Charles Edward Coffin

For other people of the same name, see Charles Coffin (disambiguation).

Charles Edward Coffin (July 18, 1841 – May 24, 1912) was an American industrialist and politician who lived his adult life in Maryland. From there he served in the state House of Delegates and Senate, and was elected to the United States Congress. He was born and raised in Boston and went to Maryland during the American Civil War.

Early life and education

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Coffin was descended from numerous long-settled elite New England families. He attended the Boston grammar and high schools.

Career

In 1863 during the American Civil War, Coffin moved to Muirkirk, Maryland, where he took charge of the local ironworks. Coffin engaged in the manufacture of charcoal pig iron, and subsequently became the owner of the Muirkirk blast furnaces. After the war many of its laborers were freedmen, who founded an independent black Queen's Chapel and Burial Ground nearby in 1868. It became the center of an historic black community known as Rossville.

Later Coffin went into politics. He was elected as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1884 to 1886, and served in the Maryland State Senate from 1890 to 1894. He was a state delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1892.

In 1894 he was elected from the fifth district of Maryland as a Republican Party (US) to the Fifty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Democrat Barnes Compton. He was reelected on the same day to the Fifty-fourth Congress and served from November 6, 1894 to March 3, 1897.

He died in Muirkirk. He was interred in St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church Cemetery in Beltsville, Maryland.

References

• Charles Edward Coffin at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• "House of Delegates, Prince George's County (1790–1966)". Archives of Maryland, Historical List. Maryland State Archives. http://archive1.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc2600/sc2685/house/html/pghouse.html. Retrieved 2007-06-06. ^{[dead link]}

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Barnes Compton	Representative of the 5th Congressional District of Maryland 1894—1897	Succeeded by Sydney Emanuel Mudd I

Persondata
Name	Coffin, Charles Edward
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	July 18, 1841
Place of birth
Date of death	May 24, 1912
Place of death