September 27, 2013 Coats Museum News
William Earl Spivey is a familiar face around Coats and loves to attend the Coats Community Church in town. Many may not know that he had a younger brother named Joe Spivey, Jr. who died when he was only 13-months old. He had died on a Tuesday morning and his survivors were Mr. and Mrs. Vellie Spivey, R.M. Stewart and Delores Spivey (Harnett County News August 9, 1945).
Again death had paid no favorites in picking an age group for it was Thomas Stewart, 78, who had died next in Coats. The funeral was at the Coats Baptist Church. His wife was Lula Burt Stewart who survived him. His four daughters were Mrs. Exie Smith, Mrs. C. Garner Fuquay, Mrs. R.E. Langdon, and Mrs. Leon Talton. Mrs. Ellie Byrd was his only sister. Mr. Stewart was a farmer and a 1935 Legislative Clerk (Harnett County News August 16, 1945). Did they not have funeral homes in 1945? Have you noticed that one is never mentioned in the obituary?
When Japan made an unconditional surrender, they did not want any Japanese POW’s back in Japan. A Japanese was not to be taken alive and therefore referred to as the living dead. Also, there were concerns whether the atomic bomb was a peacemaker (Harnett County News August 16, 1945).
The U.S. government announced that future drafts would only be men under 26 (Harnett County News August 23, 1945).
Schools were operating again on September 25. Does anyone know what event occurred in September of 1945 that would close the schools? On Tuesday, September 18, 1945, the Cape Fear River and its tributaries, Upper and Lower River, flooded the low grounds and covered many bridges.
Corn had to be shucked, tobacco marketed, and cotton picked was likely on the minds of Grove citizens when they received summons for jury duty. W.C. Lasater, J. Martin Gregory, M.F. Young, Chester Hayes, Ortho A. Stevens, D.H. Denning, and Jonah C. Johnson were to report on October 12, 1945. Percy Parrish, Johnny Barnes, Roy Grimes, Thelma Gregory, and T.O. Beasley had to report next session.
Speaking of corn shucking, let’s talk corn as we continue our journey into yesteryear. Corn had been an important crop on every farm. Man and beast-both of which could not have existed well without the other- ate corn. Most crops were easily distinguishable in the fields. Cotton was medium sized and had small leaves; tobacco had larger leaves growing from a single stalk; grains had blades and corn had longer blades.
Corn, cotton and tobacco were planted in rows and grains were not usually. Corn came in many varieties. There was yellow corn, white corn, popcorn, Indian coin, roasting corn, buttered popcorn, and lite-buttered corn—afraid not, just testing your comprehension. Corn grew taller than tobacco and the blades on the corn could cause discomfort if they hit the skin just so when walking between two rows in which the blades were long enough to reach the blades from the adjoining row.
Before the corn was mature, nitrate soda had to be put to the corn plant and this was done after the corn was too big for a mule and farmer to go down the rows. This resulted in the farm family having to walk down each row and drop a pinch of the little white pellets (bigger than shotgun pellets yet smaller than BB shots) to each cornstalk. This was before Willis, Albert and Lane Gregory patented the Soda-Flo that we have in the museum. The human dropper would walk just as fast as he could get soda from bucket to hand to the base of the corn stalk. Farm children could help. King Syrup gallon cans made good buckets for little ones. In early morning, putting out soda was no fun. First of all, the young workers were sleepy, and, second, the corn blades were wet and sharp as they brushed across the arms and face.
After the corn was matured, recall that very early on, fodder was pulled. Then in a few weeks, the corn ears were dry and were ready to be pulled from the stalk which was done by the farmers. Later machines were used for that job. As the farmers and helpers pulled the corn, it was tossed into piles of about 75 ears each. It was not necessary to have piles in every row because later a mule or tractor pulled a wagon with side rails down the rows that had no piles in them.
“Getting corn up” was a good after school job for the farm kids. Surely many future baseball or basketball players had their earliest practice in the corn field while throwing the corn into the trailer or into the corn crib. Once all the corn was gathered from the corn field, early farmers would have a corn shucking but that is another story. Read Carsie Denning’s memories of one on the Seth Lee farm next week.
Most of the readers know Lib Guy. Lib visited the museum a couple of days with her daughter, Sybil Beasley Wells of Atlanta, Georgia. With them were John and Jean Heist of Berkley, California. Jean is half-sister of Lib and daughter of Vada Robinson whose mother, Mollie Ennis Stewart, operated the Stewart Hotel which was formerly across the street from the museum. John was a chemistry and math professor at Berkley University. Also on those same days, Doris Weaver Whitehead dropped into the museum to bring some materials about her son, retired U.S. Navy Commander Michael Weaver. Doris is the great-granddaughter of Mattie Suggs, the midwife in the area of Oakdale and Bailey’s Crossroads. You say,” So!”
The rest of the story is that many years ago, Freda Adams Johnson brought a huge framed picture of a beautiful woman wearing mourning clothes. She wanted the identity of the lady in the portrait which was face down in the bottom of a trunk. The museum volunteers could not find anyone who could give proof of who the lady was. We suspected it was in the Mollie Ennis Stewart family and we knew that Mollie’s father had been killed in the Civil War in SC. Mollie and her sister Mattie later came to this area and married local men- a Suggs and a Stewart. When Jean Heist came to Coats, she brought three pictures to attempt identification from Lib who could not. When Jean and John walked through the exhibit hall and came to the mini parlor and saw the portrait hanging on the wall. “Chills are running through my body,” Jean said, “that’s the woman in my little glass picture.” The mystery was solved.
Naturally, lots of current pictures were taken of Doris Whitehead and her cousins-Lib, Jean and Sybil –in front of the 1860’s portrait.
It was great to visit with Ricky Suggs from London, England who just happened to drop by the museum when Peggy Senter and Lib Guy were there. Peggy was neighbor to the Suggs family and Lib worked with Ricky’s mother in the school system. Ricky had not seen these ladies in years. What are the chances of that happening again?
We enjoyed visits from the Chamber of Commerce from Harnett County and from the Coats town board. We are excited to give tours in the old and new museums on the square. We are always mindful that the museums could not have happened without the generosity of donors of artifacts and money. The Coats Woman’s Club presented a collection of their historic scrapbooks put together by Ann Jones. Adding their names to the donor wall plaques are Denise and Craig Matthews who honored Coma Lee and Nelson Currin. JoAnne Hairr has now added her name as an Impact donor. Special thanks to my former students.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COLUMN APPEARED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2013.
William Earl Spivey is a familiar face around Coats and loves to attend the Coats Community Church in town. Many may not know that he had a younger brother named Joe Spivey, Jr. who died when he was only 13-months old. He had died on a Tuesday morning and his survivors were Mr. and Mrs. Vellie Spivey, R.M. Stewart and Delores Spivey (Harnett County News August 9, 1945).
Again death had paid no favorites in picking an age group for it was Thomas Stewart, 78, who had died next in Coats. The funeral was at the Coats Baptist Church. His wife was Lula Burt Stewart who survived him. His four daughters were Mrs. Exie Smith, Mrs. C. Garner Fuquay, Mrs. R.E. Langdon, and Mrs. Leon Talton. Mrs. Ellie Byrd was his only sister. Mr. Stewart was a farmer and a 1935 Legislative Clerk (Harnett County News August 16, 1945). Did they not have funeral homes in 1945? Have you noticed that one is never mentioned in the obituary?
When Japan made an unconditional surrender, they did not want any Japanese POW’s back in Japan. A Japanese was not to be taken alive and therefore referred to as the living dead. Also, there were concerns whether the atomic bomb was a peacemaker (Harnett County News August 16, 1945).
The U.S. government announced that future drafts would only be men under 26 (Harnett County News August 23, 1945).
Schools were operating again on September 25. Does anyone know what event occurred in September of 1945 that would close the schools? On Tuesday, September 18, 1945, the Cape Fear River and its tributaries, Upper and Lower River, flooded the low grounds and covered many bridges.
Corn had to be shucked, tobacco marketed, and cotton picked was likely on the minds of Grove citizens when they received summons for jury duty. W.C. Lasater, J. Martin Gregory, M.F. Young, Chester Hayes, Ortho A. Stevens, D.H. Denning, and Jonah C. Johnson were to report on October 12, 1945. Percy Parrish, Johnny Barnes, Roy Grimes, Thelma Gregory, and T.O. Beasley had to report next session.
Speaking of corn shucking, let’s talk corn as we continue our journey into yesteryear. Corn had been an important crop on every farm. Man and beast-both of which could not have existed well without the other- ate corn. Most crops were easily distinguishable in the fields. Cotton was medium sized and had small leaves; tobacco had larger leaves growing from a single stalk; grains had blades and corn had longer blades.
Corn, cotton and tobacco were planted in rows and grains were not usually. Corn came in many varieties. There was yellow corn, white corn, popcorn, Indian coin, roasting corn, buttered popcorn, and lite-buttered corn—afraid not, just testing your comprehension. Corn grew taller than tobacco and the blades on the corn could cause discomfort if they hit the skin just so when walking between two rows in which the blades were long enough to reach the blades from the adjoining row.
Before the corn was mature, nitrate soda had to be put to the corn plant and this was done after the corn was too big for a mule and farmer to go down the rows. This resulted in the farm family having to walk down each row and drop a pinch of the little white pellets (bigger than shotgun pellets yet smaller than BB shots) to each cornstalk. This was before Willis, Albert and Lane Gregory patented the Soda-Flo that we have in the museum. The human dropper would walk just as fast as he could get soda from bucket to hand to the base of the corn stalk. Farm children could help. King Syrup gallon cans made good buckets for little ones. In early morning, putting out soda was no fun. First of all, the young workers were sleepy, and, second, the corn blades were wet and sharp as they brushed across the arms and face.
After the corn was matured, recall that very early on, fodder was pulled. Then in a few weeks, the corn ears were dry and were ready to be pulled from the stalk which was done by the farmers. Later machines were used for that job. As the farmers and helpers pulled the corn, it was tossed into piles of about 75 ears each. It was not necessary to have piles in every row because later a mule or tractor pulled a wagon with side rails down the rows that had no piles in them.
“Getting corn up” was a good after school job for the farm kids. Surely many future baseball or basketball players had their earliest practice in the corn field while throwing the corn into the trailer or into the corn crib. Once all the corn was gathered from the corn field, early farmers would have a corn shucking but that is another story. Read Carsie Denning’s memories of one on the Seth Lee farm next week.
Most of the readers know Lib Guy. Lib visited the museum a couple of days with her daughter, Sybil Beasley Wells of Atlanta, Georgia. With them were John and Jean Heist of Berkley, California. Jean is half-sister of Lib and daughter of Vada Robinson whose mother, Mollie Ennis Stewart, operated the Stewart Hotel which was formerly across the street from the museum. John was a chemistry and math professor at Berkley University. Also on those same days, Doris Weaver Whitehead dropped into the museum to bring some materials about her son, retired U.S. Navy Commander Michael Weaver. Doris is the great-granddaughter of Mattie Suggs, the midwife in the area of Oakdale and Bailey’s Crossroads. You say,” So!”
The rest of the story is that many years ago, Freda Adams Johnson brought a huge framed picture of a beautiful woman wearing mourning clothes. She wanted the identity of the lady in the portrait which was face down in the bottom of a trunk. The museum volunteers could not find anyone who could give proof of who the lady was. We suspected it was in the Mollie Ennis Stewart family and we knew that Mollie’s father had been killed in the Civil War in SC. Mollie and her sister Mattie later came to this area and married local men- a Suggs and a Stewart. When Jean Heist came to Coats, she brought three pictures to attempt identification from Lib who could not. When Jean and John walked through the exhibit hall and came to the mini parlor and saw the portrait hanging on the wall. “Chills are running through my body,” Jean said, “that’s the woman in my little glass picture.” The mystery was solved.
Naturally, lots of current pictures were taken of Doris Whitehead and her cousins-Lib, Jean and Sybil –in front of the 1860’s portrait.
It was great to visit with Ricky Suggs from London, England who just happened to drop by the museum when Peggy Senter and Lib Guy were there. Peggy was neighbor to the Suggs family and Lib worked with Ricky’s mother in the school system. Ricky had not seen these ladies in years. What are the chances of that happening again?
We enjoyed visits from the Chamber of Commerce from Harnett County and from the Coats town board. We are excited to give tours in the old and new museums on the square. We are always mindful that the museums could not have happened without the generosity of donors of artifacts and money. The Coats Woman’s Club presented a collection of their historic scrapbooks put together by Ann Jones. Adding their names to the donor wall plaques are Denise and Craig Matthews who honored Coma Lee and Nelson Currin. JoAnne Hairr has now added her name as an Impact donor. Special thanks to my former students.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COLUMN APPEARED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2013.