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Show Benjamin Coates, Dixie Pioneer, Dies At Home Here Thursday Benjamin Franklin Coates, 83, died at his home at 4 p.m. last Thursday of general ailments resulting re-sulting from a chronic -.stomach trouble, with pneumonia being the direct cause of death. He had been confined to his home suffering intensely the past two months. Born in old Grantsville, Tooele county, October 25, 1855, he was the oldest child of Benjamin Franklin and Rebecca Anglin Coates, L.D.S. converts from Limestone county, Texas, and Utah pioneers of 1848. His Texas grandparents were large plantation planta-tion owners of that period and this boy was only five when he had the privilege of visiting for a year at his grandfather Anglin's home, and recalled frequently the interestine happenings of that journey, and of the many slaves employed on the large plantation. After a year the family returned to Grantsville, just in time to be called to the Dixie Mission in the fall of 1861. Mr. Coates, who was just six years old, drove cows most of the way to Washington, where they located the first year. They then moved to St. George where he grew up and received his education. They always had fine ox teams and later good horses and from boyhood he was skilled in driving teams. Along with other boys of the (Continued on page six) Frank Ccates Funeral (Continued fTom first page) town, "Frank Coates" as he was always called, herded cows, hoed weeds in the boiling heat, and learned many of the early lessons of pioneering. He also took part in early Fourth of July and other such celebrations, usually as one of the horsemen, or teamsters, for parades were in those days a vital part of the program. When the saw mill was set up at Mount Trumbull to get out lumber lum-ber for the Temple, Frank Coates and Johnny Moody moved the 20 mill hands and supplies to the mill site. Then for two summers he returned and cut timber for the mill, working side by side with Henry Schlappi, the foreman. fore-man. He also hauled some of the heavy timbers, driving five yoke teams of oxen with the five-thousand five-thousand foot loads of lumber. He helped with the pile driving in the Temple foundation and with getting out rock at the quarries under direction of Archibald Mc-: Mc-: Neil. He also worked at the mill with Robert Gardner. All through the days of team freighting in this section, he was an outstanding figure, being well known for the excellent teams he drove and his skill in handling his freight. He also did pioneer guide work for settlers moving to Dixie and on south into Nevada. He often recalled interesting experiences ex-periences in helping with the cattle cat-tle roundups of early days. On April 28, 1880, he married Eugenia . McArthur, daughter of Daniel D. and Elizabeth Bullock McArthur. John T. D. McAllister performed the ceremony in the St. George Temple. They were the parents of 12 children, six boys and six girls, only five of whom are still living. These are Edwin Berto, St. George; Arthur and James Coates, of Phoenix, Ariz.; Mrs. Reba Sorenson and LaGrande Coates, both of Los Angeles. They also raised two grandchildren, j Berneice and Clark Foster. Be sides his wife and five children, he is survived by 14 grandchildren, grandchil-dren, two great-grandchildren and two sisters and two brothers, Mrs. Leona Crooks, Mrs. Effie Caighn, and William Coates, all of Salt Lake City. Funeral services under the direction of Bp. Vernon Worthen of the west ward, were held in the south ward chapel at 3 p.m. Saturday. Musical numbers included "I Do I Believe" duet by Ruth Winsor and Ruth Miles; solo "My Peace I Leave With You", Mamie Pax-man; Pax-man; violin , solo, "One Fleeting Hour", Earl' J. Bleak, with Mrs. Mae A. Pace at the console. Speakers were George W. Worthen and James McArthur. Both told of the life of hard work of the desceased, his faithfulness faith-fulness to duty, and his honesty and dependability. Both reflected on the principles of religion in which the plan of salvation provided pro-vided assurance for all men and told of the promises of eternal life in which all would share. They told of the promises also for those who were faithful in temporal responsibilities, that the gospel includes all that is good in life. James McArthur said. "Frank Coates has given his manhood for the upbuilding of this mission and deserved . great reward for his honesty and faithfulness". Bp. Vernon Worthen made brief closing remarks and thanked all who had given any assistance. He told also of his life long acquaintance acquaint-ance with the Coates family and praised them for their work and their devotion to each other. Prayers were by Pres. W. O. Bentley and John T. Woodbury with W. W. McArthur dedicating the grave. Pall bearers were Hans Anderson. Ander-son. Arnold McArthur, Rudger McArthur, Ross McArthur, Perry Lang and Wayne C. Gardner. |