Source: "The Coale Family, Nine Generations: Vol., I 1569-1955, Willis Branson 
Coale, Johnson Press, Inc., Pontiac, Illinois, 1976, pp. 63-69.

"Samuel Coale was born in 1753, the youngest child of Skipwith and Margaret 
(Holland) Coale.  The place was 'Stone Hill' plantation, located in northern 
Maryland, a short distance above the head of Chesapeake Bay and not far from 
the Pennsylvania border.  The area lay in the upper part of old Baltimore 
County, that was later to be set off as Harford County.

"The boy, Samuel, when only two years old, suffered a severe loss, in the 
death of his father.  he was to grow up under the care of a mother who was 
busy with the affairs of both a large family and a considerable holding in 
land.  A close influence existed in the example of the six children above him 
in the home - three brothers soon to become grown, and three sisters, below 
the brothers in age.  But the boy would be deprived of the positive guidance 
that might have been derived from a father who was characterized by indepen-
dence of thought, purposeful enterprise and community interest.

"The economy of the area was devoted to the culture of tobacco for export, as 
well as to a considerable amount of diversified farming.  In the time of young 
Samuel the country inland was becoming more fully settled, especially near the 
course of Deer Creek to its outlet in the Susquehanna River, very close to 
'Stone Hill' plantation.

"Along this creek and other streams gristmills began to be installed, in order 
to grind the grain of local growers.  Less than a mile south of 'Stone Hill' a 
mill was erected, probably when Samuel was a small boy.  This stood near the 
mouth of Rock Run, that flowed into the Susquehanna.  Here the lad might watch 
the turning of the gerat overshot wheel and hear the crunching of the grain 
between the stones.  Some twenty-five years later, this earlier mill was replaced 
by a new structure which is standing in restored condition today.

"Community life was centered particularly in the activities of Deer Creek Meeting 
of the Society of Friends or Quakers.  A considerable number of the local fami-
lies had come from meetings farther south in Anne Arundel County.  While the 
older units were said to be losing much of their former spiritual power, the Deer 
Creek group, in a more isolated rural location, was still thriving.  The atten-
dance became so large that, when Samuel was about eight years old, plans were 
made for a new more commodious building.  (The architecture of the present-day 
house on the site is most probably similar in general lines to the house in 
Samuel's day.)

"The young lad doubtless attended meeting with his older brothers and sisters, who 
were members.  The gatherings were marked by both quiet worship and religious 
exposition.  The preaching part was probably prominent, for during his later 
youth there were four ministers, all being local persons recognized for their 
spiritual understanding and their power in utterance.

"Of the several ministers, one was Samuel's cousin, James Rigbie, who knew the art 
of expression and who could explain well the reason for his belief.  Another one 
was Mary (Pusey) Husband, recognized for her 'good unity' or loyalty to Friends 
truth.  She came, with her husband, to Deer Creek in 1768, having formerly lived 
in an area of strong Friends population a short distance northeast, in Chester 
County, Pennsylvania.  The presence of Mary Husband in Deer Creek was to have 
important consequence in the future life of our Samuel Coale.

"Samuel in his boyhood surely received good formal instruction in the elements 
of learning.  The records of the local Friends meeting a little later tell of 
the plan for sponsoring a private school.  This was conducted by an inspiring 
young master from Chester County, who was only a little older than Samuel.

"When Samuel attained the age of twenty-one he could take his inheritance in 
land.  This consisted of 225 acres lying on Broad Creek, a few miles farther 
up the west side of the Susquehanna River.  The location was in the region of 
the 'Barrens', so-called because of the earlier stunted forest growth, due 
presumably to original burning off by the Indians.  Control of his property 
was evidently assumed at once by Samuel, for we find him included in a 1775 
list of certain land proprietors.

"With the possessing of his own estate, Samuel Coale was ready for marriage.  
The woman of his choice was Lydia Pusey of Chester County, a much younger 
sister of the Mary Husband already met in our story.  Lydia, now eighteen, 
had, when only two years old, lost both of her parents." (Joshua Pusey 
and Mary Lewis).

"Lydia was descended from a solid Friends ancestry.  Her grandfather, William 
Pusey, had come from England to Pennsylvania as a young man in the time of 
William Penn, in order probably to assist his uncle (sic), Caleb Pusey, in 
the operation of a mill.  This facility was needed in the model colony which 
Penn was establishing as a place of refuge for harassed Friends adherents in 
England.  Young Lydia Pusey was herself a woman of deep Friends faith.  Other 
qualities that might have attracted Samuel were her winsomeness of manner and 
evenness of disposition, if we may see in her now certain traits attributed 
to her in later years.

"The wedding of Samuel and Lydia took place at a Deer Creek meeting, October 
17, 1776.  In attendance were a small group of twenty-one persons, including 
a brother and three sisters of Lydia, and two brothers of Samuel, together 
with other close relatives and friends.  The ceremony consisted in the 
recital of the vows by the two contracting parties and in the signing of the 
certificate by all persons present as witnesses.  (The original certificate 
shows the names of close relatives as set down in proper order according to 
precedence by age.)  The religious tone of the ceremony was marked doubtless 
by an initial period of silent worship, prior to the formal part.  After the 
wedding itself, there surely followed a time of feasting and special enter-
taining of the guests who had come down from Chester County.

"Samuel and Lydia were now to engage in developing together the plantation 
north on Broad Creek.  In the enterprise Lydia might contribute direct aid.  
Through a legacy from the estate of her long-deceased father, Joshua Pusey, 
she was to receive, when eighteen years old, an amount of 200 pounds sterling.  
This constituted a sizeable benefit.  (It was the value of about 150 head of 
cattle or of about 290 hogs, according to estimate from the value of animals 
in a 1725 inventory down south in Anne Arundel County.)"

(JMM: Section on slavery, taxation, and the beginnings of the American 
Revolution omitted)

"During the time of the Revolution and afterward, Samuel and Lydia Coale were 
becoming established on their Broad Creek plantation.  A main disadvantage would 
have been in their distance - some five miles - from the nearest relatives and 
from the meeting center at Darlington.  However, the location was close enough 
so that trips back and forth could be readily made, as necessary for special 
occasions or in times of family need.

"The interest of the home was centered in the steadily increasing group of young 
children.  During the nineteen years that were spent at Broad Creek nine children 
were born, noe of them dying young.  A boy, Samuel, Jr., came in 1791, who would 
carry on the family name in the line which we are following.  Later in the period 
the group developed more of mature strength and purpose, as there were older chil-
dren growing up, who could begin to take an active part with the parents in tasks 
both on the land and in the household.

"Then, in 1795 Samuel sold his Broad Creek property; and from this time the family 
apparently were settled down on Deer Creek, no the south side, some five miles 
upstream from old 'Stone Hill', and close to a ford.  The land had long been con-
nected with family history, for it was part of the very tract chosen by Samuel's 
maternal grandfather, William Holland, in his northern venture eighty-six years 
before.

"The reasons for the major change in situation by Samuel can only be surmised.  
Very possibly he was taking over the management of the plantation for the owner, 
who was the second husband of Lydia's sister, Mary, and who may have been in 
failing health.  This husband did die only a few months after the move by Samuel.  
It was long afterward, that Samuel finally acquired legal ownership, through pur- 
chase of the land from the widow, Mary, when she was more advanced in years.

"In the new locality two more children were added to the home.  The total number 
finally was ten, of whom two were to die in early adulthood.  All of the children 
were, by Friends practice, considered to be members of the meeting unit; and the 
facts of birth were dutifully entered in the meeting register.  (Thus the keeping 
of such Coale record was restored, after an apparent break in entries during the 
time of the preceding two generations in the line.)  Samuel, the father, seems not 
to have taken a leading part in the meeting affairs, but there is record of his 
being assigned to a special visitation duty once in 1819.

"Samuel was especially interested, when in 1818 there came into the meeting a 
William Coale, who was a more distant cousin and who was a newspaper publisher.  
The newcomer had very recently put forth, with the aid of a printer, a volume 
containing the discourses of a Friends minister in England, Samuel Fothergill, 
who, at a time much earlier, visited in the American colonies.  A copy of the 
book was received by our Samuel Coale, doubtless as a gift, and he inscribed 
therein the wording, 'Samuel Coale's Book, 1818.'"  (JMM: As of publication, 
the Fothergill book was still in possession of a Coale family descendant)

"In time, the several children of the Samuel Coale home became married.  For 
meeting their occupational needs in farming, or in other pursuit, the local area 
evidently offered little opportunity.  Therefore, the families of most of the 
children became scattered in places that were as far away as southeastern Penn-
sylvania and northern Virginia.  One son who did stay near home died in earlier 
married life.  In later years only the eldest daughter, Mary, and her husband, 
David Maulsby, with their family, remained close to the elder couple.

"Finally, the lifeline of Samuel Coale evidently was weakening.  In 1825 the 
plantation was sold to the son-in-law, David Maulsby, for a little more than 
$3000.  Very soon thereafter Samuel drew his last will, leaving all of his 
material possessions, not described, to his wife, Lydia.  Any desired grants to 
other heirs had evidently been made before the time of the will.  The amount 
left to Lydia must have been considered ample for her sustenance.  After her 
death, following three years of widowhood, the value of her estate remaining 
for distribution would be somewhat more than $700.

"In the later years of Samuel and Lydia some of the leaders in Deer Creek Meeting 
had continued to be among their close associates.  Two of the three witnesses to 
Samuel's will were John and Susanna Jewett; and Susanna is said to have been a 
'woman of strong mind and powerful minister' at Deer Creek (Preston).  The Jewett 
couple apparently lived nearby, for ni 1817 Samuel sold to John a two-acre plot 
from his estate.  Lydia's sister, Mary, who was also a minister, and who had owned 
the land, lived later very possibly with the Samuel Coales until the time of her 
death in 1823.  Lydia, the wife, was herself a woman of steadfast faith.  Surely 
in the home of Samuel and Lydia throughout the years there prevailed an atmos-
phere in which religious expression and practice were an essential element.

"After a last period of reduced activity by Samuel he died, in 1832.  He had 
lived to an age of about seventy-seven years.  His life span set a record in the 
more recent Coale male ancestry. Previously the attainment in years had, indeed, 
been not more than fifty-five, in the case of his father, Skipwith; or of his 
grandfather Philip; or probably of his great-grandfather, William.

"With the passing of Samuel Coale, large changes were soon to take place in the 
situation of children from the old home.  Under the new national conditions of 
political strength and general internal security following the close of the 
Revolution, a great western region became open, offering a way of population 
release to the already crowded Atlantic seaboard.

"Some of the children of Samuel and Lydia Coale were among the many persons 
caught by the pioneering urge.  One center of special promise was the vicinity 
of Richmond in eastern Indiana.  Among the attractions were good land, active 
business conditions, and a cultural life that included a thriving Friends meet-
ing of the branch to which these Coales were attached (Hicksite).  To facilitate 
access to the country, a new National Road was just being completed from western 
Maryland as far as Richmond.

"Plans were, therefore, made by three or four of the families of the Samuel 
Coale children, including the Maulsby group and the group of Samuel, Jr., to 
set forth on a new western adventure.  The hardy mother, Lydia, was ready also 
to join in the migration that ensued.

"An era in part of the Coale family history was, through this major removal, 
coming to a close.  During a period of more than two hundred years, five suc-
cessive generations had lived their pioneering lfie - first briefly in old 
Virginia, and then long in eastern Maryland.  They had, in their repeated moves 
near the coast, helped to subdue the land and they had endured their share of 
hardship in the transplanting to new abodes.  They had taken part in the build-
ing of an economy and a social life, at first closely dependent on Old World 
culture, then becoming mroe self-sufficient in a true American way of life.

"Now a new era in the spread of one branch of the Coale family line was opening 
in the west.  Traditions from the old era would still be carried forward, while 
becoming often adapted both to different settings in the great interior and to 
coming developments in the whole American pattern of life.

"Among the Coales in the new adopted Indiana country, the break with earlier 
times was more deeply felt, when, two years after the westward move, Lydia Coale 
was taken by death.  She passed away in the Maulsby Richmond home, after a very 
brief illness.  In a tribute at the time, she was said to have retained to the 
end her 'faculties of a sound mind...her more than ordinary mildness and evenness 
of disposition...her Christian piety,...and the angelic sweetness so strikingly 
displayed throughout her last sufferings.' "