Yorkshire Revolutionary War Veteran
Yorkshire Revolutionary War Veteran
Bishop Coston (1759-1847)
Bishop was the 2nd of nine children born to Ebenezer
Coston (b.abt.
1737 d.1820) and Elizabeth Goffe (b.1739-d.aft.1820). He was born in
1759 at
Francestown, Hillsborough, NH. His occupation was that of a farmer and
a sawyer.
Bishop Coston enlisted in the Revolutionary War on April 7, 1777 at
Wilton, NH and re-enlisted on July 6, 1780. Most notably he served with
the New
Hampshire militia in the battle of Monmouth and the capture of General
Burgoyne. He was discharged at West Point, NY on October 9, 1780.
Bishop Coston married Elizabeth Pelkim (b.1766-d.1843). They had one
son and five daughters. Two of Bishop and Elizabeth’s daughters (Sally
and
Esther) married Silliman brothers (Samuel Silliman m. Sally and Ransom
Silliman
m. Esther).
Bishop worked in and around Francestown, NH as a highway surveyor in
1793. He later moved to Herkimer, NY, where he was listed in the 1810
census. In
1816 Bishop and Elizabeth moved to Yorkshire, Cattaraugus County, NY
and
purchased 33 acres of land from the Holland Land Company.
On October 9, 1818, Bishop Coston was granted a Revolutionary War
pension of $8 a month.
Bishop died in 1847, under falling timbers, while helping to build a
highway bridge in Pennsylvania.
Bishop and Elizabeth Coston are both buried in the older section of the
cemetery at Yorkshire, NY.
Submitted by:
Donald Phillips Bond
(g.g.g.grandson of Bishop and Elizabeth Coston)