Elias was born in New London on May 25, 1789. He was the son of Samuel (6/17/1761 – 5/22/1845) and Silvia Lewis (died on April 18, 1851) Coit. According to a family history, Elias was a descendant of John Coit, one of the early settlers of Salem MA. Elias’s father built and caulked ships. Elias married Phoebe Brown on November 12, 1812. Records show several children, not all of whom could not be verified: Elias (born 9/1/1813), Marion (died at two months in 1814), James (1815 – 1902), William, Andrew (1821–1895), Richard, and Augustus. William, a seaman, died on Lake Erie aboard the schooner HAVRE on October 10, 1837 at age 19 (Connecticut Gazette, 10/11/1837). Census records for 1820 and 1830 show the family living in New London. The 1840 census shows the family (two adults and two children aged between 15 and 20) living in Greenfield, Huron County, OH. The Connecticut Gazette in 1835 contains several For Sale notices for the home of Elias in New London, noting possession available October 1 of that year, presumably near the date of the move to Ohio. What prompted the move to Ohio unknown. Elias died in Greenfield on August 19, 1846 at age 57 and is buried in the Steuben Cemetery in Steuben OH. His gravestone can be seen in Find A Grave. Phoebe died in 1864.
Elias served as master on four (or possibly six) voyages of four (or possibly five) ships with their home port in New London:
JONES (AS1723): (ship, 336 tons, length 98’, altered to a bark in 1839, broken up in 1842). It sailed on June 14, 1822 to Brazil waters, returned on March 24, 1823. Thomas W. Williams was the agent. AV07289.
NEPTUNE (AS2032): (ship, 285 tons, length 94’, built in New Bedford MA in 1809, altered to a bark in 1850, withdrawn in 1857 and broken up in Hawaii). It sailed on June 7, 1824 to Brazil waters, returned in 1825. Thomas W. Williams was the agent. AV10358.
FLORA (AS 1369): (ship, 338 tons, length 103’, built in 1811). Records are inconsistent as to where it was built: AOWV records FLORA as built in Mystic CT; the Connecticut Ship Database shows Groton CT (part of Mystic is in the town of Groton); Peterson’s Mystic Built does not include FLORA in its list of ships built in Mystic. It sailed on June 16, 1828 to Brazil waters, returned on June 8, 1829. N. & W.W. Billings was the agent. AV04957.
JASON (AS1690): (ship, 335 tons, length 98’, built in Kittery ME in 1819). It sailed on June 13, 1832 for the Pacific, returned on May 31, 1835). Starbuck does not record this voyage. E.M. French was the agent. AV07400.
Elias also served as master of PIZARRO (AS2198): (brig, built in Glastonbury CT in 1817, originally 212 tons, length 88’, rebuilt to 262 tons and remeasured in 1819). Records vary as to its home port: AOWV records Hartford CT as home port for the four voyages it made; Connecticut Ship Database records Middletown CT as home port, but at some point, the records of Hartford and Middletown were combined; Starbuck and Colby show New London as its home port. Elias was master of PIZZARO’s 1820-1821 and 1821-1822 voyages to Brazil waters, after it had been rebuilt and remeasured.
New London Crew List shows Elias as master of three ships sailing in the 1825-1826 period but none of the three could be verified: MARY ANN, REAPER (AS2265), and BETSEY DOLE. No record was found that he served on the crew on any voyages.
Elias was issued Seamen Protection Certificate #4355 in New London on August 5, 1807 at age 18.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text. For the referenced family history, see “The Coit Family; or the Descendants of John Coit”, found in Ancestry.com under the name of Elias.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
January 2025