Newby Coggeshall

Newby Coggeshall (1726-1814) was the sixth child of William Coggeshall and Elizabeth Newby. He was originally from Portsmouth. In 1751, Newby married Mary Mason at St. Michael’s Church in Bristol. Newby and Mary had eight children: Elizabeth, William, Mary, Haile, James, Nancy, Henry, and John. In 1756, Newby served as quartermaster of the Newport County Troop of Light Horse. He became captain of the Bristol Militia Company in 1763, and was promoted to major the next year. As of the 1774 Rhode Island Census, there were two black people (likely enslaved) living in the Coggeshall household. During the Rhode Island Campaign of 1778, Newby was called up to serve in the Bristol County Alarm Company. In 1787, he was a justice of the Bristol County Court of Common Pleas. As of the 1790 United States Census, there was one enslaved person living in the Coggeshall household. A man named Adam, described as a “negro servant” of Newby drowned on August 30th of an unknown year. A woman named Peggy (born circa 1740), also described as a “negro servant” of Newby died in 1815.