September 20, 2024 Coats Museum News
We have traveled down the Green’s Path and up the Cape Fear Valley. It is possible that some ancestors may have come on the road that was created from the Dan River on the Virginia border to Cross Creek (Fayetteville) or another road leading to it from Shallow Ford in Surry County. Cross Creek became a significant river port and the center of a “wagon trade” for a vast region-affecting what would later become our current Harnett County.
There were estimated to be 20,000 Highlanders in the province of North Carolina by the time of the American Revolution. These Scots came from the mainland to America and many came from the Western Isles of Jura, Islay, Argyleshire, Stoneway, Skye, Lewis, Lockabar, Ross, and Sutherland (Lefler and Newsome 74).
These Highlanders were described as “hardy, laborious, and thrifty People in 1772. And those who came were Scotland’s “most energetic and substantial people” and Newsome and Lefler wrote that the journals referred to them as men of “wealth and merit, as the most wealthy and substantial people of in Skye and the finest set of fellows in the Highlands who carried at least 6,000 pounds of sterling in ready cash with them.” Newsome and Lefler (74) wrote that each person who came in the 1772-73 emigrations from the County of Southerland brought an estimated 7,500 pounds.
You might ask “Were these the first immigrants from that part of the world to come to our Harnett County area?” Let’s address that next week but for now let’s return to what was going on in the Grove Township area of Harnett County in 1994.
Recall last week that the group of men and women of the WWII era were working hard to renovate a two-room school into a Coats Museum. They needed community involvement to make it happen. They sold raffle tickets, BBQ plates, bricks and did most of the laborious work themselves but they made it happen.
However, there were other things going on in the Coats community. Isobel Fish had spent several days with her granddaughter, Captain Tammy Fish, at Black Mountain. Tammy was the daughter of Joseph and Faye Moran Fish of Fayetteville. Some will remember that both of Tammy’s parents were outstanding athletes at Coats High and that Mrs. Isobel Fish worked in the school cafeteria.
However, everything was not joyous in the little town. There was much sickness. Belle in her “Notes from Coats” in the Daily Record shared that Tony Upchurch, Weldon Beasley, Willie May Byrd, Bobby Franklin, Gerald Langdon, M.P. Lee, Mary Langdon, Alton Wood, Lois Johnson, Kandi Stevens, Herbert L. Johnson, and Margaret Johnson needed our prayers for healing (daily Record Oct. 27, 1994).
It was beauty pageant time in Coats. Vikki Blackman, retiring Miss Coats, crowned Heather Ennis the 1994-95 Miss Coats. Samantha Wagner, daughter of Sammy Wagner and Debbie Smith, and Heather Flowers, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Larry Flowers, were also contestants.
The Wee Miss Coats was three-year-old Victoria Lynn Freeman who was daughter of Donna West and Billy Freeman. The Tiny Miss Coats was Alexandria Nicole Gregory, daughter of Jan and Chuck Gregory. Katherine Ann Barefoot won both photogenic and congeniality awards. The Little Miss Coats winner was Ashley Carol Johnson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Johnson. Amber Nicole Norris, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Norris, won the congeniality award and Alana Renee Ennis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Phil Ennis, was awarded the most photogenic honor.
Bridgette Shae Williams, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Williams, was crowned Junior Miss Coats. Stacy Lynn Williams was awarded the most photogenic and Suzanne Marie Snipes received the congeniality award. Kathleen Maria Thomas was crowned Teen Miss Coats and Julie Nicole Hale was most photogenic and Leigh A. Pollard won the congeniality award. Teddy Byrd was pageant chairman for the event. Daily Record Oct.28, 1994).
That pageant was thirty years ago. Do you wonder where those little beauties are today? Wonder if they continue to have their pageant gowns. Believe it not but I, too, was once in beauty pageants and all these years I have kept the gowns that I wore. This past week I made the decision to let go of so many of the things that made my earlier years special. I disposed of the beautiful dresses that I had worn as first runner up in Miss Coats and Miss Congeniality and as Homecoming Queen. The trophies I have no idea where they went. Many of you know that the decision to get rid of earthly things is harder on the children than on the owner.
As time passes, many of the amazing people that the volunteers of the Coats Museum have met are dying. Betty and Clyde Gaster from Raleigh have visited our museum on many occasions bringing items for display as well as financial support to the Coats Museum. Betty died a few weeks ago and will surely be missed. Clyde is a direct descendant of Preacher Tom Coats. Clyde, may love wash away the pain you and your daughters are feeling.
Having come in contact at the museum with so many of the descendants of Preacher Tom Coats, the town’s founder and namesake, is that they inherited his giving nature. Just this week, Preacher Tom’s great-great-great granddaughter Dana Coats Byrd has once again given a very generous donation to the museum to honor a former teacher of hers. Thank you, Dana and Randy, from the volunteers.
We have traveled down the Green’s Path and up the Cape Fear Valley. It is possible that some ancestors may have come on the road that was created from the Dan River on the Virginia border to Cross Creek (Fayetteville) or another road leading to it from Shallow Ford in Surry County. Cross Creek became a significant river port and the center of a “wagon trade” for a vast region-affecting what would later become our current Harnett County.
There were estimated to be 20,000 Highlanders in the province of North Carolina by the time of the American Revolution. These Scots came from the mainland to America and many came from the Western Isles of Jura, Islay, Argyleshire, Stoneway, Skye, Lewis, Lockabar, Ross, and Sutherland (Lefler and Newsome 74).
These Highlanders were described as “hardy, laborious, and thrifty People in 1772. And those who came were Scotland’s “most energetic and substantial people” and Newsome and Lefler wrote that the journals referred to them as men of “wealth and merit, as the most wealthy and substantial people of in Skye and the finest set of fellows in the Highlands who carried at least 6,000 pounds of sterling in ready cash with them.” Newsome and Lefler (74) wrote that each person who came in the 1772-73 emigrations from the County of Southerland brought an estimated 7,500 pounds.
You might ask “Were these the first immigrants from that part of the world to come to our Harnett County area?” Let’s address that next week but for now let’s return to what was going on in the Grove Township area of Harnett County in 1994.
Recall last week that the group of men and women of the WWII era were working hard to renovate a two-room school into a Coats Museum. They needed community involvement to make it happen. They sold raffle tickets, BBQ plates, bricks and did most of the laborious work themselves but they made it happen.
However, there were other things going on in the Coats community. Isobel Fish had spent several days with her granddaughter, Captain Tammy Fish, at Black Mountain. Tammy was the daughter of Joseph and Faye Moran Fish of Fayetteville. Some will remember that both of Tammy’s parents were outstanding athletes at Coats High and that Mrs. Isobel Fish worked in the school cafeteria.
However, everything was not joyous in the little town. There was much sickness. Belle in her “Notes from Coats” in the Daily Record shared that Tony Upchurch, Weldon Beasley, Willie May Byrd, Bobby Franklin, Gerald Langdon, M.P. Lee, Mary Langdon, Alton Wood, Lois Johnson, Kandi Stevens, Herbert L. Johnson, and Margaret Johnson needed our prayers for healing (daily Record Oct. 27, 1994).
It was beauty pageant time in Coats. Vikki Blackman, retiring Miss Coats, crowned Heather Ennis the 1994-95 Miss Coats. Samantha Wagner, daughter of Sammy Wagner and Debbie Smith, and Heather Flowers, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Larry Flowers, were also contestants.
The Wee Miss Coats was three-year-old Victoria Lynn Freeman who was daughter of Donna West and Billy Freeman. The Tiny Miss Coats was Alexandria Nicole Gregory, daughter of Jan and Chuck Gregory. Katherine Ann Barefoot won both photogenic and congeniality awards. The Little Miss Coats winner was Ashley Carol Johnson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Johnson. Amber Nicole Norris, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Norris, won the congeniality award and Alana Renee Ennis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Phil Ennis, was awarded the most photogenic honor.
Bridgette Shae Williams, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Williams, was crowned Junior Miss Coats. Stacy Lynn Williams was awarded the most photogenic and Suzanne Marie Snipes received the congeniality award. Kathleen Maria Thomas was crowned Teen Miss Coats and Julie Nicole Hale was most photogenic and Leigh A. Pollard won the congeniality award. Teddy Byrd was pageant chairman for the event. Daily Record Oct.28, 1994).
That pageant was thirty years ago. Do you wonder where those little beauties are today? Wonder if they continue to have their pageant gowns. Believe it not but I, too, was once in beauty pageants and all these years I have kept the gowns that I wore. This past week I made the decision to let go of so many of the things that made my earlier years special. I disposed of the beautiful dresses that I had worn as first runner up in Miss Coats and Miss Congeniality and as Homecoming Queen. The trophies I have no idea where they went. Many of you know that the decision to get rid of earthly things is harder on the children than on the owner.
As time passes, many of the amazing people that the volunteers of the Coats Museum have met are dying. Betty and Clyde Gaster from Raleigh have visited our museum on many occasions bringing items for display as well as financial support to the Coats Museum. Betty died a few weeks ago and will surely be missed. Clyde is a direct descendant of Preacher Tom Coats. Clyde, may love wash away the pain you and your daughters are feeling.
Having come in contact at the museum with so many of the descendants of Preacher Tom Coats, the town’s founder and namesake, is that they inherited his giving nature. Just this week, Preacher Tom’s great-great-great granddaughter Dana Coats Byrd has once again given a very generous donation to the museum to honor a former teacher of hers. Thank you, Dana and Randy, from the volunteers.