John McKay Byrd
Dead are the people who lived when John McKay Byrd walked this earth and hence don’t know how he made a difference in our area and beyond. Shall we venture into that era and discover what an exciting and civic life he experienced. Just to let you get an idea of how he made a difference, allow me to share what Dan Stewart recalled in his book “Thank God for a Good Life.” Stewart wrote that Coats students drank water with a dipper from a bucket of water drawn from the school’s shallow well which often had wigglers floating in the dipper of water. Byrd would later build a water tank at the school and supply the school water from a cistern spring below the Gift PBC.
John McKay Byrd rose to prominence by his perseverance and honest methods. John McKay Byrd’s dad, Reddin Byrd, encouraged Rev. J.A Campbell to open a small subscription school in the community and financially supported the idea. J.M. Byrd at age 20 enrolled with 16 others in the subscription school in 1887. From 1894-98, Byrd served as Harnett County Register of Deeds. After selling his plantation in the Buies Creek area in 1909, he moved to Oklahoma but returned about 1913 after which he was elected as Harnett County Sheriff in 1914.
He came to Coats and bought an interest in the mill enterprises controlled by N.T. Patterson. It consisted of a sawmill, gin, a flour mill and a hosiery mill. A few misfortunes hit the enterprises controlled by Patterson that would have brought most men down. A depression following the war (WWI) paralyzed the market for their products. Then the hosiery mill burned down and was only partially covered by insurance, but the greatest blow of all was the suicide of his partner N.T. Patterson.
With little business capital, Byrd slowly began to build back step by step. He built the enterprise to twice the size it was. He was recognized for having the best flour mill and cotton gin equipment in Harnett County.
Mr. Byrd was a 32nd Degree Mason (Harnett County News July 1, 1920) and served on the Coats Town Commission in 1926. He became very involved in the Coats School PTA-serving as president in 1926 and apparently had a good singing and speaking voice because he opened the ceremonies at the beginning of the school year when he promised a five-dollar gold piece for the best all-around student at graduation.
After he acquired the cistern spring near the Gift Church, laid water lines and built a water tank at the school and supplied water for $15.00 per month.
In 1929-31, Byrd served in the NC General Assembly and was on the Board of Trustees at Campbell. His various contributions to the town and county mark him as a man who made an impact on the lives of people in the Coats area and beyond.
Museum News: Coats Kiwanis Club met Monday, March 23rd at the museum. The program featured two museum exhibits -the Native American jewelry collection of the late Christine Parrish and the Civil War era hair jewelry collection. The Coats Gril Scouts Troop is scheduled to visit the museum for a tour, which will include special attention to the Girl Scouts exhibit. The Junior Historians have been studying Native American history, especially the Coharie Tribe. The museum will host a Native American event April 19 at 3 p.m.--Mrs. Sheila Chance-Morrison will have a book signing for “Juanita, Emma Jean and Sometimes Hughie,” Mr. Jerry Faulkner will demonstrate how to date and identify spearpoints, Native American exhibits will be highlighted, and PowWow dancing enjoyed.
Dead are the people who lived when John McKay Byrd walked this earth and hence don’t know how he made a difference in our area and beyond. Shall we venture into that era and discover what an exciting and civic life he experienced. Just to let you get an idea of how he made a difference, allow me to share what Dan Stewart recalled in his book “Thank God for a Good Life.” Stewart wrote that Coats students drank water with a dipper from a bucket of water drawn from the school’s shallow well which often had wigglers floating in the dipper of water. Byrd would later build a water tank at the school and supply the school water from a cistern spring below the Gift PBC.
John McKay Byrd rose to prominence by his perseverance and honest methods. John McKay Byrd’s dad, Reddin Byrd, encouraged Rev. J.A Campbell to open a small subscription school in the community and financially supported the idea. J.M. Byrd at age 20 enrolled with 16 others in the subscription school in 1887. From 1894-98, Byrd served as Harnett County Register of Deeds. After selling his plantation in the Buies Creek area in 1909, he moved to Oklahoma but returned about 1913 after which he was elected as Harnett County Sheriff in 1914.
He came to Coats and bought an interest in the mill enterprises controlled by N.T. Patterson. It consisted of a sawmill, gin, a flour mill and a hosiery mill. A few misfortunes hit the enterprises controlled by Patterson that would have brought most men down. A depression following the war (WWI) paralyzed the market for their products. Then the hosiery mill burned down and was only partially covered by insurance, but the greatest blow of all was the suicide of his partner N.T. Patterson.
With little business capital, Byrd slowly began to build back step by step. He built the enterprise to twice the size it was. He was recognized for having the best flour mill and cotton gin equipment in Harnett County.
Mr. Byrd was a 32nd Degree Mason (Harnett County News July 1, 1920) and served on the Coats Town Commission in 1926. He became very involved in the Coats School PTA-serving as president in 1926 and apparently had a good singing and speaking voice because he opened the ceremonies at the beginning of the school year when he promised a five-dollar gold piece for the best all-around student at graduation.
After he acquired the cistern spring near the Gift Church, laid water lines and built a water tank at the school and supplied water for $15.00 per month.
In 1929-31, Byrd served in the NC General Assembly and was on the Board of Trustees at Campbell. His various contributions to the town and county mark him as a man who made an impact on the lives of people in the Coats area and beyond.
Museum News: Coats Kiwanis Club met Monday, March 23rd at the museum. The program featured two museum exhibits -the Native American jewelry collection of the late Christine Parrish and the Civil War era hair jewelry collection. The Coats Gril Scouts Troop is scheduled to visit the museum for a tour, which will include special attention to the Girl Scouts exhibit. The Junior Historians have been studying Native American history, especially the Coharie Tribe. The museum will host a Native American event April 19 at 3 p.m.--Mrs. Sheila Chance-Morrison will have a book signing for “Juanita, Emma Jean and Sometimes Hughie,” Mr. Jerry Faulkner will demonstrate how to date and identify spearpoints, Native American exhibits will be highlighted, and PowWow dancing enjoyed.