Joshua Coffin

author

Joshua Coffin

1792–1864

A New England teacher, historian, and antislavery writer, he is remembered for turning local history into lively storytelling and for speaking out against slavery. His work links early American community life with the reform movements of the 1800s.

1 Audiobook

An account of some of the principal slave insurrections, and others, which have occured, or been attempted, in the United States and elsewhere, during the last two centuries.

An account of some of the principal slave insurrections, and others, which have occured, or been attempted, in the United States and elsewhere, during the last two centuries.

by Joshua Coffin

About the author

Born in 1792, Joshua Coffin was an American teacher, historian, and reform-minded writer from Massachusetts. He is especially associated with Newbury and other parts of New England, where he gathered local traditions, family history, and town records into books meant for general readers as well as scholars.

Coffin is best known for A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury, a work that helped preserve the region's early history. He was also active in the antislavery movement and wrote on reform causes, reflecting the strong moral and civic debates of his time.

He died in 1864. Today, he is remembered less as a novelist than as a careful recorder of place, memory, and community — one of those 19th-century authors whose writing kept local history from disappearing.