Coats Museum News, December
20, 2010
Coats native Daniel Stewart, who worked closely with the development of the Research Triangle through his position at Carolina Power and Light Company (Progress Energy), wrote in his autobiography, “Thank You Lord for a Good Life”, that his widowed mother, Mollie Ennis Stewart, had moved to Coats from her farm at Bailey’s Crossroads because the farm would not produce enough money to support her family. She moved to a house on Main Street (the house next to the old movie theater which is the current Public Utilities Building). Her two or three boarders did not provide enough income either so she sold the house. Joel Keen and his family lived there later after leaving the Four Oaks area in Johnston County. Mollie moved to a large house on McKinley Street in order to rent more rooms to boarders. This house was built by B.F. Byrd and it was recalled that Joe Penny, his brother-in-law, helped to build the huge house around 1908. In old newspaper stories the building was referred to as the Stewart Hotel or the Old Hotel.
Daniel Stewart wrote that the two story house had seven bedrooms, a dining room, a living room and a kitchen. (How many two story houses were there in Coats in the early 1900’s?) There was a fireplace in one bedroom and one in the living room. A tin stove was in each of the other bedrooms. The kitchen had a wood cook stove. Water had to be carried from a well located about sixty feet from the house. The water was needed for cooking purposes and was heated in the reservoir on the side of the wood cook stove. Young Daniel had the task of keeping water in the pitchers located in each bedroom.
Another daily chore for the young Daniel was to remove the chamber pots (slop jars) from every bedroom every morning and to empty them out, to wash them, to sun them, and then to put them back into the bedrooms for night use. You have to be wondering where did he dump all the contents of the chamber pots day after day, year after year. Did Mollie have outhouses (toilets) with an opening over a large hole in the ground into which to pour the waste? Did they have toilet tissue in 1912 or is it just a joke that the Sears Roebuck catalogue was kept in the outhouses. This I do know. The Sears Roebuck catalogue did exist in 1912.
Kerosene lamps were used to provide light at night. The lamps had to be serviced. The glass stacks on the lamps had to be washed about twice a week to clean out the smoky buildup that retarded light from shining through. In cold weather, the rooms had to have wood to fire the stoves or fireplaces. Wood to heat the Old Hotel was purchased from farmers in the area. The cord wood was a stack of wood eight feet long, four feet high, and four feet wide and had been cut by saw. After cars were more available, someone put a saw on the back of an automobile, so that they could jack up the wheels, and put a belt on a wheel and run the saw. This way, the woodcutters could go from house to house and cut lengths of wood needed to fit stoves. Daniel wrote that he had to split stove wood into smaller pieces and that he had the responsibility for keeping wood for the cook stove and for the stoves in the bedrooms during the wintertime.
Grocery stores as we know today did not exist in Coats in the early years of the 20th century. Mollie had had to depend upon farmers for much of her produce to provide meals for the boarders. Daniel said his mother had purchased chickens from the local farmers and she kept them in a large pen. The chickens to be used for cooking were kept in a small coop so they could be easily caught. He shared that his mother often would get up at 5:00 o’clock and dress and cook two or three chickens for breakfast.
Have you ever heard an older relative describing an experience of watching a chicken being killed in preparation for a Sunday dinner meal? Would such a practice go over well in 2011? Shall we describe what Mollie likely did on those mornings when she arose before sunrise to cook that chicken breakfast for boarders . She would likely have removed the chicken from the coop and could have chosen one of two ways to bring about the demise of the poor chicken. It was a common practice to take the chicken by the neck and swing the chicken around and around in a circle to break its neck. The chicken was then released on the ground to flop about until death came. She might have used a small hatchet and simply cut the head of the chicken off on a block of wood. Either way, death had to occur to get fried or boiled chicken on to the eating table. After the chicken was dead and blood was allowed to drain from the body, the chicken was dipped up and down into scalding water until the feathers could be easily plucked from the flesh. Once all the feathers were removed, the chicken was cut open to remove all the internal parts. The liver, gizzard, and heart were usually saved and were the feet. The other parts were most often discarded. The chicken was thoroughly washed several times. The cutting up of the chicken usually occurred inside the house. Surely the smell of the chicken cooking in the kitchen awoke the boarders who consumed most of it for breakfast. Have times changed?
Read next week to learn more about life in Coats for young Daniel Stewart in the early 20th Century
A special thank you to Juanita Hudson for her memorial gifts to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the memory of Sherrill Coats, Mary H. Coats and Agatha W. McLamb. Thank you to Sue Johnson Richey from Tennessee for her gift to honor her parents, Jonah and Alice Johnson. Thank you to J.B. and Lenee Smith for their gifts to the Coats Museum Building Fund to honor Gayle and H.L. Sorrell and to honor the memory of her grandparents, Jonah and Alice Johnson and great-aunt Nell P. Williams.
Please remember that this column was published in 2010 in the Daily Record.
Coats native Daniel Stewart, who worked closely with the development of the Research Triangle through his position at Carolina Power and Light Company (Progress Energy), wrote in his autobiography, “Thank You Lord for a Good Life”, that his widowed mother, Mollie Ennis Stewart, had moved to Coats from her farm at Bailey’s Crossroads because the farm would not produce enough money to support her family. She moved to a house on Main Street (the house next to the old movie theater which is the current Public Utilities Building). Her two or three boarders did not provide enough income either so she sold the house. Joel Keen and his family lived there later after leaving the Four Oaks area in Johnston County. Mollie moved to a large house on McKinley Street in order to rent more rooms to boarders. This house was built by B.F. Byrd and it was recalled that Joe Penny, his brother-in-law, helped to build the huge house around 1908. In old newspaper stories the building was referred to as the Stewart Hotel or the Old Hotel.
Daniel Stewart wrote that the two story house had seven bedrooms, a dining room, a living room and a kitchen. (How many two story houses were there in Coats in the early 1900’s?) There was a fireplace in one bedroom and one in the living room. A tin stove was in each of the other bedrooms. The kitchen had a wood cook stove. Water had to be carried from a well located about sixty feet from the house. The water was needed for cooking purposes and was heated in the reservoir on the side of the wood cook stove. Young Daniel had the task of keeping water in the pitchers located in each bedroom.
Another daily chore for the young Daniel was to remove the chamber pots (slop jars) from every bedroom every morning and to empty them out, to wash them, to sun them, and then to put them back into the bedrooms for night use. You have to be wondering where did he dump all the contents of the chamber pots day after day, year after year. Did Mollie have outhouses (toilets) with an opening over a large hole in the ground into which to pour the waste? Did they have toilet tissue in 1912 or is it just a joke that the Sears Roebuck catalogue was kept in the outhouses. This I do know. The Sears Roebuck catalogue did exist in 1912.
Kerosene lamps were used to provide light at night. The lamps had to be serviced. The glass stacks on the lamps had to be washed about twice a week to clean out the smoky buildup that retarded light from shining through. In cold weather, the rooms had to have wood to fire the stoves or fireplaces. Wood to heat the Old Hotel was purchased from farmers in the area. The cord wood was a stack of wood eight feet long, four feet high, and four feet wide and had been cut by saw. After cars were more available, someone put a saw on the back of an automobile, so that they could jack up the wheels, and put a belt on a wheel and run the saw. This way, the woodcutters could go from house to house and cut lengths of wood needed to fit stoves. Daniel wrote that he had to split stove wood into smaller pieces and that he had the responsibility for keeping wood for the cook stove and for the stoves in the bedrooms during the wintertime.
Grocery stores as we know today did not exist in Coats in the early years of the 20th century. Mollie had had to depend upon farmers for much of her produce to provide meals for the boarders. Daniel said his mother had purchased chickens from the local farmers and she kept them in a large pen. The chickens to be used for cooking were kept in a small coop so they could be easily caught. He shared that his mother often would get up at 5:00 o’clock and dress and cook two or three chickens for breakfast.
Have you ever heard an older relative describing an experience of watching a chicken being killed in preparation for a Sunday dinner meal? Would such a practice go over well in 2011? Shall we describe what Mollie likely did on those mornings when she arose before sunrise to cook that chicken breakfast for boarders . She would likely have removed the chicken from the coop and could have chosen one of two ways to bring about the demise of the poor chicken. It was a common practice to take the chicken by the neck and swing the chicken around and around in a circle to break its neck. The chicken was then released on the ground to flop about until death came. She might have used a small hatchet and simply cut the head of the chicken off on a block of wood. Either way, death had to occur to get fried or boiled chicken on to the eating table. After the chicken was dead and blood was allowed to drain from the body, the chicken was dipped up and down into scalding water until the feathers could be easily plucked from the flesh. Once all the feathers were removed, the chicken was cut open to remove all the internal parts. The liver, gizzard, and heart were usually saved and were the feet. The other parts were most often discarded. The chicken was thoroughly washed several times. The cutting up of the chicken usually occurred inside the house. Surely the smell of the chicken cooking in the kitchen awoke the boarders who consumed most of it for breakfast. Have times changed?
Read next week to learn more about life in Coats for young Daniel Stewart in the early 20th Century
A special thank you to Juanita Hudson for her memorial gifts to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the memory of Sherrill Coats, Mary H. Coats and Agatha W. McLamb. Thank you to Sue Johnson Richey from Tennessee for her gift to honor her parents, Jonah and Alice Johnson. Thank you to J.B. and Lenee Smith for their gifts to the Coats Museum Building Fund to honor Gayle and H.L. Sorrell and to honor the memory of her grandparents, Jonah and Alice Johnson and great-aunt Nell P. Williams.
Please remember that this column was published in 2010 in the Daily Record.