Charles Edward Coffin (July 18, 1841 – May 24, 1912), was an American industrialist and Republican politician who moved to Maryland during the American Civil War to operate ironworks near the national capital, and later served in both houses of the Maryland legislature as well as the United States House of Representatives.

[1] Charles Edward Coffin was born on July 18, 1841 in Boston, Massachusetts,[2][3] descended from numerous long-settled elite New England families.

[2] In 1863, during the American Civil War, federal authorities hired Coffin's ironworks in Muirkirk, Prince George's County, Maryland to ensure they did not fall into Confederate hands.

The Muirkirk Foundry Company manufactured pig iron and later upgraded to blast furnaces.

In 1894, voters from Maryland's 5th congressional district elected Coffin as a Republican to the Fifty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Democrat Barnes Compton.