Tag Archives: Eveline Coates

Sepia Saturday – Wheeled Baby Transport

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The prompt from Sepia Saturday this week had me looking through the family pictures on my computer for babies being transported – or at least posing in a carriage or stroller. Here’s what I found….

Bernard Coates (1908-1998)

Bernard Coates was my grandmother’s brother. I called him Uncle Bernie.

What is that expression on his face?  I don’t want my picture taken… This big bow is a bit much… I’ll sit here for the picture, but I won’t like it.

The strap across the front of the stroller seems more of a suggestion to the child to stay in the stroller than an attempt to keep him restrained. At least it doesn’t wrinkle his clothes.

Wilbur Hoskins (1924-1930)

Wilbur Hoskins was the first-born child of my grandparents, Eveline Coates Hoskins and Thomas Hoskins. My grandparents left their home in Mystic, Iowa and traveled to Rockford, Illinois so that my grandfather could find work. Wilbur came with them; they left their young son, Albert, in the care of his grandmother; Eveline was pregnant with my mother. During their stay in Rockford, Wilbur got the measles, suffered kidney failure, and died at the young age of five years. I think he resembles his father.

The stroller itself is very interesting – looks like a seat within a seat. It looks like the handle for pushing the stroller has been swung over the top of the stroller and is on the ground in front.

Birthday Goodies

On a lighter note – here is a picture of me chatting it up with someone about my birthday haul which includes a baby and a baby buggy.

Fun on the Farm

So this last one isn’t a baby buggy or stroller, but it is a fun form of transport for a kid. This is my (step)grandfather G. A. Hockensmith and two of my sisters getting a ride during a visit to our grandparent’s farm. I love this picture because everything looks just as it was – no posing, nothing cleaned up or hidden from view for the picture, my sister’s joyful smile during her bumpy ride.

Joseph Coates Born 145 Years Ago Today

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Joseph Coates and Mary Harris Coates

My plan was to write a post that detailed everything I know, or think I know, about my great-grandfather, Joseph Coates, and post it today. It didn’t happen. I spent too much time looking up information about Durham, England and Brancepeth Colliery and coal mining and watching youtube videos, so I’ll be brief.

Joseph Coates was the father of my grandmother, Eveline Coates Hoskins.

He was born at Brancepeth Colliery, in the County of Durham, England, 8 June 1867 to John Coates and Ellen Richardson Coates. His father worked as a colliery joiner (carpenter at a coal mine). Joseph had an older sister, Nellie (Mary Ellen), and later another sister, Jennie (Jane Ann).

Joseph completed 8 years of education and learned the carpenter trade. At the age of about 21, he left England for the United States (in 1888 or 1889) and settled in Mystic, Iowa about two years after his arrival. He traveled alone, as far as we know, and never saw his parents or siblings again. Once settled in Mystic, he worked in the coal mines there, possibly using his carpentry skills as had his father before him.

The Nicholson family introduced Joseph to Mary Ann Harris. As a young girl, Mary had immigrated with her parents from the same area of England. Joseph and Mary were married in Centerville, Iowa on 7 November 1891. They had 10 children, 9 of whom grew to adulthood.

Joseph was injured by a fall of coal on his back while working in the mines in 1927. In a letter to me, my grandmother said about her father:
….Don’t think I ever told you, he worked in a coal mine in Mystic, IA. Had a fall of coal on his back and they said he would never walk again but he did. I remember watching him crawl from room to room and then he started pulling himself to chairs, also higher places until he could stand alone. Then with God’s help he learned to walk. I loved my Dad and I don’t think I’ll ever forget his memories. 

Joseph was unable to return to the mines or other employment after his injury, but did some carpentry work as he was able. Joseph had a large garden and loved growing roses. As far as I know, he retained his British citizenship.

Joseph died at the age of 71, after being ill with a kidney ailment for several months.

 

Grandma’s Butcher Knife – or How I Learned to Behave at the Table

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When I tell people that my Grandmother Eveline set her place at the table with a butcher knife so she could hit you with it if you misbehaved, they get the wrong idea.

It wasn’t like that. Really.

I think it may have had something to do with this guy…
I hear he was a bit of a mischief maker….and then there were his two older brothers…. and maybe his two older sisters weren’t always perfectly behaved either.

And anyway, she wouldn’t have hit you with the blade end. She held the knife by the blade, thus assuming any risk of serious injury herself. The butcher knife was merely an extension of her arm with a heavy wooden “hand” on the end of it, allowing her to deliver a whack on the hand to a deserving miscreant sitting anywhere at the table.

By the time I came to live at Grandma’s house most of the kids were grown, although Uncle Mont (the aforementioned mischief maker) and Aunt Wilma were still in high school. Even so, the butcher knife remained on the table at mealtime. It was enough to make me behave just knowing it was there.