(VII) William Mallett, son of Jonathan (4) and Bethiah (Mallett) Nichols, was born July 26, 1807.  He lived all his active days on his father's farm at Liberty, after which he removed to the village.  He married (first), February 13, 1831, Sally Maria Briggs, died February 21, 1839, daughter of Daniel and Susan (Townsend) Briggs.  He married (second), April 1, 1840, Eleanor, died November 4, 1869, also a daughter of Daniel and Susan (Townsend) Briggs.  The grandfather of these two wives of William Mallett Nichols, was Philip Briggs, who served in the Revolution, Westchester county Militia, Fourth Regiment, Colonel Thaddeus Crane, being a member of Captain Ephraim Lockwood's company, and took part in the battle of White Plains and other engagements.  The father, Daniel Briggs removed in your manhood, to Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York.  Children of William Mallett Nichols by first wife:  1. Jonathan Briggs, of whom further.  2. Sarah, born February 3, 1835, married Henry Lobdell, a farmer of Salem Center, Westchester County; children: i. Ella, ii. Alice, iii. Edna.  Children by second wife;;  3. Caroline E., November 16, 1841, married George H. Spencer, a druggist of new York City, now living in New Augustine, Florida.  4. Susan J.,  born May 12, 1843, died January 6, 1906; married Edward Phillips,  hardware merchant of New York City; child, Frank.  5. Mary Frances, march 22, 1849, married Albert B. Spencer, a druggist of New York City, where they reside; one child died in infancy.  6. Eleanor A., April 23, 1852, died in 1872.  Mr. Nichols married (third), December 1, 1870, Sarah S. Adgate, who died January 24, 1888. 

          (VIII) Jonathan Briggs, son of William Mallett and Sally Maria (Briggs) Nichols, was born August 26, 1832.  He was reared on the Nichols homestead one mile east of Liberty, where he grew to manhood and spent most of his active life, engaged in farming.  He operated a hack line for three years while the Ontario & Western railroad was in course of construction.  He taught school for several terms.  He is a pioneer in many senses, being the first to take boarders in this section, and also the first person to own a covered carriage in Liberty.  He has always been in the forefront of anything that bespoke of progress and advancement.  The homestead on which he was reared was a part of the original 1,000 acres bought by his grandfather; on this farm was erected the first Methodist church in this section of the country, in which services were held for many years but which was some years ago converted into a dwelling.  In this church, Jonathan Nicholas, grandfather of Jonathan Briggs Nichols, expounded the Gospel, being a local preacher of the old circuit rider type.  He preached at the first Thanksgiving services held at Liberty, Sullivan County.  Mr. Nichols is a Republican in politics, and a Methodist in religion, being a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Liberty for years. He is also an active temperance advocate.  He married, in 1860, Ada, born May 5, 1837, died September 6, 1886, daughter of John Holmes, of Greenfield, Ulster County, New York.  Children:  1. William Howard, born May 23, 1863, died August 30, 1910; a graduate of the Agricultural Department of Cornell University; also took a course in Wood's Business College.  He married Ella, daughter of George Crary, a farmer of the town of Liberty.  He was one of the most progressive young men of the county, engaged in farming and the conduct of boarding houses; he erected the Nichols House, one mile east of Liberty, one of the finest and most up-to-date boarding houses in this section; he also conducted a dairy and operated a milk route.  2. Hattie A., born November 26, 1865.  3. Elbert Holmes, of whom further.

          (IX) Elbert Holmes, a son of Jonathan

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Briggs and Ada (Holmes) Nichols, was born December 1, 1873.  He attended the district schools and Wood's Business College, at Scranton, Pennsylvania; after this he worked on his father's farm until 1896.  In this year he opened a laundry in Liberty.  In 1910 he opened a garage, which he has conducted up to the present time, having erected in 1911 a modern building for that purpose; he is agent of the Hudson car.  He is a Republican in politics.  He married, June 6, 1900, Alice May, daughter of Jacob and Alice (Tyler) Dexheimer.  Children:  1. Alice Ada, born March 30, 1901.  2. Elbert Holmes, born august 26, 1904; died May 21, 1906.  3. Marion Elizabeth, born September 19, 1907.  4. John Byron, born august 27, 1909.

DAVIS.

          Christopher Davis (or Davids), the immigrant ancestor, was born in England.  He was also called "Kit" Davis.  He came to Massachusetts Bay Colony before 1636.  The only public record we find of him there, however, is a record showing that he was bondsman for John Davies (Davis) before the general court, December 13, 1636.  Later he went to New York and settled at Hellgate, Manhattan, where he was known as "the Englishman" by his Dutch neighbors.  He sold his land here and removed to Fort orange, bur in 1654 went down the river and settled in Redoubt Kill, opposite what was called afterward Kit Davis Kill He married (first) Cornelia Vedos, who died in 1657. He married (second) Maria martens, also a Dutch woman.  Davis was a noted trapper and acted as a mediator and Indian interpreter.  Governor Stuyvesant at one time put him in jail "for spreading false reports among the Indians," but his wife secured his release "to provide for a poor famished and disconsolate wife and children."  Indian hostilities eventually caused him to remove to New Amsterdam, but afterward he located at Esopus and finally at Marbletown.  Children:  1. George, of whom further.  2. David.  3. Isaac, and perhaps others.

          (II) George, son of Christopher Davis, died soon after King Philip's War.  About 168, his widow Johanna, then intending marriage with Henricus Beekman, the records tell us, granted to children, Jacobus, Samuel and Solomon Davis, five hundred measures of wheat, and guaranteed that she would give them an honest and Christian education as far as she was able.  David Davis, uncle of the children, and Dirck Jansen were appointed guardians or overseers. 

          (III) Jacobus, son of George Davis, born bout 1670 -80, lived at Marbletown,, Ulster County, New York.  Christopher Davis, brother or cousin, died at Marbletown and bequeathed to the children of Jacobus:  1. Isaac, 2. John, 3. Richard, 4. Esther, 5. Wuntje, 6. Elizabeth, 7. Rachel.

          (V) Jacobus (2), grandson of Jacobus (1) Davis, was born about 1740.  He married Catrina Van West, who was a legatee in her father's will.  William Van West, of Manor Phillipsburg, in his will, November 29, 1771, bequeathed to wife Catherine and children:  1. Jacobus. 2. William. 3. Jacob. 4. Nelitze, who married David Davids.  5. Susanna, who married Wolvert Cappar.  6. Catrina, wife of Jacobus Davids.  William Davids was a witness.  Jacobus S. Davis was administrator of the will of his brother, Jacob Davis, September 18, 1790, of Marbletown, who died intestate, "late private in Colonel Dubois' regiment."

          (VI) Jacobus (3), son of Jacobus (2) Davis, according to the census of 1790 was the only one of the name then living in Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, and he had in his family two males over sixteen, four under that age, and four females.  The other heads of the Davis family in Ulster County were:  Henry, Isaac, John B., Isaac C., Thomas, Elias, Andries, Andrew, John and jams, all apparently descendants of Christopher Davis.  We find in the church records of Kingston these children of Jacobus and Elizabeth:  1. Bos.  2. Bous, or Bosch, as variously spelled, 3. Lena, baptized January 28, 1770. 4. Lois, January 5, 1777.  5. Jacobus, of whom further.

          (VII) Jacobus (4), son of Jacobus (3) Davis, baptized February 28, 1779, at Kingston, New York, was probably born at Marbletown.  According to descendants he was always called "Cobe," a contraction of Jacobus.  He was living at Wawarsing, Ulster County, as early as 1807, when his name appears among the inhabitants of the eighth school district of Wawarsing, also called "The Hunk."  He removed to the vicinity

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of Parksville, New York, and afterwards went to Michigan.  Children:  1. John, went to Michigan, but returned to Parksville, never married.  2. James, returned to Orange County and finally settled at Carthage, New York, was a soldier in the Civil War in the  Fifty-sixth Regiment.  3. Henry, of whom further.  4. Albert.  5. George, went to Michigan, then returned to New York State, and died unmarried.

          (VIII) Henry, son of Jacobus (4) Davis, was born in Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, died December 26, 1884, at Livingston Manor.  Thence he came to Liberty, New York, and located on a farm about four miles from Parksville.  He sold this place later and moved to Parksville.  He was a tanner by trade, employed in the tannery of Bradley & Shoemaker for about six years.  He then bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres at Livingston Manor, where he spent his last years.  In politics he was a Democrat, in religion a Presbyterian.  He married Eunice Fisk. Children:  1. Hannah, married Henry Dean, a farmer of Fallsburgh, Sullivan County, New York.  2. Nancy, married Daniel Garret, of Liberty, a blacksmith.  Children:  i. Hezzie, and ii. Mary S.  3. Daniel Martin, went west.  4. Harriet, married Frank Meriam, a broker in New York City.  Children:  i. Frank, ii. Belle.  5. William, went south when a young man, and was heard from after many years in the west, where he had a family of three children.  6. Eunice, married Milton Conine.  7. James Wallace, of whom further.  8. Plymouth, born 1839, was a soldier in the Fifth-sixth Regiment, New York, 1861-64.  9. Horace.

          (IX) James Wallace, son of Henry Davis, was born in 1838, died February 13, 1912.  He attended the district schools of Rockland.  During his boyhood he assisted his father on the homestead, and later followed farming all his active life. He built the Hotel Davis in Livingston Manor, now called the Sherwood Hotel.  In 1861 he enlisted in company F, Fifty-sixth Regiment, New York Volunteer Militia, and was discharged for physical disability in 1863.  He married, in 1865, Hannah, daughter of Meyer LeRoy, a farmer of Liberty, of Dutch and French Huguenot ancestry.  Children:  1. James William, of whom further.  2. Clara L., born September 14, 1872, married Wellington Woolsey, of Livingston Manor.

          (X) Dr. James William Davis, son of James Wallace Davis, was born at Livingston Manor, December 25, 1876.  He attended the public schools of his native town and the Academy at Mount Hermon, Massachusetts, and then became a clerk in a drugstore in Livingston Manor.  After a year he became a student in the College of Pharmacy, New York City.  But instead of following pharmacy for his profession, he studied medicine and was graduated in 1902 from the College of Physician and Surgeons of New York City, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.  He was an interne in the German Hospital of Brooklyn until January 1, 1904, when he located at Jeffersonville, Sullivan County, New York, and practiced during the next six years.  Since May, 1910, he has been in general practice at Livingston manor.  Dr. Davis is a member of County and State Medical societies; an alumnus of German Hospital; and a member Free and Accepted Masons, Lodge No. 791, Livingston Manor.  Mrs. Davis is a member of Eastern Star, No. 463, at Jeffersonville. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and in politics a Republican.

          He married, September 28, 1904, Kathryn J. Hope, born in Brooklyn, New York, November 28, 1880, daughter of James Steed and Adelaide E. (Mott) Hope.  She lived there and at Holtsville, New York, until her marriage, except during her training at the German Hospital, from which she was graduated in 1904.  Her father was formerly an Evangelist, and later a farmer at Holtsville, Long Island.  He lived some years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died in February, 1903.  He married Adelaide E. Mott, daughter of John A. and Catherine Jane (Dietrich) Mott.  John A. Mott was born in England and came to this country with the senior partner of Proctor & Gamble, who have made "Ivory Soap," a household word throughout the country.  He went back to England for a time, but returned and followed the trade of tailor, afterward removing to Evansville, Indiana, where he died.  Jane Dietrich came of Dutch ancestry, and was born near Utica, New York.  Children of Dr. and Mrs. James William

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Davis;  1. Muriel A., born June 28, 1905.  2. Clare M., November 23.1906.

OLMSTEAD.

          Olmstead is an ancient and honorable English surname, derived from the name of a place, as indicated by the etymology of the word.  All of the early New England families of the name are descended from the immigrant, James Olmstead, or his nephew, Richard Olmstead.  The name was spelled variously, Olmstead, Olmsted, Homestead, Holmstead, Homsted, etc.

          James Olmstead, the first of the family in America, was born in England, and came to Boston on the ship "Lion," embarking June 22, 1632, and landing September 16, 1632. He settled at Cambridge where he was admitted a freeman, November 6, 1632, he was one of the proprietors of the town of Cambridge in 1633 and constable in 1634.  In 1636 he went with the colony from Massachusetts Bay, and was one of the original settlers and proprietors at Cambridge, Connecticut.  His residence at Cambridge was near the site of the famous old Wadsworth House on Harvard Street.  He died, September 18, 1640, at Hartford, and bequeathed fifty pounds to the Hartford Church.  Children:  1. Nichols, born in England, about 1615.  2. Nehemiah, of Hartford, in 1649.  Nephews:  Richard, mentioned below; John, settled at Norwich, left no issue.

          (I) Richard Olmstead, nephew of James Olmstead, was born about 1609.  He was with his uncle one of the original proprietors of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1639.  In 1651 he moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, where he became one of the most respected and honored men.  With other men from Hartford, he was a purchaser of the township from Roger Ludlow, Esq., of Fairfield, June 19, 1650, and he was first in the town in military command.  In the records of Norwalk his name has the oldest date.  He was the surveyor for the new town, and the first street to be laid out by him seems to have been Town Street, which extended from Beacham's lane to the crest of Goodman Hoyt's hill, and on this street all of the early planters built.  His house was about halfway between the street's extremes.  Before the founding of the town, his name, with those of James, Nicholas and John Olmstead., was on the list "of all persons holding land in Hartford, in February, 1639," and in 1650 he signed his name on the petition for the planting of Norwalk; his name was the third mentioned in the governor and company's patent to the Norwalk proprietors, and he received four acres as a home lot, on the east side of Town Street.  He served in several public offices, and was the first town clerk for Norwalk.  He was forty-two years of age when he came to Norwalk, with his two sons, James and John.  In 1653 he was representative to the general assembly, May session, and also served in twelve more sessions until 1679.  He also served as commissioner of the peace, or town judge.  He married twice, according to his will, which was dated September 5, 1684.  He died, probably in 1680, surviving both wives. Children by first wife:  1. James, 2. John, mentioned below, 3. Daughter, died young

          (II) Lieutenant John Olmstead, son of Richard Olmstead, was a small child when his father moved to Norwalk, and doubtless under two years of age.  He was baptized December 30, 1649.  He married, November 11, 1670, Mary, daughter of Thomas Benedict.  Children: 1. John.  2. Mary.  3. Sarah, married Jonathan Abbott.  4. Rebecca, married Samuel St. John  5. Daniel., mentioned below.  6. Jane, married Benjamin Wilson.  7. Richard.  8. Eunice.  9. Deborah.

          (III) Daniel son of Lieutenant John Olmstead, with Richard Olmstead and others of Norwalk and Milford, Connecticut, bought the township of Ridgefield, September 30, 1708, from Catoonah, sachem of the Ramapoo Indians of the State of New York, paying one hundred pounds for twenty thousand acres. Both he and his brother moved to that place.  He married Hannah Ketchum, of Norwalk, May 9, 1711.  Children:  1. Daniel, born February 9, 1712.  2. Samuel, mentioned below.  3. Nathan, march 7, 1716.  4. Ambrose, May 9, 1719.  5. Hannah, July 16, 1721.  6. Jonathan, December 8, 1723.  7. Elizabeth, February 3, 1727.  8. Ezekiel, 1720.

          (IV) Samuel son of Daniel Olmstead, was born March 27, 1715, died June 10, 1788.  He married, April 15, 1737, Abiah, born March 7, 1716, daughter of Ebenezer

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and Sarah Smith,.  She died April 30, 1796, of cancer, aged eighty years.  He was seventy-four years of age when he died.  Children:  1. Daniel, born June 7, 1738.  2. Abiah, January 19, 1739.  3. Sarah, 1744.  4. Samuel, October 29, 1746.  5. Ebenezer, 1748.  6. Hannah,  January 8, 1750.  7. Jared, mentioned below. 

          (V) Jared, son of Samuel Olmstead, was born July 1, 1753, died May 28, 1825. In the Connecticut Historical Society Collections, page 195, vol. VIII, record is given of his service in the Revolution, as ensign in Captain Davis Olmstead's company, Colonel Nehemiah Bardsley's regiment, Fairfield, 1779.  The first federal census, 1790, shows that he as living at Ridgefield, Connecticut.  The Olmstead family was very numerous at that time.  He married, November 30, 1772, Hannah, born May 10, 1753, died February 28, 1826, daughter of Gideon and Rachael Betts, of Ridgefield,.  Children:  1. Lewis, mentioned below.  2. Nathan, born April 1, 1776.  3. Jonas,  January 31, 1778.  4. Hannah, March 3, 1780.  5. Betsey,  March 3, 1782.  6. Sally, May 21, 1784.  7. Polly, May 21, 1780.  8. Rachel, march 18, 1788.  9. Lucy, April 24, 1790.  10. Jared, February 14, 1793. 11. Hiram,  May 28, 1795.

          (VI) Lewis, son of Jared Olmstead, was born March 19, 1774, died Otego, New York, November 9, 1847.  He married 1794, Sarah, daughter of Trowbridge and Sarah Bennett, of Ridgefield; she died April 23, 1855, at Otego, New York.  Children:  1. Philo, mentioned below.  2. Lucy, born July 14, 1797.  3. Rosanna, February 28, 1800.  4. Betsey D., December 7, 1801.  5. Anna L., October 14, 1804.  6. Carlisle, September 9, 1807.  7. Orrin L., October 14, 1809.  8. Jared, August 19, 1811.  9, Sarah, June 28, 1814.  10. William B., September 7, 1816.  11. Jonas, December 19, 1818.  12. Lucy M., July 13, 1821.

          (VII) Philo, son of Lewis Olmstead, was born November 11, 1795, in Ridgefield, Connecticut.  He as educated in the district schools and when a young man of twenty-one came to Meredith, New York, where he bought a farm and besides making agriculture his occupation followed the trade of blacksmith.  He later removed to Delhi and from there to Walton, but during his last years he lived at Hancock, New York, where he died in 1874.  He married, March 9, 1817, Phoebe Gray.  Children:  1. Deborah Ann, born 1818, died young.  2. David Gray, July 20, 1819, died August 11, 1846.  3. Hiram, mentioned below,.  4. Sarah, April 26, 1823.

          (VIII)  Hiram, son of Philo Olmstead, was born at Meredith, New York, February 20, 1821, died in 1896.   He received his early education in the public schools and was graduated from the Academy of Delhi.  During his boyhood he worked on his father's farm when not in school.  Later he was a surveyor and a teacher.  From the time of his marriage until his death he conducted a farm in the town of Walton, Delaware county, New York.  In politics he was a Republican, and in religion he was a Congregationalist.  He married, in 1848, Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Levi Hanford, a farmer of Walton, with whom they made their home.  Her father was born in 1792 in Fairfield, Connecticut, of an old family, the early generations of which are given elsewhere in this work.  When he was sixteen years old he came to Walton with his father who bought a farm there, and when he came of age his father divided the farm with him.  To this land he added more by purchase and he cultivated his place until the time of his death in 1888.  He married a distant relative, Cynthia, daughter of Samuel Hanford, also a farmer in Walton.  Levi and Cynthia had children:  1. George M., born in 1818.  2. Sarah Elizabeth, 1827.  3. Mary Stevenson, 1833.  Children of Hiram and Sarah Elizabeth Olmstead: 1. Mary, born 1850.  2. Charles, 1853.  3. John,  1856.  4. Henry, 1864.  5. Julian Hanford, 1868.  6.   Sarah Elizabeth, widow of Hiram Olmstead, resides at Walton (1912).

KISSAM.

          The name Kissam is indigenous to this country and the present spelling of the name became fixed only near the close of the seventeenth century.  The members of the family were all of them staunch adherents of the Church of England, and of her daughter in the this country, the Protestant Episcopal church, and the family numbers among its distinguished descendants the Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Untied States and of the diocese of Connecticut, also Bishop Brownell, and the two brothers,

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The Rt. Rev. Henry Ustic Onderdonk and the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Fredwell Onderdonk. 

          (I) John Kissam, the founder of the family, was born in July, 1644.  He was of English origin but on the early records his name appears as "Ocasson," "Ockeson," and "Okeson." February 4, 1678, he bought a farm of John Smith, on Great neck, to which he removed March 26, 1695.  Spelling his name "Kissam," he deeded a part of this farm to his son Daniel.  He married, July 10, 1667, Susanna, daughter of William Thorne, of Jamaica, Long Island.  Children, as afar as known:  1. Daniel, referred to below.  2. John (Ockerson), removed to Freehold, New Jersey; married Elizabeth Mott.  3. Thomas, (Okeson), removed to Hunterdon County, New Jersey; married (first) name unknown, and (second) Deborah Clayton.

          (II)  Daniel, son of John and Susanna (Thorne) Kissam, was born at Great Neck, Long Island, in 1669, died December 26, 1752.  He was buried in the family plot on his own farm, since owned by William Mott and lately by William H. Onderdonk.  He was a farmer, and was elected vestryman of St. George's parish, Hempstead, Long Island, in 1703.  He married Elizabeth Coombs, born in 1673, died may 12, 1736.  Children:  1. Hannah, born about 1699, died July 3, 1750; married Lewis Hewlett.  2. Daniel, born in 1701; married Ann Mott.  3. Elizabeth, born in 1703; married, October 9, 1726, Henry Strange, or L'Estrange, of the Rye, Westchester County, family.  4. Joseph, of whom further.  5. Martha, born in 1708, died in 1770; married James Woods, Esq.

          (III) Joseph, son of Daniel and Elizabeth, (Coombs) Kissam, was born in 1705.  He was a farmer and lived at Cow Neck (now Manhasset), Long Island.  From 1749 to 1763, he was a justice of the peace for the crown, and from 1751 to 1761 he was a vestryman of St. George's Church, Hempstead.  He married, February 7, 1727, Deborah, daughter of the Hon. Jonathan and Sarah (Field) Whitehead.  Children:  1. Daniel Whitehead, born February 24, 1728, died March 8, 1880; married, July 4, 1776, Ann Duryea.  2. Benjamin, of whom further.  3. Joseph, born August 22, 1731; Married, October 9, 1752, Mary Hewett.  4. Elizabeth; married, October 20, 1761, Jacob Mott.  5. Deborah, married, September 15, 1763, Edmund Smith.  6. Samuel, born in 1745, died in the West Indies; he was a pupil of the Rev. Samuel Seabury in 1761, and in 1769 graduated in King's College (now Columbia University). 

          (IV) Benjamin, son of Joseph and Deborah (Whitehead) Kissam, was born at Manhasset, Long Island, died October 25, 1782.  He studied law and settled in new York City where he became a distinguished lawyer.  Among those who learned the rudiments of the legal profession under him were Cornelius J. Bogart, Lindley Murray, the grammarian, and John Jay, the last of whom, according to his son, "was accustomed to speak to Mr. Benjamin Kissam as one of the best men he ever knew and one of the best friends he ever had."  Mr. Kissam's deep personal piety was evinced by his lengthy and touching written address, bequeathed to his children, urging them always to be dutiful to God and to worship Him both in spirit and truth and under all circumstances to be guarded in their actions as well as upright in their intentions.  He was a member of the safety committee of one hundred and of the first and second provincial congresses.  He married, October 5, 1755, Catherine, daughter of Petrus Rutgers, of New York City. Children:  1. Peter Rutgers, of whom further.  2. Benjamin, born august 14, 1759, died July 124, 1802; married, in 1786, Cornelia Roosevelt.  3. Richard Sharp, born February 20, 1763, died November 14, 1822; married in 1807, Ann (Cordray) Egbert, widow.  4. Adrian, born June 19, 1765; married March 11, 1705, Mrs. Elizabeth (Rogers) Bayard.  5. Samuel, died unmarried.  6. Helena, born May 16, 1769, died June 19, 1830; married, November 18, 1787, Philip Livingston Hoffman.

          (V) Peter Rutgers, son of Benjamin and Catherine (Rutgers) Kissam, was born in New York City, July 4, 1756, died there June 8, 1798.  He was a graduate of Columbia College, class of 1776, and prominent merchant in New York City.  He married, August 4, 1779, Deborah, daughter of Penn Townsend, who was born January 6, 1756.  Children:  1. Catharine, married, September 22, 1801, Philip Brotherson.  2.

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Esther, married Rev. William McMurray, of New York City.  3. Benjamin P., of whom further.  4. Rev. Samuel, born January 15, 1796, died November 6, 1868; married Margaret H. Adams; he was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church.  Children:  i. Benjamin, a banker in New York,  ii. William, a banker in New York,  iii. Maria L., married William Vanderbilt,  iv. Thomas, a banker,  v. Margaret, married (first) Mr. Ackerman, and (second) Miles Standish Bramley,  vi. Samuel H., a banker,  vii. Peter R., a banker in New York.  5. Peter Rutgers, died November 21, 1836; married, October 30, 1826, Amanda Paul.  

          (VI) Dr. Benjamin P. Kissam, son of peter Rutgers and Deborah (Townsend) Kissan, was born in new York City, March 17, 1787, died October 6, 1828.  He spent his boyhood and early youth in New York City, entered and was graduated in Williams College, with honors, and studied median in New York.  He received his medical doctor degree in 1816.  He then became a surgeon in the United States Navy and continued inactive service until his death in 1828.  He was a Master Mason and a member of Holland Lodge, No. 8, Ancient York Masons.  He married, in July, 1818, Harriet J. Miller.  Children:  1. Harriet.  2. Samuel M., married Martha Chatfield.  3. Josephine C., of whom further. 

          (VII) Josephine C., daughter of Dr. Benjamin P. (U. S. N.) and Harriet J. (Miller) Kissam, was born in New York City and is living in 1912, at Peekskill, Westchester County, New York, she being the sole survivor of her family.  She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and in one of her maternal lines traces her ancestry back to the Vanderbilt family. 

COFFIN.

          In Fallaise, a town of Normandy, stands the old chateau of Courtiton, once the home of the Norman Coffins, but the name is now extinct in that vicinity.  The chateau is now owned by Monsieur Le Clere, who is the grandson of the last Miss Coffin, who married a Le Clere in 1796.  Until her marriage the chateau had always been owned by a Coffin.

          [The above information came through Admiral Henry E. Coffin, of the English navy, who is the nephew of Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 16, 1759, made a baronet and granted a coat of arms in 1804.]  The family traces its ancestry to Sir Richard Coffin, Knight, who accompanied William, the conqueror from Normandy to England, in the year 1066, and to whom the manor of Alwington, in the county of Devonshire, was assigned.  There are various branches of the family in the county of Devon.  The English records show the name of Covin, whence it was apparently changed to Coffinor Cophin, and is also found as Kophin, Coffyn and Coffyne.  Before 1254 the family was flourishing at Portledge by the sea, in the parish of Alwington, five miles from Middeford, England.,  for a period of about two hundred years the heir always received the name of Richard, and thus the family was perpetuated for many generations through that name.  The name was brought at an early period to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and has since been borne here by many leading men.  The Revolutionary War record of the family is an especially honorable one.  The Portledge family bore these arms;  Vert, five cross crosslets argent, between four plates.  These arms are also used by the American families.

          (I) Tristram Coffin, who was probably a descendant of Sir Richard Coffin, mentioned above, lived in Brixton, county Devon, England. In his will he left legacies to Anne and John, children of his son, Nicholas Coffin; Richard and Joan, children of Lionel coffin; Philip Coffin and his son, Tristram; and appointed Nicholas coffin, mentioned below, as his executor.

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