Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/423

 COSTON

COTHEAL

Episcopal church, and a protege of Dr. Fell, from whom Dr. Morgan inherited a large part of Fells Point, Baltimore. She was educated by her father, a man of means and leisure and a gradu- ate of Edinburgh college, Scotland; and in the best schools of Philadelphia, where her mother made her home after the death of her husband. She was married in 1844 to Benjamin Franklin Coston, who died "in Philadelphia in 1848. His night signals and color charts, to supplement the chemically produced colored fires, were left in- complete and his widow, then only twenty-two years old, at once went to work to perfect them and to carry out as best she could the work marked out by her husband. After three years of experiment and trials by boards of officers or- dered by the secretary of the navy, during which she received many adverse reports, she exhibited the last result of her labor to the secretary of the navy, Isaac Tousey, who ordered a board of examiners w hich reported favorably to the adop- tion of the signals by the U.S. navy, Jan. 27, 1859. After she had secured a patent in April, 18.")9, the civil war changed the navy department and no further action was taken till Aug. 5, 1861, when by act of congress Coston"s signal lights were authorized to be used on all the vessels of the navy during the war. Their use demonstrated the value of the invention and Secretary Welles pronounced them to have been of " incalculable value throughout the war " especially in the cap- ture of Fort Fisher, and the capture of blockade runners. Aided by agents she introduced the use of Coston's night signals in the French, Italian, Danish and Dutch navies, in Brazil and most of the countries of South America and of Euro])e. The French minister of marine in 1898 in a letter written that year to Mrs. Coston, acknowledged their continued value and use in the French navy for thirty -one years. The Coston night signals proved the means of saving lives and pro])erty. By the U.S. life-saving service twenty-seven lives were saved from the turret of the first monitor ■R'hich sank off North Carolina in 18G3. Mrs. Coston received medals and diplomas from vari- ous world's fairs. She published A Signal Suc- cess, an Antolnofiraphy (1886).

COSTON, Williain Franklin, inventor, was born at Washington navy yard, D.C., May 20, 1847; son of Benjamin Franklin and Martiia Jay (Hunt) Coston. He was educated in the United States and in Europe. He engaged with his mother in perfecting Co.ston's night signal and he aided the U.S. life-saving service on the or- ganization of that bureau in 187:3 ;ind prepared a code of signals. The board adopted the Coston signals and had in 1899 found no substitute. He also arranged the first night-signal chart and code applicable to the International flag-signal

code. This was adopted in 1873 by the leading yacht clubs in the United States. Mr. Coston was unanimously elected a member of the New York yacht club, Feb. 4, 1874, and became a life member in 1889. He was elected a member of the Atlantic yacht club in 1895. His distin- guishing night sig- nals were also adopted by the va,rious steam- ship lines. His inven- tions in connection with the Coston tele- graphic night signals were approved by a unanimous vote of the New York cham- ber of commerce, and I'ecommended by that body to the secretary of the U.S. treasury, Nov. 6, 1873. The in- vention as improved and patented in 1881 received a reindorsement from that body in 1889. His system was in- dorsed by the International society for the codi- fication of the laws of nations, and he received the gold medal of the Liverpool maritime exhibi- tion in 1886 and from the World's Columbian ex- position at Chicago in 1893, for his exhibit of these signals. He improved the Coston signal by a percussion attachment and by the addition of an improved holder, patented in 1881 and 1896. In 1898 his life-saving inventions were found of great value in the prosecution of the war with Spain as they were used on all transports convey- ing troops to and from Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. The United States life-saving ser- vice, the weather bureau, the revenue-cutter ser- vice, the lighthouse board, and the army adopted the night signals with all improvements. He died in New Brighton, Staten Island, Aug. 17, 1901.

COTHEAL, Alexander Isaac, ethnologist, was born in New York city, Nov. 5, 1804; son of Henry and Phoebe R. (Warner) Cotheal ; grand- son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Evans) Cotheal; great-grandson of William and Charlotte (Dove) Cotheal; and of English descent. His grand- father, Isaac Cotheal, was a soldier in the Revo- lutionary army. Alexander was educated at private schools and from 1836 to 1849 was a mem- ber of his father's shipping firm, having charge of tlie French and Spanish business correspond- ence. His father's death in 1849 resulted in a dissoluticju of the firm and he spent three years in Eastern travel studying the Arabic, Turkish, Persian and other oriental tongues. In 1852 he went to Nicaragua and in 1871 he was appointed by the government of that country its consul general to the United States, which post he held