Joseph Bryan Family Bible
as Source of the Name of Thomas Hunter Coffield’s Father
by Caroline Coffield Vetterling, April 2021
Joseph Bryan (1742-1807) of Bertie County, North Carolina acquired a bible in
1805 which records certain births, marriages, and deaths of several generations of
his family.
My primary interest in this bible is that it is my only source to date of the name of
the father of Thomas Hunter Coffield (1765-1821), my 3rd great-grandfather.
Joseph Bryan was his step-father and possibly the only father he had memory of.
The name in the bible for my 4th great-grandfather is James Coffield.
I am aware of two old genealogical records that claim this bible as a source, but
they raise more questions than they answer. They do not agree on several
important facts nor upon examination do they agree to the bible. Now that I have
seen the bible, it’s clear that all the information in these records does NOT come
from the bible. I will concentrate here primarily on that information that is
included in the bible.
Jump to the 21st century and I became aware of a transcript of the bible records.
Although this record raised questions about the old genealogical records
mentioned above, it was not definitive in that it is not an original document. I
was able to photograph the family pages in the bible; therefore, if the bible is
correct, we now know definitively what it says.
Coffield Raborn Vetterling Mims Family Tree at Ancestry.com
Further documentation of my information on this family may be found in my
Ancestry tree at
https://www.ancestry.com/familytree/person/tree/161375929/person/392106832089/facts
Inquiries, corrections, additions, and collaborations are welcome through
Ancestry or by email caroline@vetterling.com.
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Published Reference to the Joseph Bryan Family Bible
In 1900, nearly 100 years after the bible was acquired, J. R. B. Hathaway, editor
and publisher of The North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register
(referred to as “Hathaway”), included two pages about the Joseph Bryan family.
Hathaway concludes his genealogy of this family by describing his source:
“These records are copied from written records that had been placed in the ‘Old
Family Bible’ which had belonged to Mrs. Ann Bryan wife of James Ryan (sic) and
were copied from the records of Genl. R. C. Martin of Louisiana.” [CCV note:
General Robert Campbell Martin of Assumption Parish Louisiana died in July 1881;
information from his records was provided to Hathaway by someone else, likely
his son Thomas P. Martin.]
To my knowledge Hathaway was the only publicly available source of this
information for another 100 years, when a transcript of the bible was made
available on the web.
Private Reference to the Joseph Bryan Family Bible
My family has a letter that predates Hathaway by 14 years. This letter dated
September 18, 1886 is addressed to my great-grandfather William T. Coffield and
comes from Thomas P. Martin. Both are descendants of Mary Hunter. The
Coffield line through James Coffield; the Martin line through Joseph Bryan.
Mr. Martin names the family bible of Joseph Bryan as a source of his information.
He states the bible was then in the possession of William Whitmell Pugh. In a
separate comment he refers to “information from his late father’s record”. Mr.
Martin’s father is the R. C. Martin whose records were named as Hathaway’s
source.
In the 19th century before copy machines, each time such a compilation was
shared someone had to copy it by hand. The letter is in ink; the genealogy
appears to be in pencil.
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Comparison of Key Points in Hathaway and Private Letter
Data Point
Joseph Bryan’s
father
Mary Hunter’s
father
Mary Hunter’s
previous husband
Hathaway
Publication
Simon Bryan
Thomas P. Martin
My Conclusion
Letter
David Bryan of
Simon Bryan
Bertie Co. Note 1
Thomas Hunter
Henry Robert
Note 3
Hunter
Thomas Coffield
James Coffield
of Martin Co. Note
Henry Hunter
Note 2
Henry Coffield
4.
Mary Hunter’s
Martha Coffield
daughter
Mary hunter’s son Thomas H.
Coffield
th
THC’s 7 daughter Caroline Coffield
Martha Coffield
Martha Coffield
Thomas H.
Coffield
Caroline Coffield
THC’s missing
daughter
Martha Ann
Coffield
Thomas Hunter
Coffield
Source of letter
and Hathaway are
the same.
Source of letter
and Hathaway are
the same.
Martha Ann
Coffield
Note 1: Mr. Martin’s letter says that Joseph Bryan is of Martin County and that his father David
Bryan is of Bertie County. I find Joseph Bryan in Bertie County. One bio of Joseph’s son Henry
Hunter Bryan says he was born in Martin County, but I do not know source of this info.
https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B000986.
Note 2: There were many Henry Hunter’s in the family.
Note 2: There was a Thomas Hunter on whose land the town of Williamston was established in
1779 as the county seat of Martin County. I think that this may be Mary’s brother.
Note 4: I have no reference to Martin County for James Coffield, but that is where his son
Thomas Hunter Coffield lived by 1788. Martin County was formed in 1774 (after James’ death)
from Halifax and Tyrell Counties. So, if this reference is to the right person with the wrong
name, Martin County is an anachronism; or if in using the name Thomas Coffield, the letter
writer just slipped a generation, the location is correct.
Only the points highlighted in yellow are from entries in the bible. The
information about previous and subsequent generations is from other sources –
presumably other papers in the possession of R. C. Martin and subsequently his
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son Thomas P. Martin. It is not clear to me whether Thomas P. Martin had some
original documents or if all were copies or notes. Certainly he did not have the
bible because he named the person who did.
Due to the consistency of points 6 and 7 above regarding Thomas H. Coffield’s
daughters, I think that Mr. Martin’s letter and Hathaway are quoting the same
records. Most likely Hathaway is quoting Mr. Martin. They either make some
mistakes (points 1, 2, and 3 above) of their own (as we all do) or else they are
referencing different information in addition to what they reference in common.
Since all this information is likely from Mr. Martin based on the dates and
attribution, it seems most likely that the differences are transcription errors.
Alternately, Mr. Martin could have changed his opinion on certain facts between
1886 and 1900.
The Official Transcript of the Bible circa 2010
A transcript of the bible was posted on the website of Historic Woodville in the
21st century – maybe around 2010. So far as I have found, it is the only public
record of the bible since Hathaway’s reference in 1900.
The transcript of the bible is not verbatim and is not recorded in the order of the
bible entries. The transcript organizes the entries first by Joseph and Mary Bryan
and their children, then marriages, next births grouped by family, and lastly
deaths in roughly date order.
The excerpts from the transcript that refer to Coffields are:
Births:
Thomas H. Coffield
Martha, daughter of James and Mary Coffield
3-8-1765
12-6-1762
Deaths:
Martha Coffield
2-10-1779
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The Bible Photographed by Caroline Coffield Vetterling in 2019
To my surprise and delight, I was able to find the current owner of the bible and
she was happy to share photographs of the bible pages with births, marriages,
and deaths. The following information is from those photographs.
Based on the nameplate in the bible, it appears that this bible was acquired in
1805, about two years before Joseph Bryan died.
Assuming the early entries are in Joseph’s hand (or possibly Mary’s), it appears
that he first listed the birth dates of himself, his wife and their children, including
his two Coffield step-children, in birth order. See page 678 of the bible. The only
other bible entry that appears to me to be in Joseph’s (or Mary’s) hand is the
death of Martha Coffield on page 679. These events were all in the 18th century
and clearly were not recorded contemporaneously in the bible. They do,
however, appear to be made by a person with first-hand knowledge of the events,
that is, the parents.
All other bible entries are much later events and appear to be recorded in
different hands after the deaths of Joseph and Mary. Two of the next dates are
the marriage of Whitmel Pugh & Mary Whitmel Bryan and the birth of their first
child are in 1806. These appear to me to have been entered by a subsequent
owner of the bible after 1816 (possibly much later).
The next oldest dates are the 1807 and 1810 deaths of Joseph and Mary,
respectively. Joseph and Mary’s deaths are recorded by the same hand.
Other dates are later extending into the 1840’s with six deaths from 1854 to 1906.
The excerpts that refer to Coffields are transcribed by me and appear to be
original entries of Joseph and Mary:
 Martha Coffield daughter of James Coffield & Mary his wife was born
December 6th 1762.
 Thomas H. Coffield was born the 8th day of March 1765.
 Martha Coffield departed this life 10th February 1779.
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These Coffield entries immediately follow the entries for the births of Joseph and
Mary themselves. The list goes on to name the children of Joseph and Mary, all
younger than the Coffield children by ten or more years.
Mary is stated as the wife of James Coffield. James Coffield is specifically named
as the father of Martha (Thomas’ older sister) and by inference is the father of
Thomas.
More about the Bryan Family
Joseph’s wife was Mary Hunter (1744-1810). Joseph was Mary’s third husband;
she first married James Coffield, then a Mr. Dawson as her name was Mary
Dawson at the time of her marriage to Joseph Bryan. Joseph Bryan and Mary
Hunter were first cousins, once removed; Lewis Bryan (1660-1735) and Elizabeth
Hunter (1669-1730) were Joseph’s grandparents and Mary’s great-grandparents.
Joseph did not enter his marriage date in the bible, but from North Carolina
marriage bonds we know Joseph and Mary were married 11 August 1774 in Bertie
County. The two Coffield children were 11 and 9 years old at the time of the
marriage.
Since there was another marriage (Dawson) and two widowhoods between the
death of James Coffield and the remarriage of Mary to Joseph Bryan it is hard to
estimate the date of death of James Coffield and thus the children’s ages at their
father’s death. There are about nine years unaccounted for between 1765
(making deed in Halifax County) and the 1774 marriage of Mary to Joseph. James
could have died anytime between 1765 and about 1771. If the time between
James’ death and Mary’s marriage to Joseph is only three years, then the children
would have been ages 8 and 6 when their father died. If their father lived some
years after Thomas’ birth in 1865, there would likely have been a third child, but a
young child could have died also.
Based only on the births and deaths listed in the bible, it appears that there were
no infant deaths. Only Martha did not live to majority. Since the births were not
recorded contemporaneously; that might not be the case, but the record implies
it. This is remarkable.
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Thomas Pugh Martin, Sr. (1846-1910) was clearly the family historian for a while.
He died in Mexico almost exactly one year after he went there to practice law. He
was the writer of the 1886 genealogical letter in my possession and very likely the
source who provided Hathaway his information in 1900. T. P. Martin’s father was
Robert Campbell Martin (Genl. R. C. Martin) and it is his papers that T. P. Martin
references. Robert Campbell Martin married Mary Winifred Hill Pugh, a
granddaughter of Joseph Bryan whose birth, marriage and death is recorded in
the bible.
It follows that R. C. Martin is not a descendant of Joseph Bryan and this is
supported by other records. However, his mother is a Janet Smith Bryan (17891818) and could connect with the Joseph Bryan branch some generations back. I
have not found a connection. It is interesting that Thomas P. Martin refers to
these records as belonging to his father rather than his mother. Most likely just a
sign of the times.
Conclusions
Conclusion: The bible names James Coffield as the husband of Mary Hunter and
the father of Martha Coffield. Although my letter and Hathaway appear to
contradict this, given their sources I think that the source for this info was the
bible and that transcription errors were made.
Supporting info: I have found four records of a James Coffield in Bertie and
Halifax Counties at this time (1754-1765). To date, I have found none for a
Thomas or Henry.
A looming question to which I have no answer is what other records were
available to T. P. Martin to create my letter and the Hathaway article? Where are
those papers now? Were they donated to a repository? Are they in private hands
still? Have they been discarded? They may or may not include other Coffield
references. This is worth pursuing but absent finding such records, the only
original record we have is the bible itself.
I see Robert Campbell Martin in references to a collection in the Manuscripts
Department, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North
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Carolina at Chapel Hill, but I located only one book in their finding aid. There are
Robert Campbell Martin Jr. papers at Louisiana State University, but they seem of
a later vintage. https://www.lib.lsu.edu/sites/default/files/sc/findaid/1045.pdf
Still worth pursuing.
Of particular interest to me is the source of the list of names of children of
Thomas Hunter Coffield. The other known list of his children is the will of THC in
1820; it would have been available to T. P. Martin and Hathaway (if Hathaway did
independent research which I doubt). The only descendant of THC that I do not
have documented at this time is the daughter named in his will as Christian. This
person may be the Caroline in my letter and Hathaway, which would imply the
name Caroline comes from a different source than the will. I have a small DNA
connection with whom I am pursuing this question. Also recall that both my
letter and Hathaway left out one daughter entirely: Martha Ann (or Ann Martha
as some document it). I presume that this was a clerical error that was repeated,
but it could be conflicting information.
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Sources
(Copies Attached)
1886 Letter from Thomas P. Martin to William T. Coffield. This letter has been
handed down through four generations as follows:
1. William T. Coffield, the recipient
2. Charles Whitmel Coffield Sr. (son)
3. Charles Whitmel Coffield Jr. (grandson)
4. Caroline Elizabeth Coffield (Vetterling) (great-granddaughter)
The North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register edited and published by
J. R. B. Hathaway. In three volumes, V. 1-3, Jan. 1900-July 1803. Vol. 1, pages
631-632, published 1900.
In this same volume is another Bryan entry entitled “Bryan Record” on pages 577584 of Vol. 1. This record documents the Bryan line that leads to R. C. Martin.
This line claims a connection to William Jennings Bryan. If the article provides a
link between this Bryan line and that of Joseph Bryan, I have not identified it.
Transcript of The Family Bible of Joseph Bryan Sr. – The non-profit charitable
organization “Historic Woodville” is a rural historic district in Bertie County, North
Carolina. Among other projects, it has collected transcripts of several family
bibles related to area families. A transcript of “The Family Bible of Joseph Bryan
Sr.” (maybe circa 2010 and last accessed by me April 2021) may be found at
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ncbertie/woodville/bryan01.htm.
The attached copy of the transcript was accessed April 2021.
Photos of Joseph Bryan Bible Family Pages – This is clearly the most authoritative
of all these documents for the modest portion of the record that it includes.
These photographs were made February 18, 2019 by Caroline Coffield Vetterling,
her son Thomas Coffield Vetterling, and Mary Bryan Pugh Bowers, the current
owner of the bible. The bible record is five pages.
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Bible Provenance
A provenance of the bible has not been maintained. As of 2021, Caroline Coffield
Vetterling’s analysis and opinions are as follows:
1. Joseph Bryan Sr. – 1805 owner, per inscription in the bible. Joseph was the
third husband of Mary Hunter. Their birth dates and those of their ten
children (including Mary’s two Coffield children) are the initial entries in the
bible. The only other entry in the bible that appears to be of Joseph and Mary
vintage is the death of daughter Martha Coffield. All other entries seem to be
made by the next owner. Of these ten children, nine lived to be married;
seven of the ten have known descendants. It appears Joseph and Mary lived in
Bertie County NC when they died in 1807 and 1810, respectively.
2. Mary “Polly” Whitmel Bryan (1776-1854), daughter of Joseph and Mary,
married Whitmell Hill PUGH (1781-1834). It appears this couple was born and
married in Bertie County NC and moved to Louisiana in 1819 with the bible.
Except for the original 13 entries (12 births and 1 death), all the rest relate to
Polly’s family and appear to be made in a different hand after the death of
Joseph and Mary. She records her marriage, the birth of all her children,
marriage of her children and birth of her grandchildren. She records the
death of some if her siblings but not others. She records no nieces or nephews
or in-laws. The bible next went to her son. She was a half-sister to my 3rd
great-grandfather Thomas Hunter Coffield and his death is recorded in the
bible.
3. William Whitmel Hill Pugh (1811-1906), son of #2 and grandson of Joseph and
Mary. An 1886 letter in possession of Caroline Coffield Vetterling written by
__________ to W. T. Coffield, states that the bible is owned by William
Whitmel Hill Pugh. He was born in NC and moved to Louisiana with his parents
at an early age. He became a sugar planter and built Woodlawn Plantation in
Assumption Parish, Louisiana. He had thirteen children that I know of.
4. In 1901 J. R. B. Hathaway, editor of North Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Register, published a story of Bryan family genealogy and in it said the bible
belonged to Mrs. Ann Bryan (sic) wife of James Ryan (sic). I have not identified
any James Bryan/Ryan couple related to this family. WW Pugh (#3) had a
daughter Ann Thompson Pugh, who never married. Certainly, the ownership
Hathaway states could be correct but my current opinion is that it is wrong,
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5.
6.
7.
8.
likely confused in publication. Although he could have passed the bible on
already, WW Pugh was still living at this date.
Thomas Bryan Pugh Sr. (1853-1952), son of William Whitmel Hill Pugh (#3
above) and great-grandson of Joseph Bryan and Mary Hunter. My guess is that
after William Whitmel Hill Pugh died, this person inherited the bible. He was
born and died in Assumption Parish, Louisiana. He was a doctor and to my
knowledge the only one of the thirteen children of #3 to be named Bryan as a
given name.
Thomas Bryan Pugh Jr. (1888-1962), son of #5 and 2nd great-grandson of
Joseph Bryan and Mary Hunter. After his marriage, he and his wife moved
from Assumption Parish to Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana where he lived the
rest of his life. He was a teacher. See below. His ownership of bible is
presumed by the current owner.
Thomas Bryan Pugh III (1916-2003), son of #6 and 3rd great-grandson of Joseph
Bryan and Mary Hunter. He also lived in Louisiana his entire life. See below –
his ownership of the bible is verified.
Mary Bryan Pugh Bowers (1948-living), daughter of #7 and 4th greatgranddaughter of Joseph Bryan and Mary Hunter. Bryan inherited this bible
from her father (who also went by the name of Bryan) when she was a
teenager in the 1960s. She presumes but does not know that her father
inherited it when his own father died. She plans to leave it to a family member
who carries on the Bryan (given) name. Bryan is not a genealogy hobbiest,
though her sister Ann Pugh Myers was. In 2021 Bryan was not aware that the
transcript of the bible was published on the Historic Woodville website. It
follows that she does not know who posted the transcript but agrees that
Molly Urquhart (whom Bryan met once) is the likely person. I met Mary Bryan
Pugh Bowers (and her husband Stephen John Bowers) when I photographed
the bible.
Recap of bible ownership dates:
 Joseph Sr. and Mary BRYAN – 5 years, 1805-1810 (inscription in bible and date
of death) – there appear to be 13 bible entries during this period.
 Polly Bryan and Whitmell Hill PUGH – 44 years from 1810-1854 (circumstantial
evidence and date of death) – there appear to be ___ bible entries during this
period.
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 William Whitmell Hill PUGH – 52 years from 1854-1906 (letter stating 1886
ownership and date of death) – there appear to be __ bible entries during this
period and none more current.
 Thomas Bryan PUGH Sr. – 46 years from 1906-1952 (supposition of this writer)
 Thomas Bryan PUGH Jr. – 1852-1962 (presumption of current owner)
 Thomas Bryan PUGH III – from 1962 for some time in the 1960s (personal
knowledge of current owner)
 Mary Bryan PUGH – 1960s to current time
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