Coffin, John

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Marie-Paule LaBrèque, “COFFIN, JOHN (1729-1808),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/coffin_john_1729_1808_5E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Businessman, militia officer, and office holder; b. 19 Aug. 1729 in Boston, Mass., son of William and Ann Coffin; d. 25 Sept. 1808 at Quebec, Lower Canada.
    • At the outbreak of the American revolution John Coffin was established in Boston as a merchant, distiller, and shipowner. Although usually discreet and reserved, he did not conceal his loyalist sentiments. He himself reached Quebec early in August 1775 on his schooner Neptune, with his wife, Isabella Child, their 11 children, and a few belongings.
    • Coffin volunteered for the militia and joined a small force which early on the morning of 31 Dec. 1775, during a violent storm, stopped the attack led by Major-General Richard Montgomery, killing him and turning back his men. Governor Guy Carleton, militia captain Thomas Ainslie, and lieutenant-colonels Henry Caldwell and Allan Maclean attributed this success to the militia officers and to Coffin himself.
    • A confirmed loyalist, John Coffin helped to support the British crown in his adopted country by his own actions and by his family’s influence. From the time of its founding at Quebec in June 1794 he had been a member of an association established to uphold the British government in Lower Canada.
  • Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=1631
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117079046/john-coffin