280
- John Coffyn, about 1301; David Coffyn, about 1332 (m. Thomasin); David Coffyn, about 1361
- John Coffyn, about 1392–1427 (m. Thomasin Hartley, 1406)
- William Coffyn, about 1420–1486 (m. Margaret Giffard)
- Richard Coffyn, about 1425, of Portledge (m. Alice Gambon, 1462)
- John Coffyn, about 1450 (m. Phillippa Hingston, 1496)
- Richard Coffyn, about 1475–1555 (m. Wilmont Chudleigh, 1510)
- James Coffyn, 1514–1566 (m. Mary Cole)
- Peter Coffin, 1535–1613, of Portledge (m. Mary Boscawen, 1560)
- Nicholas Coffin, 1560–1613 (m. Joan Advant)
The family's history at Portledge is told on The Portledge Centuries as history, without a claim of descent.