The Coats Family
Thomas
Coats’ parents crossed the Atlantic Ocean
to America in 1814.
Thomas
Coats was born December
18, 1823, in Louisville, St.
Lawrence County, New York. He married Caroline Carter (born September 3, 1832, in Pittsburgh County, Pennsylvania) on December 3, 1851. They were married
in Ripon, Wisconsin. Together they crossed the plains to Oregon in 1852.
They wintered in Marion County and then traveled down to Tenmile, Oregon, with their daughter in 1853. They staked their Donation Land Claims and got Government patents. Thomas and Caroline
had three more children in Tenmile, rounding their family out with three girls and one boy. Thomas served for short while
in the Rogue River Indian War of 1855-1856 under Capt. Bouy and P. Nolan of company B, 2nd regiment, O.M. Volunteers.
In later years, Caroline received a veteran’s pension of $20 a month for the rest of her life.
Both
Thomas and Caroline were faithful workers in the church. A church class was formed and Thomas was elected class leader. In
1869 it was decided to build a church. Thomas donated an acre of ground for the church and two acres for the parsonage. This
is the site of the Tenmile Methodist Church today. In 1870 the church was dedicated to the Methodist
Church. Thomas also donated an acre of ground for a school and an acre of ground on the Tenmile Valley Road for a cemetery. The Tenmile Cemetery is still there today. The log schoolhouse was built in 1854 and Thomas and Caroline’s
daughter Jennie taught school there.
Their
son, William Henry Coats married Melissie Ann Appleton on March 6, 1880. Together they
had eight children: Walter Garfield (b. April 23, 1881, d July 21, 1965), Grace May Godfry (b. July 22, 1886, D. May 6, 1964),
Bertha Merle Osborn (b. June 3, 1893), Leatha Bea Petefish (b. June 18, 1895, d. December 30, 1951), Glen Owen (b. June 1897,
d. March 30, 1900), Gerald Theodore (b. June 1902, d. July 20, 1974), William Lester (b. June 4, 1903), Clare Lenor (b. December
5, 1908).
William
Henry and Melisse were also active in church. He led the singing and played the violin for the church, and Melissie was a
teacher and for a while was Sunday School Superintendent.
In the
early 1890’s, William owned a horse-powered threshing machine. He threshed crops in the surrounding area. In 1906 he
and his son Walter bought a steam engine to run their threshing machine. That year they threshed for six months in the area.
Melissie
and William’s son Walter married Sarah Louisa Porter on November 14, 1906. They were
married at the Porter house at 6:30
p.m. by Rev. M.W. Hampton, who was the minister on the
Tenmile Circuit. Sarah Louisa’s dress was made by her mother. It was a floor-length dress of white cashmere trimmed
with taffeta ribbon and buttons.
The Coats
and Porters were some of the first settlers of Ten mile, and these two families were joined together by the marriage of Walter
and Sarah Louisa.
Walter
was a carpenter. He built barns, bridges and their house. He drew the plans for the battery separator plant at Dillard and
supervised the building of it. Sarah Louisa was active in the church, 4-H, Home Extension, a charter member of the Tenmile
Ladies Club, and a reporter for the News-Review newspaper in Roseburg. They had two daughters –
Elta (b. January 23, 1911, d January 1977) and Mildred Gladwill (b. July 4, 1913) – and adopted son, Keith Allan Christopherson (b. May 18 1931).
Walter and Sarah Louisa lived in Tenmile until Walter passed away July 21, 1964. Sarah Louisa
then moved to Culver Oregon, to be near her daughter Mildred. Sarah Louisa lived there until her death October 25, 1981. Submitted by Gayle Christoper-Fuller. Taken from a genealogy written by Sarah
Louisa Porter Coats.
