Joseph Coolidge

Joseph Coolidge was born in Boston in a mercantile family. After he graduated at Harvard, he spent some time travelling in Europe. In 1824 he returned to the United States and married Thomas Jefferson's granddaughter Ellen Wayles Randolph. Coolidge became a prominent shipping merchant involved in trade with China. First he worked for the famous Russell and Co. Firm, and later for the Augustine Heard and Co., one of the largest firms operating in China.