Cpl Michael Coen
Corporal Michael P. Coen was born in Ireland in 1843, son of Michael and Catherine (McCaffrey) Coen and moved to Waterbury with his parents in 1849 where he was educated. When Fort Sumpter was fired upon, a meeting of young men was called in the basement of Immaculate Conception Church and a company was formed. They were assigned to the Ninth where Cpl Coen was the youngest in Company F. His father died as a member of the 20th Conn Regiment and an elder brother, a former teacher at Mount Rath, Queen's County (OFFALY) Ireland, and also in the Ninth was killed in a railway accident on the New Orleans & Jackson Railroad on May 27, 1863. When Cpl Coen returned to Waterbury, he became active in the Fenian Movement, being the chief mustering officer of Connecticut. Waterbury became an important part in furnishing men and money for the Invasion of Canada. He was one of four delegates who returned the captured Third Mississippi regiment flag in a New Orleans ceremony in 1885 and later served as a model for the soldier on the New Haven monument for the Ninth. In 1903 he was one of the most prominent residents and business men of Naugatuck, CT. His connection with the G.A.R. being an honorable one, he served as aide on the staff of Commander-in Chief Veasey and was a delegate from Connecticut to the National Encampment. He is the owner and manager of the Salem Spring Ice Company, and a portion of the borough and a street is named after him. He was married in1866 to Catherine Mulvey, and was an active member of St. Francis Church in Naugatuck, having purchased the location of the present Church and new cemetery. He died in 1910.
The Nov – Dec 2005 issue of the Naugatuck Valley Historical Society newsletter included an article by Sandra Clark honoring Michael Coen and his contributions including those to Naugatuck.