August 16, 2013 Coats Museum News
The students at Coats were beginning summer break but Mayor J.B. Williams had his schedule full. Beginning on May 29 and every Tuesday and Friday afternoon thereafter, Mayor Williams, a member of the county rationing board, was at the Town Hall to receive applications under the rationing program and to answer questions. The applicants had to have Rationing Book 1 (Harnett County News May 28, 1942).
A large group of young 4-H Club members attended a district meeting at White Lake. Coats youths who made the trip were Thurman Barefoot, Annie Louise Barnes, Wallace Reid Byrd, Samuel Dorman, Marcus Lee Langdon, Gaynelle Mitchell, Helen Joyce Parrish, Pearl Buffkin, Virginia Johnson, Myrtle John son, Laura Frances Sorrell, Mable Messer, and Clara Belle Sorrell.
Other happenings recorded in the news were that Thurman Ennis and Jonah Caudle were issued passenger recaps on May 25, 1942. Macy Stephenson had married Raeford Parrish on May 17, 1942. Madeline Denning, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.K. Denning, had graduated with honors from Atlantic Christian College. She had planned to teach in Angier (Harnett County News May 28, 1942).
Families around Coats were likely working the fields of tobacco, cotton, and corn. Oats and hay had probably been cut and fields replanted with soybeans. Young farm children were expected to help with hay harvesting as with other farm crops. In fact, terrible accidents sometimes brought death to youngsters due to farm accidents. One such case was that of Jessie Evelyn Avery. Young Avery died as a result of being thrown from a load of hay when the mule had spooked. She was the daughter of Z.L. Avery and was only 13 years of age.
Mothers and their daughters were likely canning the squash, beans, tomatoes, peaches and other farm foods grown in their gardens and orchards. Jams and jellies made from the strawberries and blackberries were likely stored in the pantry if they had been able to get the sugar. Recall that sugar was rationed. Had mothers saved up for preserving? I do know that James H. Lee of Coats was named as radio instructor at Scott Field, Illinois (Harnett County News June 11, 1942).
War was really impacting communities. Many clubs were stressing health issues such as hygiene and proper diet to keep the family healthy. A home nursing course was considered by Turlington Home Demonstration Club due to so many doctors and nurses being called away daily to aid the war effort. Some Bridge Clubs gave defense stamps for high scores (Harnett County News June 11, 1942).
Mrs. W.E. Nichols visited her daughter Mrs. Tommy Byrne in Newark, New Jersey. Remember you were asked earlier if sugar rationing had affected the farm wife’s preserving of jams and jellies. Now you have the answer. Yes, it did, but the farmer’s wife simply found another was to save the fruit crops. What do you think she did? She dried the fruits. Surely most of you have had stewed dried apples or peaches put into homemade rolled out pastry pockets and fried in lard or oil until they are crispy and golden brown. We call them apple jacks. Do you recall how the apples were dried? It was so simple?
Apples were picked from the trees and even apples that had fallen on the ground were used after cutting out the bad spots. The apples had been washed all so thoroughly before being peeled by hand. Children were taught early on how to peel an apple with a thin peeling. Then the apples were cut into slices about 1/8 inches thin. These thin slices were then placed on a clean sheet often made from white flour sacks sewn together. The sheet was placed either in the attic, on a tin roof of a low farm building or on a makeshift table in the back yard. Some farm wives actually placed them on a sheet inside of a hot tobacco barn. The whole purpose, regardless of where the apples were placed, was for most of the moisture to be dried from the fruit so that they could be used in the winter and spring for nibbling or cooking.
To make that happen, the housewife would have placed that thin layer of sliced apples on the sheet and allowed the heat or sun to do the rest. They were sometimes moved about during the day. There were drawbacks to drying them outside in the sun. First, there were those pesky flies and yellow jackets that loved the apple juices. Covering the apples with cheesecloth offered some protection from those pests. Second, once the apples were drying, they did not need to get wet. To prevent that from happening when a shower seemed likely to come to the farm, regardless of where the family was working on the farm, someone was given the command to go get the apples in before they were rained on.
Once the apples had completely dried, the apple chips were removed from the sheets and placed in pans and put into a very hot oven. Remember the flies! Enough said? The dried apples were removed from the oven, cooled and placed inside clean white sacks and hung in a dry place waiting to be cooked in water and sugar to make stewed apples to be used in apple jacks or other apple recipes that the farm wife might treat her family.
Wonder if folks in the towns dried fruits? I do know that Miss Lura Parrish, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Henry Parrish, had married Jimmie C. Wrenn of Roxboro. The groom was in the service of the U.S. Navy and the bride was the dental assistant of Dr. C. Garner Fuquay of Coats (Harnett County News June 18, 1942).
Kenneth Ennis visited the museum bearing the gift of a Campbell yearbook for 1929 belonging to his dad, Chester Ennis, who operated the Western Auto on Main Street for years. That was the time when Chester gave credit without requiring a credit card. Thank you, Kenneth. H.L. and I honored our moms- Maude Penny Sorrell and Alice Thornton Johnson, on their birthdays by giving contributions to the museum’s building fund. Thanks goes to Ann Lamm Beasley for her gift of artifacts from the T.O. Beasley Barber Shop. While at the museum, Ann gave memorial donations to honor Ronnie Byrd and Hilda Pope’s sister, Alease Williams Bowling of Maryland.
When Patsy and Stacy Avery were volunteer tour guides at the museum recently, they had visitors who drove from Charlotte to see the museum after visiting our website. I understand that the couple visit museums all around the country and the man is a writer. On Monday, the ECA ladies held their monthly meeting at the museum; and while they were meeting, two sisters from Houston, TX came to view the museum and check out some Ennis genealogy. Their NC cousins are Charles Ennis and Sue Penny of the Coats area and Larry Rose and Miriam Byrd of Raleigh who suggested that they visit us at the museum.
The students at Coats were beginning summer break but Mayor J.B. Williams had his schedule full. Beginning on May 29 and every Tuesday and Friday afternoon thereafter, Mayor Williams, a member of the county rationing board, was at the Town Hall to receive applications under the rationing program and to answer questions. The applicants had to have Rationing Book 1 (Harnett County News May 28, 1942).
A large group of young 4-H Club members attended a district meeting at White Lake. Coats youths who made the trip were Thurman Barefoot, Annie Louise Barnes, Wallace Reid Byrd, Samuel Dorman, Marcus Lee Langdon, Gaynelle Mitchell, Helen Joyce Parrish, Pearl Buffkin, Virginia Johnson, Myrtle John son, Laura Frances Sorrell, Mable Messer, and Clara Belle Sorrell.
Other happenings recorded in the news were that Thurman Ennis and Jonah Caudle were issued passenger recaps on May 25, 1942. Macy Stephenson had married Raeford Parrish on May 17, 1942. Madeline Denning, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.K. Denning, had graduated with honors from Atlantic Christian College. She had planned to teach in Angier (Harnett County News May 28, 1942).
Families around Coats were likely working the fields of tobacco, cotton, and corn. Oats and hay had probably been cut and fields replanted with soybeans. Young farm children were expected to help with hay harvesting as with other farm crops. In fact, terrible accidents sometimes brought death to youngsters due to farm accidents. One such case was that of Jessie Evelyn Avery. Young Avery died as a result of being thrown from a load of hay when the mule had spooked. She was the daughter of Z.L. Avery and was only 13 years of age.
Mothers and their daughters were likely canning the squash, beans, tomatoes, peaches and other farm foods grown in their gardens and orchards. Jams and jellies made from the strawberries and blackberries were likely stored in the pantry if they had been able to get the sugar. Recall that sugar was rationed. Had mothers saved up for preserving? I do know that James H. Lee of Coats was named as radio instructor at Scott Field, Illinois (Harnett County News June 11, 1942).
War was really impacting communities. Many clubs were stressing health issues such as hygiene and proper diet to keep the family healthy. A home nursing course was considered by Turlington Home Demonstration Club due to so many doctors and nurses being called away daily to aid the war effort. Some Bridge Clubs gave defense stamps for high scores (Harnett County News June 11, 1942).
Mrs. W.E. Nichols visited her daughter Mrs. Tommy Byrne in Newark, New Jersey. Remember you were asked earlier if sugar rationing had affected the farm wife’s preserving of jams and jellies. Now you have the answer. Yes, it did, but the farmer’s wife simply found another was to save the fruit crops. What do you think she did? She dried the fruits. Surely most of you have had stewed dried apples or peaches put into homemade rolled out pastry pockets and fried in lard or oil until they are crispy and golden brown. We call them apple jacks. Do you recall how the apples were dried? It was so simple?
Apples were picked from the trees and even apples that had fallen on the ground were used after cutting out the bad spots. The apples had been washed all so thoroughly before being peeled by hand. Children were taught early on how to peel an apple with a thin peeling. Then the apples were cut into slices about 1/8 inches thin. These thin slices were then placed on a clean sheet often made from white flour sacks sewn together. The sheet was placed either in the attic, on a tin roof of a low farm building or on a makeshift table in the back yard. Some farm wives actually placed them on a sheet inside of a hot tobacco barn. The whole purpose, regardless of where the apples were placed, was for most of the moisture to be dried from the fruit so that they could be used in the winter and spring for nibbling or cooking.
To make that happen, the housewife would have placed that thin layer of sliced apples on the sheet and allowed the heat or sun to do the rest. They were sometimes moved about during the day. There were drawbacks to drying them outside in the sun. First, there were those pesky flies and yellow jackets that loved the apple juices. Covering the apples with cheesecloth offered some protection from those pests. Second, once the apples were drying, they did not need to get wet. To prevent that from happening when a shower seemed likely to come to the farm, regardless of where the family was working on the farm, someone was given the command to go get the apples in before they were rained on.
Once the apples had completely dried, the apple chips were removed from the sheets and placed in pans and put into a very hot oven. Remember the flies! Enough said? The dried apples were removed from the oven, cooled and placed inside clean white sacks and hung in a dry place waiting to be cooked in water and sugar to make stewed apples to be used in apple jacks or other apple recipes that the farm wife might treat her family.
Wonder if folks in the towns dried fruits? I do know that Miss Lura Parrish, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Henry Parrish, had married Jimmie C. Wrenn of Roxboro. The groom was in the service of the U.S. Navy and the bride was the dental assistant of Dr. C. Garner Fuquay of Coats (Harnett County News June 18, 1942).
Kenneth Ennis visited the museum bearing the gift of a Campbell yearbook for 1929 belonging to his dad, Chester Ennis, who operated the Western Auto on Main Street for years. That was the time when Chester gave credit without requiring a credit card. Thank you, Kenneth. H.L. and I honored our moms- Maude Penny Sorrell and Alice Thornton Johnson, on their birthdays by giving contributions to the museum’s building fund. Thanks goes to Ann Lamm Beasley for her gift of artifacts from the T.O. Beasley Barber Shop. While at the museum, Ann gave memorial donations to honor Ronnie Byrd and Hilda Pope’s sister, Alease Williams Bowling of Maryland.
When Patsy and Stacy Avery were volunteer tour guides at the museum recently, they had visitors who drove from Charlotte to see the museum after visiting our website. I understand that the couple visit museums all around the country and the man is a writer. On Monday, the ECA ladies held their monthly meeting at the museum; and while they were meeting, two sisters from Houston, TX came to view the museum and check out some Ennis genealogy. Their NC cousins are Charles Ennis and Sue Penny of the Coats area and Larry Rose and Miriam Byrd of Raleigh who suggested that they visit us at the museum.