April 29, 2022 Coats Museum News
The monthly page on the 1990 calendar had been flipped to February when the Feb. 6, 1990 edition of the Daily Record shared that our Gail Denning, the widow of Jerry Denning, had been named the postmistress of Autryville Post Office. Gail’s son-in-law along with many of his Marine cadets came and placed dozens of U.S. flags on our museum Heritage Square for Memorial Day. Gail’s amazing collection of dolls is also on exhibit in our museum.
Wonder how many pieces of mail went through that post office each day? The history of post offices in our area is fascinating. The mail in our early history was brought to the post offices which were located in a residence of a local citizen. For example, the Troyville post office was located in the house of Joseph Ary Stewart. The mail was delivered by stagecoach and the receivers of the mail had to either walk, ride a wagon, buggy or some other means of travel to pick up their mail. Some years, the NC Business Directories shared which people in the community received the most mail.
The Business Directory also listed our local post offices. Our area had post offices in Barclaysville, Turlington, Stewart’s Academy at the now Bailey’s Crossroads area, and of course, Troyville. It would be only after the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad came through Troyville that a region developed by James Thomas Coats would be the site of the train depot and would deliver the mail to a post office manned by Andrew Coats, son of James Thomas Coats. How many post office buildings still exist in Coats and do you have any idea what the volume of the mail is today that goes through the Coats Post Office?
Today some people state that they are from a particular area determined by their mailing address. Individuals who attended Coats High School have been heard to say they are from Benson, Angier and even Dunn. In my case that could become quite confusing because the address over the years has changed from Benson to Angier and now Coats; however, our neighbors less than a mile up on our Johnson Road receive their mail from Angier. Doesn’t really bother me since all we have to do to get our daily mail and paper is walk out to the road and gather it from a little mailbox and should we still use “snail mail” we simply must remember to put stamps on mail and put the little red flag in up position. That’s a big improvement over hitching up the mule to the wagon or buggy.
Many of you may remember reading about Larue (Doan) Coats. Dawn graduated from Coats High School in 1966. After graduation from college Doan taught English at South Johnston High School. In 1990, Doan was now known as Dr. Larue Coats and she was one of the four UNC employees who received special recognition by the university in honor of being nominated for the Governor’s Award for Excellence for Outstanding Contribution to the people and state of North Carolina. Dr. Coats designed, implemented, and evaluated a nursing recruitment package that was distributed throughout schools and libraries in NC. Dr. Coats was the daughter of Edna Coats and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gartha Hayes (Daily Record Feb. 7, 1990).
It seems everyone has a story to tell about the Powell Garage which operated on McKinley Street for many years. Formerly it was owned by Amos and Elvis Powell and then Elvis’s two sons-Graymon and Tyrus and finally by only Graymon. However, in the Feb. 8, 1990 Daily Record, the readers were informed that Mr. and Mrs. Graymon Powell were grandparents of a new grandson, Tom Banum Powell. He was the son of Van and nephew of our Marc Powell. The baby had arrived at the NC Memorial Hospital.
Weekly Business Focuses of the Week surely kept the CACC busy researching the history of each focus; however, this week’s news was that it had held its annual banquet on Friday, February 9th. Earl Jones was chosen at the Man of the Year; Hilda Pope was voted the Woman of the Year and Jeff Turlington was chosen the Farmer of the Year. C.J. Johnson, CACC president introduced the officers for the next year who were Judy Turlington (vice president), Glenda Denton (secretary), Tim Brown (treasurer), Randy Rambeau (past-president) , Dana Holmes (executive secretary)and M.O. Phillips (ex-officio). Mr. Phillips presented a slide presentation, parading the area merchants (Daily Record Feb. 12, 1990).
Wonder where those slides are today?
Dog owners in Coats had to be aware because James Holder was hired part-time dog catcher to enforce the dog ordinance. Stray dogs would be picked up. Fees could cost the owners quite a sum of money if the dogs were not contained.
The CACC was the setting for the Coats Woman’s Club to recognize several of its members. Mary Denning was named the Woman’s Club Woman of the Year. Club President Laura Langdon presented Mary the award. Also recognized by the club was the Greg Stevens Family as the Family of the Year.
The chamber also honored M.O. Phillips and Hoover Adams of the Daily Record for their support of the CACC. Earl Jones served as Master of Ceremonies of the 6th annual banquet. Elsewhere it was printed in that same Feb. 14 edition of the paper that Mrs. Florrie P. Dixon had expired. Her surviving son was Ed Dixon of Coats. The edition also wrote that Kim Ennis was a member of the Cape Fear Christian Academy Homecoming Court. She was daughter of Daywood and Becky Page Ennis and granddaughter of Mrs. Wynona Ennis.
Evelyn “Teeny” Stewart Upchurch, a native of Coats, was chosen as the Homemaker of the Year by the Friendly Homemaker Club. “Teeny “definitely came from a public- focus family. Her dad was Malcolm C. Stewart who served the town with great integrity for many years as a member of the town board and as a respected merchant. He was also a veteran of WWI. Teeny’s son is Larry Upchurch who retired from the FBI and her niece is Paula Stewart who gave many years of her life to Harnett County government and retired as the Harnett County Manager. Teeny most definitely has set an excellent example for all of us to follow.
Another Coats area family had reason to feel excited and proud. Anita L Matthews, daughter of Max and Dorothy Matthews, Sr., had graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Biological Science and a minor in Genetics from NCSU. Wonder what Anita is doing today with that degree with all the modern technology available in the labs?
At one time the small town newspapers would print the names of those drawn to serve on jury duty. When researching for any information we could find on the Coats Grove area to write our Coats, NC Heritage book, the volunteer researchers were so excited to get the names listed in the juror summons. In this edition we discovered that Donald Matthews, Phillip Devon Charles, Charles McLeod, and Jeffrey Keith Denning were summoned to serve on the Civil Court jury for February 19th.
The monthly page on the 1990 calendar had been flipped to February when the Feb. 6, 1990 edition of the Daily Record shared that our Gail Denning, the widow of Jerry Denning, had been named the postmistress of Autryville Post Office. Gail’s son-in-law along with many of his Marine cadets came and placed dozens of U.S. flags on our museum Heritage Square for Memorial Day. Gail’s amazing collection of dolls is also on exhibit in our museum.
Wonder how many pieces of mail went through that post office each day? The history of post offices in our area is fascinating. The mail in our early history was brought to the post offices which were located in a residence of a local citizen. For example, the Troyville post office was located in the house of Joseph Ary Stewart. The mail was delivered by stagecoach and the receivers of the mail had to either walk, ride a wagon, buggy or some other means of travel to pick up their mail. Some years, the NC Business Directories shared which people in the community received the most mail.
The Business Directory also listed our local post offices. Our area had post offices in Barclaysville, Turlington, Stewart’s Academy at the now Bailey’s Crossroads area, and of course, Troyville. It would be only after the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad came through Troyville that a region developed by James Thomas Coats would be the site of the train depot and would deliver the mail to a post office manned by Andrew Coats, son of James Thomas Coats. How many post office buildings still exist in Coats and do you have any idea what the volume of the mail is today that goes through the Coats Post Office?
Today some people state that they are from a particular area determined by their mailing address. Individuals who attended Coats High School have been heard to say they are from Benson, Angier and even Dunn. In my case that could become quite confusing because the address over the years has changed from Benson to Angier and now Coats; however, our neighbors less than a mile up on our Johnson Road receive their mail from Angier. Doesn’t really bother me since all we have to do to get our daily mail and paper is walk out to the road and gather it from a little mailbox and should we still use “snail mail” we simply must remember to put stamps on mail and put the little red flag in up position. That’s a big improvement over hitching up the mule to the wagon or buggy.
Many of you may remember reading about Larue (Doan) Coats. Dawn graduated from Coats High School in 1966. After graduation from college Doan taught English at South Johnston High School. In 1990, Doan was now known as Dr. Larue Coats and she was one of the four UNC employees who received special recognition by the university in honor of being nominated for the Governor’s Award for Excellence for Outstanding Contribution to the people and state of North Carolina. Dr. Coats designed, implemented, and evaluated a nursing recruitment package that was distributed throughout schools and libraries in NC. Dr. Coats was the daughter of Edna Coats and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gartha Hayes (Daily Record Feb. 7, 1990).
It seems everyone has a story to tell about the Powell Garage which operated on McKinley Street for many years. Formerly it was owned by Amos and Elvis Powell and then Elvis’s two sons-Graymon and Tyrus and finally by only Graymon. However, in the Feb. 8, 1990 Daily Record, the readers were informed that Mr. and Mrs. Graymon Powell were grandparents of a new grandson, Tom Banum Powell. He was the son of Van and nephew of our Marc Powell. The baby had arrived at the NC Memorial Hospital.
Weekly Business Focuses of the Week surely kept the CACC busy researching the history of each focus; however, this week’s news was that it had held its annual banquet on Friday, February 9th. Earl Jones was chosen at the Man of the Year; Hilda Pope was voted the Woman of the Year and Jeff Turlington was chosen the Farmer of the Year. C.J. Johnson, CACC president introduced the officers for the next year who were Judy Turlington (vice president), Glenda Denton (secretary), Tim Brown (treasurer), Randy Rambeau (past-president) , Dana Holmes (executive secretary)and M.O. Phillips (ex-officio). Mr. Phillips presented a slide presentation, parading the area merchants (Daily Record Feb. 12, 1990).
Wonder where those slides are today?
Dog owners in Coats had to be aware because James Holder was hired part-time dog catcher to enforce the dog ordinance. Stray dogs would be picked up. Fees could cost the owners quite a sum of money if the dogs were not contained.
The CACC was the setting for the Coats Woman’s Club to recognize several of its members. Mary Denning was named the Woman’s Club Woman of the Year. Club President Laura Langdon presented Mary the award. Also recognized by the club was the Greg Stevens Family as the Family of the Year.
The chamber also honored M.O. Phillips and Hoover Adams of the Daily Record for their support of the CACC. Earl Jones served as Master of Ceremonies of the 6th annual banquet. Elsewhere it was printed in that same Feb. 14 edition of the paper that Mrs. Florrie P. Dixon had expired. Her surviving son was Ed Dixon of Coats. The edition also wrote that Kim Ennis was a member of the Cape Fear Christian Academy Homecoming Court. She was daughter of Daywood and Becky Page Ennis and granddaughter of Mrs. Wynona Ennis.
Evelyn “Teeny” Stewart Upchurch, a native of Coats, was chosen as the Homemaker of the Year by the Friendly Homemaker Club. “Teeny “definitely came from a public- focus family. Her dad was Malcolm C. Stewart who served the town with great integrity for many years as a member of the town board and as a respected merchant. He was also a veteran of WWI. Teeny’s son is Larry Upchurch who retired from the FBI and her niece is Paula Stewart who gave many years of her life to Harnett County government and retired as the Harnett County Manager. Teeny most definitely has set an excellent example for all of us to follow.
Another Coats area family had reason to feel excited and proud. Anita L Matthews, daughter of Max and Dorothy Matthews, Sr., had graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Biological Science and a minor in Genetics from NCSU. Wonder what Anita is doing today with that degree with all the modern technology available in the labs?
At one time the small town newspapers would print the names of those drawn to serve on jury duty. When researching for any information we could find on the Coats Grove area to write our Coats, NC Heritage book, the volunteer researchers were so excited to get the names listed in the juror summons. In this edition we discovered that Donald Matthews, Phillip Devon Charles, Charles McLeod, and Jeffrey Keith Denning were summoned to serve on the Civil Court jury for February 19th.