Tag Archives: Joseph Coates

Notes to Self

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Could a blog post function as a lazy person’s research log/research notes?

There wouldn’t be any papers or notebooks to lose.
If I tag well, I could find notes about individuals or places or sources easily.
Somebody reading my notes might have some information I need.

Think I’ll give it a try. I’ve been working on a few things.

* Uncle Don sent me a brief biography Aunt Wilma wrote about Joseph and Mary Harris Coates. One bit of new information I need to research – she said that Mary’s uncle, Matthew Harris, traveled with them from England to the U.S., but he left and went to Australia. Thanks, Uncle Don!  🙂

* Cousin Wilda sent a link to an article about the Hatfield family. We have Hatfields way back on my Webber side. The TV show about the Hatfield and McCoy feud prompted the article here.  Thanks, Wilda!

* Heard from a new cousin – grandson of Joseph Robert Coates. Prompted me to get in touch with the other grandchildren of Eveline’s siblings that I have had contact with in the past. Want to collect death records for all Eveline’s siblings.

* The anniversary of Joseph Coates’ birth is coming soon and I want to do some blog posts about him. Need to email family for any stories they might have.

* Found images online of St. Stephen’s Willington Church in Durham, UK – where Joseph’s parents John Coates and Ellenor Richardson were married.

* Received letter from USCIS stating that my records index search request for Joseph Coates came up with 0 results.  🙁 I was hoping to get info that would lead to date of immigration, ship, etc. Dead end.

* Checked ancestry.com for more records for John Coates. Found 1911 census I had not seen before. Actual image! and it looks like he even signed it – so I have an image of his signature, address, etc. The next image shows that he is living with daughter Nellie (Mary Ellen), her husband and their children. There are separate entries. John has a page to himself and lives in one room. The family is the next image 5 people in 3 rooms (4 crossed out).

* The census find led me to check google maps on a whim and see if I coud get something from their address.  Sure enough, from the street view it looks like the house is still standing. Couldn’t read the house numbers and not sure exactly which was theirs but picked one that looks most like a photo I have. I had assumed that this house was where John Coates lived in Durham, UK, but it isn’t identified. Now I’m pretty sure.

* Looked up a bit more about jobs in mining.  Joiner. Cartwright.  = Carpenter. Cart Maker

* Tried to find John Coates in 1861 England Census. Found a boarder the right age in Gilesgate, St. Giles, Durham, born in Willington, working as a Journeyman Cartwright (at least I think that’s what it says.) Another John Coates the right age living as a boarder in Hartepool, Durham. The one in Gilesgate seems more likely?

* Ellenor Richardson. Where and when was she born?  Who are her parents? From marriage record, her birth would be 1845. Census records confirm that. But location varies with each census. 1881: Fitches, Durham. 1871: Willington, Durham. I also have an IGI record from FamilySearch that has an Ellen Richardson b. 21 Feb. 1845 in Brampton, Cumberland, England, parents William and Jane. Looked up Cumberland and it is adjacent to Durham, so possible. ???

* Google search for Fitches doesn’t come up with much. Finally concluded that it might be Fitches Grange – located near Witton Castle in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. Not that far from Willington, I guess. I’m a little confused by the place names in England. Maybe a census that says Fitches and one that says Willington could mean the same general location?

* Christina says I should probably rescan all the old photos I’m wanting to preserve/archive as tif files.

Treasure Chest Thursday – Penmanship

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I can identify my grandmother’s handwriting. When I look at the back of a photograph and see her distinctive script, I know who identified the people in the picture. I can pick up one of the notebooks that she kept and know that it is hers, even though her name isn’t there. But my recognition of family handwriting comes to a full stop when I move past my parents and grandmother. Until now. I found something to help me identify one set of great-grandparents’ handwriting – my grandmother Eveline Coates’ report card.

Eveline Coates Report Card Grade 12

Both of Eveline’s parents signed the report card and now I can use it to compare with the handwriting in the Coates family Bible.

Mary Ann Harris Coates signed it here:                   Joseph Coates signed it here:

 

 

 

 

Mary’s handwriting is angular with lines meeting in distinct points. Joseph’s handwriting is very round and circular.

Coates Family Bible – Births Page

Three samples of handwriting appear on the Births page. I presume that the early writers were Eveline’s parents, Joseph Coates and Mary Harris Coates.

Comparing the signatures on the report card to the entries on the Births page, it looks as though Mary wrote the first line and made the entires for Carl and John. Then the handwriting changes, and Joseph made the entries for Joseph and Amelia. Then back to Mary for Evelina, Blanche and Marjorie.

Eveline Coates began writing with the entry for Bernard and continued to the end of the page.

My grandmother Eveline’s handwriting appears on the Births, Marriages and Deaths pages, but only after her parents stopped writing in it. There is a fourth person’s handwriting on the Deaths page that I cannot identify. I believe that the Bible passed from Joseph and Mary Coates to Eveline Coates and then to whomever wrote the last two entries on the Deaths page. (Maybe Aunt Wilma?)

Eveline’s mother, Mary Harris Coates, was an immigrant from England. Eveline often told the story that her mother arrived at about 9 years of age. The other kids in school teased her so much about her accent that her mother schooled her at home. I imagine her spending a great deal of time practicing her flourishes and curlicues in the solitude of her home.

(I am SO ANNOYED because I have tried to add the Deaths page here about 20 times and every time I do, everything on the page messes up. If you would like to take a look at it, go to the previous post. I give up!)

*****
Heard from my uncle after posting and he believes it is Aunt Wilma’s handwriting on the Deaths page.

 

Bible Records – The Coates Family

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I am such a bad genealogist. Better than I used to be. But still not so good at keeping notes on everything I acquire. I’m excusing myself on this one because it was before I knew better.

I received these copies of pages from a Coates family Bible from someone at sometime. My Aunt Wilma may have sent them to me. I don’t know who has the Bible or when the copies were made. If you know something I don’t, please fill me in.

Coates Family Bible - Births Page

Coates Family Bible - Marriages Page

 

Coates Family Bible - Deaths Page

Transcription:

Births

Born to Joseph & Mary Coates
Carl Coates                    August 20th 1892
John William Coates      Aug 4th 1894
Joseph Robert Coates   Aug 28th 1896
Amelia May Coates        January 14th 1899
Evelina Coates               February 15th 1901
Blanche Coates              April 12, 1903
Marjorie Coates              June 19, 1906
Beernard Coates             April 15, 1908
Leonard Coates              March 27, 1910
Nellie Coates                  February 3, 1912
Grandson
Richard Faye Coates      Nov. 27, 1932

Marriages

John Coates & Ellenor Richardson
on December 30th 1862 at Low Willington Co Durham England
Joseph Coates & Mary A Harris
on November 9th 1891 at Centerville Iowa USA
Carl Coates & Nellie Murl Metcalf
on Sept. 16th 1916 at Blandinsville Ills
Joseph Robert Coates & Alice Tingle
at Mystic Iowa
Thomas Hoskins & Eveline Coates
March 24 – 1923 at Mystic Iowa
Miles Otto Bankson & Blanche Coates
September 22 – 1923 at Mystic Iowa

Deaths

Amelia May Coates                     January 24th 1900
Celia Harris (Mother’s mother)    March 14 – 1922
Wilbur Thomas Hoskins              Jan 18 – 1930
Carl Coates                                  Aug. – 22  – 1951
Joseph Coates Sr. (father)          March 3 – 1939
Leonard Coates                          Jan 2, 1959
Mary Ann Coates (Mother)          Jan. 8, 1965
Joseph R. Coates                        Aug 3, 1971
John –                                          Feb 16, 1984
Margie                                          Jan 28, 1981
Bernard Coates                           Oct 21, 1998
Nellie Coates Stickler                  May   1999