In 1659 he led a group of investors that bought Nantucket from Thomas Mayhew for thirty pounds and two beaver hats.

Many descendants became prominent and wealthy in North American society when they participated in the whaling industry and facilitated the triangle trade.

Other descendants migrated away from colonial America's eastern seaports and settled in Quaker communities in places such as North Carolina.

[6] Charles I inherited the throne of England in 1625 and initiated a long struggle with his parliament, which wanted to abolish bishops from the House of Lords and limit the king's powers.

Things came to a head when Charles raised his royal standard at Nottingham in August 1642, and England soon descended into Civil War (1642–1651).

[5] Tristram Coffin's brother John received a mortal wound at Plymouth fort, although it is not known exactly when or even which side he was fighting on.

[7] Perhaps for reasons associated with these political upheavals, Tristram Coffin decided to leave his farm in England and emigrate to the new world.

His name appears on a deed dated 15 November 1642 recording the sale of the land for the settlement by the local American Indian people.

[15] In 1671 Coffin and Thomas Macy were selected as spokesmen for the colonists, going to New York in 1671 to meet with Governor Francis Lovelace and secure their claim to Nantucket.

[23] Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793–1880) was a Quaker born on Nantucket, who became a prominent abolitionist and women's rights activist.

She helped write the Declaration of Sentiments during the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, and will be included on the back of the U.S. $10 bill to be newly designed by 2020.

[27] Among the ninth generation, Robert P. T. Coffin (1892–1955) was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1936 for his book of collected poems called Strange Holiness.