Coit, Thomas Winthrop

(June 28, 1803-June 21, 1885). Biblical scholar, liturgics scholar, student of church history, and educator. He was born in New London, Connecticut. Coit graduated from Yale College in 1821. He studied at Andover Theological Seminary, 1823-1824, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1824-1825. His studies led him away from the Congregational Church and into the Episcopal Church. He was ordained deacon on June 7, 1826, and priest on Nov. 15, 1827. Coit was rector of St. Peter's Church, Salem, Massachusetts, until 1829, and rector of Christ Church, Cambridge, until 1835. From 1835 until 1837, he was president of Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, and from 1839 until 1854, he was professor of church history at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. He was rector of St. Paul's Church, Troy, New York, 1854-1872, and professor of church history at the Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Connecticut, from 1872 until his death. Coit was a biblical scholar and a liturgics scholar, as well as a student of church history. He left his library of 14,000 volumes to the Berkeley Divinity School. Coit died in Middletown, Connecticut.