BIOGRAPHIES:  Hon. Alexander G. COFFIN, Durand, Pepin Co., WI

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Submitted by Nance Sampson, Pepin Co. Archives File Manager on 19 November 2004
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**Posted for informational purposes only - submitter is not related to the
subject of this biography and has no further information.

Hon. Alexander G. Coffin, Durand, Pepin county, was born on the island
of Nantucket, Mass., May 16, 1821.  His parents, Alexander and Lydia
(Myrick) Coffin, were also natives of that island.  His paternal
grandparents, Samuel and Eunice (Geer) Coffin, were of English descent,
as were also his maternal grandparents, Peter and Merib (Gardner)
Myrick.  Alexander Coffin Sr. was born in 1790.  For many years he was
captain of a whaling vessel, but in 1842 he removed to Ravenna, Ohio,
where his death occurred in 1872, and his wife also died there the
following year.  Their children were:  Lydia (Mrs. C. Clark), Mary
(Mrs. J. B. Coffin), Alexander G., Eliza M., and Charles F.  Our
subject attended the Coffin school, which was founded and endowed by
Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of London, for the education of children of
Coffin blood.  Later he attended boarding and private schools for a few
months.  At the age of sixteen he began clerking in a dry goods store
at Nantucket.  At nineteen he went to sea, but after making voyages to
Liverpool and New Orleans, concluded to abandon that pursuit and re-
entered the store.  He was united in marriage, February 6, 1842, with
Miss Caroline C., daughter of Benjamin and Rhoda (Coggeshall) Turner,
who were also of English descent.  Nine children blessed hits union: 
Sarah, Henry, Caroline (Mrs. H. M. Culbertson), Charles, Lydia (Mrs. J.
S. Shaw), Alexander, Anna, James B. and Edward C.  A few months after
his marriage our subject removed to Ravenna, Ohio, where he engaged in
farming, and later opened a dry goods store, which he carried on for
about thirteen years.  In 1857, with several companions, he started
overland for Pike's Peak, but when they reached central Nebraska,
having met a great many teams and people returning "busted," they
abandoned the project, and he returned to Ravenna.

In the spring of 1861, he came to Durand, and engaged in a general
store.  A few months later he went to New York to purchase goods, and
on his return brought his family hither.  Some idea of the
transpiration facilities of those days may be formed from the fact that
their household goods were three months in making the journey.  Mr.
Coffin continued in mercantile business for about three yeas.  Soon
after his arrival he purchased a small farm near the village, within
the present city limits, where he has since resided.  He has also
speculated more or less in real estate.  He also clerked one season on
a steamboat, the Cutter.  He and his sons were also engaged one season
in gathering and dealing in ginseng, paying for the homestead by that
means.  For twenty-three years past, Mr. Coffin has been in public
life.  He has served as judge for six years, and is now filling the
office of registrar of deeds as deputy, for the eighth term.  He has
also served as justice of the peace and notary public.  Politically, he
is a steadfast republican; he also belongs to the Temple of Honor.  His
systematic business methods and integrity of character account for his
continued popularity.

-Transcribed from the "Historical & Biographical Album of the Chippewa
Valley Wisconsin, 1891-2," pages 455-456.


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