St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-03-27
Hon. Charles Carleton Coffin.

chusetts who have recently passed
away, and whose familiar face ana
name will be missed, is that Of
Charles Carleton Coffin, better
known as Carleton, the war CORE
spondent. Born July &c, 1923, 10 the
town of Boscawen, now Webster,
N. H., he was the youngest OF nine
children. His ancestors were OF
good Puritan stock, coming from a
town near Plymouth, England, in
1912 to Salisbury, Mass, and later
living at Nantucket.
Peter, one of the two sons ofTris-
tram Coffin, of Nantucket, moved
from Newbury, Mass, to Boscawen,
N. H., in 1866, and early identified
himself with the cause of the Revolu-
ton, and became captain of the
militia. His wife shared her hus-
bands energy and patriotism. Dur
ing Gen. Burgoyne's invasion in
1777, when her babe, Thomas Coffin,
the father of c. c. Coffin, was only
three weeks old. she took web
from the loom and sat up the whole
night to make shirt for soldier to
go to the war. All of the men being
in camp, there was no one left to
harvest the grain. She rode six miles
to another town and brought back
on the pillion behind her a
ragged, coatless boy of fourteen to
reap the grain, while she bound the
sheaves. She made coat for the
boy out OF meal bag, by cutting TWO
holes in it and sewing into them a
pair of her own socks for the sleeves.
Hon. c. c. Coffin often referred to
the childish delight experienced in
listening to the stories OF three
old Revolutionary veterans, fel-
low-townsmen, who were in the
battle of Bunker Hill, and
frequent guests at his fathers fire.
side. Those stories and descriptions
were afterwards reproduced for the
benefit OF other children in his book.
Boys of '76." Its popularity may
be inferred when you learn that there
are fifty wellworn copies in use in
the Boston public library. His old
blind grandfather, Kilburn, was very
fond Of relating incidents of the bat
tie of Saratoga to his listening
grandchild, whose stories were stored
up in his memory for future use. He
considered his childhood gospel oi
work and economy. III health pre-
vented his laboring upon the farm, 50
he studied engineering and was EN-
ployed upon the Northern and Con
cord & Portsmouth railroad.
He was fortunate in his choice OF a
life companion. He married Sallit
X. Farmer of Boscawen in 1916, g
sister of Prof. Moses Farmer. She
was most estimable woman ant
still survives him. She was thor
oughly in sympathy with her hus
band in all of his literary and histori,
researches: travelled with him il
foreign lands as well as in the Soutl
after the war, when visiting tn
various battle fields, taking photo
graphs, verifying former description
and statements for his Forthcoming
books. Under Prof. Farmers instruc
tions, he gave the first fire telegraph
alarm in Boston April 20, 1852
Previous to that, he had constructc,
in 1S49 the telegraph line betwee
Harvard observatory and Boston
giving uniform time to railroads. H
became an occasional and then regu
lar contributor to various New Ems
land newspapers: The Bosto
Journal, Congregationalist, tn
Transcript, Oliver Optics Studen
and Schoolmate, the Practical Farm
er and New York Tribune. Also a
assistant editor of the Atlas, an
+ later night editor Of the Bosto
Journal.
Upon the opening OF the Civil Wa
in 1861, he left for the seat of govern
; ment, and wrote his first letter fror
Baltimore June 13, 1861, under tn
name of Carleton. He was a goo
student of men and of public affair,
impartial in his statements, conserve
tive in his opinions and thorough
trustworthy aud accurate. II
showed discriminating judgmer
in his selection of places to witnes
battles and Gain an INSIGHT into RI