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On a little island off nantucket, on September 1, 1824, Peter Coffin was born to Peter and Charlotte (Moores) Coffin. He was well educated in the common and high schools of Nantucket. When he had arrived at the age of sixteen he went on the exciting trip of whaling and later took another trip of the same character, and in company with one of the captains he made the journey around the world. In 1849, in company with thirty others, he started for San Francisco, landing there in good time, having made the trip by water. He soon went to the mines in Trinity county and afterwards returned to the city and entered in company with Cook, Folger & Company, in the oil and camphine business. The firm failed and he lost about seven thousand dollars of his hard-earned capital. Not to be daunted, he returned to the mines again, and in 1852, or about at that date, he went to Yam Hill county, Oregon, took up land and engaged in farming for about eight years. From this he went into the mercantile world, operating at Dayton, Oregon, in company with John G. Thompson & Company. In 1862 this firm went out of business, and he lost every dollar. With his blankets on his back he demonstrated the pluck with which he was made up by coming to eastern Oregon, settling in the Grande Ronde valley and starting again in the world of business. He first took up land and engaged in farming and stock raising. Success attended his efforts from the start, owing to his industry and thrift and keen foresight and practical judgment. His holdings in realty grew rapidly until he owned several thousand acres of good land in this vicinity and he was prominent in the circles of business and activity of the county and adjacent country. Mr. Coffin has the distinction of bringing the first kittens to the county, importing them from Walla Walla and he was offered twenty-five dollars for one. In 1889 Mr. Coffin retired from the greater activities of life and has lived quietly since in the residence that he owns in Union.

On March 12, 1874, Mr. Coffin and Mrs. Francis Purciel were married. Mrs. Coffin is a native of Kentucky, was raised in Illinois, and came to this county in 1871. They have one child, Edgar Coffin, who is at home. Mrs. Coffin also has one child by her first husband, and she is the wife of George Burd, a mining man of Spokane. Mr. Coffin has never been a political aspirant, but takes the interest that every good citizen deems his duty in the government of the country. He is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church and is a devout disciple of his faith. Fifteen years since Mr. Coffin had the great misfortune to become blind in one of his eyes, and ten years ago the other eye also became totally blind, thus rendering him absolutely blind in the declining years of his life. But it is greatly to his credit that notwithstanding this appalling calamity, which is sufficient to break the spirit of the ordinary man, still he has throughout it all shown the same self-reliance and courage that has inspired him in the arduous and sometimes rugged journey of life hitherto. And now in the comfort of the faith of the scripture, and the Savior there set forth, he is passing the golden years of life, which, though bereft of some joys, are correspondingly rich in the fruits of meditation and in the sweet exemplification of those choice virtues of patience and resignation to the will of God.