18 October 2026
New chapter: 1928: The Strike
The New Bedford textile strike of 1928 from the contemporary reports: the wage cut, the strikers and both strike organizations, the mill owners, and the National Guard. Capt. Charles F. Perry Jr.'s Battery D stood by in July and relieved another battery in August; the bayonets on 30 July were Battery E's.
18 October 2026
On Main Street, and the Huttleston
The Perry homes at 147 and 149 Main Street, Fairhaven, 1917 to about 1930, and the Huttleston apartments across the street: the Perrys owned the corner from 1919 until the bank foreclosed and sold it in 1927. Two claims about Rep. John J. Long with no record behind them are now marked as family recollection.
18 October 2026
Rep. John J. Long's House record
From the State Library: the 1962 Rules Committee censure report he signed, the 1960 prison-system committee, the 1973 construction-contracts commission he co-chaired, the 1969 Battleship Cove bills, his 1980 primary (he carried Westport), and the House's 1989 memorial. Pages that said he founded Bristol Community College now say he served Fall River in the House when it was founded.
18 October 2026
Catherine Louise Thornton Wall, 1896–1967
Her death on 1 August 1967, from her funeral notice in the Newton Graphic, which also confirms her daughter Eleanor and that Herbert M. Wall survived her.
18 October 2026
From the newspapers and directories
City directories, town reports and newspapers add to the Perry and Swift pages: the Fairhaven High class of 1914, the Perry real estate offices, the 1928 New Bedford strike, Col. Perry's wartime command at Omaha, Le Roy W. Swift's printing company, and Charles F. Perry Sr.'s death in 1935. Herbert Miller Wall's death is corrected to January 1969.
18 October 2026
New chapter: The Wreck and the Fine
A French ship wrecked on the Nantucket shoals in 1678, two thousand hides, and the Court of Admiralty that fined Tristram Coffin £343 10s, cut to £150 with his son James's bond. Tristram's letter to the governor is on his page, Tuckernuck is on the Coffin line page, and Capt. John Gardner, the brothers' 11th great-uncle, has his own page.
18 October 2026
One voice: the Long brothers
Relationships now read as the Long brothers' (“the Long brothers' 10th great-grandfather”), every descent chart ends at John, Perry and Patrick Long, and the archive speaks in the third person. First person appears only in signed pieces by John.
18 October 2026
The Deborah Crowell Question, revised
Deborah, wife of Thomas Crowell, is a proven ancestor whose maiden name is unknown. The entry now explains why neither the Folland claim nor the Pokanoket claim is proven.
18 October 2026
The Harrisons of Tiverton
William H. Harrison died at Tiverton, Rhode Island, in 1855; his son William was born there in 1818 and his son Lemuel married there in 1841. Fanny P. Harrison's 1892 death record now sources her link to both parents. John Peckham II's Little Compton marriage date, from FamilySearch's tree, is flagged as doubtful.
18 October 2026
John Patrick Long, from his obituary
John's father now has a full page: his schooling, forty years of law practice in Fall River, the family insurance firm, and his work for Bristol Community College and the Thomas Chew Boys and Girls Club, from his 2020 obituary. His parents are now a sourced link.
18 October 2026
The parents
A new page on John Patrick Long and Carol Perry Long, and how the Long and Perry halves of the family meet in them, with every line on each side.
18 October 2026
Rep. John J. Long in the State House
Twelve terms in the Massachusetts House, 1957 to 1980, from the State Library's records: his districts, his committees, including Ways and Means and the chair of Federal Financial Assistance, and the 1980 primary that ended his service.
18 October 2026
From the Steward
A short note from John Long on the home page about how the archive is made.
18 October 2026
Col. Charles F. Perry Jr. in the war histories
The 1919 history of the 305th Field Artillery records a Second Lieutenant Charles F. Perry, fresh from the French artillery school at Saumur, in July 1918. No history of the 101st Field Artillery names him for the war years.
18 October 2026
Descent charts name John Patrick Long
Every descent chart on the Long side now runs through John Patrick Long (d. 2020), son of John Joseph Long and Clare Patricia Coogan, with a link to his page.
18 October 2026
Tristram Coffin's father's will
Tristram Coffin's page now quotes the will of his father, Peter Coffyn of Brixton (21 December 1627, proved 13 March 1627/8), which names “Tristram Coffyn my Sonne” and Peter's brother Niclas.
18 October 2026
Sir Hugh Prust, to the Basement
The Mayflower page no longer connects Degory Priest to Sir Hugh Prust of Hartland. No record names Degory's parents; the only Hartland christening put forward names a Peter Prust.
18 October 2026
The Wall line, sourced link by link
All seventeen parent-child links on the Wall side, from Eleanor L. Wall back to her great-grandparents, now cite a record: birth, marriage and death records and the 1880-1940 censuses. They are no longer marked “record pending.”
18 October 2026
Home page numbers, computed
Every count on the home page is now computed from the archive's data: five Mayflower passengers (John Cooke, born about 1607 at Leiden, added), the Mayflower gateway lines and the Franklin relationship. Tristram Coffin emigrated in 1642 and left no record of why; the Nantucket purchase now names the nine purchasers and the twenty proprietors.
18 October 2026
Portledge, retold as history
The Portledge Centuries is now the history of the house and the Coffins of Alwington, with no claim of descent. Tristram Coffin's father, Peter Coffin of Brixton, is proven by his will of 1627; no record names Peter's parents.
18 October 2026
Descent charts name Carol Perry Long
Charts through the Perry, Swift and Wall families now name John's mother, Carol Perry Long, in place of “a living parent.”
18 October 2026
Only proven links count
Moved lineages that rested only on family tradition to the Basement. The family pages now show only links proven by records.
18 October 2026
Col. Charles F. Perry Jr.'s service
His service from the Army and National Guard registers: a private in the Field Artillery in 1917, an officer of the 101st Field Artillery, and a Colonel, Army of the United States, retired 13 July 1947.
17 October 2026
Corrected: the Cathcart line
Removed a Scottish noble ancestry that rested on a FamilySearch tree link no record supports. Robert Cathcart of Tisbury, innkeeper and town clerk, is the real ancestor; his parents are unknown.
17 October 2026
Descent charts
Every person page with a recorded line now shows a chart from that ancestor down to John, one row per generation, with how well each link is documented.
17 October 2026
Names linked across the site
Wherever a name on the site has a person page, it now links to it.
17 October 2026
Mentioned on
Each person page now lists the pages that mention that person.
17 October 2026
Isaac Robinson
New person page: Isaac Robinson.
17 October 2026
Corrected: Hannah Coffin's father
Hannah Coffin's father was John Coffin, not James, as Alexander Starbuck and Allen Coffin both record.
17 October 2026
Four stories footnoted
Four more stories now carry numbered footnotes.
17 October 2026
History joins the Stories book
The History pages are now part of the Stories book: new chapters on the Mayflower, Nantucket whaling and the Annotator's album, Background pages for Nantucket and the Revolution, and an overview. Old History and Battles links forward to their new places.
17 October 2026
Two new stories
Stories: The Countess and the Tower; A Ship Called Pole. Corrected: William Hawkins (d. 1589) was not a knight.
17 October 2026
Stories as a book
Stories are now organized as a book: parts and chapters, in order.
17 October 2026
Numbered citations
New stories carry numbered citations and a bibliography; older pages are being footnoted.
16 October 2026
Thirty Pounds and Two Beaver Hats
Story: Thirty Pounds and Two Beaver Hats, from Dionis Coffin’s beer case to the purchase of Nantucket.
16 October 2026
A page for every ancestor
Added: a page for every ancestor in the archive, linked across the site.
16 October 2026
Leroy E. Swift
Added: the story of Leroy E. Swift, Civil War naval officer, and the family’s Louisiana chapter.
16 October 2026
The Swifts in Louisiana
Added: the Swift family’s Louisiana chapter, 1868-1880, from church, census and marriage records.
16 October 2026
Leroy E. Swift: USS Mahaska
Verified: Leroy E. Swift’s Civil War service as an Acting Ensign aboard USS Mahaska, from Navy and Massachusetts records.
16 October 2026
The Swift portrait case
Sourced: the Swift portrait case, with its inscription transcribed; corrected to a tintype.
16 October 2026
Leroy E. Swift: naval service sourced
Sourced: Leroy E. Swift’s Civil War naval service now cited to the family portrait and inscription; service record still sought.
16 October 2026
Leroy E. Swift
Corrected: Leroy E. Swift’s Civil War service marked as under research pending a primary record.
16 October 2026
Early ancestors and the Mayflower
Corrected: early European ancestors relabeled to match their verified lines; Mayflower passenger generations corrected (Cooke and Warren 12th, Soule 11th).
16 October 2026
Generation labels checked
Corrected: generation labels across the family lines, now checked against the FamilySearch tree on every update.
16 October 2026
Twelve ancestors added
Added: twelve ancestors on the Winter and Warren & Arden lines.
16 October 2026
Generation labels corrected
Corrected: generation labels for Thomas Macy II, Tristram Coffin and Peter Folger (10th great-grandfathers).
16 October 2026
Nantucket: Founding Ancestors
Added: Nantucket founding ancestors table.
16 October 2026
The Contents index
Structure: the Contents index now builds from every ancestor table on the site.
16 October 2026
Ten ancestors added
Added: ten ancestors across the Swift, Warren & Arden, Jenkins and Coogan lines.
16 October 2026
Nantucket: The Founding Families
The Folger-to-Perry families on the founders page, with vital-record and Barney citations. The Foster line enters through Betsey Foster.
16 October 2026
Peter Folger & Benjamin Franklin
Harriett Ann Folger's parents set from the records, and three confirmed routes back to Peter Folger.
3 October 2026
Sources & References
Rhode Island and Westcott sources added, with supplementary Nantucket sources. The bibliography is alphabetized within each category.
3 October 2026
Research Log
Plain-language links to each audit report.
30 May 2026
The 17th-Century Upheavals
How two upheavals of the mid-17th century, the English Civil War in Devon (1640s) and Cromwell's 1654 confiscation in Cork, set both sides of the family in motion, and how four centuries later their descendants converged at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where Carol Perry and John Patrick Long met as students in the 1970s.
24 May 2026
Notable Ancestors and Cousins
A directory indexing the documented network of kin: the founding families of Nantucket, four Mayflower passengers, and documented cousins including Benjamin Franklin and Lucretia Coffin Mott, each linked to its proof.
13 April 2026
The Coogan Line: Hounds of War
From the ancient kingdom of Uí Maine in Connacht to the political families of Fall River. Four generations documented, motto: Non metuo. I do not fear.
9 April 2026
8 Revolutionary War Battle Pages
Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth, Newport, Yorktown, and more. Documenting every engagement where our ancestors served.
9 April 2026
The Liberty Tree
Our family on both sides of the most famous tree in American history. Nathaniel Coffin Jr. cut it down.
9 April 2026
Benjamin Franklin. Our Cousin
Through the Folger line of Nantucket, a documented cousinship preserved in the family record. The full descent is rendered on his dedicated page.
9 April 2026
Current Research
The active research projects listed on the About page.
7 April 2026
DNA Heritage
23andMe ancestry composition mapped to the documented family lines. Irish 23.6%, British & English 31%, French 0.5%.

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