November 25. 2022 Coats Museum News
The month was September in 1991 when a surprise visit to 91 year-old Mrs. Callie Hudson from her daughter Irene, granddaughter Margie Tart Pleasant, great-granddaughter Callie Lynn Ennis, and great-great-granddaughter Bethany Lynn Ennis occurred at the America’s Health Care of Lillington (Daily Record Sept. 25, 1991).
Is that not five generations? Can you imagine the stories that she had shared with them about changes she had witnessed? She was born in 1900. That was before the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk and Coats was a town. There was no indoor plumbing for bathrooms and kitchens; no television or movies, no electricity for heating and cooling the houses and for washing, drying and ironing clothes. There were no cars, trucks or trains in our area. There were no tractors, cotton pickers or zero turn lawnmowers.
You ask then “What was in the area a few years before and after Mrs. Hudson was born?
In 1858, there was a Beasley School near old Ma’s Restaurant and in 1879, there was a Harriett Spring School thought to have been in the general area behind Hardee’s. From 1885 until 1950, there were several one and two rooms schools such as the Sorrell, Ennis, Gregory, Turlington, Wiggins, Parker and District # 3 School which was in Troyville-but was later called Coats.
How did Mrs. Hudson’s parents get their mail? It would have arrived by a stage coach before 1903 and the receiver of the mail would have had to walk or travel by wagon or buggy. Depending if they lived in this general Troyville area, they would have traveled to the house of the postmaster Joseph Ary Stewart. There were other post offices in Turlingon, Barclaysville, Stewart’s Academy at Bailey’s Crossroads and at Poe (Buies Creek area).
Did Mrs. Hudson share her memories with her descendants about how they got ice, made butter , canned and preserved food , repaired shoes and ordered fabric and needed items from Sear Roebuck catalogue-much like online buying today.?
I do know that Everett and Frances Fanning had made memories to share. They had just returned after a 24-day trip across the U.S. Arlene Turlington and Addie Coats Overton were on that trip. Others in the Coats area were also home from traveling for several weeks. Mary and Eugene Stewart had returned from a 12-day trip to Nova Scotia while Harry and Mildred Pope Wheeler had completed a six-week tour of the Northwest and Alaska. Major Baxter Ennis had made a trip also but his was to the Walter Reed Hospital where he had received neck surgery (Daily Record Sept. 20, 1991).
Death was also on the move. It had visited the Weaver family. Mrs. Annie Weaver, 51, of Route One, Coats had died on Sunday. Her husband was Bobby Weaver and several children –Jackie, Joni, Regina, Sherrill, and Jeffrey and two step-sons –Bobby and Michael- survived her (Daily Record Sept. 30, 1991).
Dell and Robin Godwin had good news to tell some Coats folks. They shared that Chelsey Leigh Godwin was born on September 22. Larry and Pat Godwin were grandparents and Bartley and Frances Cook were great-grandparents (Daily Record Oct. 1, 1991).
Alan and Melissa Stephenson were parents of Timothy Ray Stephen son. Mavis Stewart, Elton Stewart, Vonnie Stewart and Lucy Weaver were great-grandparents. Kenneth and Ann Stewart Weaver were the grandparents (Daily Record Oct. 1. 1991).
First deaths, then births and now engagements showed up in the Daily Record. Mr. and Mrs. Jimmie T. Vaughn of Coats announced the engagement of their daughter, Jennifer Maxwell to Michael John Fisher of Virginia.
Amanda Penny and Misty Jernigan were high point winners in the Harnett County Horsemaster 4-H Fun Day. Amanda received a trophy in the 11-19 age group and Misty in the 10 and under event held at the Rachel and Charles Ennis Riding Ring (Daily Record Oct. 2, 1991).
Residents from most of the rest homes nursing homes and care centers attended a shindig at the Coats Senior Center. The Swinging Elders and the Playmakers provided entertainment and fellowships (Daily Record Oct. 3, 1991).
Clerk of Superior Court, Georgia Lee Brown, swore in Verle Flowers of Coats, to serve on the Harnett County Jury Commission for the biennium 1992-93. The panel had been chosen to compile a list of prospective jurors long enough to last the county court system for two years (Daily Record Oct. 4, 1991).
Mary Penny Coats, 98, the oldest resident of Coats, had died on Friday. She was the widow of Roger Coats and the daughter of Henry H. Penny and Unity Coats Penny who had moved to Coats from the rural Pleasant Grove Township in Johnston County to be near other family members. Mary Coats’s siblings were Lizzie Turlington, wife of Sheriff Willie Turlington, Joe Penny, grandfather of Rep. Howard Penny, Jr., Laura Byrd, wife of Ben F. Byrd who built the old Stewart Hotel, Martha Ann Elizabeth Penny Talton, wife of J.W. Talton who was one of the first merchants in Coats and Rena Johnson who was mother of former Fuquay Mayor Alfred Johnson. Mrs. Mary Coats was known for her quilts and Mr. Roger Coats was a skilled carpenter who worked as foreman at the P.F. Pope Sawmill where he dropped dead with a heart attack.
Was she connected to the town’s founder since she was a “Coats”? She had married a ‘Coats” but was not kin to the founder by her husband’s family. Her father Henry H. Penny (a twin to Sarah Penny Johnson) was half-brother to twins William Benjamin Coats and James Thomas Coats, the founder of the town. I do know that twins occur often in the Penny family. Ted and Sur Penny are grandparents of twins. I think Sheriff Willie and Lizzie Penny Turlington lost a set of twins at birth.
All you Penny people out there-are there more twins? I do know that the First Citizens Bank of Coats was named the CACC as the business focus of the week. First Citizens had grown since its founding in 1898 and Coats had participated in that growth for 44 years. On July, 1, 1947, First Citizens began serving the Coats area (Daily Record Oct. 9, 1991).
Thank you -Pat and Larry Godwin- for remembering John Cole, Charles Ivey and Devon Moore and to Joy Dan Fleming Spivey for remembering her husband’s brother and wife-Katherine and Billy Spivey and Linwood Denning. These memorials show your love of friends, family and the Coats Museum.
The month was September in 1991 when a surprise visit to 91 year-old Mrs. Callie Hudson from her daughter Irene, granddaughter Margie Tart Pleasant, great-granddaughter Callie Lynn Ennis, and great-great-granddaughter Bethany Lynn Ennis occurred at the America’s Health Care of Lillington (Daily Record Sept. 25, 1991).
Is that not five generations? Can you imagine the stories that she had shared with them about changes she had witnessed? She was born in 1900. That was before the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk and Coats was a town. There was no indoor plumbing for bathrooms and kitchens; no television or movies, no electricity for heating and cooling the houses and for washing, drying and ironing clothes. There were no cars, trucks or trains in our area. There were no tractors, cotton pickers or zero turn lawnmowers.
You ask then “What was in the area a few years before and after Mrs. Hudson was born?
In 1858, there was a Beasley School near old Ma’s Restaurant and in 1879, there was a Harriett Spring School thought to have been in the general area behind Hardee’s. From 1885 until 1950, there were several one and two rooms schools such as the Sorrell, Ennis, Gregory, Turlington, Wiggins, Parker and District # 3 School which was in Troyville-but was later called Coats.
How did Mrs. Hudson’s parents get their mail? It would have arrived by a stage coach before 1903 and the receiver of the mail would have had to walk or travel by wagon or buggy. Depending if they lived in this general Troyville area, they would have traveled to the house of the postmaster Joseph Ary Stewart. There were other post offices in Turlingon, Barclaysville, Stewart’s Academy at Bailey’s Crossroads and at Poe (Buies Creek area).
Did Mrs. Hudson share her memories with her descendants about how they got ice, made butter , canned and preserved food , repaired shoes and ordered fabric and needed items from Sear Roebuck catalogue-much like online buying today.?
I do know that Everett and Frances Fanning had made memories to share. They had just returned after a 24-day trip across the U.S. Arlene Turlington and Addie Coats Overton were on that trip. Others in the Coats area were also home from traveling for several weeks. Mary and Eugene Stewart had returned from a 12-day trip to Nova Scotia while Harry and Mildred Pope Wheeler had completed a six-week tour of the Northwest and Alaska. Major Baxter Ennis had made a trip also but his was to the Walter Reed Hospital where he had received neck surgery (Daily Record Sept. 20, 1991).
Death was also on the move. It had visited the Weaver family. Mrs. Annie Weaver, 51, of Route One, Coats had died on Sunday. Her husband was Bobby Weaver and several children –Jackie, Joni, Regina, Sherrill, and Jeffrey and two step-sons –Bobby and Michael- survived her (Daily Record Sept. 30, 1991).
Dell and Robin Godwin had good news to tell some Coats folks. They shared that Chelsey Leigh Godwin was born on September 22. Larry and Pat Godwin were grandparents and Bartley and Frances Cook were great-grandparents (Daily Record Oct. 1, 1991).
Alan and Melissa Stephenson were parents of Timothy Ray Stephen son. Mavis Stewart, Elton Stewart, Vonnie Stewart and Lucy Weaver were great-grandparents. Kenneth and Ann Stewart Weaver were the grandparents (Daily Record Oct. 1. 1991).
First deaths, then births and now engagements showed up in the Daily Record. Mr. and Mrs. Jimmie T. Vaughn of Coats announced the engagement of their daughter, Jennifer Maxwell to Michael John Fisher of Virginia.
Amanda Penny and Misty Jernigan were high point winners in the Harnett County Horsemaster 4-H Fun Day. Amanda received a trophy in the 11-19 age group and Misty in the 10 and under event held at the Rachel and Charles Ennis Riding Ring (Daily Record Oct. 2, 1991).
Residents from most of the rest homes nursing homes and care centers attended a shindig at the Coats Senior Center. The Swinging Elders and the Playmakers provided entertainment and fellowships (Daily Record Oct. 3, 1991).
Clerk of Superior Court, Georgia Lee Brown, swore in Verle Flowers of Coats, to serve on the Harnett County Jury Commission for the biennium 1992-93. The panel had been chosen to compile a list of prospective jurors long enough to last the county court system for two years (Daily Record Oct. 4, 1991).
Mary Penny Coats, 98, the oldest resident of Coats, had died on Friday. She was the widow of Roger Coats and the daughter of Henry H. Penny and Unity Coats Penny who had moved to Coats from the rural Pleasant Grove Township in Johnston County to be near other family members. Mary Coats’s siblings were Lizzie Turlington, wife of Sheriff Willie Turlington, Joe Penny, grandfather of Rep. Howard Penny, Jr., Laura Byrd, wife of Ben F. Byrd who built the old Stewart Hotel, Martha Ann Elizabeth Penny Talton, wife of J.W. Talton who was one of the first merchants in Coats and Rena Johnson who was mother of former Fuquay Mayor Alfred Johnson. Mrs. Mary Coats was known for her quilts and Mr. Roger Coats was a skilled carpenter who worked as foreman at the P.F. Pope Sawmill where he dropped dead with a heart attack.
Was she connected to the town’s founder since she was a “Coats”? She had married a ‘Coats” but was not kin to the founder by her husband’s family. Her father Henry H. Penny (a twin to Sarah Penny Johnson) was half-brother to twins William Benjamin Coats and James Thomas Coats, the founder of the town. I do know that twins occur often in the Penny family. Ted and Sur Penny are grandparents of twins. I think Sheriff Willie and Lizzie Penny Turlington lost a set of twins at birth.
All you Penny people out there-are there more twins? I do know that the First Citizens Bank of Coats was named the CACC as the business focus of the week. First Citizens had grown since its founding in 1898 and Coats had participated in that growth for 44 years. On July, 1, 1947, First Citizens began serving the Coats area (Daily Record Oct. 9, 1991).
Thank you -Pat and Larry Godwin- for remembering John Cole, Charles Ivey and Devon Moore and to Joy Dan Fleming Spivey for remembering her husband’s brother and wife-Katherine and Billy Spivey and Linwood Denning. These memorials show your love of friends, family and the Coats Museum.