Coffin, Nathaniel

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: O. A. Cooke, “COFFIN, NATHANIEL,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/coffin_nathaniel_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Surveyor, politician, jp, office holder, and militia officer; b. 20 Feb. 1766 in Boston, fifth son of John Coffin and Isabella Child; brother of Thomas; d. 12 Aug. 1846 in Toronto, apparently unmarried.
    • Nathaniel Coffin left Boston in the summer of 1775 when his family fled that place for Quebec. He was commissioned an ensign in the 40th Foot on 21 March 1783, but did not join the regiment until after it had left Staten Island (New York City) for England in November. On 11 Jan. 1786 he exchanged to half pay, perhaps because of a breach of discipline committed in Ireland.
    • Coffin then returned to Quebec, where he was appointed a surveyor on 19 July 1790. Between 1795 and 1802 Coffin was active in the area around Missisquoi Bay, and he was a member of the committee formed by Pennoyer, Samuel Willard, and others to press the government to speed the processing of applications for land. Coffin’s involvement in the region’s affairs was reflected in his election from Bedford County to the House of Assembly in July 1796, but he was not conspicuous during his four years in the house.
    • On 31 Aug. 1802 Coffin was among those granted 1,200 acres in the newly established township of Compton, where he had already made a start at settling. Coffin was appointed deputy adjutant general of the Upper Canadian militia in January 1814. As such, he looked after administration from the department’s office in Kingston. On 25 March 1815 Coffin was made adjutant general, the only militia officer retained in full-time service after the war. He kept his rank of lieutenant-colonel, which he had received in October 1812, and was promoted colonel in 1820.
    • After the war Coffin fell increasingly into disfavour with the reform-minded House of Assembly. Nathaniel Coffin did not begin his militia career until he was well into middle age. He received his appointment in 1812 because of a family tie, and had little experience of leading troops in action. Consequently he appears not to have been held in very high regard as head of the Upper Canadian militia in the post-war years, whatever his merits as an administrator. He was the senior staff officer during a period of great growth for the militia, when new units were organized throughout the province as a result of the influx of settlers. However, these units were never more than nominal, being for the most part unequipped and seldom mustered.
  • Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=1640
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