COACHMAN
Dr. John William Coachman
The Coachman Family has over 168 years of tradition in Dentistry and is currently in the 6th generation of dentists. The origin of the Coachman family coincides with the beginning of Dentistry as a profession itself, in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1849, John Keyes Washington already graduated in Medicine from the Medical College of Ohio, United States, received his degree of Dental Surgeon from Ohio College of Dental Surgery, starting to contribute significantly to the development of scientific literature in dentistry. After the Civil War in the United States, from 1861 to 1865, when John served as an officer surgeon in the Army, the family decided to move to Brazil. They settled in Rio de Janeiro, where they began their activities in dentistry, which were greatly enriched with their important contributions, marked by the pursuit of accuracy and clinical excellence since then.
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In 1874, John William Coachman received the “Dental Office” title from the Brazilian Imperial Government and, together with his brothers Charles Whiting Keyes and William Baldwin Keyes, he began what would become a tradition for the family in the country: to lead and increasingly improve this important field of Medicine. They excelled in the field, which resulted in serving Emperor Dom Pedro II, thus becoming close to the palace for many years.
Later, headed by John William and his brothers-in-law, the Coachman & Cia. the clinic, located at Rua Ouvidor, 130 in Rio de Janeiro, was consolidated in the country as a reference of commitment to quality. John William's sons continued the tradition and graduated in Dentistry. Hentz, one of his heirs, moved to São Paulo bringing with him the legacy of the Coachmans. The next generation did the same: graduated from the School of Dentistry at the University of São Paulo, Alfredo and Charles began to build the family’s admired career in the city.
The Coachmans have become known in the community for their accuracy, quality, and longevity of their work in gold inlays, with their own innovative formulations for the time. Also considered innovative in the 50s was the model of working as clinical staff, with their own lab and a property designed for this purpose, located outside the city center.
The fifth generation of the family is represented by Carlos, Robert, and Carlos Eduardo who also graduated from the University of São Paulo. In 1994, Robert establishes the Keyes-Coachman Institute of Cosmetic Dentistry and Oral Health, with a leading role in the introduction of modern cosmetic restorative dentistry in Brazil. Events, symposia, and workshops with international teaching staff promoted the integration between clinical and commercial academic sectors, allowing the introduction of these new concepts that have revolutionized restorative dentistry. Carlos was also devoted to spreading these new concepts. By conducting innovative workshops on main Brazilian congresses and using high technology, the brothers performed live procedures that were later projected on large screens for the audience, through intra and extraoral micro cameras. Carlos, who was also a pioneer in the use of Laser Beam and the application of anthroposophic Medicine knowledge in Dentistry cooperated, in 1999, with the founding of the Brazilian Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and was appointed its 1st President, a position he held for two years.
Yet at the beginning of this new era, Dr. Robert conceived the project of the existing Well Clinic, a trans-disciplinary orofacial clinical center that includes the participation of his sons, Dr. Christian Coachman–an expert in cosmetic restorative dentistry, renowned international speaker, and recognized ceramic artist; Dr. Francis Gray Coachman–experienced surgeon and specialist in restorative techniques over implants; and Robert´s daughter-in-law, Dr. Tatiana Navarro de Macedo Coachman, right hand and specialist in Dentistry and Cosmetic Restorative Dentistry.
Focused on dentistry, but with strong concern with integration with all clinical and therapeutic areas, Well Clinic also has numerous other renowned professionals in virtually all specialties, taking upon itself the commitment of carrying on this remarkable tradition included in the 1994 Guinness Book of Records as the oldest family dedicated to dentistry worldwide.
At this new clinic, the Coachmans are organized around the goal of not only integrating several specialties of Dentistry but all of them to Medicine and its many supplementary areas. An approach of rescue and syn-hesis that can, again, join science, art, and all-time traditions on the eternal pursuit of full health. They also created the 1st Smile Design Center in the world and, consequently, DSD (Digital Smile Design), considered a conceptual protocol that offers awesome advantages to the patient and has become a world reference.
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Amongst the dentists who went to Brazil during the time after the American Civil War were John William Coachman (JWC), William B Keyes, and Charles Keyes. These two interlinked families are said to have founded a whole dynasty of Brazilian dental surgeons (reportedly about 120 to date!)JWC in particular was at one time a dentist to the Imperial Royal Family, living and working in Rio de Janeiro and up in Petropolis (the Emperor's summer residence) - he then later practices in São Paulo, where it is believed he became a Brazilian citizen.
JWC married Eula Hentz Keyes, the daughter of Dr. John Washington Keyes (JWK). She had a sister Jenny Rutledge Keyes, who kept diaries between 1867 and 1870, detailing her emigration and life in Brazil. They are preserved in the State of Alabama Department of Archives & History and some were published as "Our Life in Brazil" in the Alabama Historical Quarterly vol 28 No 3 & 4, 1966. I am not sure exactly when JWC first traveled to Brazil. In Betty Antunes de Oliveira's "Movimento de Passageiros Norte-Americanos no Porto do Rio de Janeiro 1865-1890", taken from Rio newspaper reports, the earliest specific mention of JWC is his arrival with his wife from New York on the ss SOUTH AMERICA on 19 Sep 1873 (although a "João Gomes Coachman" had sailed for Baltimore on 18 Feb 1872 on the AQUIDNECK -perhaps a misprint?). Thereafter he made visits to the US, sometimes with his family, in at least 1877, 1880, 1881, 1884, and 1886.
JWK, on the other hand, certainly arrived in Brazil with his family, including Jenny, in J Ballard Dunn's group of migrants in the MARMION on 12 May 1867. Ongoing research into the emigrant voyages of the 1860s may yet reveal more.JWC was an active Methodist, recorded as attending Annual Conferences of the Methodist Church in Brazil at least between 1887 and 1897. He died on 10 Jul 1917, though I do not know where. A few more bits and pieces: John Keyes Coachman [son of JWC?] born 1878, died 1940. Mollie Steagall Coachman [wife of James J Coachman] born 28 Aug 1885, died 8 Mar 1953. Both the above are buried in the British Cemetary, Gamboa, Rio de JaneiroJames J Coachman [son of JWC?] married Mollie Steagall on 26 Jun 1902. There are certainly lots of Coachmns around in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
If you search the online telephone directories at http://www.probusca.com.brhttp://www.probusca.com.br -put Coachman in the "Nome" box and check the "São Paulo" and "Telemar" boxes (but not "BrasilTelecom"), you will get their phone numbers and street addresses (without CEP/zipcodes). There's even a John William Coachman in São Paulo!
MILITARY:
Regiment: Batty B Milton Light Artillery Battery Florida
Date of Organization:5 Mar 1863
Muster Date:26 Apr 1865
Regiment State:Florida
Regiment Type:Light Artillery
Regiment Number: Batty B Milton
Battles: Fought on 20 Feb 1864 at Olustee, FL.
Fought on 28 Feb 1864 at Camp Finegan, FL.
Fought on 4 Mar 1865 at Natural Bridge, FL.
Fought on 6 Mar 1865 at Natural Bridge, FL.
Regiment History: MILTON ARTILLERY.
The Milton Light Artillery was raised in Apalachicola in 1861 by J. L. Dunham with Lieutenants Abell senior 1st, Bull junior 1st, Stephens senior 2nd, and Rambo junior 2nd; with six guns, three 12 lb. brass rifle pieces, and two 12 lb. Howitzers.
In the spring of 1862, the Battery was ordered to East Florida and camped near the Three Mile Branch, Jacksonville (Camp Finnegan). The company took part in the fight at St. Johns Bluff and the several engagements around Jacksonville.
In the summer of 1863, the Milton Light Artillery was divided. Captain Dunham kept four of the guns, Abell was made Captain and was given the other two guns and two more were furnished him, making another four-gun battery. Captain Dunham retained two of the Lieutenants, Bull and Rambo. Mortimer Bates was elected junior 2nd Lieutenant.
Only a few months passed when Lieutenant Bull was killed by one Pickett in Lake City; Bates then came in command of the left section of one Battery. George Hines succeeded in the position of junior 2nd Lieutenant.
The section Bates commanded took part in the fight at Darby's Hill (MeClenney). A part of the company took part in the battle of Olustee, Natural Bridge, and Bates' section did effective service on St. Johns, aiding in capturing the Columbine and doing much damage to the Ottawa and another steamer at Horse Landing on the St. Johns.
The Battery was a fine one and had it been in Virginia or in the Western Army would have made a name that the State would have been proud of; as it was both companies, A and B of the Milton Artillery, did splendid service and are entitled to as much credit as their more fortunate comrades who won honors at
the battlefront in the great contests of the war.
Source: Soldiers of Florida in the ... Civil War ... page 303
L-R Eula Hertz, nee' Keyes,Coachman, Capttain Johnston, Ellie Keyes, John William Coachman
Eula Hertz Keyes
Eula Hertz Keyes Coachman wearing a cameo of husband John William Coachman
John William Coachman
John and Eula Keyes Coachman with family
L-R James Joseph Coachman. (*James Joseph Coachman; Birth 30 Apr 1873 in Montgomery, Alabama Death 24 Jun 1950 in Brazil), John Keyes Coachman (*John Keyes Coachman; Birth 4 Jul 1878 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Death 1940) Kendrick Powel Coachman,(*Kendrick Powell Coachman; Birth 24 Mar 1895 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Death;1953) Hentz Keyes Coachman (*Hentz Keyes Coachman; Birth 4 July 1874 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Death 7 July 1934 in São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil )
Coachman, Fordham and Keyes family members;
Seated: Leon Fordham, Eula Helen Coachman
Standing (l-r): Eulyn Fordham, Kendrick Powell Coachman, a Hentz cousin?, Carie Hentz, Eula Hentz Keyes (Coachman), John William Coachman
At Victoria Rd., Asheville - North Carolina
Hentz Keyes Coachman Family
Gilbert Jacob Huber Sr.
Gilbert Jacob Huber Sr.
James Joseph Coachman
Joseph Edward Coachman
Hentz Huber
John Franklin Varty
Hentz Coachman Huber
Gilbert Jacob Huber Sr.
Delia Cenira. Bueno Netto
Charles Clare Varty
Sue Carol Eakins
Robert James Varty
Joyce Keyes
Joseph Edward Coachman
Mollie Steagall
Laura Shalders
Stella Dias
Lucy Lalu Coachman
Joyce Keyes
Mildred Ellis Wiseley
Gilert Jacob Huber Sr.
Eula Hentz Keyes Age 15
John Keyes Coachman
Clarence Henry Wiseley
Eula Hentz Keyes
Kendrick Powell Coachman
John William Coachman
James Joseph Coachamn
Hentz Keyes Coachman
SOME COACHMAN FAMILY HISTORY
Foreword
In 1964, while I was living with an aunt and uncle, I had the opportunity to visit the old cemetery in Matagorda, Texas. I wanted to find the graves of my great-grandparents, Peter Duffy and Maggie Vogg. Peter’s was easy to find. The monument was one of the largest and was located very close to the center of the cemetery. But Maggie’s was much harder to find. I finally found it out towards the edge of the cemetery. The monument was a very small sandstone arch that had been broken and was very difficult to read. The contrast between the two monuments, one of the young mother who had died in childbirth at the age of 22 and the other of her husband who had lived a full and reasonably prosperous life struck me and made me want to know more about these people and all of the others that had shaped me and my family.
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Family history has been a passion for me ever since. I have not worked on it continuously but have picked up a fact here and a story there every so often. Now, with the wealth of information available on the internet and the speed with which stories can be shared I have become almost overwhelmed. I have learned so much that I felt I needed to try to share what I have learned. Where ever possible, I have tried to give a sense of who these people were because they were real people. Some were poor, some were rich. Some were in the top echelons of society, some were tradesmen. But the one thing that I have learned that has come down through the generations to our own generation is a deep sense of family.
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This is very much a work in progress. I intend to add additional biographies and source materials as I have time. Please contact me with any comments, corrections, or additions at suzym@cox.net.
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Finally I would like to thank a few of the researchers who have been kind enough to share their information with me. I am sure I will forget someone but I would like to thank Helen Smith, Carol Vass, Roger Alexander, Katherine Sharpe, Dodie Bradley, Martha Mordecai, Judy Trolinger, Ural Donohoe, Jeannette Davison, Fred Spross, Peggy West, Bobbie Hinman, Pauline Laughlin and David Hedgpeth.
A family tree that relates to these biographies can be found here at Ancestry.com.
Sonya Suzann Beckenbach Manderson
25 December 2008
Updated 12 December 2010
Alexander Coachman
Alexander Coachman was probably born in England and died in January of 1671 in Barbados, West Indies. He married Elizabeth Arrundell, the daughter of Robert Arrundell and his wife, Francis.
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Barbados was founded by the English when, on February 17th, 1627, Captain Henry Powell landed with a party of 80 English settlers and 10 slaves. We don’t know when Alexander Coachman arrived but we know he was there and an adult by 12 October 1659 when Elizabeth Fitzjames, age 33, gave the following deposition in court: "on 12 April last past she had heard of a certain gentleman, a lawyer who lately arrived in this place and who lodged in the house of Alexander Coachman, by name John Jerome. She went there desiring his advice. Jerome said he had known said Coachman from a child. Coachman and his wife had been so good to him that if he died he left everything to them as he was very sick. He himself was now a widower and had settled his business in England."
Alexander Coachman was probably a planter of some substance. Barbados, in many respects, was England's first experimental tropical agricultural export colony. Contemporary opinion in the late seventeenth century acclaimed it the 'richest spote of ground in the worlde.' Private English capital financed the settlement in 1627 and market conditions for its first commercial crop, tobacco, enabled the accumulation of quick profits which were later utilized to finance the shift to sugar production in the 1650s. Within twenty years, during which Alexander Coachman built his fortune, the economic phenomenon known as the Sugar Revolution transformed the face of Barbados forever. Tropical luxuriance gave way to a carefully controlled garden-like appearance of the entire island, as almost complete deforestation occurred. Not only was nature subjected to man's tight control but profound demographic and economic changes created a whole new society. Sugar demanded labor and people poured into Barbados in increasingly large numbers, quickly making the island not only the most populated of England's overseas colonies, but also one of the most densely populated places in the world. Initially whites from Britain were brought in to supply labor, either as indentured servants or prisoners but later slaves from Africa became more economical to import and Barbados quickly acquired the largest population of any of the English colonies in the Americas. In many respects, Barbados became the springboard for English colonization in the Americas, playing a leading role in the settlement of Jamaica and the Carolinas, and sending a constant flow of settlers to other areas throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
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Alexander Coachman made his will on 31 December 1670. He must have been sick and known he was about to die because the will was filed with the St. Michaels Parish Court in Barbados on 12 January 1671. In his will, he mentions his sisters, Anne Smith and Alice Coachman, and his father-in-law Robert Arrundell. He left the majority of his estate to his only son, Tilney. Tilney was to receive his inheritance when he turned 18.
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The only child of Alexander Coachman and Elizabeth Arrundell was:
1. Tilney Coachman, was born about 1660 in Barbados, West Indies, and died 13 Feb 1716 in Berkeley, South Carolina.
Tilney Coachman
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Tilney Coachman was born about 1660 in Barbados, West Indies, and died on 13 February 1716 in Berkeley County, South Carolina. He married Alice Moore on 01 Jul 1689 in St Michael’s Parish, Barbados, West Indies.
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There is some dispute with regard to Tilney’s wife’s family name. Some researchers show her as Alice Moore and others show her as Alice Yeamans. It is my belief that she was Alice Moore, the sister of Governor James Moore, and that she was also, in some way, related to Sir John Yeamans. The records in Barbados show that Tilney Coachman married Mrs. Alice Yeamans which would mean that Tilney was not her first husband and that the unknown first husband was a member of the Yeamans family who, apparently, died young. Additionally, in his will, James Moore of Berkeley County, South Carolina made the following bequest: “for love and affection to my brother-in-law, Tilney Coachman of the same county, gentleman, and Alice, his wife, or the survivor of them, a plantation of 500 acres of land, then in possession of said Tilney Coachman, being in Berkeley, lying near Moore's plantation called "Wassamissah" to go after the death of the survivor to James Coachman, the eldest son, or in case of his not surviving to the next son, John Coachman."
Sir John Yeamans, one of 13 children of John Yeamans, a brewer, was born in 1610 in Bristol, England, and was one of the early settlers to prosper in Barbados. He married his second wife in very despicable circumstances. He either poisoned or shot her husband, Col. Benjamin Berringer, and, by marrying the widow, acquired their estate in 1650. Nineteen years later, in 1669, he established a Proprietorship colony at Charles Town, Carolina, where he imported 200 slaves and introduced slavery to North America. He imported the slaves to grab the largest plantation since an additional 100 acres was granted for each slave. He became the third Governor of Carolina only because he did not arrive with the original settlers. He arrived several months later and established his plantation but died in 1674. Sir John’s brother, Robert (right), was the Sheriff, Mayor (in 1669), and Chief Magistrate of Bristol, England as well as a ship owner and a merchant who also had early involvement in the Caribbean trade.
James Moore, Alice Coachman’s brother, seems to have emigrated from
England to Barbados and then appears in South Carolina by February 15,
1675, when he acted as attorney for Margaret, Lady Yeamans, the administrator of Sir John Yeamans’ estate. At about this same time he married Margaret Berringer, the posthumous daughter of Colonel Benjamin Berringer, and step-daughter of Sir John Yeamans. Moore used every opportunity to increase his fortune. Although a large planter by the standards of his day, he remained active in mercantile pursuits. Besides the fur trade, he dealt with pirates, engaged in the illegal Indian slave trade, and was the part-owner of two merchant vessels (pirate ships?). On September 11, 1700, he was elected by the Grand Council to succeed Joseph Blake, deceased, as Governor. At this time North and South Carolina were separated as colonies making James Moore the first Governor of South Carolina. He served until March of 1703. James Moore had several land grants at Wassamassaw and Goose Creek and evidently resided there. He died of “distemper” (believed to have been yellow fever) in 1706.
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Additionally, James Moore's official seal bore the swan and arms of the Moore family of Devonshire, England. Devonshire is in relatively close proximity to Bristol, the home of the Yeamans family which makes it quite possible that the two families may have known each other. Although I have no proof, it would seem a logical scenario that Alice Moore may have married into the Yeamans family in England before leaving with her unknown first husband for Barbados.
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We don’t know exactly when Tilney and Alice Coachman arrived in South Carolina but they were there by 1704 when Tilney received warrants for 500 acres apiece for land at Moppopin Creek and at Savana Spring. Additionally, James Moore mentions in his will of 1705 that Tilney and Alice were already living on the plantation that he bequest to them. How involved Tilney was with the affairs of James Moore is unknown but it is reasonable to assume that they were close.
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Tilney Coachman was dead by 13 Feb. 1717 when John Newton and Benjamin Schinking appeared in court as administrators of his estate. The date of Alice’s death is unknown.
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Children of Tilney Coachman and Alice Moore were:
1. Willoughby Coachman was born in 1695 in Barbados, West Indies.
2. Margaret Coachman was born in about 1697 in Barbados, West Indies, and died in South Carolina. She married Abraham Sanders.
3. James Coachman was born in about 1699 in Barbados, West Indies. He married Rebeckah Ann Goodbee in 1742 and inherited the land grant near Goose Creek mentioned in James Moore’s will.
4. John Coachman was born in 1700 in Barbados, West Indies, and died on 19 Dec 1749 in Craven County, South Carolina. .
5. Benjamin Coachman was born before 1705 in Barbados, West Indies, and died 04 May 1779 in St James Parish, Goose Creek, Berkeley County, South Carolina. He married Sarah Smith, daughter of George Smith and Elizabeth Allen. She died on 29 August 1784. They had at least three children, Benjamin, Jr., Nancy, and Sarah. He was a planter in the Parish of St. James, Goose Creek which elected him to the Twenty-second (1757-1760) and Thirty-second (1773) Royal Assemblies. As one of the subscribers to the Ludlum Fund to establish a school for the poor of the parish, he contributed 100 pounds for each of three years (1745-1747). He was a captain in the militia during the Revolution and a wealthy man. In the months following his death, his estate lent the state of South Carolina 180,000 pounds.
John Coachman
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John Coachman was born in 1700 in Barbados, West Indies, and died between 19 Dec 1749 and 11 March 1750 in Craven County, South Carolina. About 1729 he married Mary Drake, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Drake. She was born about 1712 in South Carolina and died before 1749.
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Research seems to indicate that the Drakes also arrived in South Carolina via Barbados and proceeded to become quite wealthy. John Coachman received 2,000 acres of land from the Drake family when he and Mary married. John Joseph Simons, when writing his family history in the 1850s, suggested that Mary descended from the same Drake family as Sir Francis Drake but, so far, that has not been proven.
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John Coachman was an indigo planter and plantation owner. The "War of Jenkins Ear" (1739-1742), a war between England and the French, Portuguese and Spanish traders left England without a source of royal blue indigo dye. As the indigo plant grew wild all along the coastal plains, it was a natural transition for the lowland around Georgetown to be used for cultivating indigo. Indigo is the rarest of dyes because blue is the most difficult color to produce in a dye. Georgetown County indigo came in three colors: fine copper, purple and fine flora. Trade was brisk and created fortunes that rivaled the wealth of the royalty of Europe. John Coachman and other planters in the Georgetown District became members of an aristocratic society of plantation owners that brings up all the stereotypical images of huge mansions, broad lawns and slaves in the fields.
indigo Plantation
John Coachman died sometime early in 1750 and left the following will:
THIS THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT of me, John Coachman of Craven County, South Carolina, Gentleman. I first will that all my just debts be fully satisfied and paid. Item: I give devise and bequeath all my whole estate real and personal to my two sons William and James Coachman to them and their heirs forever but one negro boy named Abram I give and Bequeath to my brother Benjamin Coachman to him and his heirs forever and one negro girl named Flora I give the use of to my sister Margaret Sanders during her life and at her death to be divided between my sons William and James Coachman and one horse named Newborn I give and bequeath to my friend Thomas Waities, and Lastly, I nominate and appoint my brother Benjamin Coachman and my two sons William & James Coachman Executors Of this my Last Will and Testament in witness whereof I have set my hand and seal this nineteenth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand Seven Hundred & forty-nine.
This will was proved before Paul Trapier, Esq by virtue of a dedimus directed to him on the 11 day of March 1750.
Children of John Coachman and Mary Drake were:
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1. William Coachman was born in about 1727 in South Carolina and died in 1791. He married Elizabeth Moore. She also died in 1791 in Charleston, South Carolina.
2. Benjamin Coachman was born about 1730 in South Carolina but died young before his father’s will of 1749.
3. James Coachman was born in 1732 in South Carolina and died in 1789 in Georgetown, South Carolina.
James Coachman
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James Coachman was born in 1732 in South Carolina and died in 1789 in Georgetown, South Carolina. He married Hannah Poole in February of 1762. She was the daughter of William Poole and Hannah De Marboeuf. She died in 1769 in South Carolina.
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James Coachman, like his father, was a plantation owner in the Georgetown District of South Carolina. By the latter part of the 18th century, great quantities of indigo were being produced in India and the East Indies, glutting the market. As the price fell, Georgetown planters began turning to rice cultivation, which was in worldwide demand. The rice fields were carved out of tidal swamps along coastal rivers by slaves brought to South Carolina from the West Indies and West Africa. With primitive tools, the slaves cleared the low-lying land of huge cypress and gum trees and built canals, dikes, and trunks (small floodgates) that allowed the flooding and draining of fields with the high and low tides. From the 18th century to the Civil War, slaves planted, tended, and harvested the crops that made plantation owners wealthy, including James Coachman.
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James was also a land speculator which only added to his wealth. Along with his brother William, James bought and sold numerous tracts of land in the mid-eighteenth century in Georgetown County. Among these tracts of land was Mansfield Plantation which, today, is a popular tourist destination and bed and breakfast, and Beneventum Plantation. The home at Beneventum is on the National Historic Register but the land has been subdivided into private home sites.
Beneventum
Like another of our ancestors, Shadrach Simons, James Coachman was a member of Marion’s Brigade in the Revolution. Although James Coachman held the rank of Captain, Marion’s men actually had no official status. They were purely volunteers. When they came into the field, South Carolina and, particularly, Georgetown was overrun by the British. Of their own will they took up arms to fight the invaders and it was impossible to preserve any more discipline and regularity among them than their patriotism and the dangers of the moment imposed on them. Fighting without pay, clothing, or provisions furnished by a government, compelled to care for their families as well as to provide for their own wants,
they were likely to go home at planting or harvest time, or whenever family needs became acute, or simply when the going got too dreary. Therefore, brigade strength fluctuated from as few as twenty or thirty men to as many as several hundred, and Marion had to plan his operations accordingly. Despite their irregularities and occasional lapses, when Marion came to disband his men in December 1782, he could say with complete sincerity, “The general returns his warmest thanks to the officers and men who with unwavering patience and fortitude have undergone the greatest fatigues and hardships and with a spirit and bravery which must ever reflect the highest honor on them. No citizens in the world have ever done more than they have.”
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James Coachman left the following will that is dated 22 April 1789:
I JAMES COACHMAN being in my sound mind and memory doth make this my last will and Testament in manner & form following.
I give devise and bequeath to my son JOSEPH COACHMAN and to his heirs forever a certain part of five hundred acres of land that was granted to one GREGORY to begin at a lightwood stake upon the upper line of the said five hundred acres fixed by myself and to run south through the said tract and continue the same course through part of another five hundred acres of land granted to me binding east and south on the lands granted to GREGORY till it strikes the lower bounds in the Gapway.
Also that other part of the five hundred acres granted to me which the line above mentioned will divide in part and does bind east and south on the divided land granted to GREGORY. Also another tract of land of five hundred acres granted to me binding east on the last mentioned land. Also another tract of land granted to one ELLERY in the Great Bay be the same more or less all which lands I give and devise to my son JOSEPH COACHMAN and his heirs forever with the following mentioned Negro slaves to wit: CUFFY, SKILLING, CLORAH, ROSE, SAM, MATHIAS, DOLL & PEGGY.
I give devise and bequeath to my son JOHN COACHMAN and to his heirs forever two tracts of land joining each other upon Pee Dee River on which I now live on containing eight hundred and twenty-one acres.
Also that divided part of GREGORY tract by the line mentioned above and known by the name of CONYERS old field and is the west part of the live that divides the land given above. Also the other part of that land granted to me wherever that line may divide it on the lower bounds in the Gapway.
All which lands I give and devise to my son JOHN COACHMAN and his heirs forever with the following mentioned Negro slaves to wit: ANDREW, LONDON, JUDY, his wife, PHILLIS, CAIN, ABLE and JANUARY. I leave the use of DINAH, CHARLOTTE, JACK, PHILLIS and MELIAH as shall be mentioned hereafter for the uses and purposes thereof to my daughter HANNAH POSTELL.
I leave the use of BESS, SCIPIO, FANNY, MOLLY, CLOE, JENNY as shall be mentioned hereafter for the uses and purposes thereof to my daughter ANN WATIES COACHMAN. The remainder of my Negroes not mentioned with all kind of stocks of cattle, sheep, hogs & horses, mares & colts, I leave to be equally divided in four parts, one fourth part I give & bequeath to my son JOSEPH COACHMAN, one fourth part I give and bequeath to my son JOHN COACHMAN, one fourth part the use of which I leave with the others named before to my daughter HANNAH POSTELL during her natural life and at her death if there be no living issue of her body that may arrive to the age of eighteen years to whom I mean it shall descend in failure of which then my will is it shall be the property forever of ANN WATIES COACHMAN or the issue of her body, one fourth part the use of which I leave with the others named before to my daughter ANN WATIES COACHMAN during her natural life and at her death if there be no living issue of her body that may arrive to the age of eighteen years to whom I mean it shall descend, in failure of which then my will is it shall be the property forever of HANNAH POSTELL or the issue of her body.
I also leave my household furniture to my daughter ANN WATIES COACHMAN that may be in my dwelling at the time of my decease. What is in my Counting House in the Garden,
I give to my sons JOSEPH and JOHN COACHMAN with boats and canoes.
I also leave a tract of land upon Pee Dee River containing five hundred acres joining south on lands given to JOHN COACHMAN in this my will to be sold by my executors to pay any debts and if not sold for that purpose.
I then give and devise the land to my daughters and the heirs of their body forever. The said land is known by PALMER'S OLD FIELD and it is my will that there shall be no division of any part of my estate before all my just debts be paid, and it is also my will that if there be any law suits, controversy & disputes amongst my children about this my last Will and Testament to alter or change the equity or appointment of it herein explained, then the one who so offending shall pay to the others the full sum of five hundred pounds, but upon a true obedience and performing of it in peace, love and unity amongst themselves, then they stand invested with all the benefits arising from Will and to all deeds under my hand to them for the uses and purposes meant or intended therein.
I leave an aged Negro man by the name of WILLY to reside with either of my sons he thinks proper to be well ____ fed and clothed and I do disannul, revoke and make void all other wills and acknowledge this to be my last Will and Testament and I do nominate and appoint my two sons JOSEPH COACHMAN, JOHN COACHMAN and JEHU POSTELL executors to this my Last Will and Testament in witness I have here set my hand and seal this twenty-second day of April one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine and the word (set) in the twenty ninth line in the second page I have interlined it that it may appear more plain and clear.
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Signed: JAMES COACHMAN
Signed Sealed and Delivered in the presence of us: DOROTHY SINGLETON JOHN SINGLETON JAMES BELIN
Children of James Coachman and Hannah Poole were:
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1. Joseph Coachman was born in 1761 in Georgetown, South Carolina, and died 06 Jan 1814 also in Georgetown District, South Carolina.
2. John Coachman was born Apr 1769 in Georgetown District, South Carolina. He died 03 Oct 1835 and is buried in the Coachman Cemetery in Georgetown. He married five times. The order of his marriages is not exactly known but his wives were: (1) Mary Green; (2) Sarah Tyler; (3) Charlotte Ann Allston; (4) Lydia Towner and (5) Hannah Green (sister of Mary Green). His children were Elijah, Francis, Benjamin Allston, Lydia Glen, and James Joseph.
3. Hannah Coachman died 07 Oct 1821. She married first John G. Postell by whom she had two children, James and William. After the death of her first husband on 25 December 1797, she married (2) William Capers on 15 May 1803. He was born on 13 Oct 1758. William Capers and Hannah Coachman had three children, LeGrand, Benjamin, and Richard.
4. Ann Waties Coachman.
5. William Coachman died before 1789.