OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



577 



years he led a life of retirement, although tak- 

 ing a deep interest in public affairs. Yale Col- 

 lege gave him the degree of LL. D. 



Coates, Ueujamiu, an American abolitionist, 

 born in Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 16, 1808; died 

 there, March 7, 1887. He was the eldest son 

 of George M. Coates, whose ancestors followed 

 William Peun from England in 1682, and of 

 Rebecca Homer, whose grandfather settled in 

 New Jersey in 1683. In early manhood he 

 entered the dry-goods business, and became a 

 member of tlie firm of Wurtz, Musgrave & 

 Wurtz. He was afterward senior partner suc- 

 cessively in the h'rms of Coates & Anstie, 

 Coates & Brown, and later in that of Coates 

 Brothers, as well as silent partner in the pub- 

 lishing-house of Porter & Coates. Mr. Coates 

 was one of the founders of the Union Benevo- 

 lent Association of Philadelphia, and of the 

 Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, one of 

 the first institutions of its kind organized in 

 the United States. He became an abolitionist 

 in early life, and, as vice-president of the 

 Abolition Society, he was untiring in his efforts 

 for its success by constitutional means. The 

 scheme of colonization had from the first his 

 warm sympathy. He was a most active laborer 

 in the establishment of the republic of Liberia, 

 and in obtaining the recognition of its inde- 

 pendence from Great Britain in 1848 and the 

 United States in 1861. After the solution of 

 the slavery question by the proclamation of 

 emancipation, his attention was turned to the 

 education of the freedmen, the establishment 

 of Indian schools, and other philanthropic 

 movements. He lived and died a member of 

 the Society of Friends. 



Cobb, Sylvanns Jr., an American novelist, born 

 in "Waterville, Me., in 1823 ; died in Hyde Park, 

 Mass., July 20, 1887. He was a son of the 

 Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, a Universalist clergyman, 

 author of several religious books, and editor 

 for many years of "The Christian Freeman." 

 When about seventeen years old, young Cobb 

 ran away from home and enlisted in the navy ; 

 but, soon afterward repenting of the act, sent 

 for his father, who, after a consultation with 

 the officers of the man-of-war, took their ad- 

 vice and allowed him to make the Mediterra- 

 nean trip. The lad was made private secretary 

 to the captain, who had desires for literary 

 renown, and in the cabin of the war-ship Cobb 

 received his earliest insight into story-writing 

 while attempting to correct the captain's manu- 

 script. On his release from the navy, he be- 

 gan his career as a writer of novelettes, and 

 continued it with large pecuniary success till 

 his last illness, confining himself almost exclu- 

 sively to the "New York Ledger," wherein 

 his " Gun-Maker of Moscow " gave both author 

 and publication a wide-spread reputation. He 

 performed military service in the civil war as 

 captain of the Norway Light Infantry, and 

 was a man of many accomplishments. 



Cogswell, Elliot Colby, an American author, 

 born in Tamworth, N. II., June 11, 1814; died 

 VOL. xxvii. 37 A 



at Rye Beach, N. H., Aug. 31, 1887. He was 

 fitted at Gilmanton Academy, and was gradu- 

 ated at Dartmouth in 1838. He was principal 

 of Gilmanton Academy two years, studied 

 theology in Gilmanton Theological Seminary, 

 and was ordained pastor of the Congregational 

 Church in Northwood,- Nov. 3, 1842, which 

 pastorate lasted six years. He was pastor of 

 the church in Newmarket seven years, and at 

 New Boston ten years. He returned to North- 

 wood, and was engaged in pastoral labors there 

 for eleven years, and all that time was princi- 

 pal of Coe Academy. He was author of a 

 history of New Boston, a history of Notting- 

 ham, Deerfield, and Northwood, a memoir of 

 the Rev. Samuel Hidden, of Tamworth, to- 

 gether with miscellaneous sermons and ad- 

 dresses. At the time of his death he was 

 writing a history of Tamworth. He was post- 

 master of Northwood Center several years. 



Collins, Jennie, an American philanthropist, 

 born in Amoskeag, N. H., in 1828; died in 

 Brookline, Mass., July 20, 1887. Her parents 

 died when she was a little girl, and she went 

 to live with her grandmother, a Quakeress. 

 When she was fourteen years old the death of 

 her grandmother forced her to seek means to 

 support herself, and for several years she was 

 employed in the mills at Lawrence and Lowell, 

 subsequently going to Boston, working as a 

 nurse in the family of Judge Lowell, and final- 

 ly becoming a vest-maker. In the early part 

 of the civil war she began speaking in favor of 

 the abolition of slavery, and organized a sol- 

 diers' relief association among her shop-mates, 

 the pioneer organization of that character in 

 Boston. She then gave two years of her time 

 to the patriotic duty of raising funds to sup- 

 port the soldiers' homes, and to provide arti- 

 ficial limbs for those inmates who had left 

 their own on the field of battle. Her neces- 

 sities then forced her to resume her needle, 

 but even in this condition she took upon her- 

 self the duty of educating the children of de- 

 ceased soldiers. In 1868 she made her first 

 appearance as a public speaker, taking for her 

 subject the grievances of workingwonien. In 

 the mean time she had been devoting her time 

 to self-culture, and attached herself to the 

 evening-classes of the Church of the Unity, 

 where she was appointed to lead the class in 

 English history. In 1869 the first eight-hour 

 convention of workingmen was held in Boston, 

 and this was the occasion of her first appear- 

 ance as a speaker at a gathering of public im- 

 portance. During the political campaign of 

 that year she was called upon for active work 

 in nearly all the manufacturing towns in the 

 State. In January, 1870, she delivered an im- 

 pressive address at a meeting of the Woman's 

 Suffrage Association at Washington, D. C., 

 and during the same year frequently occupied 

 pulpits, lecturing to largo audiences. In the 

 summer of 1870 she began a series of meetings 

 on Boston Common, with the intention of ;nl- 

 vocating the provision of cheap and rational 



