Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/320

 COFFIN

COFFIN

college for one year, when he returned to New England and collected funds and books for the institution. He was married, Oct. 19, 1802. to Susanna Woodbridge. daughter of James Aver of New Milford, N.H. He was vice-president of Greenville college, 1803-10: president, 1810-27; and third president of East Tennessee coUege (University of Tennessee), 1827-32. He received the degree of D.D. from Williams college in 1808. He died at Greenville, Tenu.. June 3, 1853.

COFFIN, Charles Carleton, author, was born in Boscawen, N.H.. July 26, 1823; son of Thomas and Hannah (Kilburn), grandson of Peter and Eebecca (Hazeltine), great-grandson of John and Judith (Greenleaf), great- grandson of Nathaniel and Sarah (Brocklebank) Dole and great-5 grandson of Tristram Coffin, Jr., who settled in Salisbury, Mass., in 1642, when ten A-ears old, with his father Tristram of Brixton, England. Charles was brought up on his father's farm, attended the district school, and had one winter's in- struction in the vil- lage academy. He learned surveying and found employ- ment with the .sur- veying parties laying out the first railroads in New Hampshire. In 1849 he put up a telegraph line connecting the Cambridge observatory with the telegraph lines in Boston to secui'e uniform time for de- spatching the trains. He also had charge of the construction of the telegraph fire alarm in Boston. In 1854 he was employed as a writer on the Boston Journal and was assistant editor of the Boston Atlas. He made a tour of the United States in the interest of the Journal in 1858 and his letters attracted much attention. In 1861 he became the war corre- spondent, and his letters signed " Carleton " were vivid descriptions of passing events at the front. Iq 1866 he went to Europe and reported the Austro-Prussian war, returning home through Greece, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, India, China and Japan, crossing to San Francisco and overland to Boston. His letters to the Jour- nal kept its readers in touch •with the whole world. He lectured extensively in the United States after 1868 and represented Boston in the .state leg- islature for two terms, 1884—85, and in the senate in 1890. His early association with veteran Revolutionary heroes and his subsequent expe- rience as an army correspondent, furnished him an

immense fund from which to draw in writing his books for boys. On Feb. 18, 1846, he was mar- ried to Sallie, daughter of John Farmer of Bosca- wen, N.H., and Mr. and Mrs. Coffin celebrated their golden wedding in 1896. He was a member of the New England historic genealogical so- ciety, to the library of which he gave many valu- able manuscripts relating to the civil war and also the key of the slave pen at Richmond, Va. He was also a member of the American geo- graphical society and of the American association for the advancement of science. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Amherst in 1870. Among his books are The Great Commercial Prize (1858) ; Days and Nights on the Battlefield (1864) ; Folloicing the Flag and Winning His Way (1865) ; Four Years of Fighting (1866) ; Our Xeic Way Bound the World (1869) ; The Seat of Empire (1870) ; Caleb Krinkle (1875) ; Story of Liberty (1878) ; Boys of '76 (1879); Old Times in the Colonies (1880); Life of Garfield (1880) ; Building the Nation (1883) ; Drum Beat of the Nation (1887); Marching to Vic- tory (1888) ; Freedom Triumphant (1891) ; Life of Lincoln (1892) ; Daughters of the Bcvolution, 1769- 1776 (1895); and Dan of Jlillbrook (1896). He died in Brookline, Mass.. March 2, 1896.

COFFIN, Charles Edward, representative, was born in Boston, Mass., July 18, 1841; son of Wil- liam Edward and Margaretta (Cotton) Coffin; great-grandson of Dr. William Coffin; great^ grandson of Peter Coffin, and great^ grandson of Tristram Coffin, Jr. He was educated at the Boston grammar and High schools and at the Chauncey Hall school. He removed to Maryland in 1863 locating at Muirkirk, where he purchased a large tract of land and developed the iron mines thereon. He seciired the iron works near by, erected in 1847 by the EUicotts, and soon built up a profitable business at " Muirkirk Fur- nace.'' In 1884 he was elected a member of the house of delegates of ^Maryland as a Rejjublican, and served in the state senate, 1890-94. He was a delegate to the Republican national conven- tion of 1892 and in 1894 was elected a representa- tive from the 5th Maryland district to the 53d congress to fill the unexpired term of Represen- tative Compton, resigned, and at the same time was elected to the 54th congress where he served on the committee on manufactures.

COFFIN, James Henry, meteorologist, was born in Williamsburg, Mass., Sept. 6, 1806; son of Matthew and Betsey (Allen) Coffin, and fifth in the line of descent from Tristram Coffin, Jr., who came to America from Devonshire, England, in 1642. He was graduated at Amherst in 1828, and in 1829 he opened at Greenfield, Mass., a private school for boys. In 1830 he added a man- ual labor department, the first school of the kind