Albert W. Coe Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1362-1363 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	ALBERT W. COE, one of the honored pioneers and prominent business 
men of the city of Deadwood, is a native of Madison county, New York, 
where he was born on the 14th of August, 1833, being a son of Albert E. 
and Mary (Bridge) Coe, both of whom were likewise natives of that 
county, the former having been born in the same ancestral homestead as 
was the subject. The grandfather, who bore the name of David Coe, was a 
native of Middletown, Connecticut, while the name has been prominently 
identified with the annals of New England from the early colonial epoch. 
The ancestry is traced back in direct line to Roger Coe, who was burned 
at the stake in England, during the reign of Queen Mary, so commonly 
known as "Bloody Mary." The original progenitor in America was Robert 
Coe, who emigrated from the "tight little isle" to this country in 1634. 
From one of his three sons the subject of this review is directly 
descended. A number of representatives of the family rendered valiant 
service in the cause of independence during the war of the Revolution, 
and the subject's daughter, Miss Clara D., is thus entitled to and 
maintains membership in' the Daughters of the Revolution. David Coe was 
a lad of twelve years at the time of his parents' removal from 
Connecticut to Oneida county, New York, where he was reared to manhood. 
He married at the age of twenty-one years and thereafter removed to 
Madison county, that state where he engaged in agricultural pursuits and 
where he passed the remainder of his life. The father of the subject 
passed his entire life in that county; he died in 1887, and his wife 
passed away in 1844. They became the parents of six sons and three 
daughters, of whom one of the sons and one of the daughters are still 
living. 

	Albert W. Coe, who was the third child in order of birth, was 
reared to the study discipline of the home farm and secured his 
education in the common schools of the locality and period. Upon 
attaining his legal majority he set forth to seek his fortunes in thc 
west. He located in what is now the city of Chicago, where he remained 
until 1856, when he removed to Milwaukee. Wisconsin, as one of the 
pioneers of the Cream City. and there continued to make his home for 
nearly thirty years—until the time of his removal to what is now the 
state of South Dakota. It may be consistently noted in the connection 
that a brother of his present wife was the third white child born in 
that city. Mr. Coe was one of the charter members of the Milwaukee board 
of trade and was for a number of years prominently identified with the 
commission business, after which he engaged in the hardware business, in 
which he there continued until 1883, when he came to South Dakota and 
located in Deadwood, where he has since maintained his home. Here he 
became associated with J. K. P. Miller in the grocery business, of which 
they continued for some time, then disposing of the enterprise and 
engaging in the real-estate business, of which the subject assumed 
control upon the death of his honored partner. He has since been 
identified with this line of enterprise and has been concerned in many 
important transactions and assisted materially in the developing of the 
great resources of this section of the state. Mr. Miller, with whom he 
was so long associated, was the promotor and builder of the Deadwood 
Central Railroad and the Deadwood street railway, while Mr. Coe was 
secretary of both companies during the building of both systems, while 
after their completion he held the office of manager until the 
properties were sold. Mr. Coe is at the present time a member of the 
Business Men's Club, of Deadwood, and also the Mining Men's Association, 
while he is a member of the directorate of the Franklin Hotel Company 
and the Masonic Benevolent Association. He is one of the prominent and 
honored members of the Masonic fraternity in the state, and is at the 
present time treasurer of the lodge, chapter and commandery with which 
he has affiliated, while he has attained the thirty-second degree in the 
Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and is also affiliated with the Ancient 
Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In 1897 he had the 
distinction of serving as grand master of the Masonic grand lodge of the 
state, and he is at the present time president of the South Dakota 
Masonic Veteran Association, having been a Mason for more than forty 
years. 

	On the 13th of July, 1854, Mr. Coe was united in marriage to Miss 
Emeline Gregg, who, tike himself, was born and reared in Madison county, 
New York, and she died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1857, leaving no 
children. On the 31st of March, 1859, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Coe to Miss Sarah D. Gregg, a daughter of Hendrick Gregg, who removed 
from Madison county, New York, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1836, being 
numbered among the early settlers in that locality and being one of the 
honored pioneer farmers of the Badger state. Mr. and Mrs. Coe have one 
son, Albert G., and a daughter, Clara D. The former was born in 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 18th of April, 1860. and is now associated 
with his father in business. On the 18th of September, 1883, he was 
united in marriage to Miss Agnes L Foster, who was born in Racine, 
Wisconsin, being a daughter of Alfred Foster, who removed thence to 
Milwaukee when she was a child, so that she was reared and educated in 
the latter city. Of this union was born one child, Alberta, who died in 
infancy. Albert G. is a member of the Olympian Club, and, like his 
honored father, has attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish-rite 
Masonry, while his political faith is that of the Democratic party. The 
daughter, Clara D., also assists in the management of the business 
interests of the Coe establishment. She has been active in the affairs 
of the Order of the Eastern Star and has officiated as worthy matron of 
the local lodge.