A retired farmer and merchant of West Milton, years of activity in business well entitle Mr. Coate to the rest which he is now enjoying. His has been an honorable and useful business career, and the comforts which he is now enjoying are the reward of well- directed labor. He has a wide acquaintance throughout Miami, his native county, his birth having occurred in Union township, on the 9th of July, 1823. His father, Henry Coate, was born in South Carolina, and in that state was reared and educated. He became a sickle maker and blacksmith, following the dual pursuit for a number of years. In 1803 he came to Miami county, Ohio, settling by Ludlow creek, where he conducted a smithy for a time, but through fear of the Indians the family wished to reside elsewhere and he removed to Waynesville, Warren county, where he lived for ten or twelve years. He then returned to his farm in Union township, and carried on agricultural pursuits in connection with blacksmithing until his death, which occurred. in 1848, when he was seventy-eight years of age. He was a very industrious and energetic man, who won success in his business ventures and was at one time the owner of two thousand acres of land. All that he had he acquired through his own labors, and his prosperity stood in exemplification of what may be accomplished through determined purpose, when guided by sound judgment. In his political affiliations he was a Whig and in his religious belief was a Quaker. His father, Marmaduke Coate, the fourth, was probably a native of England, or may have been born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the arrival of the family in the keystone state. He, too, was a member of the Society of Friends. He wedded Mary Coppic, a native of South Carolina. On the maternal side our subject also represents an old Pennsylvania family. His mother, who before her marriage was Rebecca Wilson, was born in the Keystone state and was married at Waynesville, Ohio, to Henry Coate. She, too, was a member of the Society of Friends and died at the age of thirty-five years.

David M. Coate, of this review, was only four years old at that time. He remained with his father on the home farm until he was married and went to a home of his own. It was in 1843 that this important event in his life occurred, at which time he took up his abode upon a farm one mile west of West Milton. The place was a tract of wild timber land, which his father had entered from the government, at a dollar and a quarter per acre. This Mr. Coate cleared and improved, continuing its cultivation until 1865, when be removed to Kokomo, Indiana, where he was engaged in merchandising for a few months. He then disposed of his interests there and purchased the store of Mr. Randall, in West Milton, being numbered among the enterprising merchants of this place until 1872, when he sold in order to enter upon the duties of county commissioner, to which office be had been elected. In all his business undertakings he had prospered, having that determined and enterprising spirit which enabled him to carry forward to successful completion whatever he undertook. He added to his farm from time to time until he now owns two hundred and seventy acres of valuable land, all under a high state of cultivation.

On the 20th of September, 1843, Mr. Coate was united in marriage to Miss Mary Teague, of Newton township, Miami county, who died October 2, 1894, in the faith of the Society of Friends, of which she was a consistent member. They had two children: John, a resident of West Milton, and Orrin, who is engaged in merchandising in this place. Mr. Coate is also a member of the Society of Friends, and his upright life has ever been consistent with his professions. In politics he has taken a deep and active interest, voting the Republican ticket and warmly advocating the principles of the party. He served as county commissioner for four years, was a member of the council of West Milton for a number of years and for some time served on the district school board, discharging his duties in a very prompt and commendable manner. His business affairs were ever energetically prosecuted, and all that he possesses has been acquired through his own efforts, having had no assistance save that his father gave him a tract of timber land. Work is the keynote of his prosperity, and it is the open sesame to success to all who care to use it.