FishTales A Newsletter History of the Fish/Morse Families

November 1998 Issue # 16 Return to Contents

Since the last issue of Fish Tales, I have been in contact with Barbara Bergstrand of Bridgewater, NJ, who is a direct descendant of Jirah Luce. She passed on recollections of her own as well as from other members of her family which I share below. She also included copies of passenger lists from the Schooner "Rialto," which sailed from Holmes Hole in February 1849 and carried Jirah Luce to California. In addition, she sent a similar document for the "Sch. L. M. Yale," which sailed from Holmes Hole, Oct 1849. This copy was much more legible than the Rialto one and contained the following names:

The passengers on the maiden voyage of the L.M.Yale all had good Vineyard names, though the two "Hirams" are a bit confusing. Bank's genealogy shows no "Hirams" among the Luce clan, but then he may not have netted them all. After all, in Bank's own words, "The Luce family were prolific as rabbits." I made an attempt to find out more about the L. M. Yale, which L. M. Yale, Jr. stated "for years bore his name [his father's] up and down the western coast." I could find no trace and even wrote to the library of the National Maritime Museum in San Francisco, whose reference librarian consulted Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1852, The Goodman List of Gold Rush Vessels, the Lyman List and the State Library Index. There may be information out there, but it must be in some obscure place.

Barbara Bergstrand had some comments and corrections for the information in the last issue of Fish Tales which I sent her. Barbara is a great-granddaughter of Jirah and Mary Cottle Luce. Her grandmother was their sixth born child, Jane "Jennie" Luce. Jennie was the only one of Jirah's and Mary's children to be born in California.

Barbara corrected the caption under the first picture on page 15 of the last Fish Tales. The toddler is Marian Elise Coffman, Barbara's aunt who died when she was but three years old. The following is an excerpt from the letter Barbara wrote me:

"I am guessing that the unknown man and woman in the group picture are my grandparents, James Tristler and Jennie (Jane) Luce Coffman. The man looks like a portrait my grandmother painted of my grandfather when he had dark hair and whiskers. I didn't know my grandmother and have never seen a good picture of her. She died when I was less than three years old. Grandpa Coffman was an honest and respected lawyer and was the local Justice of the Peace at the time he and my grandmother were married. (He said he married a lot of people before he married my grandmother.) He was known as Judge Coffman for the rest of his life, eventhough he was no longer Justice of the Peace."

"Mary Dunham Swain (Jan. 7, 1867- 1937) and Georgia Inwood Swain (Jan. 15, 1861-1915)[referring to the second picture on page 15 of last issue] were daughters of Jirah and Mary Cottle Luce's oldest daughter, Mary Dunham Luce (married Harry F. Swain in 1860) who was born May 4, 1840 and died Feb. 4, 1869. Apparently, my great grandmother raised Mary Swain's daughters along with her own daughter Jennie (my grandmother, who was born Jan. 5, 1862 (in California) and died Dec. 3, 1924. (There was another Swain daughter, Susan (June 6, 1864-1878), who died young (drowned?). My mother said there were 3 adult women in the house when she was growing up, so Mary and Georgia Swain must have lived with my grandparents. . . My mother, Mildred Isabel Coffman Cummings, was very young when your pictures were taken, so she wasn't included. (She was born Oct. 22, 1897.) . . . I don't know the cause of Marian's death at age 3. My mother said she died in my grandfather's arms.

My mother and her sister grew up in the house at 539 Tucker St. in Healdsburg [the Coffman house on page 15 of the last issue]. My two sisters and I grew up there, too. After my grandmother died, our family moved into Grandpa's house, so Grandpa was always part of our family when I was growing up. My parents continued to live there until the late 1940's or 1950. After that the house was converted to a nursing home; and after that, back to a private home. It has undergone some changes over the years."

Barbara also included some letters which she had written after a trip to Martha's Vineyard in 1981. I excerpt some items of interest below, which may shed some light on Jirah Luce' expedition to "El Dorado:"

"After we got home, I read over some letters my aunt had written to me. According to her, Jirah Luce went out to California first and sent for the family later. She also wrote that my grandmother, Jennie Luce (Coffman) was the only one of the children born in California. Therefore, Jirah must have returned to Martha's Vineyard after 1849 and gone back to California, because one child was born in 1853 [in Martha's Vineyard]. He sent for the family when the oldest child was eighteen, which would have made the year the family went to California 1858. My aunt mentioned that Mary Cottle Luce and her daughter, Mary Dunham Luce, were the only women on the ship for six months on the trip around the Horn.

The family settled near Petaluma, on the Sonoma County side of San Antone Creek in Northern California. That is where my grandmother was born. Later, Jirah took the family to Healdsburg, California (also in Sonoma County) where he bought land back of Fitch Mountain and had a vineyard and winery. His sons were not interested in farming and went to the cities of Healdsburg and Santa Rosa. Some of the later generations remained in Healdsburg; others moved to Berkeley and other places in California."

This information answers the question as to how the family got to California. We don't have much information about the intervening time between Jirah's original trip to California on the Rialto and how he came to settle in Healdsburg. The statement about his sons not being interested in farming is not entirely accurate, as both Jirah, Jr. and Milton Yale stayed in the area and, as far as we can tell, farmed the oruiginal Luce homestead.

The aunt mentioned in the above letters was Doris Genevieve Coffman Hiatt. Her son, Barbara's first cousin, James Coffman Hiatt, lives in Parachute, Colorado, which is not too far from here. He is also the one who has Jennie's painting of James Coffman. Jim sent me pictures and additional information, which appear below:

Marian Elise Coffman "Genevieve Luce Coffman and James Tristler Coffman were married 1893 July 22. They had three children: Marian born 96 May 27;Died 99 Jul 22 Mildred born 97 Oct 2;Died 61 May 1 Doris born 99 Aug 22;Died 84 Apr29 Marian lived three years. Mildred probably received very little attention in her childhood. Doris was born one month after Marian died. Doris (my mother) received much attention and very little discipline." James Coffman Hiatt

"Mary Cottle born 1819 Feb 24 on Martha's Vineyard Island. She married Jirah Luce 1839 Aug 4. He left Holmes Hole 1849 Feb 7 on a schooner to sail around Cape Horn to follow the gold rush to California. He returned and took his wife, daughter Mary, and sons Jirah, Milton and Arthur around Cape Horn to California before 1862. My grandmother, Genevieve Luce Coffman was born at the north end of San Francisco Bay near Novato on San Antonio Creek. Her sister and husband, Harry Swain, died of T.B., and left Georgia, Susan and Mary in the care of Mary Luce and Jenny Luce. Jenny Luce Coffman was my grandmother." J.C.H.

Jirah Luce was born on Martha's Vineyard Mass., January 18, 1818. Mary Cottle was born on Martha's Vineyard February 24, 1819. They were married August 4, 1839. Jirah left Holmes Hole on the schooner Rialto on February 7, 1849, to sail 20,000 miles around Cape Horn to the California gold rush. He returned to Martha's Vineyard, and later took his wife, daughter and three sons back around the Horn before 1862. Daughter Genevieve Luce was born to them on January 5, 1862, at the north end of San Francisco bay near novato on San Antonio Creek. Jirah died. Their daughter married Harry Swain. They had three daughters, Georgia, Susan and Mary. Mary and Harry died of T.B. Mary Luce and Jenny took care iof the three Swain daughters. Jenny taught school at the resort on Geyser Peak. James Coffman taught school in Geyserville. They were married July 22, 1893. Daughter Marian was born May 27, 1896. She died July 22, 1899. Daughter Mildred was born October 2, 1897. Daughter Doris, my mother, was born August 22, 1899, one month after Marian died.

My first memories are of living in the Coffman home at 539 Tucker Street, Healdsburg, California. Grandma Coffman died December 3, 1924, when I was five years old. People rushed about the house. My mother was screaming. J.C.H.

Genevieve (Jenny) Luce Coffman 1862 - 1924
539 Tucker St., Healdsburg, California