June 10, 2016 Coats Museum News
The date on the Daily Record displayed that it was July 15, 1958. Being that Coats was a busy farm community where tobacco was likely being harvested in July, would you say chances are that Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Jernigan were hoping that their daughter Joyce Jean would wait awhile to marry Charles Gilbert Williams of rural Dunn.
However, there was no waiting for the funeral of Mrs. Katie Mildred Williams, 90, of Coats who had died at her home. She was the widow of Simeon Williams of Harnett County. Her services were held at the Coats Gift PBC by Elders J.T. Lewis and A.D. McGee. Burial was in Coats. Mrs. Williams was survived by one daughter, Mrs. Ozie Stewart and two sons-Troy and Johnny Williams of Coats (Daily Record July 21, 1958).
What was the source of heat to cure tobacco in 1958? I do know that a fire destroyed the tobacco barn of C.R. Byrd, four miles to the left of Turlington’s Crossroads. The damage was $1,000. Isn’t that an interesting way of giving a direction? What if one was coming from a different direction-would it be four miles right of Turlington’s Crossroads?
There was no question that death had claimed the life of a 48 year-old man of Newport. David H. Grimes had died there on Wednesday morning. He was survived by his mother, Mrs. David H. Grimes; his wife, Mrs. Velma Barbour Grimes; his two sons, Jimmy and Bobby Grimes and one daughter, Mrs. M.P. Lee. He had five brothers-Clarence, Lonnie, Johnny, Grady, and William Grimes. Mrs. Hampton Johnson, Mrs. Marvin Whittington, and Mrs. C. A. Whittington were sisters. Did he not have another sister? Services were at Hodges Chapel Church by Rev. J.D. Capps and Rev. Ben Eller.
Marine Sgt. Louis E. Harmon, son of Mrs. O.P. Harmon of Coats, was in Beirut (July 21, 1958).
As we continue to travel into yesteryear, we learn that Sp.2 and Mrs. James Tadlock were parents of a son, James. The mother was the former Jeanette Jackson (Daily Record July 29, 1958).
Specialist 4 Johnny O.R. Dowdy, 23, whose wife Eloise lived in Coats, had recently arrived in Alaska and was now a member of the U.S. Service Company Wildwood Station. Dowdy, son of John H. Dowdy, was a 1952 graduate of Shawtown High School (Daily Record Aug. 4, 1958).
The N.C. Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill was the place of death for Mrs. Maggie McNeill, 64, of Route One, Coats. She was a member of the Prospect Church. Otis Lockamy and Mrs. Lettie Bunn were children of the deceased (Daily Record Aug. 6, 1958).
Rightly so, Coats was proud of their volunteer fire department just as was the Ennis clan proud of one of their own. In 32 years at the Raleigh Fire Department, U.M. Ennis had missed only one day of work. He took off that day when his father-in-law had died to attend his funeral. Mr. Ennis began work in 1925 and worked up to a captain. He worked the 1926 Dorothea Dix fire, the 1927 Grand Theater and the Yarborough Hotel fires. Ennis had fought fires when it was so cold the water froze in sheets after it fell back from the flames. He had bought land and built a house on the Red Hill Church Road near Hodges Crossroads (Daily Record Aug. 7, 1958). Did his Ennis ancestors live on that same soil?
As you have traveled through the pages of yesteryear, you have seen the reoccurrence of many surnames. Recall the name Fuquay from the 1700, 1800, and 1900’s? The name had shown up again when Cecil Fuquay, son of the late Dr. Garner Fuquay, had married Shirley Dupree, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Otis Dupree of rural Angier. For the wedding she had worn a ballerina gown of embroidered cotton with a full skirt of double tulle. Halford Godwin was best man for Cecil. Mr. Fuquay had been a teacher at Coats High School for three years (Daily Record Aug. 11, 1958).
Wonder which event was causing the most buzz in Coats-the marriage of one of the town’s most eligible bachelors or the possibility that the voters in Coats will vote again on getting water after barely defeating the proposed water system in 1940 –almost 29 years ago in May of 1958.
Let’s revisit the background of the water-sewer system proposal from 1940. Do you remember that the Coats Town Council had planned to secure WPA funds to install improvements to the water system without an increase in the tax rate in Coats? The cost of the up-to-date system was to be $89,000 and at a cost of $36,000 to the citizens. The WPA would pay the difference. Mayor J.B. Williams had prepared the application for the funds. There were to be an estimated 125 customers. Fred Byrd had harnessed five springs and supplied about 40 people who had tapped lines leading from that private reservoir including Coats High School in 1940 ( Harnett County News Jan. 11, 1940). Did the other residents get water from wells? Where did the wastewater go in 1940?
Was it surprising that Byrd would have opposed the new system? Would you have? I do know the paper indicated that the special election had become heated for voting on the water-sewer system. Byrd contended that the town was too poor to burden itself with a bond issue that would send taxes skyrocketing. The town council and mayor disagreed saying the revenues from approximately 125 customers would be sufficient to retire the bonds (Harnett County News April 9, 1940).
The 1940 proposal to install water and sewer system had failed by 12 votes. The final count had been 167 for and 179 against. Only seven registered voters did not vote. Fred A. Byrd had been successful in the movement to defeat the proposal. It was his contention that shouldering a $38,000 burden would send the tax rate soaring and sink the town in a morass of debt. Town officials and leaders who sought a favorable vote for the plan contended that sooner or later Coats would be forced to install a modern system. If the town failed to take advantage of the WPA funds, which would furnish more than half of the money to finance the $89,000 project, the taxpayers would have to foot the bill at a later time (Harnett County News May 16, 1940).
Had that time come? In 1958, Mayor C.J. Turlington said that a lot of people who opposed the system then favored the water-sewer system now. The mayor said Coats was in quite a fix. There was no water. He joked (maybe) that last year a dentist had left town because he would be fixing and squirting a tooth and there was nothing to squirt with. The meager supply of water would be shut off for folks in order to let the supply build up a surplus. It should be obvious that Mayor Turlington was supportive of the system. An engineering survey by J.F. Boney said the cost of an effective system with fire hydrants would cost $215,000 (Daily Record Aug. 14, 1958).
Question-when did Angier get their water system? Someone once told me that Angier and Coats were voting on a water system at the same time and that Angier citizens passed theirs and Coats did not. Was this in 1940?
This I do know. Henry Clay Stewart had died at his home in Coats. Mr. Henry was survived by his wife, Mrs. Myrtle Stewart. His four children were Evangeline, Keith Wayne, Theron Laverne, and Klyce Elon Stewart. He had seven siblings; Alfred, Worth, Herbert, Guy C., Latta, Victor, and Mrs. Leon Brown (Daily Record Aug. 1958).
Questions—Where was the Stewart Mill ? Where was Henry’s house in Coats? Was his house on McKinley Street and located directly beside the Dragonfly Florist? Another question-was Myrtle Stewart the daughter of Lonnie L. Stewart, an early town merchant on Main Street? Read next week to learn more about the Stewart Mill where farmers came for miles to have their corn ground into meal at the Henry Clay Stewart Corn Mill.
The date on the Daily Record displayed that it was July 15, 1958. Being that Coats was a busy farm community where tobacco was likely being harvested in July, would you say chances are that Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Jernigan were hoping that their daughter Joyce Jean would wait awhile to marry Charles Gilbert Williams of rural Dunn.
However, there was no waiting for the funeral of Mrs. Katie Mildred Williams, 90, of Coats who had died at her home. She was the widow of Simeon Williams of Harnett County. Her services were held at the Coats Gift PBC by Elders J.T. Lewis and A.D. McGee. Burial was in Coats. Mrs. Williams was survived by one daughter, Mrs. Ozie Stewart and two sons-Troy and Johnny Williams of Coats (Daily Record July 21, 1958).
What was the source of heat to cure tobacco in 1958? I do know that a fire destroyed the tobacco barn of C.R. Byrd, four miles to the left of Turlington’s Crossroads. The damage was $1,000. Isn’t that an interesting way of giving a direction? What if one was coming from a different direction-would it be four miles right of Turlington’s Crossroads?
There was no question that death had claimed the life of a 48 year-old man of Newport. David H. Grimes had died there on Wednesday morning. He was survived by his mother, Mrs. David H. Grimes; his wife, Mrs. Velma Barbour Grimes; his two sons, Jimmy and Bobby Grimes and one daughter, Mrs. M.P. Lee. He had five brothers-Clarence, Lonnie, Johnny, Grady, and William Grimes. Mrs. Hampton Johnson, Mrs. Marvin Whittington, and Mrs. C. A. Whittington were sisters. Did he not have another sister? Services were at Hodges Chapel Church by Rev. J.D. Capps and Rev. Ben Eller.
Marine Sgt. Louis E. Harmon, son of Mrs. O.P. Harmon of Coats, was in Beirut (July 21, 1958).
As we continue to travel into yesteryear, we learn that Sp.2 and Mrs. James Tadlock were parents of a son, James. The mother was the former Jeanette Jackson (Daily Record July 29, 1958).
Specialist 4 Johnny O.R. Dowdy, 23, whose wife Eloise lived in Coats, had recently arrived in Alaska and was now a member of the U.S. Service Company Wildwood Station. Dowdy, son of John H. Dowdy, was a 1952 graduate of Shawtown High School (Daily Record Aug. 4, 1958).
The N.C. Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill was the place of death for Mrs. Maggie McNeill, 64, of Route One, Coats. She was a member of the Prospect Church. Otis Lockamy and Mrs. Lettie Bunn were children of the deceased (Daily Record Aug. 6, 1958).
Rightly so, Coats was proud of their volunteer fire department just as was the Ennis clan proud of one of their own. In 32 years at the Raleigh Fire Department, U.M. Ennis had missed only one day of work. He took off that day when his father-in-law had died to attend his funeral. Mr. Ennis began work in 1925 and worked up to a captain. He worked the 1926 Dorothea Dix fire, the 1927 Grand Theater and the Yarborough Hotel fires. Ennis had fought fires when it was so cold the water froze in sheets after it fell back from the flames. He had bought land and built a house on the Red Hill Church Road near Hodges Crossroads (Daily Record Aug. 7, 1958). Did his Ennis ancestors live on that same soil?
As you have traveled through the pages of yesteryear, you have seen the reoccurrence of many surnames. Recall the name Fuquay from the 1700, 1800, and 1900’s? The name had shown up again when Cecil Fuquay, son of the late Dr. Garner Fuquay, had married Shirley Dupree, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Otis Dupree of rural Angier. For the wedding she had worn a ballerina gown of embroidered cotton with a full skirt of double tulle. Halford Godwin was best man for Cecil. Mr. Fuquay had been a teacher at Coats High School for three years (Daily Record Aug. 11, 1958).
Wonder which event was causing the most buzz in Coats-the marriage of one of the town’s most eligible bachelors or the possibility that the voters in Coats will vote again on getting water after barely defeating the proposed water system in 1940 –almost 29 years ago in May of 1958.
Let’s revisit the background of the water-sewer system proposal from 1940. Do you remember that the Coats Town Council had planned to secure WPA funds to install improvements to the water system without an increase in the tax rate in Coats? The cost of the up-to-date system was to be $89,000 and at a cost of $36,000 to the citizens. The WPA would pay the difference. Mayor J.B. Williams had prepared the application for the funds. There were to be an estimated 125 customers. Fred Byrd had harnessed five springs and supplied about 40 people who had tapped lines leading from that private reservoir including Coats High School in 1940 ( Harnett County News Jan. 11, 1940). Did the other residents get water from wells? Where did the wastewater go in 1940?
Was it surprising that Byrd would have opposed the new system? Would you have? I do know the paper indicated that the special election had become heated for voting on the water-sewer system. Byrd contended that the town was too poor to burden itself with a bond issue that would send taxes skyrocketing. The town council and mayor disagreed saying the revenues from approximately 125 customers would be sufficient to retire the bonds (Harnett County News April 9, 1940).
The 1940 proposal to install water and sewer system had failed by 12 votes. The final count had been 167 for and 179 against. Only seven registered voters did not vote. Fred A. Byrd had been successful in the movement to defeat the proposal. It was his contention that shouldering a $38,000 burden would send the tax rate soaring and sink the town in a morass of debt. Town officials and leaders who sought a favorable vote for the plan contended that sooner or later Coats would be forced to install a modern system. If the town failed to take advantage of the WPA funds, which would furnish more than half of the money to finance the $89,000 project, the taxpayers would have to foot the bill at a later time (Harnett County News May 16, 1940).
Had that time come? In 1958, Mayor C.J. Turlington said that a lot of people who opposed the system then favored the water-sewer system now. The mayor said Coats was in quite a fix. There was no water. He joked (maybe) that last year a dentist had left town because he would be fixing and squirting a tooth and there was nothing to squirt with. The meager supply of water would be shut off for folks in order to let the supply build up a surplus. It should be obvious that Mayor Turlington was supportive of the system. An engineering survey by J.F. Boney said the cost of an effective system with fire hydrants would cost $215,000 (Daily Record Aug. 14, 1958).
Question-when did Angier get their water system? Someone once told me that Angier and Coats were voting on a water system at the same time and that Angier citizens passed theirs and Coats did not. Was this in 1940?
This I do know. Henry Clay Stewart had died at his home in Coats. Mr. Henry was survived by his wife, Mrs. Myrtle Stewart. His four children were Evangeline, Keith Wayne, Theron Laverne, and Klyce Elon Stewart. He had seven siblings; Alfred, Worth, Herbert, Guy C., Latta, Victor, and Mrs. Leon Brown (Daily Record Aug. 1958).
Questions—Where was the Stewart Mill ? Where was Henry’s house in Coats? Was his house on McKinley Street and located directly beside the Dragonfly Florist? Another question-was Myrtle Stewart the daughter of Lonnie L. Stewart, an early town merchant on Main Street? Read next week to learn more about the Stewart Mill where farmers came for miles to have their corn ground into meal at the Henry Clay Stewart Corn Mill.