May 29, 2015 Coats
Museum News
The new Erwin Negro School was finally given the official name Gentry, being named for Superintendent B.P Gentry. In Dunn the fate of the Dunn Health Center was in the lap of the State Attorney General as to whether the HCBOC could have legally appropriated monies from an accrued surplus of the County Health Department for use in helping build the Health Center. Who remembers how that turned out?
I do know that the HCBOC drew jurors from Grove and they were John G. Barnes, E.W. Denning, Paul D. Murray, Owen Odum, Willard C. West, Moses Poole, Otis Gregory, Alex Gregory, John R. Avery, Bernice Bayles, Lee Turlington, S.V. Spivey, John Lloyd Ryals, Fred A. Byrd, and Howard Reardon (Dunn Dispatch August 8, 1952).
When was the Chicora Country Club built? The paper shared that it was to open on August 13 with a full round of events. Was this the golf course that was being talked about many columns back? I do know that Richard Hayes of the Coats community had built a farm pond several years ago. Now he was going to build a smaller pond so his cows could have access to another pond from which to drink (Dunn Dispatch August 11, 1952).
Was there a Hayes Dairy? If so, that would make two dairies that were located on the current Abattoir Road. There was a Lee Dairy in 1936 that was operated by Seth Lee, Jr. for several years and the museum has several items from the dairy. Currently, Seth, Jr.‘s son maintains one of the prettiest places on that road for his mother. M.P. Lee’s son, Monroe, is cleaning up the farm and hopes to restore it to some of its earlier beauty.
On the other side of Coats, Mr. C.H. Joyner had had a few terraces staked on his farm last spring. He shared that he planned to have more done if he could get the necessary outlets established. Are terraces the same thing as dikes? Wonder if Herbert Johnson had had some terraces staked on his farms. I do know that his daughter, Norma Lee Johnson, had attended Camp Milestone near Rockingham as a 4-H member (Dunn Dispatch August 6, 1952).
Lots of ponds were built in the 1950’s and some were stocked with fish supplied by the government. Irrigation of crops, especially tobacco, became very popular in the 50’s. Those long aluminum pipes with tall sprinklers shooting water to those thirsty tobacco plants during dry spells saved many farmers from going broke.
Riding the roads of Harnett County will show just how many ponds were built. Lots of farmers had ponds built on the branches and springs by clearing the acreage of trees. The farmers and their children found many uses for those ponds. Multiple uses of the pond are recalled on the Jonah Johnson ten-plus acre outside of Coats. One was for fishing, another for washing out fertilizer bags and one for cooling off the farm children on very hot days.
How many of you remember washing out those dozens of fertilizer bags that had accumulated after being emptied on the hundreds of acres of cotton, tobacco, corn soybeans, wheat, oats and rye that were planted that year. Once a year, those fertilizer bags were loaded onto a trailer, armed with side rails. A tractor pulled the trailer loaded not only with dusty fertilizer bags but also with all the farmers’ children (youngins back then) who were just as excited as if they were headed to a homemade ice cream party.
The youngins would hop on top of those powdery, smelly fertilizer bags and not think twice about it. The end of the bumpy ride to the farm pond would be worth it all. Around my dad’s pond was a wire fence which made a perfect “bag line” to dry the washed sacks.
Usually, a couple of the children would throw out the dusty sacks along the water’s edge on the pond dam. Then the older children would go into the pond and dip the bags up and down and then up and down until the fertilizer was washed out. It was twisted several times to get out the excess water. The bag was tossed or handed to another child who tossed to the person who hung it on the fence to dry. This process continued and the jobs were often traded off so everyone had a chance to play in the water.
If there was no other farm chores waiting in the fields or vegetable garden, the farm kids would have a great time swimming, floating and being kids. Work and fun were two important parts of farm life. All farm children did work and at an early age they learned to do the job well. If not done well, the time would come when the sloppy work would be disclosed by one of the other siblings.
Also, it only took a few days for seeds to sprout after they were quickly covered after being spilt while playing around. Grass not chopped would continue to grow. Suckers not pulled don’t die. Vegetables not picked become dry or too large. Sloppiness will catch up with you was a lesson learned early by farm children.
If you are not farm reared, you may wonder why anyone would wash sacks. The bags were unraveled and sewn together to make sheets for holding picked cotton and for covering cured tobacco. Did anyone have another use for them? At our farm, my brother, J.C. Johnson, Jr. made curtains for our summer theater productions for the parents on our farms to enjoy all their children’s limited talents on stage (Joyce Farmer-2004).
Mrs. Sallie P. Matthews, 75, of Route One, Coats, had died at her home after several weeks of illness. Services were held at Prospect and interment was in the church cemetery. She was survived by six sons-William H., N.E., Tommy, E.L., W.L., and J.T., Jr. Her five daughters were Mrs. A.B. Denton, Eula Matthews, Mrs. C.T. King, Mrs. J.M. Ferrell, and Mrs. R.O. Byrd. Her three stepchildren were Johnnie and Lonnie and Mrs. Katie Matthews (Dunn Dispatch August 13, 1952).
Despite the drought, the three major crops in Harnett were valued at 17.6 million dollars. Harnett ranked 14th in acreage of tobacco planted in the U.S. Harnett grew about 20,000 acres-about 22,000,000 pounds with about 11 million dollars value. Cotton value was set at around 4.6 million dollars off between 22 and 26 thousand bales. Are those numbers surprising?
Mrs. Frances Weeks, 87, of Route 2, Angier, had died Thursday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Sallie Johnson. Services were held at Sandy Grove Church and cemetery. She had three sons-John, Joe, and Percy Adams. Her four daughters were Mrs. Sallie Johnson, Mrs. Sadie Parrish, Mrs. Florence Adams, and Mrs. Ila Weaver. Three sisters were Mrs. Flora Barnes, Mrs. Almira Ennis, and Mrs. Alice Coats (Dunn Dispatch August 15, 1952).
Mr. and Mrs. Keith Wayne Stewart announced the birth of a daughter, June Stephanie, at Good Hope Hospital. Mrs. J.B. Ennis had returned from John Hopkins where she had received treatment. The Dunn tobacco market opened for its 5th year. Evangeline Stewart was in a contest in Dunn for “Queen Cotton”. A girl from town could not compete. She tied for second place at the rainy cotton festival where hundreds and not thousands went (Daily Record August 22, 1952 and Dunn Dispatch August 25, 1952). Did that mean a girl from Dunn could not run or a girl had to live on the farm to enter?
Larry and Michelle Cooke visited us this week from Laramie, Wyoming. Larry, a 1970 graduate of Coats High, had a career in the US Marines and later worked with the Wounded Warriors and then with the USO. Larry was Director of the USO Center in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Larry and Michelle will be in China later this year where he will teach English there. Thanks goes to Larry for the donating an American flag flown through the skies of Southern Afghanistan in his honor. When visiting the Coats Museum, make sure you read what is written on this display item .
Thank you goes to the Diane Denning for remembering Pauline Daniel with a museum memorial donation. The volunteers continue to miss the faces of Earl Denning and Pauline at the museum.
The new Erwin Negro School was finally given the official name Gentry, being named for Superintendent B.P Gentry. In Dunn the fate of the Dunn Health Center was in the lap of the State Attorney General as to whether the HCBOC could have legally appropriated monies from an accrued surplus of the County Health Department for use in helping build the Health Center. Who remembers how that turned out?
I do know that the HCBOC drew jurors from Grove and they were John G. Barnes, E.W. Denning, Paul D. Murray, Owen Odum, Willard C. West, Moses Poole, Otis Gregory, Alex Gregory, John R. Avery, Bernice Bayles, Lee Turlington, S.V. Spivey, John Lloyd Ryals, Fred A. Byrd, and Howard Reardon (Dunn Dispatch August 8, 1952).
When was the Chicora Country Club built? The paper shared that it was to open on August 13 with a full round of events. Was this the golf course that was being talked about many columns back? I do know that Richard Hayes of the Coats community had built a farm pond several years ago. Now he was going to build a smaller pond so his cows could have access to another pond from which to drink (Dunn Dispatch August 11, 1952).
Was there a Hayes Dairy? If so, that would make two dairies that were located on the current Abattoir Road. There was a Lee Dairy in 1936 that was operated by Seth Lee, Jr. for several years and the museum has several items from the dairy. Currently, Seth, Jr.‘s son maintains one of the prettiest places on that road for his mother. M.P. Lee’s son, Monroe, is cleaning up the farm and hopes to restore it to some of its earlier beauty.
On the other side of Coats, Mr. C.H. Joyner had had a few terraces staked on his farm last spring. He shared that he planned to have more done if he could get the necessary outlets established. Are terraces the same thing as dikes? Wonder if Herbert Johnson had had some terraces staked on his farms. I do know that his daughter, Norma Lee Johnson, had attended Camp Milestone near Rockingham as a 4-H member (Dunn Dispatch August 6, 1952).
Lots of ponds were built in the 1950’s and some were stocked with fish supplied by the government. Irrigation of crops, especially tobacco, became very popular in the 50’s. Those long aluminum pipes with tall sprinklers shooting water to those thirsty tobacco plants during dry spells saved many farmers from going broke.
Riding the roads of Harnett County will show just how many ponds were built. Lots of farmers had ponds built on the branches and springs by clearing the acreage of trees. The farmers and their children found many uses for those ponds. Multiple uses of the pond are recalled on the Jonah Johnson ten-plus acre outside of Coats. One was for fishing, another for washing out fertilizer bags and one for cooling off the farm children on very hot days.
How many of you remember washing out those dozens of fertilizer bags that had accumulated after being emptied on the hundreds of acres of cotton, tobacco, corn soybeans, wheat, oats and rye that were planted that year. Once a year, those fertilizer bags were loaded onto a trailer, armed with side rails. A tractor pulled the trailer loaded not only with dusty fertilizer bags but also with all the farmers’ children (youngins back then) who were just as excited as if they were headed to a homemade ice cream party.
The youngins would hop on top of those powdery, smelly fertilizer bags and not think twice about it. The end of the bumpy ride to the farm pond would be worth it all. Around my dad’s pond was a wire fence which made a perfect “bag line” to dry the washed sacks.
Usually, a couple of the children would throw out the dusty sacks along the water’s edge on the pond dam. Then the older children would go into the pond and dip the bags up and down and then up and down until the fertilizer was washed out. It was twisted several times to get out the excess water. The bag was tossed or handed to another child who tossed to the person who hung it on the fence to dry. This process continued and the jobs were often traded off so everyone had a chance to play in the water.
If there was no other farm chores waiting in the fields or vegetable garden, the farm kids would have a great time swimming, floating and being kids. Work and fun were two important parts of farm life. All farm children did work and at an early age they learned to do the job well. If not done well, the time would come when the sloppy work would be disclosed by one of the other siblings.
Also, it only took a few days for seeds to sprout after they were quickly covered after being spilt while playing around. Grass not chopped would continue to grow. Suckers not pulled don’t die. Vegetables not picked become dry or too large. Sloppiness will catch up with you was a lesson learned early by farm children.
If you are not farm reared, you may wonder why anyone would wash sacks. The bags were unraveled and sewn together to make sheets for holding picked cotton and for covering cured tobacco. Did anyone have another use for them? At our farm, my brother, J.C. Johnson, Jr. made curtains for our summer theater productions for the parents on our farms to enjoy all their children’s limited talents on stage (Joyce Farmer-2004).
Mrs. Sallie P. Matthews, 75, of Route One, Coats, had died at her home after several weeks of illness. Services were held at Prospect and interment was in the church cemetery. She was survived by six sons-William H., N.E., Tommy, E.L., W.L., and J.T., Jr. Her five daughters were Mrs. A.B. Denton, Eula Matthews, Mrs. C.T. King, Mrs. J.M. Ferrell, and Mrs. R.O. Byrd. Her three stepchildren were Johnnie and Lonnie and Mrs. Katie Matthews (Dunn Dispatch August 13, 1952).
Despite the drought, the three major crops in Harnett were valued at 17.6 million dollars. Harnett ranked 14th in acreage of tobacco planted in the U.S. Harnett grew about 20,000 acres-about 22,000,000 pounds with about 11 million dollars value. Cotton value was set at around 4.6 million dollars off between 22 and 26 thousand bales. Are those numbers surprising?
Mrs. Frances Weeks, 87, of Route 2, Angier, had died Thursday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Sallie Johnson. Services were held at Sandy Grove Church and cemetery. She had three sons-John, Joe, and Percy Adams. Her four daughters were Mrs. Sallie Johnson, Mrs. Sadie Parrish, Mrs. Florence Adams, and Mrs. Ila Weaver. Three sisters were Mrs. Flora Barnes, Mrs. Almira Ennis, and Mrs. Alice Coats (Dunn Dispatch August 15, 1952).
Mr. and Mrs. Keith Wayne Stewart announced the birth of a daughter, June Stephanie, at Good Hope Hospital. Mrs. J.B. Ennis had returned from John Hopkins where she had received treatment. The Dunn tobacco market opened for its 5th year. Evangeline Stewart was in a contest in Dunn for “Queen Cotton”. A girl from town could not compete. She tied for second place at the rainy cotton festival where hundreds and not thousands went (Daily Record August 22, 1952 and Dunn Dispatch August 25, 1952). Did that mean a girl from Dunn could not run or a girl had to live on the farm to enter?
Larry and Michelle Cooke visited us this week from Laramie, Wyoming. Larry, a 1970 graduate of Coats High, had a career in the US Marines and later worked with the Wounded Warriors and then with the USO. Larry was Director of the USO Center in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Larry and Michelle will be in China later this year where he will teach English there. Thanks goes to Larry for the donating an American flag flown through the skies of Southern Afghanistan in his honor. When visiting the Coats Museum, make sure you read what is written on this display item .
Thank you goes to the Diane Denning for remembering Pauline Daniel with a museum memorial donation. The volunteers continue to miss the faces of Earl Denning and Pauline at the museum.