February 8, 2013 Coats Museum News
The calendar shows 1937 as the year that the Black River Colored School property was to be sold on the premises. Beginning at a stake in the line of the heirs of Bythan Stewart and Wiley Frazier and running north 3.17 chains to a stake –thence west 3.17 chains to a stake and pointers; thence east 3.17 chains to the beginning, containing one acre was the identification of the school property. The sale date was November 5, 1937 at 10:00 o’clock (Harnett County News November 4, 1937). Does anyone know who bought the old school property?
The news account did not address that there was a one-room school building which looked identical to the old Wiggins White School that we have pictured in a wallpaper mural at the Coats Museum. On the same road (Today it is the Johnson Road.) a short distance from the school was the Black River Grove Colored Church. Both of these buildings have been torn down in the past 20 years or so, but there are many living who can recall when the church had worship services on Sunday.
The same newspaper edition reported that seventy-seven year-old Calvin Sorrell, one of Harnett’s pioneer citizens, had died of infirmities of old age. He was the son of John Calvin and Nancy J. Ryals Sorrell. Surviving Calvin were two brothers-William Richardson Sorrell (His wife was Mary Eliza Hodges) and Jim L. Sorrell (His wife was Louisianna Denning); and two sisters-Mrs. Sylvester (Ella) Neighbors and Mrs. Oscar (Virginia) Turlington. He had deceased siblings from which many people throughout the area are descendents. His sister Laura Frances Sorrell married Oscar Turlington’s brother Lon (L.L.) Turlington. John Henry Sorrell was husband to Ella Truelove and Alonza Lee Sorrell was married to Caro Collier. Alonzo Sorrell’s house is still standing and is located on Red Hill Church Road and sits off the road between Three Bridges Road and Hodges Crossroads. The two story house has fallen into disrepair but was a beautiful country house in its day.
Harnett County had a dozen girls at Meredith College in 1937. Mary Sue Nichols, one of the students, was daughter of W.E. and Eva Smith Nichols of Coats. A prominent Godwin man had died after being ill for six weeks. The funeral was held for Charles Durham Adams, 72, at Old Bluff. He was a prominent merchant and farmer. A.B. Adams of Dunn and Jesse Adams of Benson were two of his brothers (Harnett County News 11, 1937). Does anyone know anything about these two gentlemen?
The Harnett County News, December 9, 1937 edition reported that the Health Inspection gave grades to two Coats restaurants-Babe’s and Luke’s Place. C.J. Turlington served as administrator to the L.L. Turlington Estate. He announced that one farm of 134 acres and 2 miles south of Coats would be sold. Two other farms, east of Highway 55 and 3.5 miles southeast of the town of Coats containing 90 acres and 135 acres were for sale. One lot in Coats had to be sold also for the division of the Turlington properties.
Question -Was Lon L. (L.L.) Turlington the son of Randol Turlington who was son of Willis Turlington of Johnston County who had bought 2300 acres from the Dushee Shaw heirs? If so, was this land for sale a part of the Shaw land upon which sits the old Shaw Half Way House under restoration by Bryan Avery and his group of volunteers?
I do know that Harnett County cotton farmers had produced 28,508 bales of cotton as of December 13, 1937 as compared to 1936’s 20,381 bales. It is interesting to note that 50,000 bales were produced in Harnett in 1926 (Harnett County News December 30, 1937).
The year of 1937 had come to an end but memories of floods along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers would be shared for generations. DuPont’s patent on nylon would change how dozens of products were made. Benny Goodman and his horn would have teenagers and adults singing and swinging for many years. A fire in New London, Texas that killed 500 children would leave a town numb with grief. The hydrogen-filled Hindenburg blew up and King George VI became the new king of England. Amelia Earhart was lost at sea and Walt Disney introduced the world to animation with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. All were memories that lingered into 1938.
The year opened with a sad tone for the Thomas O. Brown family. Mr. Brown, a farmer of near Coats, was buried at the Hodges Chapel Church. The 57 year –old farmer was a native of Granville County. He came to be known as a thrifty farmer, acquiring considerable real estate. He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Alice King Brown; three daughters, Mrs. Beulah Miller, Mrs. Pauline Barefoot, and Miss Inez Brown; two sons , Eugene Brown of near Coats and Jasper Brown of Willow Springs (Harnett County News January 6, 1938). Was Mr. Brown also a blacksmith and is Rudolph Miller his grandson?
The Harnett County News January 13, 1938 issue printed that the L.L. Turlington Estate sold for $19,674.50. That was considered a satisfactory price.
A safety course was taught in Harnett County high schools. The text, Man and the Car, were donated by Chevrolet Motor Company to be used in the 12 high schools. One chapter contained laws regulating highway traffic in N.C. In 1939, one- half unit credit was to be given to those students who pass the safety subject (Harnett County News January 20, 1938).
Harnett County was sixth in the number of bales of cotton ginned in the state in 1937. The Coats Chapter of the FFA built a meeting room for the boys. It took four months and sixty odd boys. We don’t use that expression in 2013, do we? Anyway, the meeting room was made from reworking a basement room that previously held the agriculture shop. The shop was moved to another building. What other building? Is this the wood structure that would be later called the “Goat House”? Was it built just east and downhill from the 1920 brick structure? That will be another story later.
Where did the money come from that was used to repair and convert the room? Can you believe that part of the money came from the sale of the three sticks of tobacco that each student brought to school, graded and sold (Harnett County News February 3, 1938).
Thanks to the many readers who call to tell me the rest of some of the news stories that appear in the column. Dr. Roland Byrd, 1960 Coats High graduate and resident of the Linden area, called to share that 11 year-old Lottie Byrd who had died from lockjaw was his daddy’s sister. Wanda Stone Moody, a 1962 Coats High graduate and cousin of Lottie, emailed that Lottie’s brother had a race car that he had built from a Model T. Little Lottie was helping others push the car from the rear and her feet slipped and her wrist was cut on a vein when it hit the car license plate. Lottie was taken to the Good Hope Hospital but she later died from lockjaw. Wanda sought out information from several of her older Byrd cousins who remembered the incident. Thanks also to H.L. Sorrell for his gift to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the memory of his close friend, Linwood Stancil.
This appeared in the Daily Record in 2013.
The calendar shows 1937 as the year that the Black River Colored School property was to be sold on the premises. Beginning at a stake in the line of the heirs of Bythan Stewart and Wiley Frazier and running north 3.17 chains to a stake –thence west 3.17 chains to a stake and pointers; thence east 3.17 chains to the beginning, containing one acre was the identification of the school property. The sale date was November 5, 1937 at 10:00 o’clock (Harnett County News November 4, 1937). Does anyone know who bought the old school property?
The news account did not address that there was a one-room school building which looked identical to the old Wiggins White School that we have pictured in a wallpaper mural at the Coats Museum. On the same road (Today it is the Johnson Road.) a short distance from the school was the Black River Grove Colored Church. Both of these buildings have been torn down in the past 20 years or so, but there are many living who can recall when the church had worship services on Sunday.
The same newspaper edition reported that seventy-seven year-old Calvin Sorrell, one of Harnett’s pioneer citizens, had died of infirmities of old age. He was the son of John Calvin and Nancy J. Ryals Sorrell. Surviving Calvin were two brothers-William Richardson Sorrell (His wife was Mary Eliza Hodges) and Jim L. Sorrell (His wife was Louisianna Denning); and two sisters-Mrs. Sylvester (Ella) Neighbors and Mrs. Oscar (Virginia) Turlington. He had deceased siblings from which many people throughout the area are descendents. His sister Laura Frances Sorrell married Oscar Turlington’s brother Lon (L.L.) Turlington. John Henry Sorrell was husband to Ella Truelove and Alonza Lee Sorrell was married to Caro Collier. Alonzo Sorrell’s house is still standing and is located on Red Hill Church Road and sits off the road between Three Bridges Road and Hodges Crossroads. The two story house has fallen into disrepair but was a beautiful country house in its day.
Harnett County had a dozen girls at Meredith College in 1937. Mary Sue Nichols, one of the students, was daughter of W.E. and Eva Smith Nichols of Coats. A prominent Godwin man had died after being ill for six weeks. The funeral was held for Charles Durham Adams, 72, at Old Bluff. He was a prominent merchant and farmer. A.B. Adams of Dunn and Jesse Adams of Benson were two of his brothers (Harnett County News 11, 1937). Does anyone know anything about these two gentlemen?
The Harnett County News, December 9, 1937 edition reported that the Health Inspection gave grades to two Coats restaurants-Babe’s and Luke’s Place. C.J. Turlington served as administrator to the L.L. Turlington Estate. He announced that one farm of 134 acres and 2 miles south of Coats would be sold. Two other farms, east of Highway 55 and 3.5 miles southeast of the town of Coats containing 90 acres and 135 acres were for sale. One lot in Coats had to be sold also for the division of the Turlington properties.
Question -Was Lon L. (L.L.) Turlington the son of Randol Turlington who was son of Willis Turlington of Johnston County who had bought 2300 acres from the Dushee Shaw heirs? If so, was this land for sale a part of the Shaw land upon which sits the old Shaw Half Way House under restoration by Bryan Avery and his group of volunteers?
I do know that Harnett County cotton farmers had produced 28,508 bales of cotton as of December 13, 1937 as compared to 1936’s 20,381 bales. It is interesting to note that 50,000 bales were produced in Harnett in 1926 (Harnett County News December 30, 1937).
The year of 1937 had come to an end but memories of floods along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers would be shared for generations. DuPont’s patent on nylon would change how dozens of products were made. Benny Goodman and his horn would have teenagers and adults singing and swinging for many years. A fire in New London, Texas that killed 500 children would leave a town numb with grief. The hydrogen-filled Hindenburg blew up and King George VI became the new king of England. Amelia Earhart was lost at sea and Walt Disney introduced the world to animation with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. All were memories that lingered into 1938.
The year opened with a sad tone for the Thomas O. Brown family. Mr. Brown, a farmer of near Coats, was buried at the Hodges Chapel Church. The 57 year –old farmer was a native of Granville County. He came to be known as a thrifty farmer, acquiring considerable real estate. He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Alice King Brown; three daughters, Mrs. Beulah Miller, Mrs. Pauline Barefoot, and Miss Inez Brown; two sons , Eugene Brown of near Coats and Jasper Brown of Willow Springs (Harnett County News January 6, 1938). Was Mr. Brown also a blacksmith and is Rudolph Miller his grandson?
The Harnett County News January 13, 1938 issue printed that the L.L. Turlington Estate sold for $19,674.50. That was considered a satisfactory price.
A safety course was taught in Harnett County high schools. The text, Man and the Car, were donated by Chevrolet Motor Company to be used in the 12 high schools. One chapter contained laws regulating highway traffic in N.C. In 1939, one- half unit credit was to be given to those students who pass the safety subject (Harnett County News January 20, 1938).
Harnett County was sixth in the number of bales of cotton ginned in the state in 1937. The Coats Chapter of the FFA built a meeting room for the boys. It took four months and sixty odd boys. We don’t use that expression in 2013, do we? Anyway, the meeting room was made from reworking a basement room that previously held the agriculture shop. The shop was moved to another building. What other building? Is this the wood structure that would be later called the “Goat House”? Was it built just east and downhill from the 1920 brick structure? That will be another story later.
Where did the money come from that was used to repair and convert the room? Can you believe that part of the money came from the sale of the three sticks of tobacco that each student brought to school, graded and sold (Harnett County News February 3, 1938).
Thanks to the many readers who call to tell me the rest of some of the news stories that appear in the column. Dr. Roland Byrd, 1960 Coats High graduate and resident of the Linden area, called to share that 11 year-old Lottie Byrd who had died from lockjaw was his daddy’s sister. Wanda Stone Moody, a 1962 Coats High graduate and cousin of Lottie, emailed that Lottie’s brother had a race car that he had built from a Model T. Little Lottie was helping others push the car from the rear and her feet slipped and her wrist was cut on a vein when it hit the car license plate. Lottie was taken to the Good Hope Hospital but she later died from lockjaw. Wanda sought out information from several of her older Byrd cousins who remembered the incident. Thanks also to H.L. Sorrell for his gift to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the memory of his close friend, Linwood Stancil.
This appeared in the Daily Record in 2013.