October 10, 2011 Coats Museum News
Recall from last week that you read about the “Black River Tigers”, the CSA soldiers who were mainly from eastern Harnett County and western Johnston County. Kent Langdon, who often shares interesting tidbits about local history with me, visited the Coats Museum on Saturday during Farmers Day and asked me if I knew where any of the Black River Tigers were buried? Recall that Captain Henry M. Barnes was from the Barclaysville area. Kent said that a Barnes was buried in the Byrd (Old Barnes) Cemetery. The tombstone bears the name of Captain Henry M. Barnes, the top officer in the Black River Tigers. This cemetery is located at the intersection of N.C. 55 and the Old Stage Road near old Barclaysville. Thanks –Kent. Do you wonder where some of the other officers are buried? Joseph Ary Stewart was a 1st Lt. from what was earlier called Troyville, N.C. where he served as postmaster until 1903. He was the son of Jacob Stewart who was murdered by Jacob Johnson in 1855. Joseph A. Stewart is buried in the cemetery located between the houses of Ellen Hedgepeth and Mrs. Frances Langdon on N.C. 55 near the Coats Baptist Church. A huge tree shades the tombstones. First Lt. Randall Turlington was also an officer in the Black River Tigers. He was from Turlington, N.C. Does anyone know where he was buried? Clue—do you know where his father Willis Turlington built a house in Johnston County in 1838. Read about others who were in the Company B, 10th Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery (Black River Tigers) in the Volume I (pages 24-25) and Volume II (pages 217-218) of The Heritage of Coats, N.C.
In the early days of December, 1922, relatives and neighbors of Deputy Sheriff J.R. “Dol” Mitchell were likely talking about the close call that he had while carrying out his duties of that office. He was attempting to catch a bootlegger according to the Harnett County News December 7, 1922 edition. The paper reported that Deputy Mitchell was in Rex Hospital under the care of an eye specialist as a result of being shot from an ambush on Tuesday night at about 9:00 when Deputy Mitchell accompanied his son-in-law Ken Matthews and two other men in attempting to make a raid on a blockade still. Mitchell’s face was peppered with bird shot, his right eye gone and his left one seriously injured. Deputy Mitchell returned fire toward the attacking parties, emptying his pistol and reaching for another when severe pain overcame him and his vision shut off. One other man in the raiding party received several shots in the lower part of his body, but was not seriously hurt. The raiding party had set out at about 8:00 PM to raid a point about 2 miles northeast of Buies Creek where they had been informed there was a whiskey still. Arriving at the site, they found the still had been removed, only a few barrels and jugs being left, but sufficient signs upon the landscape remained to convince the officers that they had touched upon the proper place.
What happened to Mitchell’s sight and were the suspects caught? According to the Harnett County News December 7, 1922 edition, Mitchell lost the sight in his left eye and the suspects were jailed who committed the crime. Does anyone know where Deputy Mitchell and Ken Matthews lived? What was their Coats connection?
Do any of our senior readers recall that there was a merchant in Coats who sold illegal brew in his establishment by having the brew in the ceiling and using a pipe that ran into a tap that was supposed to contain water. Clever –right—but not clever enough not to get caught eventually. I’ll share more details when it occurs in the timeline in which it occurred.
The year was now 1923. Harding was president of our country. The Harnett County Board of Commissioners appointed road commissioners for the thirteen townships in the county to serve for the ensuing term of two years. In some cases, old members were held over. Grove Township was represented by J.M. Langdon, J.B. Ennis, and A.F. Grimes. Do you think this was a powerful position that could create enemies quickly? Why were good roads so important?
A road in the Coats area that mentioned was the Coats-Lillington Road near Poole’s corner. Where was this corner? Where was the Coats-Lillington Road? This I do know. T.M. Johnson versus Dillion Stewart was on the Harnett County Court docket and W.J. McStewart continued to represent Grove Township on the county commission (the Harnett County News January 4, 1923).
Next week we will discover the names of teachers who taught in the 1923 Grove Schools and we shall also attend a commencement and field day in Lillington for all the schools in Harnett County. You will also learn who won the county basketball championship.
The folks at the Coats Museum would like to thank the Coats Kiwanis Club for all the hard work they did at the Farmers Day Kiwanis Hotdog and Hamburger booth to raise money for the Coats Museum Endowment. If you purchased food from the Kiwanians, you have helped insure that the museum will have some operating funds for years to come. A special thank you goes to Tommy Ennis for allowing the group to use his cooker. Thanks to Andy Cole and his team who marked off the parking lot so Chuck LeVorse and his Boys Scouts could park vehicles on the museum’s property. Donations were generous. The 150 students, teachers, assistants and parents were enjoyed by the museum volunteers-Lynda Butler, Jennifer Flowers, Norfleet and Barbara Gardner and Eddie Vaughan on the Thursday before Farmers Day. It was great to see many of the students return to the museum with their parents on Farmers Day. The most exciting event of the Farmers Day for this writer was reconnecting with a former student of mine. Robert Norris from Burnsville, N.C. was in town to honor his parents’ 62nd wedding anniversary. Robert pastors a church in the Burnsville area but what was really the icing on the cake was when he said he subscribes to the Daily Record and reads the Coats Museum News each week.
Please be mindful that this Coats Museum News was published in the Daily Record in October 10, 2011.
Recall from last week that you read about the “Black River Tigers”, the CSA soldiers who were mainly from eastern Harnett County and western Johnston County. Kent Langdon, who often shares interesting tidbits about local history with me, visited the Coats Museum on Saturday during Farmers Day and asked me if I knew where any of the Black River Tigers were buried? Recall that Captain Henry M. Barnes was from the Barclaysville area. Kent said that a Barnes was buried in the Byrd (Old Barnes) Cemetery. The tombstone bears the name of Captain Henry M. Barnes, the top officer in the Black River Tigers. This cemetery is located at the intersection of N.C. 55 and the Old Stage Road near old Barclaysville. Thanks –Kent. Do you wonder where some of the other officers are buried? Joseph Ary Stewart was a 1st Lt. from what was earlier called Troyville, N.C. where he served as postmaster until 1903. He was the son of Jacob Stewart who was murdered by Jacob Johnson in 1855. Joseph A. Stewart is buried in the cemetery located between the houses of Ellen Hedgepeth and Mrs. Frances Langdon on N.C. 55 near the Coats Baptist Church. A huge tree shades the tombstones. First Lt. Randall Turlington was also an officer in the Black River Tigers. He was from Turlington, N.C. Does anyone know where he was buried? Clue—do you know where his father Willis Turlington built a house in Johnston County in 1838. Read about others who were in the Company B, 10th Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery (Black River Tigers) in the Volume I (pages 24-25) and Volume II (pages 217-218) of The Heritage of Coats, N.C.
In the early days of December, 1922, relatives and neighbors of Deputy Sheriff J.R. “Dol” Mitchell were likely talking about the close call that he had while carrying out his duties of that office. He was attempting to catch a bootlegger according to the Harnett County News December 7, 1922 edition. The paper reported that Deputy Mitchell was in Rex Hospital under the care of an eye specialist as a result of being shot from an ambush on Tuesday night at about 9:00 when Deputy Mitchell accompanied his son-in-law Ken Matthews and two other men in attempting to make a raid on a blockade still. Mitchell’s face was peppered with bird shot, his right eye gone and his left one seriously injured. Deputy Mitchell returned fire toward the attacking parties, emptying his pistol and reaching for another when severe pain overcame him and his vision shut off. One other man in the raiding party received several shots in the lower part of his body, but was not seriously hurt. The raiding party had set out at about 8:00 PM to raid a point about 2 miles northeast of Buies Creek where they had been informed there was a whiskey still. Arriving at the site, they found the still had been removed, only a few barrels and jugs being left, but sufficient signs upon the landscape remained to convince the officers that they had touched upon the proper place.
What happened to Mitchell’s sight and were the suspects caught? According to the Harnett County News December 7, 1922 edition, Mitchell lost the sight in his left eye and the suspects were jailed who committed the crime. Does anyone know where Deputy Mitchell and Ken Matthews lived? What was their Coats connection?
Do any of our senior readers recall that there was a merchant in Coats who sold illegal brew in his establishment by having the brew in the ceiling and using a pipe that ran into a tap that was supposed to contain water. Clever –right—but not clever enough not to get caught eventually. I’ll share more details when it occurs in the timeline in which it occurred.
The year was now 1923. Harding was president of our country. The Harnett County Board of Commissioners appointed road commissioners for the thirteen townships in the county to serve for the ensuing term of two years. In some cases, old members were held over. Grove Township was represented by J.M. Langdon, J.B. Ennis, and A.F. Grimes. Do you think this was a powerful position that could create enemies quickly? Why were good roads so important?
A road in the Coats area that mentioned was the Coats-Lillington Road near Poole’s corner. Where was this corner? Where was the Coats-Lillington Road? This I do know. T.M. Johnson versus Dillion Stewart was on the Harnett County Court docket and W.J. McStewart continued to represent Grove Township on the county commission (the Harnett County News January 4, 1923).
Next week we will discover the names of teachers who taught in the 1923 Grove Schools and we shall also attend a commencement and field day in Lillington for all the schools in Harnett County. You will also learn who won the county basketball championship.
The folks at the Coats Museum would like to thank the Coats Kiwanis Club for all the hard work they did at the Farmers Day Kiwanis Hotdog and Hamburger booth to raise money for the Coats Museum Endowment. If you purchased food from the Kiwanians, you have helped insure that the museum will have some operating funds for years to come. A special thank you goes to Tommy Ennis for allowing the group to use his cooker. Thanks to Andy Cole and his team who marked off the parking lot so Chuck LeVorse and his Boys Scouts could park vehicles on the museum’s property. Donations were generous. The 150 students, teachers, assistants and parents were enjoyed by the museum volunteers-Lynda Butler, Jennifer Flowers, Norfleet and Barbara Gardner and Eddie Vaughan on the Thursday before Farmers Day. It was great to see many of the students return to the museum with their parents on Farmers Day. The most exciting event of the Farmers Day for this writer was reconnecting with a former student of mine. Robert Norris from Burnsville, N.C. was in town to honor his parents’ 62nd wedding anniversary. Robert pastors a church in the Burnsville area but what was really the icing on the cake was when he said he subscribes to the Daily Record and reads the Coats Museum News each week.
Please be mindful that this Coats Museum News was published in the Daily Record in October 10, 2011.