December 10, 2021 Coats Museum News
For those readers who are knowledgeable of the history of the Coats Grove area know that there were areas once referred to on the NC Business Directory by Branson as Troyville, Barclaysville and Turlington. It was in northeastern Troyville that the Joel Denning, Sr. family lived. Their daughter Brazilla Denning had married Andrew Jackson Turlington, son of Willis Turlington. Willis had purchased 2300 acres of land from the Dushee Shaw heirs in 1839. Brazilla Denning and Andrew Jackson Turlington were parents of Nancy Isabella and Devereaux Turlington. (Yes, this is why the date 1839 in on the Turlington sign located at the four-way stop at Coats Erwin Middle School).
Andrew Jackson and Brazilla Turlington’s son Devereux Turlington would remain in the Turlington area where the Coats Erwin Middle School is located. Devereux’s sister Nancy Isabella would marry James Thomas Coats of the Pleasant Grove area of Johnston County. James Thomas Coats was the twin brother of William Benjamin Coats who remained in Johnston County. The twins’ parents were William Henry Coats, Jr. and Martha Elizabeth Smith Penny Coats. Martha had been a young widow with four Penny children-two of them being twins also.
James Thomas Coats married Nancy Isabella Turlington on December 4, 1873. At that time much of the land upon which the town of Coats is located was owned by a Daniel Shaw. Tom and Nancy Isabella Coats lived in Johnston County before Daniel Shaw died. At that time we know that the Denning family lived in Troyville because Isabella Coats’ brother, A.W. Denning, Jr., was paying taxes in Harnett County in 1874 to Sheriff K.M. McNeill.
How, when, and where Tom Coats and Nancy Isabella met is unknown to this writer. I do know that James Thomas Coats lived in Johnston County and Tom’s half- brother Henry H. Penny raised his family on Zack Mill Road in a house that still stands in fair condition in 2021. It is interesting to note that the Smithfield Herald mentioned James Thomas Coats and his farm crops after 1876.
I also know that deed records show that on January 6, 1875, James Thomas Coats purchased the Mary Ann Barnes property. It was Lot # 1 of the Daniel Shaw Division. It contained 160 acres and Coats paid $240 for it.
Coats also purchased 227 acres from B.F. Shaw, A.J. Shaw, A.H. Shaw, D.W. Shaw of Texas, John H. Shaw from Texas and Mary Ann Shaw, heirs of Daniel Shaw. The land joined the land of Joel Williams, Stephen Williams and others. James Thomas Coats paid $2, 081
On January 7, 1875, James Thomas Coats of Johnston County purchased 92 acres of land for $110 from H.A. Barnes and wife Jennettie. The land was on the west side of Black River. B.F. Shaw, son of Daniel Shaw, witnessed the January Jan. 14, 1875 examination of Jennettie Barnes by Neill S. Stewart and W.J. McStewart that she freely signed away the land for sale.
Reads like in earlier times a married woman could not sell her land without being examined to testify that she had had sold her land freely?
It was on March 1, 1876 that James Thomas Coats purchased from Benjamin Shaw and wife A.H. Shaw, Daniel W. Shaw, and John A. Shaw of Texas, Mary Ann Barnes, A.J. Byrd and wife Margaret Caroline Shaw Byrd 227 acres of the Daniel Shaw land on the state road and head of Long Branch for the amount of $1,020.50.
Can you total up the cost and acreage that James Thomas Coats purchased from the Daniel Shaw heirs?
That was not the only land that the Tom Coats family had. On December 31, 1887, Andrew Jackson Turlington and Brazilla Denning Turlington of Harnett County, N. C. gave to their daughter Nancy Isabella Coats of Harnett County, N.C. 2 tracts of land (1) 75 acres west side of Black River adjacent J.K. Stewart and (2) 35 acres Joseph Stone tract. Coats paid $1.00 for the land-seeming that the James Thomas Coats family owned a total 816 acres in 1887.
These purchases and the Turlington gift of land made James Thomas Coats one of the largest property owners in area. C.C. Barbee and C.S. Barbee of Barclaysville owned 2,000 acres; Daniel Stewart had 1,200 acres and his brother Eldridge Stewart had 1,000 acres in the Troyville area.
It might be of interest to note that the area was referred to as Grove Township since 1870.
Do you wonder what staples were raised on the acreage? Branson wrote in 1878 that cotton and naval stores were the main source of income because large tracts of land were unfit for farming but were valuable for naval stores.
In 1882, James Thomas Coats was ordained as an elder of the Primitive Baptist Church in Grove Township. The population of Harnett County was 10, 862. There were 3,770 colored and 7, 092 white residents. The real estate value of the county in 1882 was $572,016.00. Personal property had the value of $152,767.00. The assessed value of land per acre was $1.45. Note there are no million numbers!!
What is the assessed value of land in Grove Township in 2021? I do know that in the History of North Carolina, Vol. VI North Carolina Biography, Lewis Publishing Co., 1919, page 83, the staff writers shared that “Coats derives its name from the Coats family whose ancestral home is near the site of the present town-and whose head is that fine Christian old gentleman, Elder J.T. Coats, a prominent leader in the Primitive Baptist Church. Elder Coats conducted a store somewhere in the neighborhood several years after our old friend, the late John Angier decided to extend his rail line to Dunn and the area was known as Coats.”
It would be prior to 1903 that some strangers were hanging around Troyville surveying for that railroad from Angier to Dunn where it would link to the Durham and Southern. While the surveyors and builders of the Cape Fear and Northern Rail were laying rails the Coats store, they shopped in the Coats store.
On May 23, 1903 Elder Tom Coats and family donated land for the right of way and for a depot for the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad. After the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad Station was finished in July, Andrew D. Coats (son of Elder Tom Coats) became the first railroad station agent.
According to M.O. Phillips, the Durham and Southern Railroad (Cape Fear and Northern originally) was managed by Andrew Coats until 1911. Coats was also post master since the mail now arrived by train rather than by stagecoach. It would be around 1929 that a hard surfaced road would go through Coats.
After Andrew Coats left, he was replaced with W.E. Nichols and J.D. Pope. A.K. Gunter served as the railroad agent from 1932 to 1942 when his health forced him to retire. Mrs. Billie Keene and Rachel Barnes also served as agents according to M.O. Phillips.
Nelson Currin renovated the depot into an office for his business in construction and realty according to M.O. Phillips (Daily Record Nov. 16, 1988). The depot has had many tenants since 1988 and is currently used by Polar Bear Heating and Air.
Olin Stewart, 72, of near Norris’s Crossroads had died at his home. The retired farmer was the son of the late Bud and Lessie McLamb Stewart. His wife was Brazilla Stewart who survived him. His two daughters were Judy Lee and Norma Jean Barefoot. One son, Billy O. Stewart, also survived. His services were at the Hodges Chapel PFWB (Daily Record Nov. 21, 1988).
Good news came from Cape Fear Christian Academy where Meredith Kelly Stone and Edward Sevier were Morehead nominees. Miss Stone was president of the senior class, a Beta member, a marshal and Kelly was voted “Most Dependable” and “Most Likely to Succeed.” She was daughter of Ann Stewart Stone and granddaughter of Julia Stewart (Daily Record Nov. 23, 1988).
A special thank you goes to Marie Salmon who has given two amazing scrapbooks-one has pictures taken by Greg and Bethany Stevens of the entertainers at the Coats Reunion Project in 1985. The second scrapbook contains pictures of the Monkey Wedding performed by teachers at Coats High. These two books are just a small example of the history that Marie Salmon has helped preserve of the old Coats High School activities.
For those readers who are knowledgeable of the history of the Coats Grove area know that there were areas once referred to on the NC Business Directory by Branson as Troyville, Barclaysville and Turlington. It was in northeastern Troyville that the Joel Denning, Sr. family lived. Their daughter Brazilla Denning had married Andrew Jackson Turlington, son of Willis Turlington. Willis had purchased 2300 acres of land from the Dushee Shaw heirs in 1839. Brazilla Denning and Andrew Jackson Turlington were parents of Nancy Isabella and Devereaux Turlington. (Yes, this is why the date 1839 in on the Turlington sign located at the four-way stop at Coats Erwin Middle School).
Andrew Jackson and Brazilla Turlington’s son Devereux Turlington would remain in the Turlington area where the Coats Erwin Middle School is located. Devereux’s sister Nancy Isabella would marry James Thomas Coats of the Pleasant Grove area of Johnston County. James Thomas Coats was the twin brother of William Benjamin Coats who remained in Johnston County. The twins’ parents were William Henry Coats, Jr. and Martha Elizabeth Smith Penny Coats. Martha had been a young widow with four Penny children-two of them being twins also.
James Thomas Coats married Nancy Isabella Turlington on December 4, 1873. At that time much of the land upon which the town of Coats is located was owned by a Daniel Shaw. Tom and Nancy Isabella Coats lived in Johnston County before Daniel Shaw died. At that time we know that the Denning family lived in Troyville because Isabella Coats’ brother, A.W. Denning, Jr., was paying taxes in Harnett County in 1874 to Sheriff K.M. McNeill.
How, when, and where Tom Coats and Nancy Isabella met is unknown to this writer. I do know that James Thomas Coats lived in Johnston County and Tom’s half- brother Henry H. Penny raised his family on Zack Mill Road in a house that still stands in fair condition in 2021. It is interesting to note that the Smithfield Herald mentioned James Thomas Coats and his farm crops after 1876.
I also know that deed records show that on January 6, 1875, James Thomas Coats purchased the Mary Ann Barnes property. It was Lot # 1 of the Daniel Shaw Division. It contained 160 acres and Coats paid $240 for it.
Coats also purchased 227 acres from B.F. Shaw, A.J. Shaw, A.H. Shaw, D.W. Shaw of Texas, John H. Shaw from Texas and Mary Ann Shaw, heirs of Daniel Shaw. The land joined the land of Joel Williams, Stephen Williams and others. James Thomas Coats paid $2, 081
On January 7, 1875, James Thomas Coats of Johnston County purchased 92 acres of land for $110 from H.A. Barnes and wife Jennettie. The land was on the west side of Black River. B.F. Shaw, son of Daniel Shaw, witnessed the January Jan. 14, 1875 examination of Jennettie Barnes by Neill S. Stewart and W.J. McStewart that she freely signed away the land for sale.
Reads like in earlier times a married woman could not sell her land without being examined to testify that she had had sold her land freely?
It was on March 1, 1876 that James Thomas Coats purchased from Benjamin Shaw and wife A.H. Shaw, Daniel W. Shaw, and John A. Shaw of Texas, Mary Ann Barnes, A.J. Byrd and wife Margaret Caroline Shaw Byrd 227 acres of the Daniel Shaw land on the state road and head of Long Branch for the amount of $1,020.50.
Can you total up the cost and acreage that James Thomas Coats purchased from the Daniel Shaw heirs?
That was not the only land that the Tom Coats family had. On December 31, 1887, Andrew Jackson Turlington and Brazilla Denning Turlington of Harnett County, N. C. gave to their daughter Nancy Isabella Coats of Harnett County, N.C. 2 tracts of land (1) 75 acres west side of Black River adjacent J.K. Stewart and (2) 35 acres Joseph Stone tract. Coats paid $1.00 for the land-seeming that the James Thomas Coats family owned a total 816 acres in 1887.
These purchases and the Turlington gift of land made James Thomas Coats one of the largest property owners in area. C.C. Barbee and C.S. Barbee of Barclaysville owned 2,000 acres; Daniel Stewart had 1,200 acres and his brother Eldridge Stewart had 1,000 acres in the Troyville area.
It might be of interest to note that the area was referred to as Grove Township since 1870.
Do you wonder what staples were raised on the acreage? Branson wrote in 1878 that cotton and naval stores were the main source of income because large tracts of land were unfit for farming but were valuable for naval stores.
In 1882, James Thomas Coats was ordained as an elder of the Primitive Baptist Church in Grove Township. The population of Harnett County was 10, 862. There were 3,770 colored and 7, 092 white residents. The real estate value of the county in 1882 was $572,016.00. Personal property had the value of $152,767.00. The assessed value of land per acre was $1.45. Note there are no million numbers!!
What is the assessed value of land in Grove Township in 2021? I do know that in the History of North Carolina, Vol. VI North Carolina Biography, Lewis Publishing Co., 1919, page 83, the staff writers shared that “Coats derives its name from the Coats family whose ancestral home is near the site of the present town-and whose head is that fine Christian old gentleman, Elder J.T. Coats, a prominent leader in the Primitive Baptist Church. Elder Coats conducted a store somewhere in the neighborhood several years after our old friend, the late John Angier decided to extend his rail line to Dunn and the area was known as Coats.”
It would be prior to 1903 that some strangers were hanging around Troyville surveying for that railroad from Angier to Dunn where it would link to the Durham and Southern. While the surveyors and builders of the Cape Fear and Northern Rail were laying rails the Coats store, they shopped in the Coats store.
On May 23, 1903 Elder Tom Coats and family donated land for the right of way and for a depot for the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad. After the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad Station was finished in July, Andrew D. Coats (son of Elder Tom Coats) became the first railroad station agent.
According to M.O. Phillips, the Durham and Southern Railroad (Cape Fear and Northern originally) was managed by Andrew Coats until 1911. Coats was also post master since the mail now arrived by train rather than by stagecoach. It would be around 1929 that a hard surfaced road would go through Coats.
After Andrew Coats left, he was replaced with W.E. Nichols and J.D. Pope. A.K. Gunter served as the railroad agent from 1932 to 1942 when his health forced him to retire. Mrs. Billie Keene and Rachel Barnes also served as agents according to M.O. Phillips.
Nelson Currin renovated the depot into an office for his business in construction and realty according to M.O. Phillips (Daily Record Nov. 16, 1988). The depot has had many tenants since 1988 and is currently used by Polar Bear Heating and Air.
Olin Stewart, 72, of near Norris’s Crossroads had died at his home. The retired farmer was the son of the late Bud and Lessie McLamb Stewart. His wife was Brazilla Stewart who survived him. His two daughters were Judy Lee and Norma Jean Barefoot. One son, Billy O. Stewart, also survived. His services were at the Hodges Chapel PFWB (Daily Record Nov. 21, 1988).
Good news came from Cape Fear Christian Academy where Meredith Kelly Stone and Edward Sevier were Morehead nominees. Miss Stone was president of the senior class, a Beta member, a marshal and Kelly was voted “Most Dependable” and “Most Likely to Succeed.” She was daughter of Ann Stewart Stone and granddaughter of Julia Stewart (Daily Record Nov. 23, 1988).
A special thank you goes to Marie Salmon who has given two amazing scrapbooks-one has pictures taken by Greg and Bethany Stevens of the entertainers at the Coats Reunion Project in 1985. The second scrapbook contains pictures of the Monkey Wedding performed by teachers at Coats High. These two books are just a small example of the history that Marie Salmon has helped preserve of the old Coats High School activities.