February 15, 2013 Coats Museum News
The year was 1938 and approximately 75 members of the Coats Young Tar Heel Farmer’s Club and their fathers had assembled for the club’s annual Father and Son Banquet. George Smith and Gerald Hayes (Sr.) had taken part in the event. The club shared that they had set shrubbery, built a tennis court and worked with practice teachers. Also in the March 10, 1938 Harnett County News it was recorded that Mrs. Ed Bullock had joined the Coats Woman’s Club. Mrs. J.R. Butler was reelected president and Mrs. Carlos Stewart as vice president. Mrs. O.K. Keene was secretary-treasurer. A Fiddlers’ Convention was held to raise money for the Coats agricultural students. A group called the Carolina Buddies made up of Willie Strickland, Vernon Godwin and Theodore Jernigan were featured on the program. Prices continued to be low. The cost for the program was 10 cents for children and 25 cents for adults. At the food markets, Ginger Snaps were 10 cents per pound; apples were 5 cents per dozen; cheese was 19 cents a pound while flour was 75 cents for 25 pounds.
A Coats minister and farmer died of a heart attack on March 12, 1938. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Rufus Pope. The Rev. James E. Pope was 36 years old and had suffered declining health. Pope had suffered a heart attack as he was returning from Benson where he had conducted a service. The doctor could not rally him. Services were at the Angier Primitive Baptist Church where Pope was buried. He had taught school for one year and was pastor of Little Flock Primitive Baptist Church when he died. He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Sarah Frances Pope; two sons, Sexton and John Pope; one daughter, Violene Pope. Was his wife pregnant when he died? His six brothers were Lonnie of Swansboro, William, Joe Ben, David, Willis, and Sam of the Coats area. Mrs. Lessie Bryant, Mrs. Lydia Roberts, and Mrs. Spicey Pollard were his sisters . In this same edition it was reported that the farmers in Grove voted 504 to 90 in favor of crop quotas on tobacco and 468 for and 82 against cotton quotas. Tobacco sales averaged 24 cents per pound in 1937 (Harnett County News March 17, 1938). How many pounds of tobacco did he have to sell to purchase 25 pounds of flour? Did farmers have to purchase flour in 1938?
Coats had many businesses that had operated for years prior to 1938. The Coats Merchantile Company was established in 1920 by W.E. Nichols. He offered the people in and around Coats dry goods, shoes for the family, hardware, farm tools, implements, farm wagons, seeds, VC and International fertilizers, and a pen of Tennessee mules. Does anyone recall where it was located on Main Street? Was W.E. Nichols the grandfather of Nick Tyner of Dunn and Mayor John Byrne of Fuquay?
A pen of Tennessee mules! Why was the mule so important to farm life? Exactly, what is a mule? According to Cindy K. (McKinnon) Roberts in an article titled “Mule Psychology 101: Mules Are Better”, the mule has quiet a history. She wrote that during the reign of King Ferdinand (around 1480) there was a law that prohibited the riding of a mule throughout Spain. Why? It was because the resident farmers were neglecting their breeding programs for horses. As a result, horses produced were of a poorer quality. Excellent horses were needed for breeding stock because the royal family and their knights needed superior animals for battle. Roberts wrote that vanity was the true reason for the King and Queen to be seen only on beautiful horses. While the farmers and peasants in Spain were “mule struck”, the royal horse population suffered. That prompted the “no mules law”. Due to the ban on mules, Christopher Columbus had to get special permission from the King in order to ride his mule which seemed to aggravate his back problems less.
What is a mule? A mule is a hybrid. A mule is the result of the breeding of a horse mare with a donkey jack. Horses have 64 chromosomes and donkeys 62 which results in the mule having 63 chromosomes and is usually sterile. When compared to horses, mules endure heat better, have fewer feeding problems, eat less, rarely have hoof problems, excel in physical soundness, live longer (Well taken care of mules can live for 30 to 40 years.), have a strong sense of self preservation which sometimes makes the owner think that they are stubborn, are surefooted and careful, have larger ears than horses, and are loaded with personality. The key to handling a mule is to do things gently, simply, calmly, and firmly while not pushing the mule (www.ruralheritage.com).
George Washington can be thanked for introducing the mule to America. His breeding program was aimed at producing a larger, stronger mule to be used on the farm. His first donkeys came from Spain as a gift from King Charles III to breed his horses. His belief that mules would make good farm stock proved to be true. Mules from Washington’s stock became the forerunners of quality mules that would be instrumental as the backbone of agriculture for many generations.
When W.E. Nichols and Malcolm Stewart sold mules, they sold them from livery stables or barn lots like used cars are sold today. The mules were brought into town on the Durham and Southern train and were led by a lead animal to the stables according to the late Franklin Stewart. They could be herded better in larger numbers than horses.
The mule, better than any other animal, symbolizes our farming heritage. Mules were known for their strength and hardiness and were able to stand up to hot and humid summers according to Donna Campbell Smith in an article reprinted from Carolina Country February 2008 edition. She said that mule traders set up sale barns in towns across the state for buying and selling mules, making them an important part of the economy. Is there such a barn remaining in Benson?
Mules were used to plow the fields, harvest the crops and carry them to markets on wagons before the automobile replaced some of the mule’s jobs. On tobacco farms, a mule-drawn transplanter was used to set tobacco plants into the ground. At harvest, wooden sleds with primed tobacco from the fields were pulled by mules to the barns where the tobacco was prepared to be cured in the barns. Farmers depended on the mule to help in the production of cotton, corn, bean and other farm crops.
The average N.C. farm at the turn of the 20th Century had four mules. In 1935, N.C. had 217,000 mules and by the 1960’s there were barely enough mules to even count. Why? Automation had made them almost obsolete on the farm. Also gone where those memories of the smells and sounds of the mule trading in the town.
M.C. Stewart was another dealer in horses, mules, and cows. He had always sold at “live and let live” prices. Stewart also found time to serve as a town alderman (Harnett County News April 11, 1938).
The Coats Museum is a private nonprofit museum which was created and is operated by local volunteers. The museum depends on private donations, not tax dollars, to operate and expand its campus. Because of the generosity of many locals such as Eric and Sally Benson, the Coats Museum Building Fund continues to help complete the new exhibit hall which is nearing completion and readying for you the visitors. Thank you, Eric and Sally. We also thank Lynda and Robie Butler for their memorial donation to the museum for Louise Senter Jackson. Despite all the construction at the museum, over 1600 people signed into the museum for various activities held at the Coats Museum in 2012.
Please be mindful that this Coats Museum News appeared in the paper in 2013.
The year was 1938 and approximately 75 members of the Coats Young Tar Heel Farmer’s Club and their fathers had assembled for the club’s annual Father and Son Banquet. George Smith and Gerald Hayes (Sr.) had taken part in the event. The club shared that they had set shrubbery, built a tennis court and worked with practice teachers. Also in the March 10, 1938 Harnett County News it was recorded that Mrs. Ed Bullock had joined the Coats Woman’s Club. Mrs. J.R. Butler was reelected president and Mrs. Carlos Stewart as vice president. Mrs. O.K. Keene was secretary-treasurer. A Fiddlers’ Convention was held to raise money for the Coats agricultural students. A group called the Carolina Buddies made up of Willie Strickland, Vernon Godwin and Theodore Jernigan were featured on the program. Prices continued to be low. The cost for the program was 10 cents for children and 25 cents for adults. At the food markets, Ginger Snaps were 10 cents per pound; apples were 5 cents per dozen; cheese was 19 cents a pound while flour was 75 cents for 25 pounds.
A Coats minister and farmer died of a heart attack on March 12, 1938. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Rufus Pope. The Rev. James E. Pope was 36 years old and had suffered declining health. Pope had suffered a heart attack as he was returning from Benson where he had conducted a service. The doctor could not rally him. Services were at the Angier Primitive Baptist Church where Pope was buried. He had taught school for one year and was pastor of Little Flock Primitive Baptist Church when he died. He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Sarah Frances Pope; two sons, Sexton and John Pope; one daughter, Violene Pope. Was his wife pregnant when he died? His six brothers were Lonnie of Swansboro, William, Joe Ben, David, Willis, and Sam of the Coats area. Mrs. Lessie Bryant, Mrs. Lydia Roberts, and Mrs. Spicey Pollard were his sisters . In this same edition it was reported that the farmers in Grove voted 504 to 90 in favor of crop quotas on tobacco and 468 for and 82 against cotton quotas. Tobacco sales averaged 24 cents per pound in 1937 (Harnett County News March 17, 1938). How many pounds of tobacco did he have to sell to purchase 25 pounds of flour? Did farmers have to purchase flour in 1938?
Coats had many businesses that had operated for years prior to 1938. The Coats Merchantile Company was established in 1920 by W.E. Nichols. He offered the people in and around Coats dry goods, shoes for the family, hardware, farm tools, implements, farm wagons, seeds, VC and International fertilizers, and a pen of Tennessee mules. Does anyone recall where it was located on Main Street? Was W.E. Nichols the grandfather of Nick Tyner of Dunn and Mayor John Byrne of Fuquay?
A pen of Tennessee mules! Why was the mule so important to farm life? Exactly, what is a mule? According to Cindy K. (McKinnon) Roberts in an article titled “Mule Psychology 101: Mules Are Better”, the mule has quiet a history. She wrote that during the reign of King Ferdinand (around 1480) there was a law that prohibited the riding of a mule throughout Spain. Why? It was because the resident farmers were neglecting their breeding programs for horses. As a result, horses produced were of a poorer quality. Excellent horses were needed for breeding stock because the royal family and their knights needed superior animals for battle. Roberts wrote that vanity was the true reason for the King and Queen to be seen only on beautiful horses. While the farmers and peasants in Spain were “mule struck”, the royal horse population suffered. That prompted the “no mules law”. Due to the ban on mules, Christopher Columbus had to get special permission from the King in order to ride his mule which seemed to aggravate his back problems less.
What is a mule? A mule is a hybrid. A mule is the result of the breeding of a horse mare with a donkey jack. Horses have 64 chromosomes and donkeys 62 which results in the mule having 63 chromosomes and is usually sterile. When compared to horses, mules endure heat better, have fewer feeding problems, eat less, rarely have hoof problems, excel in physical soundness, live longer (Well taken care of mules can live for 30 to 40 years.), have a strong sense of self preservation which sometimes makes the owner think that they are stubborn, are surefooted and careful, have larger ears than horses, and are loaded with personality. The key to handling a mule is to do things gently, simply, calmly, and firmly while not pushing the mule (www.ruralheritage.com).
George Washington can be thanked for introducing the mule to America. His breeding program was aimed at producing a larger, stronger mule to be used on the farm. His first donkeys came from Spain as a gift from King Charles III to breed his horses. His belief that mules would make good farm stock proved to be true. Mules from Washington’s stock became the forerunners of quality mules that would be instrumental as the backbone of agriculture for many generations.
When W.E. Nichols and Malcolm Stewart sold mules, they sold them from livery stables or barn lots like used cars are sold today. The mules were brought into town on the Durham and Southern train and were led by a lead animal to the stables according to the late Franklin Stewart. They could be herded better in larger numbers than horses.
The mule, better than any other animal, symbolizes our farming heritage. Mules were known for their strength and hardiness and were able to stand up to hot and humid summers according to Donna Campbell Smith in an article reprinted from Carolina Country February 2008 edition. She said that mule traders set up sale barns in towns across the state for buying and selling mules, making them an important part of the economy. Is there such a barn remaining in Benson?
Mules were used to plow the fields, harvest the crops and carry them to markets on wagons before the automobile replaced some of the mule’s jobs. On tobacco farms, a mule-drawn transplanter was used to set tobacco plants into the ground. At harvest, wooden sleds with primed tobacco from the fields were pulled by mules to the barns where the tobacco was prepared to be cured in the barns. Farmers depended on the mule to help in the production of cotton, corn, bean and other farm crops.
The average N.C. farm at the turn of the 20th Century had four mules. In 1935, N.C. had 217,000 mules and by the 1960’s there were barely enough mules to even count. Why? Automation had made them almost obsolete on the farm. Also gone where those memories of the smells and sounds of the mule trading in the town.
M.C. Stewart was another dealer in horses, mules, and cows. He had always sold at “live and let live” prices. Stewart also found time to serve as a town alderman (Harnett County News April 11, 1938).
The Coats Museum is a private nonprofit museum which was created and is operated by local volunteers. The museum depends on private donations, not tax dollars, to operate and expand its campus. Because of the generosity of many locals such as Eric and Sally Benson, the Coats Museum Building Fund continues to help complete the new exhibit hall which is nearing completion and readying for you the visitors. Thank you, Eric and Sally. We also thank Lynda and Robie Butler for their memorial donation to the museum for Louise Senter Jackson. Despite all the construction at the museum, over 1600 people signed into the museum for various activities held at the Coats Museum in 2012.
Please be mindful that this Coats Museum News appeared in the paper in 2013.