"In every conceivable manner, the family is a link to our past, bridge to our future.." Alex Haley 


The Primary Surnames for this Blog are the Lindsey and Watts.

Compiled and researched by, Alice Lindsey.

The Lindsey family and the Watts families are originally from Maryland, North Carolina and Missouri.

Our great-great grandfather Jacob Lindsey was a free black man from Maryland. He married Mary Coffin of Jamestown NC.

Mary Coffin is listed as the slave of Shubal Coffin in the 1850-1860 US census slave schedule.

The family story is that she was the daughter of Shubal and was listed as a slave to protect her from being kidnapped and sold.

Their oldest son Junius under the surname Coffin enlisted in the union army (see military record under official papers section below) during the Civil War. After the war he came back he and his family moved to Peru, IN.

His son, our great grandfather Henry Harrison, married Frances Porter, an orphaned Blackfoot Indian. They traveled the entire state of Illinois.

Our grandfather Harry Lindsey married Edith Watts; the family lived for a while in Peru, IN, and then moved to Chicago, IL.