July 27, 2012 Coats Museum News
The events and people that you will read about today were in the news 81 years ago. Is that over four generations? For example, the Coats Town Board had met on February 3, 1931 when W.G. “Bill Dad”’ Williams and L.E. Byrd went before them asking for payment for working the street by Gift to the pond. The board clerk paid $14.00 for the town’s part. Two questions-Where are Gift and the pond and who was expected to pay the other part?
I do know that the Fidelis Class at the Coats Baptist celebrated its birthday with a cake displaying fourteen candles. Five charter members circled the cake and blew out the candles. Do they continue to have a Fidelis Class at that church and did the church history record who those five charter members were?
The Lillington newspaper had a column in the paper titled “Gregory School News” where the writer of the news reported of being grateful to Electra Massengill for organizing a Sunday school at the school. Wow! There were 43 present at the first meeting. Everyone was invited to attend the 2:30 gathering where some had enjoyed the picture show at the school on Saturday. Did you say, “picture show?” Did the Bethel Church area where the Gregory School was located have electricity in 1931? The column did report that Mr. and Mrs. Carvis Barnes had a very ill baby and Mr. and Mrs. Alton Witherson were proud parents of a fine baby boy named Alton Sherrill, Jr. The writer was sorry to report the death of Mr. and Mrs. Delma Langdon’s baby.
The residents of the small country region had many visitors according to the “Gregory School News”. Mr. and Mrs. Burt Clayton of Timberlake had been Saturday guests of Mr. and Mrs. B.C. Clayton. Mr. and Mrs. Chester Benson and Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Painter were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Sampson Dupree on Sunday after having spent Saturday with the H.T. Clayton family. Mr. and Mrs. Tracy McLeod spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. Satterfield. Mrs. Electra Massengill was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Joe M. Johnson. Did the Johnsons have children at Gregory? Were Ruby and Herbert Johnson their children whose names have shown up as club officers and honor roll students at the Coats High School? The article stated that the children enjoyed each other’s family. Mr. and Mrs. Lester Young visited Mr. and Mrs. Zeb Overby of Angier. Mr. Billie Denning spent Sunday afternoon with his brother Floyd Denning. Mr. and Mrs. D.F. Bodwen spent time with Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Capps. Mrs. Maggie Norris spent Monday night with Miss Lottie Cooke. The writer also wrote that she regretted that Mr. and Mrs. Sherrill Stephenson and Mr. William Pleasant were ill with the measles (Harnett County News February 5, 1931)
Was that not a nice visit into the area of Grove Township around Barclaysville, Bethel and those who lived near the Johnston County–Harnett County line to meet people other than those who lived in the Coats town area?
Back in Coats, Mayor Dr. Garner Fuquay had resigned as mayor of Coats and clerk T.H. Grimes was appointed mayor and J.F. Cannady filled the vacant seat opened by Fuquay’s resignation (Coats Town Board meeting minutes, February 10, 1931). Do you still wonder why Dr. Fuquay is resigning from all the positions he held?
Let’s travel back to the county line road but this time in the Oakdale School area where on February 13th, a night of fun had been planned. The students were presenting the play, “The Little Clodhopper”. The three –act comedy was on Friday evening (Harnett County News February 12, 1931). How sad that all we have left of the activities of this and other school activities are the words written about them in the news.
The news printed the school membership and attendance records for the four remaining schools in Grove Township in 1931. Oakdale had 262 students enrolled, 246 currently in membership, and 209 for daily attendance. Gregory had 61 students, 52 in current membership, and 48 average daily attendance. Turlington had 97 enrolled and 90 in current membership .Coats was the largest school of course, and it had 669 students enrolled, had 625 in current membership and 573 for daily attendance (Harnett County News February 19, 1931).
Let’s return to the Bethel Church area and learn more of the events that were happening there in February of 1931. It seems that many people were very ill with the flu. Among those mentioned were Mrs. Electra Massengill, Harold Massengill, Eves Bowden, and Ben Clayton. Mr. L.T. Stephenson of Varina taught at Gregory while his sister, Mrs. Electra Massengill, was sick. The infant son of J.A. Langdon had drunk kerosene oil on Saturday and was very sick for a while but seemed all right now. Mrs. J.H. Davis, Doris Davis, and Miss Barks spent Sunday with Mrs. Ora Davis. Mrs. W.H. Jones was very sick. Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Apple and children, Doris Davenport, and Mrs. Della Stephenson from Varina had spent Sunday afternoon with Mrs. Electra Massengill and children. Mr. Melvin Hudson had had a bad accident to occur, seriously injuring his foot. Mr. and Mrs. Crosby Dupree had spent Sunday with Mrs. Dupree’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Wood. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Johnson spent Sunday with Mrs. Janie Johnson. Mr. Otha Stephenson and son spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Lecie Nordan. The writer noted that Mrs. Minnie Pleasant had lost her house by fire on Saturday PM. The baby of Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Johnson had pneumonia. Miss Florence Capps visited her cousin, Miss Gladys Bowden, on Sunday. Mr. D.F. Bowden spent Sunday with his brother, Mr. K.N. Bowden. Misses Clara Denning and Thessie Denning spent Sunday with Misses Clydie and Marie Barnes while Mr. and Mrs. Joe M. Johnson had spent Sunday visiting family (Harnett County News February 26, 1931).
The writer of the Gregory School News is unknown to this writer but this person left us a picture of how the families spent their weekends in the rural area around the Johnston-Harnett County line.
Work on the Research Library Room at the museum is progressing rapidly. Thanks go to Paul Parker and David Barnes for their work in that room. The volunteers who worked on the Heritage of Coats, North Carolina book have some wonderful memories of the three years that were spent in research at the Daily Record Library where Mr. Hoover Adams would always drop in and chat with us about our project. The paper even contributed financially by adding a plaque to our Wall of Honor which helped finance the Coats Cotton Museum. He was so instrumental in starting the Harnett County Community Fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation. It is under that fund that the Coats Museum established the Coats Museum Endowment to assist in the upkeep of the museum in years to come. A special thanks goes to those on the Coats Museum committee who gave to the fund to honor the memory of Mr. Hoover Adams and to those who gave to the same endowment to honor the memory of Nell Penny Williams on her birthday.
Visit the museum at coatsmuseum.com and enjoy the many interviews available on that site.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COATS MUSEUM NEWS WAS PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON JULY 27, 2012.
The events and people that you will read about today were in the news 81 years ago. Is that over four generations? For example, the Coats Town Board had met on February 3, 1931 when W.G. “Bill Dad”’ Williams and L.E. Byrd went before them asking for payment for working the street by Gift to the pond. The board clerk paid $14.00 for the town’s part. Two questions-Where are Gift and the pond and who was expected to pay the other part?
I do know that the Fidelis Class at the Coats Baptist celebrated its birthday with a cake displaying fourteen candles. Five charter members circled the cake and blew out the candles. Do they continue to have a Fidelis Class at that church and did the church history record who those five charter members were?
The Lillington newspaper had a column in the paper titled “Gregory School News” where the writer of the news reported of being grateful to Electra Massengill for organizing a Sunday school at the school. Wow! There were 43 present at the first meeting. Everyone was invited to attend the 2:30 gathering where some had enjoyed the picture show at the school on Saturday. Did you say, “picture show?” Did the Bethel Church area where the Gregory School was located have electricity in 1931? The column did report that Mr. and Mrs. Carvis Barnes had a very ill baby and Mr. and Mrs. Alton Witherson were proud parents of a fine baby boy named Alton Sherrill, Jr. The writer was sorry to report the death of Mr. and Mrs. Delma Langdon’s baby.
The residents of the small country region had many visitors according to the “Gregory School News”. Mr. and Mrs. Burt Clayton of Timberlake had been Saturday guests of Mr. and Mrs. B.C. Clayton. Mr. and Mrs. Chester Benson and Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Painter were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Sampson Dupree on Sunday after having spent Saturday with the H.T. Clayton family. Mr. and Mrs. Tracy McLeod spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. Satterfield. Mrs. Electra Massengill was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Joe M. Johnson. Did the Johnsons have children at Gregory? Were Ruby and Herbert Johnson their children whose names have shown up as club officers and honor roll students at the Coats High School? The article stated that the children enjoyed each other’s family. Mr. and Mrs. Lester Young visited Mr. and Mrs. Zeb Overby of Angier. Mr. Billie Denning spent Sunday afternoon with his brother Floyd Denning. Mr. and Mrs. D.F. Bodwen spent time with Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Capps. Mrs. Maggie Norris spent Monday night with Miss Lottie Cooke. The writer also wrote that she regretted that Mr. and Mrs. Sherrill Stephenson and Mr. William Pleasant were ill with the measles (Harnett County News February 5, 1931)
Was that not a nice visit into the area of Grove Township around Barclaysville, Bethel and those who lived near the Johnston County–Harnett County line to meet people other than those who lived in the Coats town area?
Back in Coats, Mayor Dr. Garner Fuquay had resigned as mayor of Coats and clerk T.H. Grimes was appointed mayor and J.F. Cannady filled the vacant seat opened by Fuquay’s resignation (Coats Town Board meeting minutes, February 10, 1931). Do you still wonder why Dr. Fuquay is resigning from all the positions he held?
Let’s travel back to the county line road but this time in the Oakdale School area where on February 13th, a night of fun had been planned. The students were presenting the play, “The Little Clodhopper”. The three –act comedy was on Friday evening (Harnett County News February 12, 1931). How sad that all we have left of the activities of this and other school activities are the words written about them in the news.
The news printed the school membership and attendance records for the four remaining schools in Grove Township in 1931. Oakdale had 262 students enrolled, 246 currently in membership, and 209 for daily attendance. Gregory had 61 students, 52 in current membership, and 48 average daily attendance. Turlington had 97 enrolled and 90 in current membership .Coats was the largest school of course, and it had 669 students enrolled, had 625 in current membership and 573 for daily attendance (Harnett County News February 19, 1931).
Let’s return to the Bethel Church area and learn more of the events that were happening there in February of 1931. It seems that many people were very ill with the flu. Among those mentioned were Mrs. Electra Massengill, Harold Massengill, Eves Bowden, and Ben Clayton. Mr. L.T. Stephenson of Varina taught at Gregory while his sister, Mrs. Electra Massengill, was sick. The infant son of J.A. Langdon had drunk kerosene oil on Saturday and was very sick for a while but seemed all right now. Mrs. J.H. Davis, Doris Davis, and Miss Barks spent Sunday with Mrs. Ora Davis. Mrs. W.H. Jones was very sick. Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Apple and children, Doris Davenport, and Mrs. Della Stephenson from Varina had spent Sunday afternoon with Mrs. Electra Massengill and children. Mr. Melvin Hudson had had a bad accident to occur, seriously injuring his foot. Mr. and Mrs. Crosby Dupree had spent Sunday with Mrs. Dupree’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Wood. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Johnson spent Sunday with Mrs. Janie Johnson. Mr. Otha Stephenson and son spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Lecie Nordan. The writer noted that Mrs. Minnie Pleasant had lost her house by fire on Saturday PM. The baby of Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Johnson had pneumonia. Miss Florence Capps visited her cousin, Miss Gladys Bowden, on Sunday. Mr. D.F. Bowden spent Sunday with his brother, Mr. K.N. Bowden. Misses Clara Denning and Thessie Denning spent Sunday with Misses Clydie and Marie Barnes while Mr. and Mrs. Joe M. Johnson had spent Sunday visiting family (Harnett County News February 26, 1931).
The writer of the Gregory School News is unknown to this writer but this person left us a picture of how the families spent their weekends in the rural area around the Johnston-Harnett County line.
Work on the Research Library Room at the museum is progressing rapidly. Thanks go to Paul Parker and David Barnes for their work in that room. The volunteers who worked on the Heritage of Coats, North Carolina book have some wonderful memories of the three years that were spent in research at the Daily Record Library where Mr. Hoover Adams would always drop in and chat with us about our project. The paper even contributed financially by adding a plaque to our Wall of Honor which helped finance the Coats Cotton Museum. He was so instrumental in starting the Harnett County Community Fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation. It is under that fund that the Coats Museum established the Coats Museum Endowment to assist in the upkeep of the museum in years to come. A special thanks goes to those on the Coats Museum committee who gave to the fund to honor the memory of Mr. Hoover Adams and to those who gave to the same endowment to honor the memory of Nell Penny Williams on her birthday.
Visit the museum at coatsmuseum.com and enjoy the many interviews available on that site.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COATS MUSEUM NEWS WAS PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON JULY 27, 2012.
