Albert Merrill Coit (1880 - 1930)

Born 21 Oct 1880 in Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Eleanor Clinton (Babcock) Chandler — married 7 Jun 1913 in Chicago, IL

Descendants

Died 15 Dec 1930 at age 50 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

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Biography

Merrill was born in Grand Rapids, MI, the eldest of three boys. He was educated in Grand Rapids and worked during the summers on the road selling bonds to banks, a line of work that he continued with after graduation from college. He graduated from Yale in the School of Architecture or possible the School of Fine Arts. At some point he moved to Chicago where he joined a young set with whom he attended dances and theatre. While in Chicago he earned a good living and had himself in a good financial situation before he really set his sights on a wife. He met Eleanor in Chicago, but Mom does not know how they met. However, there is no question that Merrill was very, very much in love with him.

Merrill was nine years older than Eleanor and was therefore 33 when he married, a relatively late age for marriage. Eleanor was 24 years old and was quite a lively catch for Merrill, who was a rather staid investment banker.

Eleanor and Merrill originally lived in an apartment in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. They had an Irish maid who helped with the home at the beginning and upon Mom's birth became the nurse.

The nurse named Mom "Poochy" and when questioned about this she answered that "Sure and the isn't your pooch in which you keep your valuables?" Merrill was overjoyed at having a baby, something that shows in the pictures taken at the time.

Sometime during that time they moved to a house on Hampton Court and it was here that little Elly was born the next year during a very hot summer, and Celia 2 years later. It was also here that Mom's memories first start. It was there that Mom discovered the candy mice hidden on a high shelf in the bathroom. In a stroke of brilliance, she went into the bathroom, locked the door, and ate her find. After much hullaballoo, the Fire Department was called and "saved little Betty".

Just after little Elly's birst, but before Celia's, Merrill quit his employment because of what he belived to be dishonesty. It must have been difficult with a new family, but his moral and ethical standards really demanded this. About a year later he started work at the timberbond house, Baker Fentress. He specialized in timber bonds, and at his death at age 50 was the treasurer of Baker Fentress.

After 2 or 3 years at Hampton Court, Merrill bought the house at 453 Deming Place. It was about the time of this move that Dr. and Mrs. Babcock came to live with the family. The girls lived in a nursury on the third floor next door from the nursery, while the grandparents and parents had their rooms on the second floor, where there was also a very large library. The first floor had the formal living room, dining room, kitchen, and small back yard.

His avocation and love were all toward art and painting, undoubtedly an inheritance from his grandfather Daniel W. Coit. He always travelled with a sketchbook. When Eleanor and Merrill went on vacation he would paint and many of the works hung on the walls of the family home. At Green Lake Eleanor would accompany him on his painting, and while he painted she mended clothing. The only work that Merrill did that Mom still has is that of the head which is located over the Dutch Crate in Mom's present home at the Hearthstone. He was a member of the Paletine Chizel Club and collected art as was his wont. Each of Merrill's family had portrait painted.

After marriage Mom's parents belonged to the Tiptoppers Club, a dinner-dance club. He liked music and was a good dancer. It was a special treat for Mom when she was allowed to put dance music on the old Victrola in the living room and to watch her parent's dance. Merrill played the piano, although he couldn't read music.

Merrill was deeply religious and interested in different things religious. He attended and was treasurer for the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago (a social church), and Eleanor attended but with less enthusiasm. The girls attended Sunday School there and would join their parents when they arrived for the 11:00 service. (Mom remembers the excitement of counting the money collected during a service.) They had their own pew as was customary. His beliefs was strongly held and did not allow for much questioning. Although the Coit household had "help" they never considered that they had servants.

On one occiasion the girls and Merrill attended Gypsy Smith's Revival Meeting. After the meeting Gypsy Smith (from Cambridge, Eng.) was invited to the Coit's house for dinner. Later when Eleanor and the girls went to Europe after Merrill's death, they visited Gypsy Smith in Cambridge where despite being married he was extremely "attentive" to Eleanor Coit.

During the depression, when Mom was 15 years old and in high school at the University School for Girls, Merrill died suddenly of a heart attack. He had come home in the middle of the day feeling ill and went to take a bath. When something alerted the help to the fact that he had not gotten out of the bath, they went in search of him and found him dead. To Eleanor's later dismay, they called the Fire Department who came immediately.

Despite the fact that Dr. Babcock had died much earlier, Wraxall still worked for the family. Wraxall came to pick the girls up as usual, and Wraxall somberly turned to the three of them and told them that their daddy had died. From school Wraxall drover them to pick up their mother. It fell to Mom to tell her mother the sad news, and when she did, Eleanor turned to her daughters and immediately said "Oh you poor children." Eleanor had known that Merrill had angina, but not the children.