July 22, 2016 Coats Museum News
Once upon a time, naval stores were the biggest industry in our area. Then cotton was king and finally tobacco supported the farm families. In 1959, the February 27th edition of the Daily Record reported that the farmers in Grove saw a yield increase in tobacco in 1958. In Grove 1, there were 809.95 acres of tobacco with a yield of 1,678 average pounds per acre for a total of 1,350,411 pounds. In Grove 2, there were 867.97 acres planted that averaged 1,847 pounds and produced a total of 1,603,068 pounds.
Does anyone know which farmer in Grove planted the largest acreage of tobacco in 2016?
If you were raised on a tobacco farm, do you recall all the work it took to get that tobacco to the market? Coats Museum volunteers really enjoy listening to visitors at the museum share their stories of using spoons to pick weeds from tobacco plant beds, planting tobacco with hand transplanters and replacing missing plants with a wooden peg. They talk about pulling the heads off tobacco worms, suckering the tobacco and getting up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning to get the cured tobacco out of the barn to make room for the tobacco that would replace it that day. They recall the tobacco gum and ways that were used to get it off their hands before they could eat the “dinner” that their mama got up before dawn to cook the vegetables that were grown in the farm garden. The men remembered how badly they hated pulling sand lugs and the joy they felt when tips were in the barn. They speak of the friendships that were bonded between the black and white workers and how everyone looked forward to the morning break for a soft drink and a choice of honey buns, nabs, moon pie, or a candy bar. All seem to recall that every snack seemed so much bigger back then and that peanuts tasted better when put right into the Pepsi or Coke bottle and that a moon pie was best with a RC Cola.
Many of the ladies share that they remember the days that they looked forward to being able to loop rather than hand the leaves to the looper who usually was a mother, grandmother or older sister. The comments could go on and on. If you don’t know what these museum visitors were talking about, then you must be very young or you were not raised on a tobacco farm.
Tobacco, cotton, chickens, cattle, vegetables and other crops support the family farmer today and feed the world while pumping billions of dollars into the economy. What happens when one of these industries runs into trouble? Apparently US Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn (D-SC) saw trouble looming in the textile industry as early as 1959. He had recommended a six-point program of “positive action” to help the textile industry which “is fighting for its very existence”. He warned when the textile industry suffers, others would suffer (Daily Record Feb. 27, 1959).
Wonder if he feared how it would affect his textile district in SC as well as his father-in-law’s cotton farm in Coats, NC. This I do know. Jackie Benton Nordan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charlie B. Nordan, received his Bachelor of Science Degree from NC Carolina State College. He was married to the former Peggy Matthews and they had one son (Daily Record Feb. 23, 1959).
How many of you can remember your bus numbers when you went to public schools? Better yet, can any of you remember hearing your grandparents or parents talk about walking to school? School trucks were not available to transport students until the early 1920’s. Gustave “Gus” Stewart of Turlington Crossroads had an earlier transportation system for students in our area. Several years before the county transportation system, Stewart devised a covered wagon and two mules—Maude and Nell- to transport students to the Coats Grove School from the Turlington School district where the current Coats Erwin Middle School is located. For one year he used a gong to announce his arrival and transported the wagon load of youngsters to and from school up the old stage road to Coats and was paid to do so—Did the parents pay him? Was NC Highway 55 built at that time?
I do know that Gustave Monroe Stewart, 86, of Turlington’s Crossroads had died on Thursday. His services were held at his home with burial in the Coats Cemetery. His wife, Mrs. Cora Turlington Stewart, survived him. He had one son, T.D. Stewart of the home, and a daughter, Mrs. J.C. Hardee of Raleigh. He had four brothers-Rufus, Milton, Sam, and Hector. Mrs. L.W. Turner was his sister. Gus Stewart was the son of the William and Kizady Williams Stewart (Daily Record March. 6, 1959).
Was Brookie Stewart connected to Gus Stewart? She is the lady who wrote the information about the covered wagon school transportation. Dorothea Stewart Gilbert and I interviewed Brookie in the very early 2000’s and she shared so much information about early Coats and could vividly talk about the personalities of the first merchants who operated those businesses on Main Street in Coats. She shared whose business was in which store building and what each sold and in some cases pointed out items that she had in her house that had come from those businesses. She even shared that William C. Lee was teaching at Turlington when the school caught fire and that he had the students transporting water in their lunch pails to extinguish the fire.
“Let Me Out of Here”, a three act comedy, was presented by the Junior Class at Coats High School. Ann Beasley, Joan Godwin, Jimmy Jones, and Vin Whittington had starring roles (Daily Record April 3, 1959).
Barbara Stewart, a former Miss Coats High, was president of the Campbell College Home Economics Club. She was daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Johnnie Stewart. Elsewhere back in Coats, water was in the news again and it was more encouraging in that it shared that 12 were bidding for the building of the proposed water distribution system for the town of Coats (Daily Record April 6, 1959).
Stephen A. Parrish, 73, of Coats, had died Monday night. Services were held at Bethel Primitive Baptist Church and the church cemetery with Elders Frank Nordan and B.L. Godwin. His wife Mrs. Sadie Adams Parrish survived him. His children were James, Enos, Duvall, H. A. Parrish, Mrs. Preston Benson, Mrs. Glenn Stephenson, Mrs. Hardy Hicks, and Mrs. Layton Godwin (Daily Record April 14, 1959).
State Representative Carson Gregory had predicted that the minimum wage bill would pass without his being there to vote on it. The representative had to attend a funeral. Outside of the Barclaysville area, Mayor C.J. Turlington of Coats announced that the town board received a bid from the Rogers Construction Co. of Smithfield to install the town’s first municipality-owned water system. The cast iron would cost $148,871.90 and the cost of $125,013.40 for cement. Those were the two choices to use in the system. The town had 30 days to make a decision on whether or not to accept the bid (Daily Record April 15, 1959).
Question-what was the minimum wage in 1959? I do know that Barbara Stewart of Coats was referred to as one of the ten lovely girls to sparkle in the pageant. What pageant? The Goodwill HD Club met on April 14 at the home of Mrs. Walter Barnes who presented a program on “Let’s Make Housekeeping Easy.” Mrs. Gaither Stewart was a new member and Mrs. Earl Regan was a visitor and 26 members were present. The Goodwill Club had six charter members still in the club-Mrs. E.L. Parrish who had not missed a meeting in 18 years, Mrs. Dallas Jones, Mrs. Mable Barnes, Mrs. D. A. Langdon, Mrs. Everette Barnes, and Mrs. Bunnie Mitchell (Daily Record April 16, 1959).
A few weeks ago, Mrs. Hazel Gunter Sorrell celebrated her 100th birthday and was honored with a donation to the museum endowment by one of by her nephews. Sadly, a few weeks later Mrs. Hazel Sorrell died. Until her death, she is believed to have been the oldest living teacher to have taught at Coats. Other Coats teachers who lived long lives were Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Veasey. Mrs. Veasey died last year. Another teacher and former student at Coats, Nell Penny Williams, celebrated her 98th birthday in July of 2009 and died the next month. She would have celebrated her 105th birthday this week and she has been remembered with a birthday memorial to the Coats Museum Endowment where H.L. Sorrell also gave memorials for Rudolph Miller and Ethelene Faulkner.
Once upon a time, naval stores were the biggest industry in our area. Then cotton was king and finally tobacco supported the farm families. In 1959, the February 27th edition of the Daily Record reported that the farmers in Grove saw a yield increase in tobacco in 1958. In Grove 1, there were 809.95 acres of tobacco with a yield of 1,678 average pounds per acre for a total of 1,350,411 pounds. In Grove 2, there were 867.97 acres planted that averaged 1,847 pounds and produced a total of 1,603,068 pounds.
Does anyone know which farmer in Grove planted the largest acreage of tobacco in 2016?
If you were raised on a tobacco farm, do you recall all the work it took to get that tobacco to the market? Coats Museum volunteers really enjoy listening to visitors at the museum share their stories of using spoons to pick weeds from tobacco plant beds, planting tobacco with hand transplanters and replacing missing plants with a wooden peg. They talk about pulling the heads off tobacco worms, suckering the tobacco and getting up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning to get the cured tobacco out of the barn to make room for the tobacco that would replace it that day. They recall the tobacco gum and ways that were used to get it off their hands before they could eat the “dinner” that their mama got up before dawn to cook the vegetables that were grown in the farm garden. The men remembered how badly they hated pulling sand lugs and the joy they felt when tips were in the barn. They speak of the friendships that were bonded between the black and white workers and how everyone looked forward to the morning break for a soft drink and a choice of honey buns, nabs, moon pie, or a candy bar. All seem to recall that every snack seemed so much bigger back then and that peanuts tasted better when put right into the Pepsi or Coke bottle and that a moon pie was best with a RC Cola.
Many of the ladies share that they remember the days that they looked forward to being able to loop rather than hand the leaves to the looper who usually was a mother, grandmother or older sister. The comments could go on and on. If you don’t know what these museum visitors were talking about, then you must be very young or you were not raised on a tobacco farm.
Tobacco, cotton, chickens, cattle, vegetables and other crops support the family farmer today and feed the world while pumping billions of dollars into the economy. What happens when one of these industries runs into trouble? Apparently US Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn (D-SC) saw trouble looming in the textile industry as early as 1959. He had recommended a six-point program of “positive action” to help the textile industry which “is fighting for its very existence”. He warned when the textile industry suffers, others would suffer (Daily Record Feb. 27, 1959).
Wonder if he feared how it would affect his textile district in SC as well as his father-in-law’s cotton farm in Coats, NC. This I do know. Jackie Benton Nordan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charlie B. Nordan, received his Bachelor of Science Degree from NC Carolina State College. He was married to the former Peggy Matthews and they had one son (Daily Record Feb. 23, 1959).
How many of you can remember your bus numbers when you went to public schools? Better yet, can any of you remember hearing your grandparents or parents talk about walking to school? School trucks were not available to transport students until the early 1920’s. Gustave “Gus” Stewart of Turlington Crossroads had an earlier transportation system for students in our area. Several years before the county transportation system, Stewart devised a covered wagon and two mules—Maude and Nell- to transport students to the Coats Grove School from the Turlington School district where the current Coats Erwin Middle School is located. For one year he used a gong to announce his arrival and transported the wagon load of youngsters to and from school up the old stage road to Coats and was paid to do so—Did the parents pay him? Was NC Highway 55 built at that time?
I do know that Gustave Monroe Stewart, 86, of Turlington’s Crossroads had died on Thursday. His services were held at his home with burial in the Coats Cemetery. His wife, Mrs. Cora Turlington Stewart, survived him. He had one son, T.D. Stewart of the home, and a daughter, Mrs. J.C. Hardee of Raleigh. He had four brothers-Rufus, Milton, Sam, and Hector. Mrs. L.W. Turner was his sister. Gus Stewart was the son of the William and Kizady Williams Stewart (Daily Record March. 6, 1959).
Was Brookie Stewart connected to Gus Stewart? She is the lady who wrote the information about the covered wagon school transportation. Dorothea Stewart Gilbert and I interviewed Brookie in the very early 2000’s and she shared so much information about early Coats and could vividly talk about the personalities of the first merchants who operated those businesses on Main Street in Coats. She shared whose business was in which store building and what each sold and in some cases pointed out items that she had in her house that had come from those businesses. She even shared that William C. Lee was teaching at Turlington when the school caught fire and that he had the students transporting water in their lunch pails to extinguish the fire.
“Let Me Out of Here”, a three act comedy, was presented by the Junior Class at Coats High School. Ann Beasley, Joan Godwin, Jimmy Jones, and Vin Whittington had starring roles (Daily Record April 3, 1959).
Barbara Stewart, a former Miss Coats High, was president of the Campbell College Home Economics Club. She was daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Johnnie Stewart. Elsewhere back in Coats, water was in the news again and it was more encouraging in that it shared that 12 were bidding for the building of the proposed water distribution system for the town of Coats (Daily Record April 6, 1959).
Stephen A. Parrish, 73, of Coats, had died Monday night. Services were held at Bethel Primitive Baptist Church and the church cemetery with Elders Frank Nordan and B.L. Godwin. His wife Mrs. Sadie Adams Parrish survived him. His children were James, Enos, Duvall, H. A. Parrish, Mrs. Preston Benson, Mrs. Glenn Stephenson, Mrs. Hardy Hicks, and Mrs. Layton Godwin (Daily Record April 14, 1959).
State Representative Carson Gregory had predicted that the minimum wage bill would pass without his being there to vote on it. The representative had to attend a funeral. Outside of the Barclaysville area, Mayor C.J. Turlington of Coats announced that the town board received a bid from the Rogers Construction Co. of Smithfield to install the town’s first municipality-owned water system. The cast iron would cost $148,871.90 and the cost of $125,013.40 for cement. Those were the two choices to use in the system. The town had 30 days to make a decision on whether or not to accept the bid (Daily Record April 15, 1959).
Question-what was the minimum wage in 1959? I do know that Barbara Stewart of Coats was referred to as one of the ten lovely girls to sparkle in the pageant. What pageant? The Goodwill HD Club met on April 14 at the home of Mrs. Walter Barnes who presented a program on “Let’s Make Housekeeping Easy.” Mrs. Gaither Stewart was a new member and Mrs. Earl Regan was a visitor and 26 members were present. The Goodwill Club had six charter members still in the club-Mrs. E.L. Parrish who had not missed a meeting in 18 years, Mrs. Dallas Jones, Mrs. Mable Barnes, Mrs. D. A. Langdon, Mrs. Everette Barnes, and Mrs. Bunnie Mitchell (Daily Record April 16, 1959).
A few weeks ago, Mrs. Hazel Gunter Sorrell celebrated her 100th birthday and was honored with a donation to the museum endowment by one of by her nephews. Sadly, a few weeks later Mrs. Hazel Sorrell died. Until her death, she is believed to have been the oldest living teacher to have taught at Coats. Other Coats teachers who lived long lives were Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Veasey. Mrs. Veasey died last year. Another teacher and former student at Coats, Nell Penny Williams, celebrated her 98th birthday in July of 2009 and died the next month. She would have celebrated her 105th birthday this week and she has been remembered with a birthday memorial to the Coats Museum Endowment where H.L. Sorrell also gave memorials for Rudolph Miller and Ethelene Faulkner.
