Joshua Coffin
Joshua Coffin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 12, 1792 |
| Died | June 24, 1864 (aged 71) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Known for | Antiquary and abolitionist |
| Spouse(s) | Clarissa Harlow Dutch (married 1817-1821), Anna Wood Wiley Chase (married 1835-) |
| Children | 5 |
| Parent(s) | Joseph and Judith (née Toppan) Coffin |
Joshua Coffin (October 12, 1792 – June 24, 1864) was a historian, an American antiquary, and an abolitionist.[1]
Life[edit]
Coffin was born to Joseph and Judith (née Toppan) Coffin in Newbury, Massachusetts October 12, 1792[1][2] in the Coffin House.[2] He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1817, and taught school for many years, numbering among his pupils the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who addressed to him a poem entitled "To My Old School-Master".
Coffin was ardent in the cause of emancipation, and was one of the co-founders of the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1832, being its first recording secretary.[1] From 1834 to 1837, Coffin was the manager of the American Anti-Slavery Society.[1]
He published The History of Ancient Newbury (Boston, 1845), genealogies of the Woodman, Little, and Toppan families, and magazine articles. As an adult, Coffin lived for a time in the downstairs southwest room of the Coffin House, his ancestral home; in a tiny study housed within an ell of the house, Joshua wrote his History of Ancient Newbury.
Family life[edit]
On December 2, 1817, Coffin married his first wife Clarissa Dutch of Exeter, New Hampshire.[2] They had two children together: Sarah Bartlett (born Nov. 21, 1818) and Lucia Tappan (born Sept. 6, 1820).[2] His first wife passed away in 1821.
On April 20, 1835, Coffin married his second wife Mrs. Anna Wiley Chase, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2] They had three children together: Elizabeth Wiley (born Jan. 26, 1836), Anna Lapsley (born July 17, 1838), and Mary Hale (born Dec. 29, 1840).[2] Their three children were born in Philadelphia.[2]
Death[edit]
Coffin died on June 24, 1864, in Newbury, Massachusetts[2] and is buried at the Newbury First Parish Burying Ground.
Notes[edit]
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2013) |
Further reading[edit]
- Coffin, Joshua (1845). A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury from 1635 to 1845. S. G. Drake.
- Coffin, Joshua (1860). An Account of Some of the Principal Slave Insurrections. American Anti-Slavery Society.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)
External links[edit]
- Works by Joshua Coffin at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Joshua Coffin at Internet Archive
- Transcription of a letter by Coffin to Lydia Maria Child
References[edit]
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