American missionary to Hawaii, born in Killingworth, CT, on the 1st of February 1801; died in Hilo, HI, on the 1st of December 1882. He studied theology at Auburn, NY, and immediately after his graduation sailed from New York for the Straits of Magellan, August 16, 1833. He returned to New London, CT, in the following year, and, seven months later, sailed, with seven others, for the Hawaiian Islands, arriving at Hilo in the summer of 1835. Mr. Coan spent two years in the study of the language, in which he became a ready speaker, and the number of conversions under him from 1838 to 1840 was reported as more than seven thousand. He received, in all, up to 1882, over thirteen thousand into the Hilo and Puna churches. In 1870 he visited the United States, but after an 11 months’ stay returned to Hilo to renew his labors as a missionary. He published several works about his travels, notably his Adventures in Patagonia and Life in Hawaii.—His son, Titus Munson, an American, physician and journalist; born in Hilo, HI, on the 27th of September 1836; graduated at Williams College, MA, in 1859. He took up the study of medicine, and was a surgeon in the United States navy during the Civil War. From 1865 he was engaged in active practice and in literary pursuits in New York City. He gave much of his time to study, and published several valuable works; among them, Topics of the Time and Ounces of Prevention (1883). He was the editor of the Pronouncing Gazetteer of Webster’s International Dictionary. He died in 1921.
