How We Came to be Here - By Mansel Coats About the year of 1807, in the State of North Carolina; which now is probably a part of Tennessee, a baby boy was born. This boy was James Coats. We do not know for sure who his parents were. We do know that he had a sister named Sally who visited here. The first official record we have of James Coats is the 1830 census record of Bedford County, Tenn. He was listed as head of household with wife and one son. The minutes of the Mt. Herman Baptist Church in Bedford County, Tennessee, January 9, 1830, show James and Elizabeth (Hart) Coats on the first membership list. On December 16, 1820 in Bedford County, Tennessee, another baby boy was born. His name was William Jasper Morris. His parents were Samuel and Mary (Saint) Morris. William Jasper Morris and James Coats married sisters. James Coats married Elizabeth Hart (Tennessee, 1812) and Jasper Morris married Agnes R. Hart. Sometime in the year of 1846, James Coats and Jasper Morris decided to leave Tennessee. Now, we have to use our imagination as to the reason for their decision. There are several things we can think of. Perhaps, as along the eastern coast, the soil soon became depleted and would not produce good crops. They could sell their land in Tennessee and homestead land west of the Mississippi. Or maybe, they were like the old bear and just wanted to see what was on the other side of the mountain. Anyway, they loaded their possessions, probably in covered wagons drawn by ox team, and began their part of the westward movement of this nation. The fact that at this time James and Elizabeth had 10 children, ranging in age from 3 to 18 years, with another on the way, evokes our strongest admiration for their courage. Jasper Morris and Agnes had two children and she was also pregnant. No doubt at times there were more wagons traveling with them. It is impossible for us to imagine the hardship and pain experienced by these brave people. Interstate 40 was merely a path through the fields sometimes perhaps completely obscured. Ramada Inn was probably a grove of trees with a clear flowing spring alongside. There were not many trees in Missouri in those days so shade or fire wood was not everywhere available as it might be today. The "Stop and Shop" or the "Git and Go" was more like "There goes a rabbit or a deer--git it!" No doubt, hunger was a common experience in those days! Weight watchers probably would not have been very popular 130 years ago. Corn meal to make bread, maybe some cured meat, dried fruits and beans probably made up most of their diet. Perhaps, the family cow traveled with them. September 15, 1846, on the Kentucky side of the Mississippi, Agnes (Hart) Morris gave birth to a baby girl whom she named Mary. They crossed the Mighty Miss (we don't know how) and traveled westward to the Texas-Dent County area where tragedy struck the little wagon train. Agnes Morris died. She was buried in the Pigeon Creek Cemetery in the eastern part of Texas Co. James and Elizabeth Coats cared for the Morris children until Jasper remarried and had a home for them. Elizabeth gave birth to Thomas Coats Dec. 24 of that year and it has been told that she nursed both babies. We do not know the exact date of Agnes' death or how Mary was cared for until Tom was born! REMEMBER! There were no corner drug stores with an ever ready supply of similac or playtex nursers! No pampers, either! Now, a decision that has shaped all our destinies! Why did James Coats decide to stay in Texas County? He traveled to about the center of the county to a spot where three rivers embraced a fertile valley. No doubt Little Piney, Hamilton Creek and Possum Creek had a lot to do with his decision! Although surface water was far more plentiful then than it is today, we must remember that springs and rivers were their only source. No wells or Public water Supplies to connect to! Probably the turn of the season was the main factor, however, Winter was near and they needed shelter. We have been told that James Coats was an expert with a broad-ax so with the help of John Henry and William who were 18 and 17 years old in 1846, a log cabin was quickly constructed. Could they cut the logs, hue them, notch and join the logs and get the cracks all chinked, say during the month of October? We don't know whether James Coats wanted to travel farther and circumstances made it impossible or whether he saw this valley and said, "This is just what I've been looking for -- I need travel no farther," we don't know. Perhaps an easy decision for James Coats, but what a determining factor for the lives of some 3 or 4 thousand descendants! And 400 miles was a good trip for one summer! What did they eat that first winter? The closest grocery store was at Rolla and a horse was their only means of transportation! And, how does this grab you--grocery list for a family of 12--gun powder and salt! Wild animals, turkeys and fish were plentiful. There was wild blue-stem for their animals. Their farming implements included a wooden plow and scythe. They probably had some homemade hoes and a pitch fork made from a tree limb with three forks for tines. Again, this was just a bit over 100 years ago--right here! One of the first things James Coats did, after building his own home, was to build a log cabin for a school. He couldn't read or write and he realized what a handicap it was, so he wanted to make sure his children had a chance to learn. This building was constructed about the center of the present cemetery. James Coats and wife were charter members of the First Baptist Church organized in Texas County. This church was organized in 1847 in the Hog Creek area by Michael Killion, D. Lynch and others. Having no building, they met in homes until James Coats suggested they use the log cabin he had built for a school. This cabin was used for church until about 1882, when the church that stands now was built. A frame school building was built joining the cemetery on the North. It was used for school purposes until 1908, when the present school south of the church was built. Jasper Morris was one of the first preachers at Union Church. In 1846 or '47, James Crawford and Cammaliza Forrester were married in Harlan County, Kentucky. Our next record of the Crawford family is about 1858, while living near St. Joe, Mo., when James Crawford died leaving Cammaliza with 6 children. Cammaliza had a brother Wesley Henderson Forrester who lived near Bado, Mo. (Dillard Reaves farm). Soon after James Crawford died, Cammaliza and children came to live with her brother, Wesley. About this time Elizabeth Coats also died leaving several small children. We do not know when James and Cammaliza first met, but the story has been told that being very proper people, James rode up to the fence and proposed to Cammaliza as she stood on the porch. Was it love at first sight or a marriage of convenience? Imagine, holidays with all the kids home! Ten of the older set of Coatses, six Crawfords and six of the younger Coatses - and all in a two room log cabin! We wonder if they were ever all under the same roof at the same time and to complicate things even more, there were nephews and nieces older than aunts and uncles! James Coats died May 1, 1893 from pneumonia. He had fathered 20 children, 16 lived to raise families, raised 6 step children and had cared for 3 of Jasper Morris' children, who were his first wife's sisters children. Cammeliza lived until September 28, 1921. Although she visited from time to time with other children, she made her home with son, Asa on the farm homesteaded by James. Mansel tells about his memories of Grandmother Cammaliza with whom he lived for twenty years. She spent her time knitting, spinning, cutting and tacking carpet rags, shelling beans, processing food. Cammaliza smoked a pipe so one of her main chores each summer was to raise enough tobacco. She would cultivate and keep the worms off the plants, then cut and hang it in the smoke house to dry. On a damp day in the fall when the tobacco had "come in case" (become tough enough to work) she would strip it (remove the stems) and twist it. She smoked little clay pipes which were purchased without a stem. Stems for their pipes were made from the ends of cane fishing poles. She sat by the fireplace, in which she kept a fire all year long to keep her pipe lit. Mansel remembers the day in 1918 when WWI ended and everyone was celebrating, shooting, blowing horns, etc. Cammeliza ask for Asa's gun and blew the barrel as good as any man. Once she was out in the garden cutting weeds with a butcher knife when she came upon a copperhead. She didn't yell for help. She cut that snake into with her butcher knife! She attended church at Union regularly. Once preacher Hicks, trying to be a gentleman, asked if he could help her up the steps. She told him "No", and said later that if he had tried to help her she would have "caned him". (She was walking with a cane). A very independent soul, evidently! Mansel said she would not eat flour bread. She had cornbread three times a day often with molasses and coffee. When she ran out of coffee, she would parch wheat and grind it to make a substitute for coffee. Dried foods were a main part of their diet. Cammaliza dried pumpkin by cutting it into rings and hanging it near the fireplace. Later they cooked it to make pumpkin pudding. She made her own molasses which was their main sweetner. They often cooked apples in the boiling molasses. She made all the soap they had by saving ashes from oak wood. In the spring, she would start pouring water over the ashes in the ash hopper. When the water soaked through the ashes, it would become lye which was caught in a stone jar. When she had 3 or 4 gallon of lye, she would pour it into an iron kettle and start boiling it. To this she would add skin, bones and old lard as long as the lye would eat it. This would make the soap soft. It also would take the dirt off your hands, and some of the hide if you didn't rinse well. The years 1860 to 1864; the years of the civil war; were trying for our family. This section of the country was overrun by Southern, Northern troops, and Bushwackers. Grandfather would hide in the woods and caves to escape their wrath. One morning as she was cooking breakfast, the house was invaded by Union soldiers. As fast as she got anything cooked, they ate it. Her children didn't get anything to eat until late afternoon. Our ancestors were self sufficient. Grandmother made all the clothes and even the shoes for the family. She raised cotton, carded and spun the cotton into thread for the warp of the cloth. She sheared sheep, carded and spun the wool. She tanned leather and made their shoes, using pegs made from hard maple for the tacks. One year it snowed before she had finished the shoes for my Father. He tied chips on his feet so he could carry in the wood. At night, their only light came from the fireplace or from candles made from tallow and the wick from cotton. This was the way of life for our ancestors. These are the things, along with countless others, that I remember my Grandmother, Cammaliza Forrester Crawford Coats telling me. These memories are homebred and homespun. We need to remember the hardships our family endured, the roughness of the frontier, how they journeyed to this very place we are today. Here they lived, died, and are buried, leaving a heritage for us to remember. The knowledge of their way of life has been passed on to us, generation to generation. Many of James Coats' descendants live in great cities today. What does it matter that progress of today was unknown to him? What better is our life than his? He had his pleasure. His world was as beautiful to him as ours is to us. There was joy to him in beholding the wild creatures that lived here in this lonely place. I hope these remarks will help us all to fully appreciate our ancestors - their strength of mind and character. Someone has aptly said, "Those who do not treasure up the memory of their ancestors, do not deserve to be remembered in their posterity." May the Coats- Crawford clan always remember that our "root are good". Read at the Coats-Crawford Reunion by Alice Crawford 1982. WHEN IT ALL HAPPENED 1807 - James Coats born in North Carolina. Although a possible list of his family has been printed on a previous paper we have given you, we still do not have all the facts necessary to say beyond doubt that the James Coats on that census record is our James Coats. 1812 - Elizabeth (Hart) Coats born in Tennessee. 1827 - Cammaliza Forrester Crawford Coats was born in Harlan County, Kentucky. Probably, James Crawford was born about this time. 1828 - John Henry Coats born (Oct. 25, -April 9, 1901) Elizabeth 16 yrs. 1829 - William Coats born (1829 - June 7, 1913) 1830 - Census records in Bedford County, Tennessee, list James Coats as the head of a household with wife and one son. 1830 - The minutes of the Mt. Herman Baptist Church in Bedford County, Tennessee, show that on January 9, of that year James Coats and wife Elizabeth were listed with the first membership. 1831 - Polly Ann Coats (Hughes) born. 1831 - Nancy Coats (Noblin) born. 1836 - James C. (Denny) Coats born. (Jan. 25, 1836-Jan 14, 1900 1837 - Sarah Coats (Fielden) born. (April 25, 1837-Sept. 27,1917 - Catherine Coats (Died young) 1841 - Wilson Coats born - died about 1875 - Aga or Ada Coats born. Died young. 1843 - Betsy Jane Coats (Smyer) (Nov. 25, 1843 - 1936) 1846 - Began journey to Missouri. James and Cammaliza Crawford married. 1846 - Thomas B. Coats born. (Dec. 24, 1846 - Sept. 17, 1926) First in Missouri. 1847 - School built - log building in center of cemetery. 1847 - First Baptist Church organized in County. Met in Hog Creek area - later held services in Union School building. - Tabitha Coats. Died young. 1854 - Payton Coats born. (June 4, 1854 - Oct. 17, 1932) (Crawford Children) 1849 - Sarah born (April 28, 1849 - ) 1851 - Marshall born. (Oct. 2, 1851 - Feb. 15, 1937) 1853 - Elbert Crawford born. (May 23, 1853 - June 4, 1944) 1854 - Euelle (Eude) Crawford born. (July 15, 1854 - ) 1856 - Thomas G. born. (June 15, 1856 - 1936) 1857 - George W. Crawford born. (August 16, 1857 - ) 1858 - James Crawford died - also Elizabeth Coats died about this time. 1860 - James Coats married Cammaliza Forrester Crawford who came to Texas County to be near her brother, Wesley. 1861 - Marcus Durell (Dell) Coats was born. (May 22, 1861 - April 21, 1952) 1863 - Asa Clayton Coats born. (Dec. 18, 1863 - May 3, 1958) 1865 - Cordelia Coats Herrington born. (July 7, 1865 - ) 1867 - Camma Coats Wallace born. (March 13, 1867 - 1898) 1870 - Francis Hill Coats Cleaver born. (Sept. 6, 1870 - Jan 31, 1970) 1873 - Wesley B. Coats born. (Oct. 25, 1873 - Oct. 22, 1964) 1893 - James Coats died from pneumonia. (May 1, 1893) 1882 - Present Church building constructed. 1908 - Present School built. 1921 - Cammaliza Forrester Crawford Coats died.