Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 848
GEORGE W. COIT, M.D.

One of the earliest settlers in Missouri Valley, Iowa, is George W. COIT, M.D. who has been enegaged n the practice of his profession in this city since the fall of 1866. Not only as a physician, has he been prominent in the history of the city, but as a public-spirited citizen, as well. He comes from distinguished ancestry and such has been his career that it has but reflected luster on an honorable family name. He is a man of high intellectual attainments, commanding personality, and has been a familiar figure in the history of Missouri Valley and Harrison County for more than half a century.

George W. COIT, M.D., the son of Nathaniel and Mariam (PLACE) COIT, was born December 9, 1837, in Bloomfield, New Jersey. The COITs trace their ancestry in what is now the United States back to 1632, when John COIT of Glamorganshire, Wales, emigrated to Gloucester, Massachusetts. His son, John Jr., eventually located with a colony from Massachusetts, at New London, Connecticut, where the family lived for many years. They became ship builders and the members of the family followed this occupation for several generations. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Doctor COIT's Grandfather, Samuel COIT, who was then eighteen years of age, joined the Continental Army. He was wounded at Fort Griswold, in Connecticut, the surrender of which fort resulted from the treachery of Benedict Arnold. The paternal grandmother of Doctor COIT, who was then only sixteen years old, fled with the remainder of her family to the woods while the town was burned by the British. Her name was Sylvia Lewis.

Nathaniel COIT, the father of Doctor COIT, was twenty-seven years old when the War of 1812 broke out, and he served during that War in a New York regiment. He tried to enlist for service during the Civil War, but was refused on account of his age. He died in 1866, at the age of eighty years. Doctor COIT's mother's family, the Places, are of French ancestry, the first members of the family to come to America locating at Long Island, near Hempstead. Doctor COIT's Grandfather Place was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and a man of sterling character. Doctor COIT's father was a merchant in New York City for 35 years and was one of the first men to build a house in New Jersey. Nathaniel COIT and his wife, who died in 1876, were the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters, Rev. John S., who died in Boone, Iowa in 1867; Rev. C.S., who was an active minister in Newark, New Jersey for many years; Mrs. Sarah C. Winne, and E.R., who was a captain of a sea-going vessel for several years and later located in Harrison County, Iowa.

Doctor COIT was educated in the common schools of his home, in New Jersey, and later attended the seminary at Cazenovia, New York; Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, and the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati. During the rebellion, he spent two years as a surgeon, and in August 1865 returned to New York and spent the winter at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, graduating from that excellent institution in March 1866. He at once came to Missouri Valley, Iowa, where he has since made his home.

Doctor COIT was one of the pioneer practitioners of the county, and during his younger years was often compelled to cross trackless prairies, faced the winter blizzards, forded the swollen streams, and traveled the muddy roads throughout the county. He was elected one of the vice-presidents of the National Railway Surgeons at Buffalo, New York, in 1891 and served when the association met at Fortress Monroe, the following year. He was chosen president of the Iowa State Railway Surgeons Association at Des Moines, Iowa, in 1894 and served as President at the Marshalltown meeting, in 1895. He was elected second vice president of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Surgeons in 1909, and the following year was elected first vice president. He was elected President of this association in 1911. After having served as Chief surgeon of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railway for over 25 years, he resigned on July 1, 1912.

Doctor COIT has been a life-long Democrat and has taken an active part in the civic life of his community. He was president of the school board for almost 20 years and took an active interest in the educational welfare of the city. He was president of the Missouri Valley Electric Light Company for a number of years.

Doctor COIT was married on April 23, 1867, to Anna Armstrong CLARKE, at Hudson City, New Jersey. She was born in Wheeling, West Virginia and her father, John F. Clarke, was a descendant of Elizabeth Zane, who carried the powder in her apron to Fort Henry for her uncle, Colonel Zane, by this act saving the fort. Mrs. COIT's father was the New York agent for the Pennsylvania railroad for nearly 40 years, and died while in the employ of the company. Her mother died when Mrs. COIT was 14 years of age. Doctor COIT and his wife are the parents of two children, Nita and John Clarke. Nita, who was born April 14, 1868, was married to Herbert D. Allee of Omaha, Nebraska, October 14, 1891. Mr. Allee and his family now live in Detroit, Michigan, where he holds the responsible position of auditor of the Parke Davis Company, manufacturing chemists. John Clarke COIT was born June 22, 1872, and is now a member of the firm of Lee, COIT & Andreesen, wholesale hardware dealers of Omaha, Nebraska. He is general manager and secretary of the firm. Doctor COIT and his wife spend their winters in California. They are members of the Presbyterian Church and active in its welfare. The doctor has served as an elder in the church for more than 30 years.

Doctor COIT is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of the Nebraska Consistory No. 1, at Omaha, and the Tangier Temple of Shriners in the same city. He is one of the grand old men of Missouri Valley and is certainly entitled to inclusion among the representative men of the city and county.

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