Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3047died on the 25th of December, 1902, secure in the high regard of all who knewhim. Mrs. Emma (Sprigman) Coburn, the first wife of Capt. Moses D.Coburn, was summoned to the life eternal on the 10th of October, 1896, andshe is survived by three sons and four daughters, one of the sons, CharlesDonville Coburn, being a well known and talented Shakespearian actor. Mrs.Coburn was a granddaughter of Samuel Cowper, who was a native of Englandand a brother of William Cowper, -the renowned English poet of the earlypart of the nineteenth century. Mrs. Coburn was born at Springfield, Ohio,and was a daughter of Peter Augustus Sprigman, who was one of the founders and builders of that now thriving industrial city of the Buckeye State,he having been in an early day the owner of much of the land on whichthe city stands. Peter A. Sprigman was a son of Peter Sprigman, a Germanbaron who was a great admirer of Gen. George Washington and an implacableadversary of England, so that when the American Revolution was precipitated he left his native land and came to America to serve in defense of thecause of the struggling colonies. He was at the time a lad of but fourteenyears, but he found requisition for his services in the capacity of drummerboy in the ranks of the Continental troops, the remainder of his life havingbeen passed in the United States. For his second wife Capt. Moses D.Coburn wedded Mrs. Maria J. Dearing, who survived him by about two years,no children having been born of this union.To the public schools of Savannah William S. Coburn is indebted for hisearly educational discipline and he was a young married man of twenty-sixyears when he began the work of preparing himself for the legal profession.In his native city he read law under the effective preceptorship of Hon. WalterP. LaRoche, and he was admitted to the bar on the 24th of March, 1899.Thereafter he was engaged in the general practice of his profession in Savannah until 1906, when impaired health caused him to temporarily withdrawfrom the exacting work of his profession and he went to North Carolina, wherelater he became a representative of the legal department of the Seaboard AirLine Railroad, this incumbency resulting in his removal to Atlanta in 1907.He continued his effective services with the railroad company until March 1,1912, when he resigned his position to resume the general practice of law.In Atlanta he soon gained a successful practice, and on January 1, 1914,became associated with Thomas B. Pelder, as junior member of Pelder &Coburn. This relationship was dissolved and Mr. Coburn is continuing alone,with offices in the Equitable Building.Soon after resuming the practice of law in Atlanta Mr. Coburn becamethe advocate of the cause of the labor unions in their legal contests underthe provisions of the Federal employers' liability and workman's compensation act. After a vigorous contest which continued during virtually anentire year Mr. Coburn succeeded in winning a signal victory for the laborunions throughout the United States, and he is at the present time attorneyfor the various local unions in Atlanta. Mr. Coburn accords unwaveringallegiance to the democratic party but has insistently declined appointmentto or nomination for political office. At the time of the Spanish-AmericanWar he enlisted in a Georgia regiment of infantry, which was duly musteredinto the United States service but which was not called to the stage of activefighting. He has since continued his interest in military affairs, and is nowcaptain of Company M of the Fifth Georgia Regiment, and in June, 1915,received appointment as aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Nat E. Harris. On June 20, 1916, he answered the call of President Wilson for theNational Guard when it was feared a war with Mexico was inevitable, andserved with his regiment, the Fifth Infantry, National Guard of Georgia, ascaptain of Company M on the Mexican border until mustered out of theUnited States service. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Inde-