OCR Text |
Show Benjamin Franklin Coates Jr. and Wife Review Lives as Dixie Pioneers of '61 ' 1(y MABKL JABV1S v Coates Jr. was born at B- ,'mtsville, Tooele county, 0ld 26th. 1855. the Mid of Benjamin Frauk-eldest Frauk-eldest a Rebecca Anglln Coates, M to Utah from Liuie- eD,ira untv Texas In 1848. sl0De S Coates' father, Elishu ""ued a lWKe plantation ADf MDt upwards of sixty negro Dd and slaves. Rebecca was nff,l, a hundred miles from Bre visiting with her married ome. f '"Margaret M o o d,y sisf ' wei-kown Dixie Pioneer of 'latf? when they heard the mes-1S61)'J mes-1S61)'J the Mormon Elders, sage 01 D s. church and joined " o emigrants ! sUrlt Whin father Anglin .r5'tW. he ordered an c ,ut- lro"' d and planned to leave fitprfnUong morning, intercept ,he n toant train and take his the M.r home by force if nec-dsughteBurnext nec-dsughteBurnext morning, when B te of the horses he S ' driving dropped dead. hfaccepted as an omen, and Ve idea of thwarting 537 L ladv in her pilgrimage ; rrfe of the Saints Al-? Al-? Mr Coates was not born ttTas he was living in Texas mft was here he end Rebecca and,n met Soon after she Ang Lrf Sit Lake City, he joined Z Churfb and followed, and in the..Cl1 were married In the Salt Lake Endowment House. The Coates family lived in rrintsville until their son was STyeare old, ad by this time Z also had a little daughter Siom they named Margaret. But Mrs Coates thoughts were always returning to Texas. She grieved oyer the way she had left her parents and wanted to go back and make peace with her lather. So the end of 1860 found them, with their two small children, on their way back to the old Plantation Planta-tion for a visit, and if possible a ' reconciliation. Here they spent 1 He winter and Father Anglin of-. of-. (ered his daughter and. her husband hus-band all the land they could tend, two buck slaves and one wench, if they would only deny this new faith and make their home once more in Texas. But the principles ol Mormonism. were too deeply Implanted within their hearts and they felt they could not renounce them. And in the late spring ofl861 they made the trek back to Utah, reaching Salt Lake City just in time to join the Pioneers to Dixie in 18 61, arriving at the town of Washington Wash-ington the last of October, where P they rented a small house and ' stayed for the winter. : B. F, Coates, Jr., was just six ! years of age "when this long Journey south was made. Like moBt people who came, his parents par-ents had a few cattle In the general gen-eral herd that was being driven I ilowly along with the caravan. ' And happy youngster was this, when a few days out on the road, one of the men lifted him into the saddle, gave him the reins and told him to help drive the cattle to Dixie, while he rode a spell In the wagon. Every day thereafter the lad was allowed allow-ed to serve in this capacity, and while he thinks of it now as Just a ride given to amuse him along many other boys, it was Teally his part in that second long pilgrimage of the L. D. S. Church. When they overtook the main train on the ridge east of the town of Washington there were leveral yoke of oxen on the wagons stopped there at the foot oi the Ridge that were so completely com-pletely giye out and sore footed ley had laid down on the job and wouldn't face climbing the long, steep, rock-strewn dugway. When- passing through Summit lather Coates had traded for two ?oke of sturdy fat oxen that had ' not thus far become worn out. So, on wagon after another, the wearied oxen were replaced by the Coates' double yoke, and they traveled, heads up, to the top ot the Ridge. Then, after a rest and feeding, the relieved animals wre able to come with their loads. Mr. Coates, though a small toy at the time, remembers that 'ea the oxen had things to learn about this Southern Mission. Being Be-ing unused to cactus, and reaches reach-es out to nibble watever green stuff came within reach along the Wad, one animal was unfortu-"ate unfortu-"ate enough to select a spike-jjUed spike-jjUed flat leaf prickley pear. The toers embedded themselves into Ms noae, pulling the leaf off with joem and the men had a great me getting old "Pony" calmed Jown enough to let them ex-. ex-. Uact the piercing thorns. And "ever again did the animal at-6In?t at-6In?t to feed on that type of "rage. With some of the others, the wates family remained in the town of Washington that first wnter, but when spring came atl the lots in the first platted J1 f St. George were being ra.wn, ttey came to town the ;. they drew in 1862 being the : e on which their son still re-i re-i tides, ! Along with "the other boys of '. 2? towi. Frank -Coates, as he aa called, herded cows, hoed eds, and learned many of the ,"y lessons of Pioneering. He 'so remembers taking part in " early Fourth of July and ' th6r celebrations, and decided ' live 71 a pretty eood place to ; Inrii. ' ln BP't ot hardships, nan troubles and heat. be Mt. Trumbull to get lum-' lum-' ou- for the St. George Tem- Moody moved . the twenty mill luuuls and supplies out to toe ""11 sue. Then for two summenf thV'etnned Ut to cut timber f; win , W0'kinS Bide by side "' 2 Sc'ila,ppi' th father pitv . Schmutz of this city. Later, with Lyman Peck and Henry Wilson hemade three tiips in from Mt. Trumbull with na1' l"Vder dheCti0n of named Johnson. Coates and an other boy drove five yoke of wi?h TC h' the'r wagonB load nJ ti 6 OU8and feet of lumber, and the other boy had three yoke of oxen on the water wagon, for water must be hauled along with every trip, else both men Tnd teams would perish, traveling over those romgh roads. Mr. coates also helped for weeks with the pile-driving on D- S- foundation, and worked under Archibald McNeil wAVieMr0?k ?"arries. both on the west black ridge and on the red sandstone quarry north of the city. He recalls the many interesting inter-esting and previously related events and experiences in the erection of this building, and the enthusiasm and energy with which the workmen carried forward this tremendous Pioneer buliding program. He helped when they were building the St. George stake Tabernacle, and years later hauled rock for the erec tion of the Woodward school building. Beginning as a young man, he has always taken pride in owning and driving good horses, hors-es, and spent many years of his life freighting, following the routine as the raliroad terminus termin-us pushed southward, first from York, later Juab, then Milford, Lund, and Modena. His teams have brought tons and tons of supples into St. George, and likewise hauled tons of ore from the Apex mine to the raliroad. While he was still a young lad, when the people moved away from St. Thomas for a time be-' cause of Navajo invasions, Frank Coates went with three older boys to bring some of the grain which the settlers had left in their bins, -in their rush to escape without loosing their lives. The boys knew they were in great danger and exerted every precaution pre-caution to avoid1 any surprise. 1 Coates, being too young, carried no weapon, but the other three boys were equiped with heavy muskets. The first night out they camped along the bank of the Rio Virgin, hobbling all their mules and belling three of them for signal makers. Along towards to-wards midnght they were awakened awak-ened with the loud jangling of the bells and could 'hear the clank of the hobbles as the mules attempted to break. The three older boys grabbed their guns and set out fearlessly, but young Coates sought self-protection by climbing under the entire stack of camp quilts. "And", he declares, de-clares, "if I could have done it, I'd have dug a hole in the iground and pulled the quilts in after me. But soon the noise of bells and hobbles stopped, and I could tell by the boys' voices they were coming back to camp. Quick as I could, I rolled their quilts back to where they had left them, and by the time they got to camp, was in my iOwn bunk as quiet as you please. And you can bet I never told them that night, nor for a long time after, how frightened I had been." It was really not Indians, just something " else had frightened the mules and caused the disturbance. dis-turbance. The balance of the trip was made without any difficulties. diffi-culties. Although Mr. Ooates'and the girl he married came into Dixie about the same time, Eugenia McArthur lived in the Fourth ward and he in the Third ward in St. George, and in those days, that was a long way apart. Their parents knew each other well and frequently associated in the same public gatherings, but the boy and girl did not become be-come much acquainted until they were quite grown up. Eugenia McArthur was the eldest child of President Dan iel D. McArthur by his wife Elizabeth Bullock McArthur. She was born in Pleasant Grove, Utah, December 4th, 18 60, and celebrated her first birthday on the Black ridge. One mile east of the town of Washington, at the camp site where three days earlier, John Donald Pymm, was born. The first remembrances she has are of the beginning of the building of houses in St. George, and how thrilled the people were when another family had a house completed and could move In Both she and her husband recall attending meetings at the Old Bowery, which stood where the wadsworth block now is, and of plays in the Old Social hall. After she was eight years of age she spent a good many weeks each summer picking cotton, cot-ton, stripping cain, and gleaning glean-ing wheat on their land in the Virgin field. She also had her full turn as a child, handHginning the cotton, and many a time have her hands ached from this and from picking wool over for cording and spinning In the home her mother cared for the children, took charge of the general gen-eral housework and tended the garden, while "Aunt Mary did the weaving. Her .brother Mix was her companion at cotton pirkine. glwming and other field activities. Theirs was a busy 'ife Their father was always occuped with Church affairs, whk-q ierc exura respuiisib;,Uy on the women and children. By the time she was fourteen years old, Eugenia had become Quite efficient with her needle, and began her work as a seamstress. seam-stress. At first her work was all done by hand until the family purchased a sewing machine ihe was just naturally gifted at cutting and fitting, and has followed fol-lowed dressmaking all her life.! At this age she frequently hired out to wash by the day, and in these times of washing machines mach-ines and other faculties to make washing easy, even she would quake the thought of the great tubs of clothes which used to be the regular day's job Of hand scubbing, and no "Par", "Rinso", or other dirt looseners, at her command. Those were days of home made soap and "elbow action". wnen she was- eighteen she began going out to sew by the day, and since that time, many a bride has been beautifully arrayed ar-rayed in the handiwork of this Pioneer seamstress. From the first she has often .been called upon to make burial clothes, this being placed upon her almost al-most as a mission. She has made literally hundreds of burial bur-ial outfits for all ages, always with the greatest care and neatest neat-est of workmanship. And besides these she has made stacks of clothing of all descriptions for the living men, women and children, child-ren, and always satisfied her customers. Of course she planned to give this- work up when she married, except for her own family, but was unable to persuade per-suade peODle she hadn't. Hmo for their- sewing.' "Aunt Jean Coates' dressmaking' by this time had become a veritable by-word throughout the county, and especially In St. George, Santa Clara and Washington. She still enjoys making pretty dresses. She was just twenty years old when she was married to her Pioneer boy friend, B. F. Coates in the St. George Temple, April 28th, 1880. President John T. D. McAllister officiating. Her wedding reception dress was of and exquisite piece of lavender gray alpacca which her father brought her from England when he returned from a mission there some months before her marriage. And this dainty material mat-erial was made even more desirable de-sirable by the handiwork of the bride. To this couple were born 12 children, 6 hoys and 6 girls, of whom only 5 are still living, 6 having passed away as infants, and one older. Those living are Edwin Berto, now of St. Geroge, Arthur and James of Phoenix, Arizona, and Mrs.- Reba Soren-son Soren-son and LeGrande Coats of Los Angeles, California. A married daughter Mrs. Roxy Foster passed pass-ed away in this city in 1917, leaving three children. Two of these, Berneice and Clark were raised by Mr. and Mrs. Coates, the other boy, Paul, by his igrandmother, Mrs. Maggie Foster Clift. For the past thirty-five years Mr. Coates has been farming on his splendid land in the Washington Wash-ington field. Here he has produced pro-duced tons of alfalfa and grain, as well as some fruit. He has always been knwon for his thriftiness and tor his fine handling hand-ling of his farm work, and has enjoyed his life to the utmost in this pursuit. For the past two years, their son Berto and family have been with them, Berto taking over the heavier part of the farm work,, having formerly resided ln Idaho until 1930, and In California until 1933, since his marriage to Miss Margaret McFate of Eureka, Utah. Coming to this valley when so young, this couple have witnessed the vividly written pages of the country's growth, have suffered through the Pioneer hardships and enjoyed the many blessings that have marked the fulfillment of the promises made by Brigham Young when they started on the trek southward. After a few years, due to his mother's ill health, Mr. Coates parents returned re-turned to American Fork and spent the remainder of their lives. The parents of Mrs. Coates were able to remain in Dixie and lived to a ripe old age of unsu-ally unsu-ally active years. Today, Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Coates, Jr., "Uncle Frank" and "Aunt Jean" to many who know them intimately, are enjoying the satisfaction that comes from well-spent well-spent years. Mr. Coates has devoted de-voted himself to the temporal upbuilding of the community and has lent his wife every support in her religious activities. From early girlhood' she has been a right-hand helper of the Relief society with her sewing as well as filling the office of visiting teacher. She was made First Counsellor to Mrs. Esther Whitehead White-head in the West ward Relief society so-ciety about 1915 and labored in this capacity for any years, and while not at present an officer, she is still interested in and closely connected with the work. She has also helped with costumes, cos-tumes, etc., for other organizations. organiza-tions. During the past fifteen years she has been able to spend some time visiting with her children child-ren in California, Arizona, and Idaho, and now at nearly seventy-six she Is remarkably youthful youth-ful and vigorous, and is always busy in her home or at public work. And Mr. Coates, nearing his eighty-first milestone, gives splendid evidence of the value of a well-spent life. Outweighing any hardships is their happiness to'have taken part in the growth and upbuilding of this one-time forbidding waste land, and they count on being present to tell the Homecoming visitors in September Septem-ber that they still enjoy being Dixie Pioneers of 1S61. |