29 Jefferson Street, Newburyport Historic Surveys, 1981
29 Jefferson Street – Joseph Coffin, owner of the shipyard at the end of Jefferson Street, and the 1784 will of Benjamin Coffin that tells of a ship building yard at the end of Jefferson Street in the 1700s.
The owner of 29 Jefferson Street in 2022 told me that the mason that fixed the chimney put the house at around 1750. The first documented owner that I could find was Joseph Coffin (1785–1868). Joseph is a direct descendant of Tristram Coffin (1608 -1681) one of the first settlers of Newbury who ran the ferry to Carr Island from the Newbury side at the end of Jefferson Street.
In 1655 the town of Newbury laid out a new way, what is now Jefferson Street, as a means of getting to the ferry to Amesbury at Carr Island. For more than 50 years it was called Ferry Lane or “the way to the ferry.” In 1814 it was called Jefferson Street, and in 1839 it was called Coffin’s Lane. It was changed back to Jefferson Street when that area became part of Newburyport in 1851.*^
Joseph’s grandfather was Benjamin Coffin (1710 – 1784), and in Benjamin’s will* he left his his “ship building yard with all its privileges” at the bottom of Jefferson Street to his three sons, Stephen, Amos (Joseph’s father) and Lemuel Coffin. The shipyard at the bottom of Jefferson Street goes back to at least the 1700s. There is very little known about the shipyard, and the fact that there is a document, the will, about the shipyard adds to the small amount of history that is understood about it. Robert Cheney in his book, “Maritime History of the Merrimac: Shipbuilding,” has Joseph Coffin and his relative Samuel Coffin as the first major ship builder at the end of Jefferson Street around 1810.*** John J. Currier has Benjamin Coffin, who bought the land from Moses Coffin in 1763.*^* Benjamin Coffin’s will of 1784 shows that the shipyard belonged to Joseph’s grandfather and aligns with the account by John J. Currier. In Joesph Coffin’s probate (1868), he lists a “Ship-yard at the foot of Jefferson Street,” as well a “Half a ship yard on the Merrimac River,” and a “Ship-yard on Merrimac Street.”
Benjamin Coffin may well have built 29 Jefferson Street, in his will he left his house to Joseph’s uncle Lemuel. I have not been able to figure out how Joseph acquired the house, I have not found a deed or a will, but he most definitely owned it. It is listed in his probate records,** as well was the newspaper, selling the estate,^^ The 1872 Map not only shows Jospeh’s house but also a large estate including land on Jefferson Street, as well as land along the Merrimac River and Merrimac Street where the shipyards would have been, as well as other houses and land which he rented out,^* all of which were sold in 1872.^^
The 1884 map shows that Joseph’s land was divided up. His house had been sold to Philip D. Adams who was a teacher in Newburyport and lived on High Street. It seems that he rented it for 20 years before letting his son Frank and his new wife live there in 1893.^*^ He gave the house to Frank in 1906, and Frank’s widow Carrie sold it in 1928 after Frank’s death. Philip Adams married Ruth Coffin who was the daughter of Joesph Coffin, Philip bought his father-in-laws house and Frank was Joseph’s grandson. The house stayed in the family from when it was built, possibly by Benjamin Coffin in the 1700s to when Frank Adams died in 1928. There is a brief mention in the paper when the house was sold that it had been neglected and was going to be restored by Edward Hoyt who had bought the property.^^^
1924 Assessor’s Map, Courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
Philip D. Adams, The Snow Collection, Courtesy of the Museum of Old Newbury
29 Jefferson Street, © Courtesy of Biff Bouse
29 Jefferson Street on the Newburyport Interactive History Map
~ History compiled by Mary Baker Eaton
Footnotes and References:
* Benjamin Coffin’s will, 1784
** Probate of Joseph Coffin, 1868
*** Maritime History of the Merrimac: Shipbuilding, Robert K. Cheney, Chapter IV
*^* History of Newbury, Mass., 1635-1902, by John James Currier
*^ John J. Currier, History of Newburyport Mass, 1764-1905
^^ Newburyport Daily Herald, September 20, 1872
^* Advertisements in the Newburyport Historic Newspapers, the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
^^^ Newburyport Daily News and Newburyport Herald, December 6, 1928
^*^ Newburyport censuses and the Newburyport City Directories
Salem Deeds
FamilySeach.org
HeritageQuest Online
American Ancestors
The Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
The 1872 Map, Courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
The 1884 Map, Historic Map Works and the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
1924 Assessor’s Map, Courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
Newburyport Historic Newspapers, the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
Newburyport City Directories
Federal Census from FamilySearch.org
The Jackman School, between Atwood and School Streets – it was the location of 2 schools, possible 3, the first one was built in 1765.
Jackman School, Atwood Street, courtesy of the Museum of Old Newbury, The Snow Collection
School Street was created in 1753 and the first school house was built in 1765.* A school house appears on the 1851 map, I do not know if it was the one built in 1765 or a later version. The 1872 map and 1884 map also show a school building. By that time it had been named the Jackman School, after George W. Jackman who became mayor of Newburyport in1861, when he filled the vacancy created when the serving mayor died in office. He served six years as mayor, and held that office throughout most of the Civil War. At other times he was an alderman, councilman, postmaster, and customs collector, and he was elected to the state legislature as well. He was also a famous shipbuilder, and purchased the Jackman Shipyard in 1849 (please see the Jackman Shipyard on the Interactive Map as well as 51 Woodland Street where he lived). George Jackman’s obituary stated that, “He was one of the foremost shipbuilders of the city and was one of the sturdy men whose brain and handiwork made Newburyport famous in every part of the world.”
Newburyport Daily News, June 30, 1900
Around 1899 the existing school house was described as, “Wretched, worse than any prison or almshouse in the state, the impure air was shortening the lives of the pupils who were forced to go there.”**
1851 Map showing an earlier school building where the new Jackman School was built in 1900.
1872 Map, courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center showing an earlier school building where the new Jackman School was built in 1900.
1884 Map, courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center showing an earlier school building where the new Jackman School was built in 1900.
The new school building that replaced the old one was completed in 1901. When it was announce in the paper in 1900, it was described as, “An eight room school building that will be the best public building in the city, as well as the most modern one.”*** It was the building that many people remember as the Jackman School.
Portrait of George Jackman, courtesy of the Custom House Maritime Museum, #CHMM 2013.1061.1
By 1975 the building was described as, “Long outmoded and abandoned when the Rupert A. Nock Middle School was opened on low street.”^* Like the Kelly School and the Brown School there was a great deal of discussion about what could be done with the building. Eventually it was demolished in 1975 and is now the site of Atwood Park.
1906 Sanborn Fire Map from the Library of Congress, showing the new Jackman School.
Postcard of the Jackman School, courtesy of Historic Ipswich
The Jackman School, the Newburyport Interactive History Map
~ History compiled by Mary Baker Eaton
Footnotes:
* History of Newburyport, Mass 1764-1905, by John J. Currier p. 364
** The Newburyport Daily News, May 9, 1899
*** The Newburyport Daily News, June 30, 1900, on the announcement of the building of the new Jackman School
^* The Newburyport Daily News, July 15, 1975
