Coffin Family Papers
Scope and Contents
The collection contains family correspondence (1828-1913), journals of Elijah Coffin (1842), Benajah Coffin (1826), and Percival Brooks Coffin (1883-1920), business papers of Elijah Coffin and Charles F. Coffin, and miscellaneous writings. Includes documents and letters pertaining to Charles F., Rhoda M., and Elijah Coffin's prison reform activities and articles concerning the treatment of the insane, Native American rights, and temperance. Also manuscripts having to do with Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends and the Cincinnati Book Association of Friends. Correspondents include Elijah Coffin, Rhoda M. Coffin, Mordecai Hiatt, and Rufus Jones.
Dates
- Creation: 1797-1932
Creator
- Coffin family (Family)
- Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends (Orthodox: 1828- ) (Contributor, Organization)
- Cincinnati Book Association of Friends (Contributor, Organization)
- Coffin, Elijah, 1798-1862 (Contributor, Person)
- Coffin, Rhoda M., 1826-1909 (Contributor, Person)
- Hiatt, Mordecai (Rhoda Moorman), 1799-1873 (Contributor, Person)
- Jones, Rufus M. (Rufus Matthew), 1863-1948 (Contributor, Person)
- Hiatt, Benajah, 1773-1847 (Contributor, Person)
- Coffin, Charles F. (Charles Fisher), 1823-1916 (Contributor, Person)
- Coffin, Percival Brooks, 1865-1935 (Contributor, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Friends Historical Library believes all of the items in this collection to be in the Public Domain in the United States, and is not aware of any restrictions on their use. However, the user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status before reproducing. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/.
Biographical / Historical
Elijah Coffin was born in 1793 in Guilford County, N.C., the son of Bethuel and Hannah Dicks Coffin. He married Naomi Hiatt in 1820, and the family moved to Milton, Indiana, in 1824. Elijah worked as a banker, and the family moved for a short time to Cincinnati and then to Richmond, Indiana. Benjamin and Elizabeth Hiatt, Naomi's parents, also migrated to Indiana at the same time, together with Naomi's brother, Mordecai, and his family. Charles F. Coffin, the son of Elijah, was born in 1823 and married Rhoda Moorman Johnson in 1847; he was employed as a banker. Charles F. and Rhoda M. Coffin were active in the peace movement, prison reform, reform of the treatment of the insane, and the temperance movement. He succeeded his father as Clerk of Indiana Yearly Meeting from 1857 to 1884. Charles F. and Rhoda M. Coffin's youngest son, Percival Brooks Coffin, also a banker and active in Quaker and philanthropic causes, was born in 1865. He married Lucy V. Baxter and was one of the original members of the 57th Street Meeting in Chicago.
Extent
3 linear ft. (6 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Coffin family were Quakers of Wayne County, Indiana. Elijah Coffin was born in 1793 in Guilford County, N.C., the son of Bethuel and Hannah Dicks Coffin. His son and daughter-in-law, Charles F. and Rhoda M. Coffin were active in the peace movement, prison reform, reform of the treatment of the insane, and the temperance movement. Father and son both served as Clerk of Indiana Yearly Meeting. The collection contains family correspondence, journals, business papers, and miscellaneous writings. Includes documents and letters pertaining to Charles F., Rhoda M., and Elijah Coffin's prison reform activities and articles concerning the treatment of the insane, Indian rights, and temperance. Also incldues manuscripts having to do with Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends and the Cincinnati Book Association of Friends.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into nine series:
- Biographical and genealogical
- Business papers
- Correspondence
- Prison reform work (Charles F., Rhoda M., and Elijah Coffin)
- Writings
- Printed material
- Pictures
- Memorabilia
- Reference material
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donor: Mrs. Bennett Cooper (Emily Fletcher Cooper), 1961-1964
Lucy Vincent Baxter (born 1868) was a daughter of William Baxter and his second wife, Mary Ellen. She married Percival Brooks Coffin. The donor, Mrs. Bennett Cooper (Emily Fletcher Cooper), was their niece.
Separated Materials
Elijah Coffin's spectacles and case were removed to Relic [#218], July 1974.
Photographs stored in PA 145, inventory in repository.
Processing Information
Sorted and filed in Record Group 5. In 2007, the photographs were removed to PA 145 and stored in two boxes.
Subject
- Coffin family (Family)
- Title
- An Inventory of the Coffin Family Papers, 1797-1932
- Author
- FHL staff
- Date
- Before 1967
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
- Sponsor
- Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
Revision Statements
- 2024: This finding aid was reviewed in order to change or contextualize any outdated, harmful terminology related to Indigenous Peoples, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.
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