|
a.
|
Continued: Mary (Cooe) Holmes gave service during the American Revolution by supplying beef to the Continental Troops. As such, she is one of the few female patriots recognized by the DAR and SAR under whom a descendant may claim membership in the Daughters or Sons of the American Revolution
from Fairfax MM minutes; Hinshaw, Vol. VI, p. 483:
COOE
Mary & Wm. Holmes, both non-members, "allowed to marry in our way"; their marriage reported "orderly and accomplished" 30-6-1753 (Note by WWH: It is important
to remember this since they raised a large family of children who are merely designated as "ch of Wm. & Mary Holmes" without identifying Mary, as Mary (COOE) Holmes, w William); Mary (COOE) Holmes, with William, rec in membership by the women's mtg 25-6-1757 (See William Holmes).
Fairfax MM woman's minutes, 6th month (June): Mary "Holms" requests membership.
NOTE: The "Cooe" name of our Mary Holmes is LIKELY "Coe", but could be: "Cove", "Cole", or "Coale". G.W. Labaw (hardly good authority) states that she was "Mary Cove"; his source was likely a descendant and did not get that name from Quaker records.
There were a few Coe families in America during colonial times. Since our Mary was raised "from infancy" among Friends, we may assume her family members were Quakers--although if her parents were Quakers, she would have been a Quaker by birth (and she was not a member at the time of her marriage), so this is questionable.
The earliest Quaker Coe family known to have been in America was that of immigrant Timothy Coe of Accomack County, VA, Somerset and Worcester County, MD, and later Sussex County, DE. He was born about 1631 in England and arrived in Northampton County, VA in 1652. Timothy Coe and family were forced from Virginia about 1695 because of their Quaker beliefs. If indeed Mary was born about 1730, she is the age to have been been a granddaughter or great-granddaughter of Timothy. Information on this Coe family (indeed all of the Quakers who removed to Delaware after being pushed from Virginia and Maryland) is very scarce. Timothy Coe and Sarah Coe, "the widow", are about the only people named Coe I found in Hinshaw's Vol. VI (for Virginia), in the introduction, p.11. Most Coes in other volumes (other areas) of the Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy appear at a much later date.
NOTE: Possible relation: it seems a William and Jane (Milstead) Coe of Charles County, MD, moved across the Potomac to Fairfax County, VA, before 1774. This William Coe was born in 1727 in Charles County; Jane Milstead was born there in 1731. Their son, Edward Coe, supposedly lived near Waterford, Loudoun County, very near Lincoln, and a place where our William Holmes and Mary Cooe may have been married. (but see note below from Carl R. Coe)
NOTE: Several secondary sources claim that our Mary Cooe is related to the Coe family of Charles Co., MD. HISTORY OF THE KING, ARMSTRONG & ALLIED FAMILIES by Catherine Soleman Chandler (which may be found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City), cites information sent to her by John E. Coe, a descendant of the Coe Family of Charles Co. It seems John worked on the genealogy of his family for many years. He states some of the MD Coes were Quakers and became members of the Fairfax Meeting about 1753. I have not seen the book, but have been told it claims our Mary (Cooe) Holmes was the sister of "John Coe" who married "Mary Milburn".
HOWEVER, correspondence I have had with Mr. Carl Robert Coe of Marysville, Ohio, author of THE COE FAMILIES OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA, a definitive 1499 page, two volume work on people named "Coe", believes that while Mary (Cooe) Holmes, is definitely a "Coe", and could be related to the Coe family of Charles County, MD (just across the Potomac R.), he has found no evidence or leads to support this. Carl R. Coe also said he has found no evidence that any of the Coe family of Charles County, MD were Quaker and that church records are very good for them. He wrote that he did not know of the book above mentioned, but confided, with due respect, that he did know of John E. Coe and while John did extensive research on his family, he made some incorrect assumptions.
Carl Coe said he has found no record to connect Mary (Cooe) Holmes with any other Coe in VA or MD; it seems she was not the daughter of Richard Coe, Jr. who had sons Willaim (married Jane Milstead, not Ford; of Fairfax Co., VA) and John (both sons b. abt the 1720s). Richard Coe, Jr. did have a daughter, Mary (b abt 1725) who, according to Carl R., married a man named Boswell (and another researcher claimed she was married previously to a man named David McLune). I believe Carl also corrected an error regarding Richard Coe, Jr.'s sons, John and Willaim Coe and their wives: something about Jane "Milstead" was not accurate, but I don't find that note now so I my be the one in error. It does not affect our Mary Coe.
At any rate, to jump out of the confusion, there may be a connection here somewhere, but it is not known and it would seem that if we are to find our Mary's parents, we should look for Quakers as she was raised among friends "since infancy". Charles R. Coe also kindly notes there is no known relationship between Timothy Coe (b. 1631), Quaker and the Coe family of Suffolk (from whom the Coe family of Charles Co., MD descend) and I thank him for his work on the Coe family.
It is also possible that Mary was actually a Coale, and this name is found mong Quakers and a family in Maryland.
I paraphrase from A Progression of Friends, pp.33-34:
Josiah Coale, a Quaker, was in America by 1658. He walked from the colony of Virginia to New England. He wrote to Margaret Fell before he left Gloucestershire for America in 1657. He traveled with his Friend, Thomas Thurston, who had been denied entry to Boston on the "Speedwell" in 1656; the Quakers were sent back to England at the captain's expense and afterward Quakers had difficulty securing passage as captains refused to accept them. Josiah Coale is mentioned also on pp. 43 and 47: Josiah Coale traveled to Maryland and Virginia in 1660 to negotiate for the purchase of land from the natives for Quaker settlers and corresponded with George Fox for that purpose. He was then banished from Maryland after criticizing Quakers there.
I assume he may have gone to Delaware with other Quakers at that time (unless he burned bridges with them, too!) I include this anecdote to note a a possible lead for "Cooe" (Coale) and to share this interesting story which demonstrates how much some Quakers traveled in the interest of Friends and how they were treated in the early colonies. --Nick Sheedy
The list of William and Mary (Cooe) Holmes' children may not be complete as their family is not listed in one place in MM records published by Hinshaw. The ten children I have connected for them appear in various MM minutes as "son" or "dau." of "Wm. & Mary Holmes".
|
