By 1812Blockhouse
In our “Literary Mansfield” series, we look at the lives and works of Mansfielders who have contributed to the world of words. Authors, poets, playwrights, lyricists, and other wordsmiths are featured.
Today’s subject was a resident of Mansfield for some, but not all, of his long life.
The saga of Salathiel Coffinberry began in Lancaster, Ohio in 1809; he was the son of that city’s first newspaper editor. After a stint in Chilicothe, the family moved to Mansfield, where Salathiel began the practice of law and married for a second time to the equally wonderfully-named Artemisia Cook. He left Mansfield in 1843, and spent the rest of his life in Michigan. Salathiel and Artemisia had six children with names such as Hermia Salathiella, Herman Napoleon, and Estophanta.
The Coffinberry family was certainly creative. Salathiel’s mother penned a poem on the subject of the murder of Levi Jones, killed by Native Americans lying in ambush near what is now the corner of Fourth and Diamond Streets. Salathiel’s brother, Andrew, also an attorney, was a poet; his sister, Sarah’s son, Mansfield Hedges Gilkinson, was the first pioneer child born in what is now Mansfield.
A 2014 Mansfield News Journal story, which can be read here, references an occurrence when Salatheil, at the encouragement of his brother, assisted in an experiment whereby his nine year old daughter was tested for “animal magnetism.”
Coffinberry was described as a musician, painter, and poet, and by all accounts had a colorful life. He was also a soldier, serving with the rank of “Brigadier General” in skirmishes along the Canadian border in the 1830s. A Coffinberry family narrative credits him this way, “Many of his productions in both prose and poetry are of a high order of merit. After attaining to years of manhood he acquired a thorough knowledge of the French and German language (sic). His scholarly attainments, together with the great natural versatility of his mind conferred on him powers of conversation that were remarkably rare and fascinating.”
Several of Salathiel Coffinberry’s poems survive. One begins as follows:
ECHO
THOU distant tone dying,
Ah! What canst thou be?
Say, whither aren’t flying
O’er woodland and lea?
Thou sylph of the fountain,
Thou voice of the tree,
Thou nymph of the mountain,
Thou mock of the sea.
Thou art but a shadow
Of music and song,
As o’er the green meadow,
Midst flowerets and odors, thou gamblest along.
Coffinberry ended up as Grand Master for the Masonic Lodge in the state of Michigan, with several of his speeches now in university archives there. He also ran unsuccessfully for Governor. Although dying in Michigan, he is buried in the famous Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, near to where Lincoln gave his famous address.
Sources: Wikipedia; Find-a-Grave; Genealogy of the Coffinberry Family by Beatrice Berman Scott
