Washington Coster (1811-1849)

He lived at No. 15 Laight Street, New York City, and was a partner in one of the city's leading mercantile firms. In 1864, Walter Barrett told: "What a gay boy was Wash Coster! He married a daughter of old Francis Depau and there were cart loads of gold on both sides of the house... Poor fellow, he was fond of good eating and good drinking, and he paid the penalty. He died on a sofa at Blançard's Globe Hotel in Broadway... Wash got no sleep for several days, and a celebrated Irish adventurer named John S. Nugent gave him a dose of morphine to make him sleep. It was successful, for poor Wash has not woke since, unless he made an unknown turn over in the grave". His wife, Stephania de Pau, was, "one of the loveliest girls that ever trod Broadway" and a grand-daughter of the famous Admiral, the Comte de Grasse. He left several children including Sylvia, who married his first cousin, Walter Louis Livingston.