DEMAREST: A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF COE FINCH AUSTIN 87 
southern trip, for there he contracted a sort of malarial fever, which 
undermined his health, and he seldom visifed his familiar haunts 
on the Palisades after that. 
The last time he went there was to meet a prominent man at 
Col. Miles’s. He wore a new suit, just completed by his wife, and 
much against her wishes, for she knew his failing, but he promised 
her he would not go botanizing, simply going for a call. On his 
return he was tired, and stopped at his father-in-law’s to rest, 
looking more like a tramp than the gentleman of a few hours before, 
and behold he had cut the lining of his coat and used his coat for 
a bag to carry mosses—he had found such beautiful specimens that 
he could not pass them by! 
Although for several months he gradually grew weaker, he did 
not give up his work entirely, for he realized he was near the end 
of his life’s journey, and was anxious to complete the arranging of 
several sets of his supplement to Musci Appalachiani, so that they 
could be disposed of profitably by his family. He continued until 
he was getting the numbers mixed because his mind could not 
endure the strain, laying the work aside, unfinished, three days 
before his death. 
On March 18, 1880, he was called from the scenes of toil and 
study. His parents, then residing in Ridgebury, two miles from 
Slate Hill, being too feeble to come to Closter, appropriate funeral 
services were held in the Ridgebury Methodist Church, and inter- 
ment was in the family plot in the cemetery adjoining the church. 
He left a widow and six children, one son and five daughters, the 
youngest being then seven years old. His widow was called to her 
rest December 12, 1916. The six children are still living. They 
are all married. 
Sarah Elizabeth, wife of Abraham Demarest, Englewood, N. J. 
David C. Austin, of Westfield, N. J. 
Annie, wife of Walter G. Warner, of New York. 
Kate, wife of Henry Scott, of New York. 
Marietta, wife of Harry L. V. Warner, of Bloomfield, NI. 
Ella, wife of Edward W. Dorey, of New York. 
Large quantities of mosses continued to come to his address 
for fully two years, the senders not knowing of his decease. Five 
years later, the minister who officiated at his funeral, while travel- 
