Artist and Illustrator, known as "Haskell" he lived but a few years in Charleston before moving to New York. He studied at the Corcoran Art School in Washington and under Paul Laurens of Paris who was considered one of the greatest teachers of art of his time. Haskell won his fame as a magazine illustrator and as a portrait painter of Ziegfeld show girls. Several of his portraits once hung in the office of Florence Zeigfeld and many of his paintings were reproduced and used as covers of the Saturday Evening Post, Redbook, McCall's, Pictorial Review, as well as many others. The Saturday Evening Post used his portraits for covers on thirty two occasions.
He first married Ida Breman who with her had three children. After she died he remarried Frances Starr an actress and after ten years of marriage she divorced him for non-support.
Coffin's avowed purpose was to draw correctly and to combine beautiful coloring with an easy technique. Much of his painting glorified the American girl, particularly the show girl. The St. Petersburg Times noted on April 18, 1932 of the arrival of Haskell Coffin, reporting he was known the world over for his paintings and portraits.
Near the end of his life he suffered from melancholia, a mood disorder and because of this he was hospitalized at St. Anthony's hospital in St. Petersburg from April 17, 1941 until on the day of his death when he leaped to his death from the third floor and was killed.
Reference
Find-a-Grave: findagrave.com
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The Washington Post
May 31, 1941Haskell Coffin, 63, formerly highly paid artist and resident of Washington, leaped to his death from the third floor of a St. Petersburg, Fla. hospital yesterday. He was under treatment for melancholia, the Associated Press said. His death was termed a suicide by the St. Petersburg coroner.
Coffin was born in Charleston, S.C., and moved to Washington with his parents as a child. He studied at the Corcoran School of Art.
Coffin was the former husband of Frances Starr, the actress, who appeared at the National Theater recently in "Claudia." She later married the late R. Golden Donalson, Washington banker.
Well known as an artist, Coffin had done many covers for such high priced magazines as Red Book and Cosmopolitan. His full name was William Haskell Coffin.
A sister, Mrs. Wallace A. Beatty, of Washington survives. Also surviving are three sons, Haskell and Martin, both of New York, and Amboy, of Atlanta Ga.; and a brother, Frank Trenholm Coffin of New York.
36855. Frances Haskell Porcher
Charleston Post & Courier
April 6, 2021BORN
January 6, 1930
DIED
April 4, 2021Frances Haskell Porcher was born on January 6, 1930, in Atlanta, GA, and spent most of her life there.
She was the daughter of Henry Francis and Septima Holmes Porcher.
She graduated from Garden Hills School and North Fulton High School, Atlanta, and from Randolph-Macon Women's College, Lynchburg, VA, with an AB degree; she received a MA degree in American History from the University of South Carolina. After graduating from college and spending a year in Germany, where she worked for the Department of the Army, she returned to Atlanta and served as the managing editor of the Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, before moving on to editorial positions in the Book Service of the National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, the University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, and the Centers for Disease Control, where she headed Editorial and Graphics Services Offices for 26 years, first in the Epidemiology Branch and then in the Center for Infectious Diseases.
After retiring from the CDC in 1989 she was an editor in the Global Programme on AIDS, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, for 2 years, before returning to Atlanta to take up freelance editing. She was a member of the Council of Science Editors, American Medical Writers Association, European Association of Science Editors, Phi Mu Fraternity, Junior League of Atlanta, Atlanta Town Committee of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Georgia, CDC chapter of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, and All Saints Episcopal Church. She was also a longtime member of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, South Carolina Historical Society, High Museum of Art, Atlanta Historical Society, and the Georgia Trust and National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 2010, Frances moved to Charleston. She enjoyed a busy life at Bishop Gadsden and even became the editor of their paper, The GAB, for a time.
She was predeceased by her sister, Mrs. V. Thomas Murray, the former Septima Holmes Porcher.
She is survived by a niece and her husband, and 3 children, Allison and Douglas McAdams and Mac, Seppie, and Rob (Kari) McAdams, of Mount Pleasant, SC; a nephew and his wife and 6 children, Vicky and V.T. (Chip) Murray, Jr., and Haskell (Katie), Andrew (Megan), Babington, Will (Anne), Anna (Alex Martin), and Sam Murray of Lookout Mountain, GA; and another nephew and his wife and 3 children, Jann and John Porcher (Jack) Murray, and Heyward, Courtney (Scott Arrington), and Susannah (Philip Runyon), of Mount Pleasant, SC; and 12 great-great-nieces and nephews.
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Montgomery Advertiser
July 18, 1920
Died on the morning of July sixteenth Mathilde Rhett Taber, wife of Edmund R. Taber and daughter of Benjamin S. Rhett, of Charleston, S.C.
State
December 27, 1914Albert Rhett Taber of Columbia, 55 years old, died in Charleston at the home of his sister, Mrs. Joseph Waring, at 8 o�clock Christmas morning and will be buried today at 12:30 at St. Matthew�s parish, Fort Motte.
Mr. Taber is survived by his wife, who before her marriage was Miss Rebecca Williams of Montgomery, three sons, two daughters, four sisters and two brothers. Mr. Taber also has half-brothers and half-sisters. His sons are Audley, Albert and Joseph Taber; his daughters are the Misses Katherine and Emma Taber. His sisters are Mrs. R. G. Murray of Columbia, Mrs. Joseph Waring of Charleston, Mrs. George Willard and Mrs. John Washington of Fort Motte. His brothers are William R. Taber of Birmingham and Albert R. Taber, Jr. of Fort Motte.