History of the Coar Family

Thomas Coar of Belfast, Ireland and his Descendants

Compiled and assembled 1991 by

Edited and placed online 1999 by

Last modified: Wednesday, 02-Feb-2005 08:33:58 EST

Foreword

The original history of the Coar family was written by John Godshall Coar, grandson of Thomas Coar, Sr. (1765-1859) of Belfast, Ireland. The unpublished history was acquired by Hilda Coar Bockmiller in 1960 from Winifred Coar Boyer. It was given to Winifred by Aunt Mary Coar of Marietta, Ohio.

When John Coar wrote the history in 1908, he was 81 years old and had to rely on memory concerning some events going back 60 to 70 years. After considerable research, I discovered that his account was very accurate, much of which is now supported by proper documentation. I found a few errors such as incorrect spelling of names, incorrect order of family members by age and the exclusion of some family members (mostly children who died young or were otherwise unknown to John Coar) . These inaccuracies and omissions have been provided for in the narrative.

In order to bring some of the Coar history up to date, I have added the results of my research to the narrative in the proper location. The new information is shown indented so that it can be distinguished from the original historical account. Following the narrative is a series of family group sheets showing several generations of the Coar family. These are grouped according to the 11 children of Thomas Coar, Sr., headed by a lineage chart. Included as well are copies of selected old photographs.

The History of the Coar Family

John G. Coar as Remembered 1908

Robert R. Bockmiller Revised and Amended 1991

I have an account of one Thomas Coar (Thomas being a family name) as far back as 1751 about. He wrote and published in English grammar, published by James Philips, Lombard St., London, 1796. I supposed him to have written the book when he was about 45 years old, as he had been a teacher of the Latin language (as stated in the preface) and that would make his birthday about 1751.

Thomas Coar, Sr. was born about 1765 so there appears to be only fourteen years difference in their ages. I calculated from this that they were cousins and that each of their fathers were brothers. Thomas, the author of the book, must have been well educated and a prominent man. The book is of good size, well gotten up and contained 276 pages. My nephew, Firman Coar, who was a dealer in second-hand books in Boston, came across it in a lot of others and noticed the title page and that it was written by Thomas Coar, and sent it to his brother, Rev. Arthur Coar, of Holyoke, Massachusetts.

The Coar name is of Gaelic origin. The Coars, being Protestant, probably descended from the Scots who settled in what is now Northern Ireland in the seventeenth century.

Thomas Coar, Sr., my grandfather, was born about 1765 in Belfast, Ireland and emigrated to the United States about 1782 at the age of eighteen years. He settled in Whitemarsh, Montgomery County and later married Susan Stackhouse, a Quakeress of a prominent family in Philadelphia, where many of that name still reside. Grandfather lived in Whitemarsh [and Lancasterville] for many years, carried on the lime business, after which he moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1820. Shortly after moving to Bucks County, he bought a large farm near Doylestown where he lived most of the remaining years of his life and where most of his children were raised and married.

On October 20, 1823, Thomas Coar bought at a sheriff's auction a 112 acre farm near Doylestown, Bucks County. It seems that John Godshall (father-in-law of Seth Coar, oldest son of Thomas) owned the farm but was deep in debt, so the court seized his land for collection. Thomas Coar was high bidder at US$1780.00. Thomas Coar and his family lived on the farm for 35 years. The old stone house stands today in excellent condition at 620 Swamp Road (Route 313) in Doylestown. The original portion of the house dates to at least 1820.

Grandmother died there in 1855 and was buried in Buckingham Quaker Meeting House graveyard, age 77 years, about four years before grandfather Coar. Grandfather sold his farm and other effects about two years before his death and removed to Whitemarsh where he lived with his daughter and son-in-law, Charles and Mary Stout, till his death on September 8, 1859 in his 95th year. He was buried in Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery in Whitemarsh.

After selling his farm, grandfather invested his money in bond and mortgage, appointed his executor and made his will, dividing his estate among his children who were living. After the funeral, all went back to the house for dinner (as was the custom at that time) and after dinner the executor from Doylestown read the will.

Grandfather was an educated man and very much esteemed by all his friends and neighbors. He was an Episcopalian, although they attended Quaker meetings a good deal on account of grandmother. His father was a linen merchant in Belfast, Ireland.

It is said that one of grandfather's brothers came over to America with him, settled in New York, but they lost tract of each other. I knew a Thomas Coar in Jersey City, a water commissioner there for many years. He died about a year ago.

Grandmother Susan Stackhouse Coar and grandfather Thomas Coar, Sr., had born to them eleven children, six sons and five daughters all of whom were raised, married and had children.

Mary Coar, [born June 14, 1795], oldest daughter of Thomas Coar, Sr., married Charles Stout of Sandy Run near Whitemarsh, of whom were born six children. Seth Stout married and had children, two sons and a daughter. One son lives on a farm in Germantown. Mark, another son of Charles and Mary Coar Stout, I think never married. Susan married a man by the name of Butterworth or Butterwork of Jenkintown. They had children and I presume another generation has grown up for Miss Stout was married to Butterworth about 1844.

Mary Coar married Charles Stout prior to the Coar move to Doylestown. Their home was on Pennsylvania Ave. near Station Rd. in Sandy Run. Thomas Coar, Sr. died here in 1859. The house has been restored and is now used as a business office. Mary Coar Stout died August 1, 1868 and is buried in Zion Lutheran Church cemetery in Whitemarsh along side of her father, husband and daughter Mary.

Mark Stout, son of Charles and Mary Stout actually did marry and had 8 children. Another son Charles died in his twenties shortly after marrying Fayetta Derr. The youngest Stout daughter, Anna, died single in 1910.

Sarah Coar, [born May 5, 1796], daughter of Thomas Coar, Sr., married John Stout of Whitemarsh, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and had two daughters, Ann and Susan. [Their father drowned in Wissahickon Creek on August 2, 1826 when they were three and five years old. Their mother Sarah, died in 1840 when they were in their teens.] The father was well to do and left the children quite a large sum of money. Ann never married. When she was old enough to get her money, she invested it in Reading Railway stock and held on to it. She would deal in some other stock but not much. She was quite well off and the last time I saw her (1905) she was in excellent health. She died July 11, 1909 in her 88th year.

Susan Stout married George VanCleve, a farmer and they had two daughters. VanCleve died some years ago. Susan and her daughter Ella, lived with her sister Ann in Jenkintown. Susan died in 1906 at the age of 82.

Margaret Coar, (born in 1798], daughter of Thomas Coar, Sr., married William Donat, near Doylestown, of whom were born nine children. They all seem to have married except Thomas Donat. He lived a bachelor and died at a good old age and left some property. Amanda Donat married a Mr. Beale. She is still living in Montgomery County. She is a first cousin.

Rineard Donat, the oldest son, was connected to the Doylestown Democrat, a weekly newspaper. He was a smart and talented man. I have heard him speak at public meetings frequently. He was a great democrat and was getting along nicely in business and doing well until he was disappointed in love. The girl wanted him but her father would not give his consent because Donat was a democrat. It almost broke his heart and he did not do so well after that. In fact, he did not live many years after that.

Rineard Donat must not have been disappointed in love for very long because he married Rachel Ann Harding on March 11, 1847 and had four children. Rineard died in his forties but probably not from a broken heart.

Seth Coar, my father, was born in 1801. He married Ann Godshall, daughter of John Godshall, a farmer living near Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, adjoining grandfather Coar's farm about 1824, of whom were born three sons: Joseph Coar, born March 24, 1824; Firman Wood Coar, born December 25, 1826 and John Coar, born December 25, 1827 (the writer of this document). I was christened John Godshall Coar, but I did not know it until 1876, when I learned this from Aunt Margaurette Godshall Dilley in New York, centennial year.

Joseph Coar, son of Seth, married in 1847, Ann Eliza Drury of West Point, New York. They had two sons, Charles and John Coar, both of whom died at ten and twelve years of age. Joseph's wife Ann Eliza died before her children. They were buried at Highland Falls near West Point except Joseph who is buried in my lot at Greenwood Cemetery. Joseph afterwards married Jane Rose, a widow, no children. She died in 1902 and was buried in Matewan, New York, by the side of her sister. Joseph was in the building business during most of his life. He came to the city of New York about 1862. He died February 28, 1905, age 81, and was buried in my lot, Greenwood Cemetery.

Joseph died suddenly of apoplexy. He was well and strong until the time of his death. He was a kind-hearted man, always ready to help a friend if in his power to do so and was liked by all. He was a good Christian man.

Our mother having died when we were very young, our grandfather took Joseph, then about three years old, and he lived on the farm until he was about sixteen. He was a favorite with grandfather. He later learned the mason trade and from there worked himself up.

Firman Wood Coar, son of Seth, married in Europe Miss Elizabeth Lucinda Blake of New Hampshire, USA, of whom were born six sons and one daughter: Henry Livingston Coar, John Firman Coar, Thomas Coar, Arthur M. Coar, Firman Coar, Joseph Coar and Elsie Coar. All married and had children except Joseph who died young, not over two years old. Some of the children were born in Europe.

Firman Wood Coar died the latter part of March, 1901, age 75 years, of cancer of the stomach. He was a dentist (a specialist) and was for many years in Cologne, Prussia, where he had a large and successful practice. [He was the first American dentist at the courts of Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Baden-Baden and St. Peters. One of his patients was Kaiser Wilhelm.] The three oldest children were educated in Europe. He came back to America in 1886 and bought a farm near Springfield, Massachusetts, which he worked and later sold. After that he devoted most of his time to the study of astronomy as he had always been interested in that and wrote a book on astronomy with charts. He died before it was published. He wrote most of the book while staying with his brother Joseph. His wife and most of his children remained in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he died and was buried.

He too had to start out early in life to earn a living. Dan Longstreth, an amiable Quaker farmer, took Firman when he was quite a small boy and brought him up and gave him an education. Mr. Longstreth kept a very prominent boarding school in his large house and took pains to give Firman a chance to learn. Firman lived with him until he went to Baltimore with a friend of Dan Longstreth to attend the University of Maryland Dental School. After that he attended the University of Pennsylvania Dental College in Philadelphia. He started dentistry in Norristown, Pennsylvania, was there several years when he made up his mind to go to Europe. Firman was also a man much liked and made many friends wherever he went. He also was a good Christian man. He enjoyed good health until the last year or so of his life. He gave all of his children a college education and they could all look after themselves.

Henry Livingston Coar, the oldest son of the above Firman Wood Coar married Mary Elizabeth Coar, daughter of Isaiah Coar of Maryland. Mary and Henry were second cousins. Three children were born to them: Marjorie, Helen and Henry Osgood.

Henry Livingston Coar was born June 16, 1862 in London, England. He graduated from Kaiser Wilhelm Gymnasium (High School) and the University of Bonn. From 1884 to 1886, Henry attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. While attending Johns Hopkins, Henry met and married Mary Elizabeth Coar, his father's first cousin. Mary lived in Ednor, Maryland, a small town near Washington D.C. Henry received a B.A. Degree from Harvard University in 1893 and an M.A. in 1894 and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1903. He taught at Harvard, University of Michigan, Illinois and Marietta (Ohio) College. Henry retired in 1930 and remained in Marietta until he died on June 24, 1944. He is buried in Valley Cemetery in Marietta.

Marjorie Belle Coar, the oldest child of Henry Coar, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on January 4, 1889. She graduated from Marietta College and later married a Mr. Wood. They had one son, John Coar Wood, born about 1918. John Wood has three sons. Marjorie Coar Wood died in 1933, age 44, and is buried in Valley Cemetery in Marietta.

Helen Ruth Coar, daughter of Henry Coar, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on December 6, 1891, graduated from Marietta College and married Albert Edson Sinclair. Helen had one daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born December 9, 1928. Mary married Raymond Pape and had four children: Steven (1949-1976), Jon (1952-1966), Rae Ann and Patricia Ann. Helen Coar Sinclair died on May 9, 1990, age 98.

Henry Osgood Coar, son of Henry Coar, was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan January 20, 1896. He was a veteran of World War I. Henry married Stella Price and had one son Jack Cecil Coar. Jack graduated from Marietta College, received an MA degree from the University of Hawaii and in 1976 was teaching history in an Oregon high school.

John Firman Coar has one son, twenty years old, now at Dartmouth College. John F. lives at 393 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, New York, and is now professor of German at Adelphi College in Brooklyn and is doing well. He is very popular in the college and in Brooklyn among his friends and neighbors. John Firman Coar married Emily Miller of West Springfield, Massachusetts. Their one son was Herbert, now at Dartmouth.

John Firman Coar was born in Berlin, Germany in 1864. He graduated from the University of Bonn in 1884. He returned to the USA with the family and obtained a law degree from Boston University. From 1891 to 1895, he taught at several high schools and then received an M.A. degree and a Ph.D. from Harvard. He taught at Adelphi from 1903 to 1914, the University of Rochester in 1915 and from 1916 until his retirement in 1934 at the University of Alberta, Canada. In 1935, at the invitation of the German Academy at Munich, John F. Coar toured Germany criticizing the Nazi "pure blood race theory". During the German tour, John Coar met twice with Adolf Hitler, one of only a few Americans to do so. In 1939, John Coar was scheduled to meet with President Roosevelt but died on June 27, 1939 in Boston before the meeting could take place.

John and Emily Coar had one son Herbert (1888-1986). He graduated from Princeton University (Ph.D.) and taught at Dartmouth. Herbert had two sons, Roger and Richard. Roger was a photographer for General MacArthur in World War II and later worked for a Long Beach, California newspaper. Roger has four daughters. Richard Coar is a retired engineer and a past vice president of Pratt and Whitney Aircraft. Richard has two sons and two daughters and maintains homes in Maine and Florida.

Thomas Coar, son of Firman Coar married Kitty Ely of Massachusetts. Thomas died in 19O5.

Arthur Coar is a Unitarian minister and lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He has charge of two churches, one in Holyoke and one in Amherst. He married Elizabeth Wiggin of Elsworth, Maine, and they have one son, Robert, now two years old.

Robert Coar (1906-1975), became an electrical engineer, established what is now the House and Senate radio-television facility and set up President Roosevelt's fireside chats. He also built radio stations, designed exhibits for the Chicago World's Fair and handled recordings for several Hollywood movies, including "Rio Rita" and "Hit the Deck". Robert Coar and his wife Helen had one son and three daughters. He died in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1975, age 68.

Firman Coar lives in Boston and is in the book business. He married Lillian Peverel of Nova Scotia. They have one son, four years old.

Firman Coar died of tuberculosis in Montclair, New Jersey in the early 1920s. His only son Firman, Jr. died in his senior year at Stevens School of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Elsie Coar married a farmer, Thornton Walsh, and they have two sons, three years and one year old. They live at State Line in the western part of Massachusetts on a farm.

Elizabeth Lucinda Coar, brother Firman's widow, died July 6, 1907, age 67 years, at the house of her son Arthur in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Her husband, Firman Wood Coar, died in March, 1901, age 75.

John Coar (author of this history) married Mary Jane Coar in New York City, October 10, 1855. John Coar was born December 25, 1827, near Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Mary Jane Coar was born in New York City August 5, 1834 and died March 25, 1903. There were born to them two sons and three daughters. George Washington Coar born July 4, 1856, Mary Evelyn Coar April 7, 1860, both having died on April first and second, 1862 of malignant scarlet fever. Later were born Elizabeth Arline, John Edward and Anne May Coar, all born in New York City. Arline married Frederick Hazelton, no children. Edward is not yet married. Anne May married Dr. George G. Wenrich of Grand View Sanitorium, Wernersville, Berks County, Pennsylvania on March 6, 1901. They were married in St. Zion and St. Timothy's Church (Episcopalian). There was born to them so far one daughter, October 15, 1904 and named Miriam. Dr. George is connected with the Grand View with his father, Dr. Reuben D. Wenrich. It is a beautiful and healthful place on the side of South Mountain overlooking the beautiful Lebanon Valley, a very fertile farming country extending for over twenty miles to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

John Coar (author of the Coar history) died in April, 1914 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Arline Coar, daughter of John, married a Mr. Meyer after the death of her first husband, Frederick Hazelton. She died in 1930. John Edward Coar apparently never married. He died in 1942 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery. Also buried in Greenwood is Seth Coar, father of John. He died in 1871, age 70.

We three boys were very young when mother died, I being less than 4 months old. Of course, I was well cared for until about eight and a half years old when father secured a place for me with a German farmer near Dublin (Bucks County) in a German settlement where I learned to speak German as well as farming. I lived there until twelve years old and then father took me to live with Uncle Amos Coar, a farmer near Newville (Bucks County) about five miles from Doylestown. I stayed with him until he was killed by being thrown from his horse in 1840. Then I lived with Archibald Maclain and worked on this farm which adjoined Uncle Amos' farm until I was sixteen years old. My compensation was my living and clothes and schooling in the winter. Then I hired out for nine months on a farm as I was well up on farming now. The following winter I lived with Grandfather Coar near Doylestown, went to school and did chores night and morning for my board.

In the spring of 1845, I made up my mind to learn the carpenter trade and hustled all over the county and found a place with a good carpenter builder near Abingdon Edge Hill in Montgomery County on the Old Eastern Road Turnpike. I had secured a good place with a good man, John Shaw, a Quaker, and I learned the trade well. Those were times when a boy had to learn everything about the business. There was no machinery. All lumber had to be sawed out to the size and planed to the correct size. All mouldings had to be made by hand with moulding planes. All flooring had to be tongued and grooved. All sashes, doors and blinds were made by hand and an apprentice became a good practical mechanic. In those days carpenters as well as others had to work from sunrise to sunset during the dog days in summer and had to work until nine o'clock in the winter making doors, sashes and blinds to be used the following summer. In those days (in the forties) the carpenters would go out in the woods in the winter, cut the trees down, square up the timber after the logs had been cut to the required length. The logs would be blocked up from the ground, the bark was scraped off with a draw-knife so a chalk line could be struck on both sides or edges and then stand on the log with an axe and chop into the line called scoring. And then, one who was expert with the broad-axe would go along and hew it off straight with the chalk line. Then the timber would be turned down on it's flat side and repeated so as to make the timber square. I have lengthened this out to show how things were done in a primitive way as compared to machinery now.

I was out of my time in learning the trade in December, 1848. I then worked on journeyman work until the following spring, 1849, and then went to New York and worked as a journeyman carpenter.

In December, 1850, I went to Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Massachusetts, to school. I was away at school sixteen months and then returned to New York City in the Spring of 1852. During this vacation away from school I would work at Hartford or Springfield as I had taken with me a small chest of tools. The schooling was a great help to me as I learned all the higher branches of chemistry, mathmatics, philosophy, physiology, trigonometry, grammar and algebra.

On returning to New York City I worked journey work for a year until April, 1853, when I rented a shop and started in business for myself with a capital of about $150 which I had saved during the previous year. I continued in the building business until 1898, a period of forty-five years. During that time I made a great deal of money and suffered quite a number of losses as well. I went through the panic of 1857 which did not hurt me much. I also went through the panic of 1873 which lasted six years during which time I lost a great deal. But afterward I made a great deal of money from 1879 to 1885, about $200,000, the best of my life. Then came the panic of 1893 which lasted several years and I had loaded up with a great many new buildings, some unfinished, some finished. I caught it badly and my losses were great but I kept at it until 1893. Since which time I have been out of the business, regular business that is.

Not withstanding having lost all, I accepted the situation without any worry as I never allowed myself to worry in matters of business. I always took a philosophical view of such things. Worry would incapacitate one for business and tend to cause one to give up. I was one who never gave up while I was in business. Tha panic of 1907 did not make much difference to me and therefore, did not hurt me.

During my career of forty-five years, I have built all kinds and classes of buildings from the Battery to Harlem. When I came here in 1849, the city did not extend above 34th Street. Very few streets were laid out and none above 42nd Street. The growth since that time has been above all conception, both as to style and height of buildings; now being built up to forty stories of steel structural work for office buildings as well as large apartment houses of the finest kind with very modern improvement for health and comfort.

Aunt Mary, along with her husband Henry L. Coar, remembered visiting John Coar (the writer of the Coar history) in New York City. John Coar took them for a streetcar ride and they rode the whole Sunday afternoon as he wanted to show them how much they could see for a five-cent fare. It seems apparent that based on the above record in building, John Coar felt an immense pride in his accomplishments and a share in the growth and progress of the city. There was evident a spirit of achievement but Aunt Mary remembered only the streetcar ride. They transferred several times and all for five cents.

John Coar (1804-1850), son of Thomas Coar, Sr., married Phebe Conred and they had three sons, Thomas, John and Charles. They married and had children. Aunt Phebe was a nice, kind-hearted woman. Thomas and John have both died within the last three to five years, both were old men, 75 years or more. Their children I never knew much of as I left that part of the country for New York city as soon as I learned my trade. The brother Charles I lost track of and do not know if he is living.

Thomas Coar (1827-1898), the oldest son of John and Phebe Coar, was a blacksmith who lived in Line Lexington at the Montgomery/Bucks County line. He married Margaret Reiner, a native of Germany and had five children: Violetta, John, William, Nathan and Valeria. Violetta and Nathan did not marry while Valeria died as a child. John Coar (1861-1918) lived in Lansdale. He married Catherine Gross and had four children, two of whom (Agnes and Wilbur) reached adulthood. They did not marry and Wilbur, who died in 1980 was the last surviving-male in this particular line. William Coar (1865-1898), son of Thomas, was a blacksmith like his father. He married Ida Price and had three daughters.

John Coar (1829-1902), son of John and Phebe Coar lived in Hatboro where he worked as a coach painter. He married twice, first to Sarah Kline (1829-1868) and second to Emma Acor. Born to John and Sarah were George Washington, William, Eliza, Thompson and Martha Coar. It seems that most of the family was involved in the tin business possibly having worked with their Uncle Charles who was a tinsmith. George and William were also tinsmiths while their brother Thompson was a tin roofer.

George Washington Coar, the oldest son of John and Sarah Coar moved to Philadelphia about 1870. He and his family lived on the Coar property which was located on the Northwest side of Bustleton Pike and Byberry Road in Somerton. The property had two houses and a barn. Old deeds indicate that Charles Coar and George's brother William at one time owned the property. It later became the property of George Coar's descendants. George W. Coar drowned in Neshaminy Creek on July 23, 1887, age thirty-four.

George W. Coar and his wife Margaret McDowell had four children: Harry McDowell, Catherine, May and Laura. All four married. Harry married first, Katie Cook and had three children, George, Oscar and Violet. George (1901-1987), was a machinist who lived in Bensalem, Bucks County. He and his wife Florence Hutton had two children, Violet and George. Violet, a telephone operator, died single in 1989. George, who is a technician for Pennsylvania Bell, presently lives in Levittown. He and his wife Helen (Canzkow) have two children, Susan and Robert.

Oscar Coar, son of Harry and Katie Coar, married twice and had children from each marriage. Whether or not these children had issue is not known. Violet, sister of George and Oscar, died in 1919, age thirteen.

After the death of his first wife, Harry M. Coar married Elizabeth Stone. Elizabeth was the mother of Nelson Coar (1912-1990). Nelson married Pearl Warrington and had three sons, Harry, Nelson and Timothy. Harry lives in Georgetown, Delaware and has a plumbing business. He and his wife Josephine (Megee) have three children (Daniel, David and Teresa) and four grandchildren. Nelson , Jr. lives in Washington, D.C. Timothy Coar married Jean Simone and has two children, Jeffery and Megan.

William Coar (1856-1896), son of John and Sarah Coar, married Hannah Ratcliffe and had four children. Three of the four children died young while one son William was 20 years old in 1900, however, his whereabouts after that are unknown.

Thompson Coar, another son of John and Sarah did not marry. He died of tuberculosis in 1909. Martha Coar married Harry Robinson and lived in Nicetown. Carroll Coar, son of John Coar's second wife Emma, moved to New York City. He died there single in 1930.

Charles Coar (1843-1898), the youngest son of John and Phebe Coar, served in the Civil War as an artilleryman with the Third Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. After the war he married Josephine Matthews and had one daughter, Carrie. Carrie died in her twenties. Charles Coar married second, Carrie Horn. Their marriage was performed by a Dunker minister in the middle of a plowed field near Hatboro. Charles and Carrie had six children, however, only one, Florence, lived beyond one day. Florence was 11 years old in 1900. Whether she eventually married and had children is not known. Charles Coar died in 1898 of a strangulated hernia and is buried in Doylestown Cemetery.

Amos Coar, son of Thomas Coar, Sr., married Margaret Lukens of whom were born two children, Elizabeth and Lukens. I understand they both married. Lukens is now dead. I do not know whether he left any children. Elizabeth is now living and has one or two children. I do not know whom she married. I lived with Uncle Amos on his farm near Newville, Bucks County, not far from Doylestown. He was killed by being thrown from one of his finest horses, "Abe" in 1840.

On June 13, 1840 (according to a Doylestown newspaper), Amos Coar was involved in a horse race on Academy Lane (now E. Court St.) in Doylestown. His horse stumbled and Amos was thrown under the horse and crushed to death. The newspaper account indicated that Amos' horse was old and almost completely blind.

Lukens Coar's full name was Francis Lukens Coar. He was born in Doylestown in 1839 and was trained as a plasterer and stone mason. On April 29, 1861, at age 23, Francis Coar enlisted in the Doylestown Guard (39th man to volunteer). These volunteers marched to Washington DC., then on to Edward's Ferry on the Potomac River, on through to Williamsport and on to Martinsburg. Francis was mustered out on July 29, 1861.

On September 14, 1861, Francis enlisted in Company E of the 104th Pennsylvania Infantry where he rose to the rank of sergeant. On May 31, 1862, he was captured at the Battle of Fair Oaks on the Virginia Peninsula East of Richmond. Due to poor health, Francis was paroled by the Confederate government at Aikins Landing on September 13, 1862 and proceeded to Glouster Point where he was discharged on December 3, 1862 due to chronic bronchitis complicated with emphysema.

Upon returning to Doylestown, Francis Coar married Matilda Bean of Plumbsteadville and had two daughters, Alemada and Dora. Alemada died at age four months in 1867 and Dora, born in 1869, married Albert Bean. Francis Coar was a business partner of Allen Heist. They were liquor distributors (Coar & Heist) in Doylestown when Francis died of tuberculosis in 1871, age thirty-one.

Esther Coar, daughter of Thomas Coar, Sr., married George Collingsgrove, of whom were born two sons and two daughters; Susanna, Mary, Charles and Spence. Susanna married Miles Krusen of Bucks County. They afterwards moved to Maryland where they bought a farm and farmed the rest of their lives. Both are dead. They had two children, both of whom still live in Maryland. Charles and Spence are both dead I understand. Their place was near where Uncle Isaiah lived in Maryland.

Mary Collingsgrove married a Mr. Johnson in Bucks County and they moved to Philadelphia where he worked in the Cramps Shipyard for many years until he died a few years ago. There were born to them two sons, Charles and Yardley Johnson. Yardley lives in Philadelphia and is employed in the office of the Court of Sessions, License Department, in City Hall. Charles Johnson lives in Newtown, Bucks County and keeps a Temperance Hotel and is an ice cream manufacturer. Both are doing well. I see them ocassionally. Yardley had one son, three years old, and Charles has one daughter married and one daughter six years old. Their mother lives part of the time with Yardley in Philadelphia. She is still living, in good health, and is 75 years old. She is one of my first cousins still living.

Susan Coar, daughter of Thomas Coar, Sr., married Asmon Engles in Bucks County near Buckingham and had several children. One daughter married Aaron Kratz, a carriage builder at Plumbsteadville, not far from Doylestown, a prosperous and well-to-do man. He was a pleasant and jovial man. Charles and Yardley Johnson and I called on him in 1906 and had a very pleasant visit. Mr. Kratz is now about 75, and is still in business. He had a large stock of carriages and wagons in his warerooms. He was near the place where I worked as a boy with the Germans. He had a farm near his place of business. Mr. Kratz had a son with him in business.

Aunt Susan had a daughter, Willamina, whom I knew well. She lived with grandfather Coar a long time. She never married. Once in a while a red-haired one would crop up in the Coar family. She was one of them. (Willamina died in 1906 and is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn].

Aunt Susan had a daughter, Ella, who married a Mr. Snyder and now lives in Patterson, New Jersey, so Aunt Mary told me. Aunt Susan Engles had another daughter named Letitia. She is still living in. Philadelphia. Aunt Emma knew her well. I remember seeing her at grandfather Coar's funeral in 1859. She was a fine looking girl about 16 or 17 then. She never married. I presume she was left some means to live upon. I saw her last winter in 1909 in Philadelphia. Cousin Emma and I called on her. She was delighted to see us.

Thomas Coar (1810-1885), son of Thomas Coar, Sr., married Susanna Jago, his first wife, from Quakertown, of whom were born four sons and one daughter: Thomas, Joseph, Seth, Amos and Mary. Thomas and Joseph died young. Amos married [Emma Arndt] from Sumneytown, Montgomery County. They had no children. Amos was all through the War of the Rebellion for the last two years [he served with Company E 2nd Regiment of the Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery]. He was badly wounded but recovered [a minié ball passed through his left thigh during the siege of Petersburg, Virginia on June 17, 1864]. He always felt the effects of it at times. He distinguished himself while in the army and was promoted for galantry. After the war he carried on a flour and feed business and made quite some money. His widow, Emma Coar, never married again and is in quite good health and lives with her sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Sell, 1219 North 60th Street, Philadelphia, where I frequently visit them every winter on my return from my visit to May at Grand View, Wernersville, generally in February.

Mary, Amos' sister, married in Philadelphia a Mr. Ramm and three or four children were born to them. Mina, a daughter, married George W. Brendt of Allentown. Mr. Brendt died in 1908. Mrs. Mina Brendt still lives in their home at 627 North 52nd Street. She and Cousin Emma still visit each other.

Seth Coar (Amos' brother), married [Sarah Parr] in Philadelphia and had three sons, Thomas, Joseph and Herman. Seth Coar, their father, died when they were small boys, two to nine years old [and for a while lived with their grandfather, Samuel Parr]. The boys were later placed in Girard College to be educated and brought up, where they stayed until they were 16 to 18 years old where they were gotten situations in stores. Joseph preferred to be a butcher. Thomas and Herman were both gotten permanent places in Philadelphia and are doing well. They live in West Philadelphia and cousin Emma keeps track of them.

Thomas Coar, the father of Thomas, Joseph, Seth, Amos and Mary buried his first wife after living many years together. He afterward married a second time to [Amanda Ulmer]. There were no children by this marriage.

Uncle Thomas Coar died in 1885 or 1886 at a good old age. I have stretched this out considerably as I thought a great deal of him and his family.

Thomas Coar, son of Seth and Sarah Coar married Rosa Cook in Philadelphia. They had one son, Thomas Arthur Coar. They lived for many years in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Thomas Arthur Coar married and had three daughters, Marjorie, Bette and Barbara.

Joseph Coar, son of Seth and Sarah married Elsie Atkinson and had two sons, Herbert and Thomas Goheen. The family homes were in Hulmerville, Bristol and finally Croydon, Pennsylvania, Herbert, born in 1903, married Myrtle Britton. Their three sons, Joseph, Herbert, Jr. and Edward Raymond all live in the Croydon area. Herbert died in 1985 and Myrtle in 1990. Thomas Goheen Coar married Lavinia Crawford and had two children, Ellen and Wayne (1932-1988). Wayne's three children are Wayne Jr., William and Tina.

Herman Coar, son of Seth and Sarah was born in 1877. In 1900, he married Sarah Jane Reed and had three children, Thomas Raymond, Edna and Margaret. Herman was a bookkeeper who lived at 2242 North Reese Street in Philadelphia. Herman died in 1943.

Isaiah Coar (1816-1902), son of Thomas Coar, Sr., married Mary Wallace Long of Bucks County, a farmer's daughter, of whom were born two daughters and one son (Belle, Firman and Mary]. He moved to Ednor, Maryland, not far from Washington, about 1856 and carried on farming. Previous to that time he lived in Hartsville, Bucks County where he carried on the building business. After the death of his first wife, he married again a woman [Amanda Gray] in Maryland. Of this marriage there were born two sons [William and John]. One of his daughters by his first wife married Henry Livingston Coar, my brother Firman Coar's son. Uncle Isaiah died on April 19, 1902, age eighty-five.

After the move to Maryland, Isaiah Coar opened up a general store on New Hampshire Avenue in Ednor. The store also served as the Ednor Post Office. Isaiah often told of an interesting experience he had at the end of the Civil War. He was in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865, the evening Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. He had taken produce to the market that day and upon returning home, his wagon was stopped and searched by soldiers looking for Booth.

Belle Coar, the oldest child of Isaiah and Mary Coar was born in Pennsylvania in 1849 and died at age 34 in Maryland. She was a school teacher in Fairland.

Firman Nathan Coar, son of Isaiah and Mary Coar, was born in 1856. At the age of 21 (1877), he left his father's home on Brown's Bridge Road and journeyed west alone, settling in Worden, Illinois. Here he began a career in the coal mining towns of Southern Illinois which led to 35 years as a mine manager. Firman married Mary Baumgartner and had six children.

Firman and Mary retired to St. Louis, Missouri where Firman died in 1942.

For some unknown reason, Firman Coar lost contact with his family back in Maryland and for many years no one knew where he was. It wasn't until the late 1920's that his sister Mary accidentally discovered his whereabouts. In 1931, Firman's youngest half-brother John Coar drove to St. Louis to visit his brother, the first time that they had seen each other in over 50 years.

Firman's children were Winifred, Bessie, Pattie, Maida, Emmett and Paul. Bessie and Emmett both died in their teens while the other four children all married. Paul did not have any children.

Mary Coar, daughter of Isaiah and Mary Coar was born in Maryland in 1862. She married Henry Livingston Coar, grandson of her Uncle Seth Coar. Mary and Henry were cousins of different generations. A discussion on the lives of Mary and Henry can be found earlier in this paper.

Mary, the first wife of Isaiah Coar died in 1866 and Isaiah married second, Amanda Gray of Howard County, Maryland. They had two sons, William and John.

William, the oldest, was born in 1872. He married Mary Burton, daughter of George Burton and Emma Magruder. William (Uncle Willie) and his family made their home in Burtonsville, Montgomery County, Maryland. He worked for many years with Athey and Harrison on Main Street in Laurel. Uncle Willie died in Florida in 1968, age 96, no doubt the last surviving grandchild of Thomas Coar, Sr., of Belfast, Ireland.

William and Mary Coar had two daughters, Belle Esther and Sarah Kathryn. Esther married Wilton Disney and had six children. Kathryn married first, George H. Parkman and had three children, Lorraine, Eleanor and George, Jr. Kathryn married second, Thomas Johnston. She currently lives in Bolivar, Missouri with her daughter Lorraine.

John Coar, the youngest child of Isaiah Coar was born in 1874 in Ednor, Maryland. He attended elementary school in Ashton and later attended Sherwood Academy. After leaving school, he helped in his father's store and later replaced his father as postmaster of Ednor. In 1902, John started farming at Fulton in Howard County and in 1909 bought a 154 acre farm on Simpson Road near Fulton. Later in life (1932-1943) he owned a 116 acre farm on Route 29 at Owen Brown Road.

John Coar had the first Southern States feed franchise in Howard County, was secretary of the Howard County Farm Bureau and was a member of a four man committee to decide the advisability of building a new stone church to replace the old St. Paul's Lutheran Church at Fulton. The church was completed and dedicated January 1, 1933. During the Depression, John was hired to help carry out the Crop Control Program (farm subsidy) instituted by President Roosevelt.

In 1943, John Coar sold his farm and bought a small place at Pfeiffer's Corner. At the time of his death in 1946 at the age of 71, he was still working for the county, this time in Japanese beetle control.

John Coar married Mary Ada Harding of Fulton and had three children, Ellen, Melvin and Hilda. Ellen, born in 1899 married Adam Kahler, a Howard County farmer. Ellen and Adam had no children.

Melvin, son of John Coar, was a Howard County farmer. He owned a 130 acre farm at Atholton (the old home known as "Athol") where besides producing various crops, he maintained a large Southern States feed business. Melvin died in 1948, age 47.

Melvin married Mildred Renn of Howard County and had one daughter, Mary Charlotte, born in 1928. Charlotte married first, Louis Dennis and had four children, Louis, John, Mary Elizabeth and James. Charlotte recently retired after many years with the C&P Telephone Company. Charlotte is now married to Hamilton Hains, Jr.

Hilda, the youngest child of John Coar was born in 1910, graduated from Clarksville High School in 1928 and attended Towson State Normal School (now Towson State University). She married Richard B. Bockmiller of Catonsville and had five children; Richard, Jr., Ann, John, Robert and Barbara. Hilda now resides at the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville.

Charles Coar, the youngest child of Thomas Coar, Sr., married [Anna Kile] and had three sons and two daughters. I seem to have lost sight of them. Uncle Charles and his family moved to Philadelphia from Bucks County where they lived for many years. I called on them several times. When he and his wife got old they returned to the neighborhood of Quakertown, his wife's native place, where they lived.

Charles Coar married Anna Kile, daughter of Abraham and Catherine Souder Kile of Richlandtown, Bucks County. Charles and his family moved to Philadelphia about 1845 where he worked as a shoemaker. On October 2. 1861, Charles Coar entered the army as a private in Company H of the 98th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. He served with the 98th until February, 1862 when he received a discharge. On July 20, 1863, Charles Coar was drafted back into the Union army, this time with Company B, 83rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. On October 14, 1863, he was captured at Bristow Station, near Manassas, Virginia. Being ill with typhoid fever, he spent a few weeks in a hospital before being moved to Libby Prison in Richmond. In 1864, Charles Coar was paroled by the Confederate government due to poor health and spent over a year in various hospitals in Annapolis, Baltimore and Philadelphia before receiving a final discharge on September 9, 1865.

Charles and Anna Coar had two daughters (Susanna, born in 1840 and Hannah, born in 1842) and three sons (Henry, Joseph and William). Hannah Coar married William Kelly while Joseph and William Coar either died young or moved away from the Philadelphia area. The whereabouts of Joseph and William after 1860 are not known.

Henry Coar, the oldest son of Charles and Anna Coar was born in 1847. He married Martha Walker and had four children: Caroline, Charles, Frank and Walter. Caroline (1871-1956) married George Merkle. Charles died single in 1932, age fifty. Frank, born in 1880, married Helen Riley and had four children: William, Frank, Barbara and Annette. Frank married and had children, including J. Martin Coar a jewlery store owner who lives in Camden, New Jersey.

William Coar married twice and had two children from each marriage, Lance and Nadine from the first and Ingrid and William from the second. William is retired and maintains a home on Still Pond near the Chesapeake Bay in Kent County, Maryland.

Walter Coar (born in 1890), the youngest son of Henry and Martha Coar was a pressman for a printing company. He married twice, however, he died in Florida in 1967 without issue.