December 30, 2022 Coats Museum News
We have spent years on our journey as we have made our way into Coats in the year 1992. We first wrote about the year 1524 when Verrazzano, a Florentine navigator in the service f France, explored the shores of the North Carolina coast. The beauties, wonders and abundance of this wilderness impressed him.
Then there was Barlowe who reported to Walter Raleigh in 1584 that the air was filled with the delicious odors of the bay trees to the highest cedars and the sweet smelling timber trees. Then there was Lawson and John Briskell who sent glowing reports across the Atlantic Ocean about this new land. Janet Schaw wrote about the Cape Fear River and said nothing can be finer than the banks of this river-a thousand beauties of flowers and the magnolias.
These glowing reports were heard in Europe and had a continuous effect on the settlement of the”new world” for many years to come. Ralph Lane in 1585-86 planted the first English colony in this new world. John White’s “Lost Colony” followed this feat in 1587 on Roanoke Island. In 1607, the English planted a permanent colony in this “new world” at Jamestown.
The Atlantic coast of this new world continued to be flooded with new immigrants and eventually we would see people moving inward via the Green’s Path and the Cape Fear. Many of these immigrants were our ancestors.
Centuries have passed and we have traveled on an incredible journey to the year 1992 when our America has grown to be the most powerful nation in the world. However, the growing population brought about many changes from the simple life of survival. The complexities from change would not be understood by our ancestors and in many cases are not even by us.
In 1992, there were 1,215,000 divorces, an all time high. Corporate mergers totaled 3,502 for companies worth 5 million dollars or more. Americans submitted 187,200 patents. The government tracked new product introductions-there were 587 beverages, 417 household products, 2,987 food items and 213 pet products.
There were 1,944 life insurance companies in the U.S. Americans carried $10.4 billion in life insurance. Eleven point nine percent of the population was below the poverty line. The U.S. produced 5,664,000 new cars and 4,038,000 new trucks. The total sales of new motor vehicles, including imports, were 12,896,000 (Dickson, Paul. From Elvis to E-Mail. Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1999, pp325-329).
Industries had made their way into the small area chartered in 1905 as Coats, NC. By 1920, the town had sawmills, brickmill, a hosiery mill, cotton gins, corn mills, and many other businesses that made Coats one of the best areas of the county to move and grow in prosperity.
However, change sometimes can be only temporary. Sad industrial news hit the Coats Community. The Lingerie plant that had operated since 1966 closed its doors (Daily Record Jan. 2, 1992).
Question-what is the huge industry that took over that building and hires hundreds of workers in 2022?
This I do know. The Coats Senior Center has always from day one been a place for seniors to gather and enjoy each other’s company. So life went on after the plant closed, the seniors enjoyed a monthly dance with the Golden Tones of Raleigh providing music for the January event (Daily Record Jan. 3, 1992).
Mr. and Mrs. James Sherrill Moore of Coats announced that their daughter, Charlotte Moore, would marry Timmy Walter Stewart, son of Ruth Stephenson and the late Walter Stewart (Daily Record Jan. 8, 1992).
A Coats lady, Marie Clayton, had proof that there were still some honest people in the world. She had accidentally left her pocketbook in a grocery cart at Byrd’s Food Store. A day later, Marie missed her pocketbook and when she called Byrd’s, she was told that someone had turned it in.
On the ill list in Belle’s “Notes from Coats”, she reported that Shirley Fuquay, Shirley Faye Stephenson, Layton Godwin, Violet Godwin, Everette Williams, Thomas Williams, and Nelson Currin were not feeling well.
Some good news came from Coats. Howard Penny, Jr., Pat and Buddy could move into their beautiful new home on Route One, Coats. Speaking of home, Annie Ruth Penny Stewart and Grace Dixon were home from hospital stays. Happy Anniversary wishes went over to Mr. and Mrs. Rex Godwin, Mr. and Mrs. Seth Lee, Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. Yancy Jernigan.
Barbara Knox Daniel and Alex Daniel were injured in a car wreck on the Old Fair Ground Road (Daily Record Jan. 9. 1992).
Marty Ray Capps of Coats married Rebecca Lynn Inscose of Lillington. Marty was the son of Billy Ray Capps and Janice Capps. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Byrd were grandparents. Best man was Rev. Steve Eakes and Heather Eakes was flower girl (Daily Record Jan. 10, 1992).
Death had visited Coats and taken Lester Williams, 91. His services were held at the Gift Primitive Baptist Church with Elder Sexton Pope and Elder Worth Stephenson conducting the services.Surviving him were his son, Fred Williams and daughter, Edna Stephenson. Hester Williams, Evie Ennis and Eula Byrd were his siblings (Daily Record Jan. 14, 1992).
Did you recognize that name Lester Williams as being very involved in public affairs of Coats in his earlier years?
Darwin Denning and Mary Denning were proud parents of Emily Catherine Denning who was born on December 4th (Daily Record Jan. 16, 1992). Wonder if Lundy and Glenda Denning were over the moon with the arrival.
Several Coats folks were hospitalized. Among them were Nelson Currin, Joe Lee, Garner Rose Ennis, and Catherine Peede. Lynda Stewart Holden, daughter of Grayden and Sally Ruth Stewart, had undergone major surgery at Duke.
Hayes Beasley and others had completed work on the new sign at the Coats Senior Center. The lights had made it extremely pretty at night. Derek Currin had purchased the Florence Adams home place and doing a beautiful job with renovation. Currin and Dorman had finished renovation on the Melvin Cooke home place and someone was already occupying it (Daily Record Jan. 16, 1992).
Thank you goes to Preston “Jack” Johnson for his honorarium to the museum in honor of a friend. Jack does a superior job keeping our grass in superb condition.
We have spent years on our journey as we have made our way into Coats in the year 1992. We first wrote about the year 1524 when Verrazzano, a Florentine navigator in the service f France, explored the shores of the North Carolina coast. The beauties, wonders and abundance of this wilderness impressed him.
Then there was Barlowe who reported to Walter Raleigh in 1584 that the air was filled with the delicious odors of the bay trees to the highest cedars and the sweet smelling timber trees. Then there was Lawson and John Briskell who sent glowing reports across the Atlantic Ocean about this new land. Janet Schaw wrote about the Cape Fear River and said nothing can be finer than the banks of this river-a thousand beauties of flowers and the magnolias.
These glowing reports were heard in Europe and had a continuous effect on the settlement of the”new world” for many years to come. Ralph Lane in 1585-86 planted the first English colony in this new world. John White’s “Lost Colony” followed this feat in 1587 on Roanoke Island. In 1607, the English planted a permanent colony in this “new world” at Jamestown.
The Atlantic coast of this new world continued to be flooded with new immigrants and eventually we would see people moving inward via the Green’s Path and the Cape Fear. Many of these immigrants were our ancestors.
Centuries have passed and we have traveled on an incredible journey to the year 1992 when our America has grown to be the most powerful nation in the world. However, the growing population brought about many changes from the simple life of survival. The complexities from change would not be understood by our ancestors and in many cases are not even by us.
In 1992, there were 1,215,000 divorces, an all time high. Corporate mergers totaled 3,502 for companies worth 5 million dollars or more. Americans submitted 187,200 patents. The government tracked new product introductions-there were 587 beverages, 417 household products, 2,987 food items and 213 pet products.
There were 1,944 life insurance companies in the U.S. Americans carried $10.4 billion in life insurance. Eleven point nine percent of the population was below the poverty line. The U.S. produced 5,664,000 new cars and 4,038,000 new trucks. The total sales of new motor vehicles, including imports, were 12,896,000 (Dickson, Paul. From Elvis to E-Mail. Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1999, pp325-329).
Industries had made their way into the small area chartered in 1905 as Coats, NC. By 1920, the town had sawmills, brickmill, a hosiery mill, cotton gins, corn mills, and many other businesses that made Coats one of the best areas of the county to move and grow in prosperity.
However, change sometimes can be only temporary. Sad industrial news hit the Coats Community. The Lingerie plant that had operated since 1966 closed its doors (Daily Record Jan. 2, 1992).
Question-what is the huge industry that took over that building and hires hundreds of workers in 2022?
This I do know. The Coats Senior Center has always from day one been a place for seniors to gather and enjoy each other’s company. So life went on after the plant closed, the seniors enjoyed a monthly dance with the Golden Tones of Raleigh providing music for the January event (Daily Record Jan. 3, 1992).
Mr. and Mrs. James Sherrill Moore of Coats announced that their daughter, Charlotte Moore, would marry Timmy Walter Stewart, son of Ruth Stephenson and the late Walter Stewart (Daily Record Jan. 8, 1992).
A Coats lady, Marie Clayton, had proof that there were still some honest people in the world. She had accidentally left her pocketbook in a grocery cart at Byrd’s Food Store. A day later, Marie missed her pocketbook and when she called Byrd’s, she was told that someone had turned it in.
On the ill list in Belle’s “Notes from Coats”, she reported that Shirley Fuquay, Shirley Faye Stephenson, Layton Godwin, Violet Godwin, Everette Williams, Thomas Williams, and Nelson Currin were not feeling well.
Some good news came from Coats. Howard Penny, Jr., Pat and Buddy could move into their beautiful new home on Route One, Coats. Speaking of home, Annie Ruth Penny Stewart and Grace Dixon were home from hospital stays. Happy Anniversary wishes went over to Mr. and Mrs. Rex Godwin, Mr. and Mrs. Seth Lee, Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. Yancy Jernigan.
Barbara Knox Daniel and Alex Daniel were injured in a car wreck on the Old Fair Ground Road (Daily Record Jan. 9. 1992).
Marty Ray Capps of Coats married Rebecca Lynn Inscose of Lillington. Marty was the son of Billy Ray Capps and Janice Capps. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Byrd were grandparents. Best man was Rev. Steve Eakes and Heather Eakes was flower girl (Daily Record Jan. 10, 1992).
Death had visited Coats and taken Lester Williams, 91. His services were held at the Gift Primitive Baptist Church with Elder Sexton Pope and Elder Worth Stephenson conducting the services.Surviving him were his son, Fred Williams and daughter, Edna Stephenson. Hester Williams, Evie Ennis and Eula Byrd were his siblings (Daily Record Jan. 14, 1992).
Did you recognize that name Lester Williams as being very involved in public affairs of Coats in his earlier years?
Darwin Denning and Mary Denning were proud parents of Emily Catherine Denning who was born on December 4th (Daily Record Jan. 16, 1992). Wonder if Lundy and Glenda Denning were over the moon with the arrival.
Several Coats folks were hospitalized. Among them were Nelson Currin, Joe Lee, Garner Rose Ennis, and Catherine Peede. Lynda Stewart Holden, daughter of Grayden and Sally Ruth Stewart, had undergone major surgery at Duke.
Hayes Beasley and others had completed work on the new sign at the Coats Senior Center. The lights had made it extremely pretty at night. Derek Currin had purchased the Florence Adams home place and doing a beautiful job with renovation. Currin and Dorman had finished renovation on the Melvin Cooke home place and someone was already occupying it (Daily Record Jan. 16, 1992).
Thank you goes to Preston “Jack” Johnson for his honorarium to the museum in honor of a friend. Jack does a superior job keeping our grass in superb condition.