Manuscript Group 291, Guide to the Baldwin-Brown-Coe Family (Newark, NJ) Papers 1776-1893 (Bulk dates: 1800-1845)
TABLE OF CONTENTSDescriptive Summary Series Descriptions and Container List Series 1: Baldwin Family Papers, 1781-1822 |
 Papers 1776-1893 (Bulk dates: 1800-1845) MG 291 The New Jersey Historical Society Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. April 2006. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Finding aid written in English. Biographical NoteThe Baldwin, Brown, and Coe families were early Newark residents who became related through marriage. Eunice Baldwin (1745-1833) married Daniel Brown (1747-1776) and they had two children together: Susanna (1769-1860) and Samuel Baldwin (1771-1859). Daniel Brown died of exposure early in the Revolution, leaving his wife a young widow. In 1788, Eunice remarried to Caleb Parkhurst (1744-1817) and became the stepmother of his eight children. Eunice’s son, Samuel B. Brown, learned the craft of chair making from his uncle in New York and set up a factory and store in Newark, New Jersey. He married Hannah Halsey Ward (1776-1831) in 1793 and with her had ten children: Hannah Matilda (1794-1878), Abby Ward (1796-1880), Eliza Baldwin (1798-1858), William Fountain (1800-1800), Daniel Baldwin (1802-1850), Albert Halsey (1804-1864), Samuel Baldwin (1807-1807), Samuel Baldwin (1811-1863), Harriette Antoinette (1813-1885), and William Mortimer (1816-1864). The chair business was extremely lucrative, and the family prospered until the War of 1812 and later the Civil War, when trade with the south slowed and eventually stopped. Samuel B. Brown’s sons followed him into the family business. Samuel B. Brown, Jr. set up a branch store in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1833 and his brother, Daniel B. Brown, helped at both the Vicksburg and Newark stores. Hannah and Samuel Brown’s daughter Abby Ward Brown married Joseph Davis Coe (1800-1874) in 1825. Joseph D. Coe was the son of Sarah Davis (1774-1853) and Sayers Coe (1772-1851) and the grandson of Bethia Grummon (1744-1816) and Benjamin Coe (1738-1818). The Coes were prosperous Newark farmers who maintained a large estate with slaves; Joseph D. Coe, however, joined his father-in-law’s chair making business. Abby Ward Brown and Joseph D. Coe had seven children together: Caroline Matilda (b.1826), Emma (1828-1831), Albert Benjamin (b.1831), Silvester (1833-1839), Alexander (1835-1875), Julia Emarintha (b.1837), and Ernest Eugene (1841-1910). Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Content NoteThe collection has been divided into four series: Baldwin Family, Brown Family, Coe Family, and Miscellaneous. Each individual’s papers have been placed under the family they were born into, thus Abby Ward (Brown) Coe’s papers are located with the Brown Family. The only exception to this rule is the Ward women, Hannah H. Ward and her mother and aunt, whose papers have been placed with those of Hannah’s husband’s family – the Browns. The collection spans the time period from 1776-1893, with bulk dates ranging from 1800-1845. While the documents are from a large number of individuals, they do not really focus on any one person or any nuclear family. The collection covers generations, reaching back to the grandparents of both Hannah Ward Brown and her husband, Joseph D. Coe. The Brown Family series is the most extensive within the collection, and within that, the papers of Hannah Ward (Brown) Coe. Items in the collection include correspondence, receipts, and legal documents such as indentures and bonds. The correspondence covers such topics as religion; death; marriage; business ventures in South Carolina and in Vicksburg, Mississippi; life in Lebanon, Ohio; Princeton Theological Seminary; family matters; and missionary work. The Miscellaneous series includes a list of items destroyed during the Revolutionary War, a Christmas list, doodles, poems, an autograph of William Pennington, a newspaper clipping, and an advertisement for the S.B. Brown & Co. store in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There is also a typescript biographical sketch of Sarah (Sally) Coe written by her granddaughter Sarah E. Parkhurst. This sketch is made up of Parkhurst’s recollections of her grandmother. Return to the Table of Contents ArrangementThis collection is organized into three series: Series 1: Baldwin Family Papers, 1781-1822 Series 2: Brown Family Legal Papers, 1793-1873 Series 3: Coe Family Papers, 1776-1993. Series 4: Miscellaneous Papers, 1819-1838. Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsAccess RestrictionsPhotocopying of materials is limited and no materials may be photocopied without permission from library staff. Use RestrictionsResearchers wishing to publish, reproduce, or reprint materials from this collection must obtain permission. The New Jersey Historical Society complies with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), which governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Return to the Table of Contents Access Points
Return to the Table of Contents Related MaterialManuscript Group 89, Sayers Coe (1772-1851), Farmer, Records Manuscript Group 123, Jemima Condict (1754-1779) Diary Manuscript Group 149, Caleb Parkhurst (1744-1817), Merchant, Records Manuscript Group 150, Henry L. Parkhurst (1767-1852), Farmer, Daybooks Manuscript Group 540, Samuel Baldwin (1754-1850) Papers Manuscript Group 1421, Coe Family Genealogy Collection Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred CitationThis collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 291, Baldwin-Brown-Coe Family (Newark, NJ) Papers, The New Jersey Historical Society. Acquisition InformationGift of Emma L. Tompkins, 1944. Return to the Table of Contents BibliographyClayton, W. Woodford, ed.History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Their Pioneers and Prominent Men.(Everts & Peck: Philadelphia, 1883), pgs. 612-613. Return to the Table of Contents Series Descriptions and Container List
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