Background
The son of Rhode Island President John Coggeshall, he was raised in the village of Castle Hedingham in northeastern Essex where his father was a merchant.
The son of Rhode Island President John Coggeshall, he was raised in the village of Castle Hedingham in northeastern Essex where his father was a merchant.
He was first active in civil affairs in 1653 when he became treasurer of the island towns of Portsmouth and Newport. The following year brought the re-unification of the colony, with the island towns rejoining the government with Providence and Warwick, and he served as treasurer of the four towns for a year. His name appears on a list of Newport freemen in 1655, and for the following 35 years he served almost continuously in one or multiple roles including Assistant, General Treasurer, Deputy, General Recorder, and Major for the Island.
He was one of ten Assistants named in the Royal Charter of 1663, which would become the basis for Rhode Island"s government for nearly two centuries.
In 1686 he became the Deputy Governor under Governor Walter Clarke, but his term lasted only a month when the English crown assigned Edmund Andros to be Governor of all the New England colonies under the Dominion of New England. Following the demise of this dominion and the arrest of Andros in 1689, Coggeshall was once again selected as Deputy Governor for the year ending in May 1690, serving under Governor Henry Bulletin.
In April 1676, during King Philip"s War, he was on a committee to procure boats for the colony"s defense. Coggeshall had 16 children with three different wives.
Elizabeth then married Thomas Gould, and Coggeshall was married later that year to Patience Throckmorton.
Coggeshall wrote a will in June 1708, and died on 1 October of that year.
Later that year, in August, he was a member of a court martial for the trial of several Indians.