Joseph Coolidge (1773-1840)

He was born in Boston and in 1792 graduated from the Royal Military College of Sorèze in the South of France, after which he traveled extensively throughout Europe. He returned to Boston and eventually took over and successfully grew the already important importing business started by his father. In 1796, at King's Chapel, Boston, he married his second cousin, Elizabeth Bulfinch, sister of Charles Bulfinch, "America's first native-born architect". They had five children who reached adulthood.