100 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



Laden with grief and age, and shattered here, 

 At last he struck and grounded on his hier; 

 Heaven took his ballast from its deepest hold, 

 And left his body a wreck, destitute of soul." 



"Miriam" (Keziah) Coffin. 



For mauy of the facts in relation to this celebrated 

 woman, the compiler again makes his acknowledg- 

 ments to William C. Folger, Esq. 



Keziah Folger was the daughter of Daniel and 

 Abigail Folger. She was born Oct. 9, 1723. 



This Keziah Folger, who married John Coffin, built 

 the John Cartwright house on Centre Street, owned 

 the farm* and old house at Quaise, and was at one 

 time a great merchant and owner of vessels; was the 

 heroine of Col. Hart's book, u Miriam Coffin; or, The 

 Whale Fishermen." 



She fell down-stairs at the Morris house on lower 

 Main Street, and died suddenly March 29, 1798. 



This woman was undoubtedly possessed of superior 

 ability. It is generally believed that Keziah Coffin 

 and others rendered assistance to the British during 

 the Revolution, and that she was guilty of smuggling 

 to a very large extent. F. C. Sanford, Esq., says: 

 Cw She had her ships in every sea, and was a famous 

 smuggler in her day, as can be found by the Colonial 

 Records in Boston which were made at the time of her 

 trial in Watcrtown, this State, a copy of which I have. 

 Her town residence was unequalled when it Avas built 

 in 1770. It stood on what is now the elegant green 



* Now the property of William B. Starbuck, but the origi- 

 nal house was long since taken down. 



