The Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Representative Men of Chicago, Milwaukee and the World's Columbian Exposition

              BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
369
freely made by the pro-slavery element under protection of the infamous " Fugitive-Slave Law." This service continued from his ninth to his four¬ teenth year. Joshua R. Giddings and Benjamin F. Wade, both of abolition fame, were residents of the same county, and in the same circle of friends. If is therefore not surprising that young Coe took delight in visiting them, and naturally derived much patriotic inspiration therefrom.
When about eighteen years old he decided to seek a wider field for his energies, and eventually settled in Chicago in 1853. In February, 1854, he entered into the coal business, under the firm name of T. R. Clarke and Co., the firm consisting of Thos. R. Clarke, Benjamin Carpenter and Albert L. Coe. Three years later Mr. Clarke retired, and the firm name was then changed to that of Coe & Carpenter, which firm was con¬ tinued until the beginning of the War of the Rebellion.
In September, 1861, Mr. Coe, aroused by that patriotism which has characterized even his early boyhood, enlisted in the Fifty-first Illinois Infantry (raised in Chicago) as a private, serving over four years, or during the war. But before leaving camp he was commissioned second lieutenant, serving most of the time with the Army of the Cumber¬ land. He was under Generals Pope, Rosecrans, Sheridan, Thomas, Grant and Sherman, and did detachment service at the headquarters of the First Brigade, Fourteenth Army Corps, and also of the second division of the Fourteenth Army Corps; participated in the capture of Island No. 10, was at Pittsburg Landing, the Siege of Corinth, the campaigns from Nashville to Chatta¬ nooga, battle of Mission Ridge, taking part in the Atlanta campaign, and was one of those who marched with Sherman to the sea; also on the march from Savannah, through the Carolinas, to Washington, and was in the grand review at the close of the war. He received a captain's com¬ mission, but was never regularly mustered in that rank owing to the continued active operations in the field of the 14th Corps. He was mustered out of service in November, 1865, at Springfield, Illinois. Subsequently he became a member of and helped to organize the Illinois National Guards, and from 1875 to 1880 served as major and quartermaster on Gen. A. C. Ducat's staff, and was on duty during the riots in this city in 1877.
Upon returning to civil life Mr. Coe decided to engage in the real estate business. He had previously, and while in the coal business, become considerably interested in real estate matters, having received numerous commissions to execute in real estate from friends in the East. In Jan¬ uary, 1868, he formed a partnership with Mr. A. B. Mead, under the firm name of Mead & Coe, which firm continues one of the most enterprising and best known, and one of the oldest firms engaged in the business in Chicago. They pos¬ sess an extensive clientage, and, in fact, do an amount of business equaled by few firms.
He was married in March, 1864, to Miss Char¬ lotte E. Woodward, a daughter of Joseph Wood¬ ward, a prominent merchant of Mansfield, Con¬ necticut.
One of the organizers of the Union League Club, he has been one of its most active and efficient members, serving as director or officer for a number of years, and previous to 1891 he was its vice-president for three years. A member of the Loyal Legion and George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., he is also an active member of the Citizens' League, and has been a director of the Auditorium Association since the first year of its establishment. He has been for five years treasurer of the City Missionary Society, and is still a member of its directorate. He is presi¬ dent and one of the incorporators of the Royal Trust Company, one of the substantial financial institutions of Chicago. He has also been for a number of years a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association of Chicago, and at the last election was elected vice-president of its Board of Trustees.
In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of the New England Congregational Church, hav¬ ing been identified with it since the first month of its organization, and has attended same since
July, 1853.
Personally, Mr. Coe is of medium height and of commanding address, extremely genial and affable in manner. He is of a generous disposi¬ tion and very popular. It would, perhaps, be difficult to name anyone who has a more just claim to the honor of being considered one of Chicago's representative business men than Albert Lyman Coe, for he has always been identified with the best interests of the city, and has always