September 2020
COPP: The COPP family of early New England has been well-researched, including the series of in-depth genealogies published by Samuel Copp Worthen in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record [NYGBR]. Citations for his studies are:
--Records in the family bible of Lieut. Samuel2 Copp (Jonathan1), of Lebanon, Maine. NYGBR 56(1):51-60 [1925].
--Descendants of William Copp of Copp's Hill in authenticated lines, through his older son, Elder David Copp of the First Church of Boston. NYGBR 62(4):338-370 [1931], and 63(1):60-78 [1932].
--Descendants of Samuel Copp of the North Parish of New London (now Montville), Conn., and Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia. NYGBR 65(1,2,3,4):30-44, 132-140, 251-261, 373-380 [1934].
--Descendants of John Copp of the North Parish of New London, Conn., in Canada and the United States. NYGBR 68(1,2,3,4):34-44, 119-129, 251-261, 345-356 [1937].
--Capt. John Copp of the New York Continental Line. NYGBR 72(3):210-212 [1941].
--Jonathan Copp, younger son of William Copp of Copp's Hill, Boston, and some of his descendants. NYGBR 79(1,2,3,4):1-16, 98-102, 135-147, 192-203 [1948].
When we started our search for the origins of Mary (COPP) McCULLY,
we didn't know about Worthen's studies. What we had was one old
family paper of indeterminate age and authorship that gave us
the following information: Mary COPP born Eastport, Maine 12 Nov
1788, daughter of "an English sea captain", who had
three sisters - "Mrs. George Haywards", "Mrs. Reading"
(who "died in Iowa"), and "Mrs. Wallis". Mary
COPP had married John McCULLY 25 Mar 1811, location unrecorded.
John McCULLY had been born in Nova Scotia 25 Aug 1784, had brothers
William and Samuel, and Samuel had a farm adjoining John's in
Sussex Vale, Kings County, New Brunswick. The birth dates and
places for Mary and John's children were also given in the paper.
That appears to be all that the later generations knew about this
McCully family up to 1822 when they left New Brunswick for Ohio.
One of the first questions that the above information posed to
our logical minds was, how did the Maine daughter of "an
English sea captain" get together with a farmer from Sussex
Vale, New Brunswick? Granted, the distances weren't really that
great, but at first blush the families didn't look like they could
have had much in common. To ask the same question about John and
Mary that I used to ask when I was studying the very rare California
condors: what were the odds of them meeting and mating?
We had found a David "COPPS" in Eastport, Maine, in
1810, with a household that had room for Mary, but we couldn't
find any additional information. The first break came on a visit
to New Brunswick when we found the record of John McCULLY and
Mary COPP's marriage. It was on the date given in the old family
paper, but the location was a surprise: Hillsborough, Westmorland
[now, Albert] County, New Brunswick. That helped with our concern
about how John and Mary got together, but the marriage location
raised some new questions. Was Mary really from Eastport, Maine?
If she wasn't, then she probably didn't fit into the David "Copps"
family that we had identified there. These and other questions
were answered in rather rapid succession - a genealogist's dream
come true. What we found on this and subsequent New Brunswick-Nova
Scotia trips was: --John and Mary bought land in Sussex, N. B.,
immediately after they were married. The grantors were James and
Catherine (COPP) WALLACE. James was from Hillsborough, N. B.,
and Catherine was the daughter of Capt. David and Mary (PIKE)
COPP of Hopewell, Westmorland [now Albert] County, N. B. --Also
from Westmorland [Albert] County, and later living in Sussex were
George Griffth and Abigail (COPP) HAYWARD. Abigail was another
daughter of Capt. David and Mary (PIKE) COPP. --David PIKE was
a mariner, and owned property in the same time period in Westmorland
County; at Saint John, N. B.; at Eastport, Maine; and at Horton,
Kings County, Nova Scotia. --John and Mary (COPP) McCULLY sold
half of their land in Sussex to Samuel McCULLY, John's younger
brother.
The information from the old family paper was paying off: we had
a "sea captain" for Mary's father; the possibility if
not the certainty that Mary could have been born in Eastport,
Maine; John McCully's brother at the right place at the right
time; and we had Mary's sisters "Mrs. Wallis" [WALLACE]
and "Mrs. Haywards" [HAYWARD]. Somewhat later, we discovered
that the brothers John, William and Samuel McCULLY had been living
in Horton, Nova Scotia, at a time when they could well have known
the daughters of David COPP before the Copps moved to New Brunswick
- giving another clue as to how John and Mary might have "got
together".
Samuel Copp Worthen had identified David COPP as a son of Samuel COPP, one of the original grantees of Horton, Nova Scotia. David COPP was born in New London, New London Co., CT, 10 Aug 1752, and moved with his family to Horton, Kings Co., Nova Scotia, when he was about 9 years old. He married Mary PIKE [sometimes spelled PYKE] in Horton September 1777. They had moved to Hopewell, Albert Co., New Brunswick by 1786. Mary (PIKE) COPP died before 1803, presumably at Hopewell, but no record of her death has been found. David married 2nd about 1803, Hannah (FULTON) JOHNSON, widow of John JOHNSON, who was probably living at Hopewell. They moved to Washington Co., Maine, about 1804, living first in Eastport, then in Lubec, where David COPP died 4 May 1817, age 65.
Known children of David and Mary (PIKE) COPP:
1- Catherine COPP born 3 Oct 1778 Horton, Kings Co., Nova Scotia; married James WALLACE [8 Jan 1773-7 Jul 1853; son of John and Catherine (COCHRAN) WALLACE], ca. 1796, probably in Hopewell, New Brunswick. They lived for a time in Sussex Vale, Kings County, New Brunwick, before moving to Hillsborough, Albert Co., N. B. Catherine died 31 Aug 1853; both are buried in the Hillsborough Baptist Cemetery. They had at least ten children, who married into these families: BEATTY, COCHRAN, PECK, REED, RUSSELL, SMITH and STEEVES.
2-Abigail COPP born 17 Apr 1780 Horton, Kings Co., N. S.; married ca. 1797, probably in Hopewell, N. B., George GRIFFITH HAYWARD [ca 1773-24 Nov 1856; son of Henry HAYWARD and Catherine ____]. They lived near Sussex, Kings County, N. B., where George died 24 Nov 1856, and Abigail died 13 Mar 1860. They are both buried at Trinity Anglican Church cemetery at Sussex Corner. They had ten known children, who married into the families of CLEVELAND, COUGLE, GRAVES, GUIMARIN, McCULLY, McLELLAN, PARLEE, PICKLES and PUGSLEY.
3- David COPP Jr., born ca 1782, probably in Horton, Nova Scotia; he married probably around 1810 Elizabeth (REED) PECK, widow of William PECK [Elizabeth born 25 Mar 1779 Horton, N. S., daughter of Duncan REED and Jerusha POST]. David died in 1821 from injuries suffered in a fall from a horse. Elizabeth died 30 Nov 1841. They are both buried in the Ha Ha Cemetery, Harvey, Albert Co., N.B. They had at least five children, who married into the families of BRAY and COPP (a cousin).
4- Mary COPP born 12 Nov 1788, possibly in Eastport, Washington Co., Maine, but also possibly in Hopewell, New Brunswick; married John McCULLY [25 Aug 1784-19 Aug 1830, son of Samuel and ___ McCULLY] in Hillsborough, N. B. 23 Mar 1811. They moved to Jefferson Co., Ohio in 1822, where John died. Mary married second John McPHERSON in Guernsey Co., Ohio 21 Mar 1833. She later left McPherson and moved with her children to Iowa and Oregon. She died in Harrisburg, Linn Co., Oregon, 9 Sep 1871. John McCULLY and Mary COPP had six children, who married into the families of BARNETT, CANNON, DILLON, JONES, LOVE, MASON, SCOTT and WATERS.
David COPP had one child with second wife Hannah (FULTON) JOHNSON:
Maria L. COPP born Eastport, Maine 5 Dec 1804; married William
LINCOLN [9 Jul 1801-24 Mar 1878; son of Otis LINCOLN and Elizabeth
THOMPSON]. They had four children, one of whom married a GARDNER.
Maria died in North Perry, Washington Co., Maine 9 Apr 1877.
Samuel Copp WORTHEN attributed another son to the family of David COPP, Daniel COPP, apparently born in Horton, Nova Scotia, and later living in Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia. Nothing further has been learned about this Daniel COPP, and there seems no reason to place him in David COPP's family. David's uncle, John COPP, moved to Cumberland County from Horton, and many of his descendants stayed in the area. Perhaps Daniel belonged to his group.
Unresolved is the question of Mary (COPP) McCULLY's third sister named in the family records, "Mrs. Reading", who reportedly died in Iowa. There were REDDINGs in Iowa near where the McCULLYs moved in 1844, but those whose identities we have confirmed belong to a family of REDDINGs who came to Iowa from the Southern United States.
* * *
PIKE: David PIKE [sometimes PYKE] was a grantee at Falmouth, Hants County, Nova Scotia, receiving his land there in July 1761. Many of the Falmouth grantees were from Rhode Island, but so far we have been unable to find David PIKE in Rhode Island or elsewhere in New England. From the apparent ages of his children, he must have been born no later than 1730. He may have been married twice, but there are only two records of his wife's name: Sarah named as the mother of his [apparently] youngest child, born 1765, and Abigail co-signing a land deed in Albert Co., New Brunswick [1797?]. As one of David's oldest children was named Abigail, and none are known to have been named Sarah, it may be that Sarah and Abigail were the same person. David and Abigail were both alive in Albert County in 1798. No records of their deaths or burial places have been found.
Only three children can be definitely attributed to David PIKE:
David Jr., Justice [sometimes, Justus], and Jonathan, but four
others are almost certainly members of his family. There is no
indication of any other PIKE family in Hants County or Kings County
until after 1800, when PYKEs from a long-established Halifax family
moved to the area. The tentative family is described below. Most
birth dates given are approximations, based on wedding dates,
dates of birth of first children, dates on land deeds, etc.
1-Rosanna PIKE born say 1751, apparently in New England; married Jonathan COLDWELL in Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia, 2 Nov 1769; five known children.
2-Abigail PIKE born say 1753, probably in New England; married in Horton 8 Mar 1774, Eliphalet COLDWELL; seven known children.
3-David PIKE Jr. born say 1755, probably New England; not known to have married; living in Hillsborough, Albert Co., New Brunwick, in 1798. It was probably David PIKE Jr. who received a land grant in Albert County in 1811. No death information has been found.
4-Mary PIKE born say 1758, probably New England; married David COPP in Horton, 1777; see family description above.
5-Justice [sometimes Justus] PIKE born ca. 1761 probably in New England, but possibly in Hants County, Nova Scotia; married about 1791 Elizabeth ["Betsy"] ____ [born ca. 1761], probably in Albert Co., New Brunswick. They lived at Hopewell, N. B. until about 1807, when they moved to Eastport, Washington Co., Maine. Both died in Eastport, Justice in 1844 and Elizabeth on 12 Jun 1857. They had nine known children, who married into the families of CLARK, CROCKER, HERRINGTON, HOAF, LANEY and MAYBEE.
6-Mollie PIKE born say 1763, probably in Hants County, Nova Scotia; married Stephen BENJAMIN in Horton 17 Nov 1781; eleven known children.
7-Jonathan PIKE born in Falmouth, Hants Co., N. S., either 8 Mar
1765 or 25 Nov 1765; no further records of him have been found.
NOTE: In the interest of saving web space, I have not included most references for the above write-up. They are available, as are additional data on later generations of these families. Please contact me if you are interested in any of them. I'd be pleased to receive any additional information anyone might have on any of these people, their ancestors and descendants.
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