Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/303

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COATES
COATES

the founders of, and a life-long associate in the Union benevolent association and in the Penn mutual life insurance company of Philadelphia, and was interested in various charitable organizations. He was vice-president of the Pennsylvania state abolition society, was connected with the Colonization society, and was one of the projectors of the republic of Liberia. It was due partly to his efforts that Liberia was recognized as an independent government by Great Britain in 1848 and by the United States in 1861. After emancipation in the United States he directed his attention to the establishment and support of schools for the freedmen and Indians. He retired from active participation in mercantile life about 1872. He was throughout life a consistent member of the Society of Friends. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., March 7, 1887.

COATES, George Morrison, merchant, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 20, 1817; son of George Morrison and Rebecca (Hornor) Coates; grandson of Josiah Langdale and Mary (Morrison) Coates; and great^ grandson of both Thomas Coates, who emigrated from Leicestershire, England, in 1683, and John Hornor, who came from Yorkshire in the ship Providence in the same-year, landing at Burlington, N.J., where he bought property and settled. George was educated at the best private classical schools of his native city, and received a mercantile training. He was established by his father in a business in woolen cloths in 1838, in which he continued until 1859. He subsequently engaged in the wool business in partnership with his brother Benjamin. In 1869 both brothers became special partners with the son of George Morrison Coates in the book publishing house of Porter & Coates. Mr. Coates was for eleven years director of the Pennsylvania railroad company representing the stock held by the city of Philadelphia, and which was subsequently sold by his advice, his conviction being that the municipality ought not to be so closely allied with any corporation. In politics he was originally a Whig and afterward became a Republican. He was an early member of the Union League club of Philadelphia, and served that city for many years as a member of the board of health. In 1864 he was a Republican presidential elector and in 1868 headed the ticket as elector-at-large for Grant and Colfax, and in 1872 for Grant and Wilson. In 1840 he was married to Anna, daughter of Henry Troth, a native of Maryland and a prominent citizen of Philadelphia. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., May 21, 1893.

COATES, Reynell, scientist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 10, 1802; son of Samuel and Amy (Hornor) Coates, and grandson of Samuel and Mary (Langdale) Coates. He early became proficient in mathematics and the languages, and studied medicine and surgery at the Pennsylvania hospital, where at the age of fifteen he was entered as an "apprentice" under Dr. Benjamin Rush. He was graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1823, and became resident physician at the hospital. The same year he went to India as surgeon of a vessel, and made an extended entomological tour. In 1829 he accepted the chair of natural sciences in Allegheny college. Joining the U.S. navy as surgeon, he made during a cruise a collection that furnished the material for a large volume. He was a member of the scientific corps of the first South Sea expedition under Commodore Jones in 1835-36, and had charge of the department of comparative anatomy, but left the service on the return of the expedition. He was the author of the national address of the Native American party in 1844, and the originator of the patriotic order, Sons of America, Dec. 10, 1847, and wrote its ritual. In the national election of 1852 he was the candidate of the Native American party for vice-president of the United States, Daniel Webster being on the ticket for president. He was married in 1837 to Margaretta, daughter of William Abbott of New Jersey, and his only child died in infancy. Dr. Coates contributed voluminously to various medical and scientific journals, many of them being translated into the French, German, Spanish and Italian languages. He was the editor of Graham's Magazine and contributed to the other literary journals of the time, both in prose and in verse. Of his poems The Gambler's Wife, Christian Charity and The Drunkard's Child were best known. He published Physiology for Schools (1840)—the first work of its kind—and Natural Philosophy for Schools (1845); besides other works. He died in Camden, N.J., April 27, 1886.

COATES, Samuel, philanthropist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 24, 1748 (O.S.); youngest son of Samuel and Mary (Langdale) Coates, and grandson of Thomas Coates who came from Leicestershire, England, in 1683. His father having died while the son was quite young he became a member of the household of an uncle by marriage, John Reynell, an eminent shipping merchant of Philadelphia, under whose charge he received a thorough classical education and