With the Coe family we move away from the immediate ancestry group of Loosemore/Shepard. Family mythology had it that the name Coe may have derived from a Jewish connection although there is no basis for this in fact. My grandmother was known to show a degree of antipathy to those of the Jewish persuasion and it has been felt, not least by my father that this may have been hiding a long buried family secret. Perhaps Coe was a derivative of Cohen?
In fact early in my investigations I discovered the following piece of information which quickly laid this suggestion to rest.
Coe Surname Origin
There are several possible derivations for the surname Coe as shown below.
1 English (Essex and Suffolk): nickname from the jackdaw, Middle English co, Old English ca (see Kay). The jackdaw is noted for its sleek black colour, raucous voice, and thievish nature, and any of these attributes could readily have given rise to the nickname.
2 The primitive word Co is an elevation, exalted.
3 Koh, in the Coptic, is a rock;
4 Koh, Persic, a hill;
5 Coey, Gaelic, a hero, literally, a dog.
6 Coe is a Norfolk provincialism to designate "an odd old fellow."
Of these definitions, given what we will discover later, I believed that the Coe surname I was investigating fitted with the Essex, Suffolk definition as there are many examples of Coe families from the Essex Census records.
On further investigation it is clear that this assumption was a good one as the family comes from the marshy area to the north of Southend around Paglesham and Canewdon and although a farming family they had strong links by marriage to well known families in the oyster dredging industry around Paglesham and Foulness Island.
Interestingly when I discovered a cousin of my father who is still living in Sussex she commented that she also had thought there was a possible Jewish connection or at the least a foreign link in the Coe family history. None of my researches has shown any evidence of this.....