From assorted family histories
(purported to be known through a family bible), William and Susannah Coates had
at least seven children (dates are from unknown family records, presumed to
be a family bible). Very little is
known of these children. What little is
known will be reviewed following the several lists below:
1. Sarah “Sallie” Coates – born ca1784
2. Merrit Coates – born ca 1785, m26Jul1809
Halifax VA to Elizabeth B Sikes
3. Mary “Polly” Coates – born ca1788
4. Austin Murphy Coates – bc1790 SC, m1824
Sumner TN Lucinda Dismukes, d17May1833
5. Nancy Coates – born ca 1794, m30Sep1822
Halifax VA to James Hill
6. Beverly E. Coates – born ca1797 VA,
m24Sep1827 Halifax VA to Elizabeth Hill, d1859
7. Martha “Patsy” Coates – born ca1801, m1814
Halifax VA to William Nichols
Even less is known of John Coates
the younger and his wife Fanny Winn (not sure about how long she lived and
whether John Coates the younger married any additional times). The short list includes the following names:
1. Possibly Samuel Coates – bc1789, m1811
Nancy Medley in Halifax Co (he was not a known member of either of the other
Coates families at the time)
2. John Coates – bc1796 Virginia, mc1822
Halifax Co to Sarah “Sally” Yeates or Yates, daughter of John Yeates of Halifax
Co, d1861
3. Edward B. Coates – bc1800 Halifax Co, m1831
Halifax Co to Wilmot C. Hall, d1855 Halifax Co
Some researchers have
superimposed William Coates (born 1760) with William Coates (born 1749). This confusion is expected due to their
similar age, origins, and affiliation with Halifax County. The evidence that separates these two men are
a) William Coates (born 1760) pension application, which reveals his
association with Spotsylvania County, and b) a 1790 deed in Essex County in
which William Coates (born 1749) of Halifax County sells land he received from
his father Samuel Coates 1780 Essex County will. The children of William Coates (born 1749) of
Halifax County are often confused with the children of William (born 1760) and
John Coates the younger (born 1762). Children
of all three men married in Halifax County.
There were several additional Coates (not included as children of William,
William, and John) married in Halifax County during the early 1800s but these
are mostly grandchildren of William Coates (born 1749). The children of William Coates (born 1749),
according to his will of 1812, were:
1. William Coates – (many researchers put
Polly Crews as his wife-m1801 in Halifax
Co, but she is certainly the wife of a different William Coates who originally came
from Essex Co) may have m1818 Sarah Moorefield and/or m1824 Nancy Shipp
2. John Coates – mbefore1812 probably Polly Nichols
in Halifax Co
3. Elizabeth “Betsy” Coates – bca1779-1782
(some say Richmond, VA), m1800 James Franklin in Halifax Co, d22Oct1832 Halifax
Co
4. Richard Coates – m1794 Polly (Branham)
Halifax Co, d1820-1830 (oldest son was Peyton Coates m1816)
5. Guilford Coates – m1805 Nancy Hankla or Hankley
in Halifax Co, d1812-1820
6. Nancy Coates – m1791 Champness “Champ” Seymour
in Halifax Co
7. Sarah “Sally” Coates – b1770-1775, m 1793
Stephen Huddleston Halifax Co, dbef1805
8. Lucy Coates – mentioned in father’s 1812
will as “Lucy Coates” with children, dbef1812
Austin Murphy Coates (born circa 1792),
son of William Coates (born 1760)
Austin Coates was born about
1792. Family legend reports his place of
birth as Richland County, South Carolina (though this was probably a different
Austin M. Coats as there is no evidence his father was in South Carolina). He was a soldier in the War of 1812, 4th
Regt, VA militia, Greenhill’s Company. Austin
lived in Davidson County as early as 1820 and as a 28-year-old bachelor,
he owned a fine home and two slaves. He
took care of his aging parents who at the time were unable to care for
themselves. According to his father’s
pension application, Austin was set to move to Virginia at the end of 1820 (as
so many of his siblings seem to have done).
However, in 1824, Austin Coates married his cousin Lucinda Towns
Dismukes, the 18-year-old daughter of Daniel Dismukes, in Sumner County,
Tennessee. They may have been in Henry
County, Tennessee in 1830. Austin Coates
died 17 May 1833 in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. His wife remarried to William Hutchinson in
Sumner County, Tennessee in 1836 (Sumner Co TN marriage records) There
were several Austin M. Coats and all eventually lived in Mississippi. Separating the three has proven to be a
difficult task and therefore little more is known of Austin M. Coates, son of
William Coates.
Beverly E. Coates (born 1797), son of
William Coates (born 1760)
Beverly E. Coates was born in Virginia
(from the 1850 census) in 1797 (family bible, unknown location) and was known
to have been disabled. Legend says he
was crippled from birth but the certainty of this information in not
known. He was also reportedly educated
by the future President Andrew Jackson in Davidson County, Tennessee (Jackson
was a successful lawyer and judge but nearly went bankrupt in 1804. It was then he bought the Hermitage in
Davidson County, Tennessee and focused on operating a general store, tavern,
and horseracing course until the War of 1812).
Although disabled and without the use of his legs, Beverly Coates achieved
many normal life accomplishments. In
1827, Beverly Coates was married in Halifax County, Virginia to Elizabeth
Hill. From this marriage, he fathered
three children in Halifax County. His
days of fatherhood were short-lived and at some point around 1835 he removed to
Davidson County, Tennessee to help take care of his aging parents. His wife moved to Franklin County, Alabama
after 1835, lived near Willis Chandler Jr., and remarried to William R. Hooker
before 1840. Beverly Coates’ oldest
daughter named a son Beverly E. after her father, who she likely never saw
again after her mother moved them south.
By 1835, Beverly Coates was a
well-respected teacher at a school in Goodlettsville near the border of Sumner
and Davidson counties. A student’s
reminiscence allows us to learn more about Beverly Coates (From the
unfinished autobiography of George Bradford (b1825) in Sumner Co TN archives in
Gallatin TN) –
“But I
remember (the top line of the next page was cut off in the copying) Beverly E.
Coats. I know not from what cause, to a size not exceeding early boyhood, and
were wholly useless for every purpose. His body other hand was of a size
equalling that of a powerful man, and in it and in his arms he had great
strength. His locomotion was performed by throwing one of his little legs across
the other, placing the supporting limb straight before him and then supporting
himself upon both his hands on the floor or ground propel himself forward. He
walked on his hands. He knew nothing except "according to rule," and
had no incentive to study among his pupils except the fear of long beech
switches coming down on the idle and the dull, driven by his nervous arm. ____
I passed rapidly through spelling & reading and was soon put to Latin. I do
not know how far I was carried in that study, but probably not farther than
Historae Sacrae--probably into Vivi Romoe. His system of teaching was
old-fashioned--he was man of the long past. Modern improvements had not
penetrated into Sumner County. From him I learned to read well, because, as I
have since supposed, I couldn't help it, and to spell correctly. Under his
severe discipline too, I committed to memory many rules in Arithmetic and
Grammar, about which, though I could repeat them glibly, I knew as much as a
parrot would, yet which stood me in good ____ long after under other systems,
and the awakened power to reason. His errors however were not his own, but
those who taught him--he gave back again what he had received. I owe him a debt
of gratitude. He is an honest, upright and good many. May he long live to enjoy
that competency which many years of honest toil enabled him to gather together
and invest in the neyhbourhood(sic) of the home of his childhood.”
As a resident of Davidson County,
Tennessee, Beverly Coats bought two tracts of land in Sumner County, Tennessee
during 1835 and 1836. On 10 August 1835,
Beverly Coates paid $310 to John Lay of Sumner County for a tract of unknown
size and location. The next year, he
paid $800 to Absalom Joiner of Sumner County for a tract in Sumner County located
on the waters of Madison Creek adjoining his cousin William Miller Dismukes,
son of Paul, son of Elisha. This William
M. Dismukes lived at Hendersonville, Davidson County, Tennessee. According to Beverly Coates’ mother’s pension
application, in 1845 he was living on the Davidson County and Sumner County
line, probably actually in Sumner County.
After his mother’s death in 1846, he continued to live in Sumner County,
Tennessee (1850 Sumner County census).
With his parents deceased and in light of his disability and advancing
age, Beverly Coates removed from Tennessee to Cedartown, Polk County, Georgia,
located in the northwest area of that state.
He was purportedly living with his cousin, through the Dismukes line,
named Whitehead. This was probably
Beverly E. Whitehead and no actual relationship has been established. Coates died in 1859 in Cedartown, Georgia.
The children of Beverly E. Coates
and his wife Elizabeth Hill were:
1.
Frances Adeline Coats – bc1828 Halifax Co, VA,
mc1845 Calvin M. Hooker (her stepfather’s younger brother) AL or MS, dafter1870
– children Thomas N., Beverly E., Luella, James H., Elizabeth, Georgia Ann,
Roxana, and Walter L.
2.
James E. Coats – bc1830 Halifax Co, VA, alive in
1855 Chickasaw Co, MS, missing afterwards
3.
Delphia Jane Coats – b1834 Halifax Co, VA, m1
Coyle c1850, m2 Erastus Chandler c1852, m3 William D. Cousins, d1890 Clay Co,
MS
Beverly Coates’ children had younger
half brothers and sisters from their mother’s second marriage to William R.
Hooker. These children grew up in Mississippi
and then Texas. Their names were Willis
Richard Hooker, Sarah “Sallie” Hooker, Lewis W. Hooker, and Elizabeth “Bettie”
Hooker.
John Coates (born circa 1796), son of
John Coates the younger (born 1762)
John Coates was also known as
John Dabney Coates. He was born between
1796 and 1801 in Virginia. On 24
December 1822, he married Sarah “Sally” Roberta Yates or Yeates in Halifax
County, Virginia. Sally Yates was born
17 February 1805 in Halifax County, the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran
John H. Yates and Elizabeth Chandler.
John and Sally had at least four children: John Edwards (born 1828),
Sarah Elizabeth (born c1832), Martha (born c1835), Mildred (born c1837). In 1840, John and Sally were living in Edmonson
County, Kentucky, by 1850, they were in Christian County, Kentucky, and then in
1860, they were in Edmonson County, Kentucky.
John Dabney Coates died 19 April 1861 and was buried at Baltimore
Cemetery in Graves County, Kentucky.
Sally Coates died 9 July 1879. A
descendant attempted to join the DAR using the Revolutionary service of John
Coates the younger (born 1762). She
wrote the government and requested John Coates pension application in 1919,
stating that John Coates of Halifax County (born 1762) was her great
grandfather. In actuality, this John
Coates was her great great grandfather.
Edward B. Coates (born circa 1800), son
of John Coates the younger (born 1762)
Edward B. Coates was commonly
known to have been the son of John Coates the younger (born 1762). He was born about 1800 (from the 1850 census)
and likely grew up in Halifax County. On
25 April 1831, he married Wilmot Catherine Hall in Halifax County, Virginia. They had ten known children: John P. Coates,
Thomas J. Coates, Sarah T. Coates, Mary H. Coates, Elizabeth T. Coates, Mildred
C. Coates, Martha A. Coates, Susan C. Coates, Edward J. Coates, and Benjamin J.
Coates. Edward died in Halifax County on
7 May 1855 from dyspepsia.