Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Coggeshall, William Turner

COGGESHALL, William Turner, journalist, b. in Lewistown, Pa., 6 Sept., 1824; d. in Quito, Ecuador, 2 Aug., 1867. He went in 1841 to Ohio, connected himself with the Cincinnati “Gazette,” published “The Genius of the West” in 1854-'6, and was state librarian in 1856-'62. At the beginning of the civil war he volunteered, and was appointed on the staff of Gov. Dennison, with the rank of colonel. He was detailed to perform secret service in Virginia and other places, and while on duty caught a cold that led to consumption, and finally ended his life. He bought the Springfield “Republic” in 1862, but sold it in 1865, and took charge of the “Ohio State Journal,” published at Columbus. He was on Gov. Cox's staff in January, 1866, and in June of that year accepted the mission in Ecuador, hoping that the pure air of Quito might restore his health. He published “Signs of the Times,” a book on spirit-rappings (Cincinnati, 1851); “Easy Warren and his Contemporaries” (New York, 1854); “Oakshaw, or the Victim of Avarice” (Cincinnati, 1855); “Home Hits and Hints” (New York, 1859); “Poets and Poetry of the West” (Columbus, Ohio, 1860); “Stories of Frontier Adventure” (1863); “The Journeys of A. Lincoln as President-elect and as President Martyred” (1865); and contributed largely to periodical literature. - His daughter, Jessie, b. in Wadsworth, Ohio, 22 Sept., 1851; d. in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 10 Jan., 1868, accompanied her father to Ecuador as secretary of legation, and had entire charge of the office for four months after his death.