Sarah "Sallie" Coats

Notes:

From FindAGrave:

Obituary
Courtesy of Greenwood County Historical Society
Died of congestive chills, while on a visit to her son in Lyon County, after a few hours' illness Wednesday, October 11, 1876, Sally wife of Solomon Phenis of Madison, Greenwood County, Kansas, in the 54th year of her age.

The subject of this memoir was born March 6, 1823, in Marion county, Indiana. (Daughter of William & Charlotte Coats.) She was married to her now bereaved husband in 1839. They immigrated to Kansas in March 1855, and settled on Phenis creek, and moved from there to their present home on the Verdigris River in 1861.

Coming to Kansas in its earliest settlement, she necessarily met with all the privations of pioneer life, which she always bore with not only the greatest fortitude but was ever ready to extend a helping hand and sympathy to all who were less fortunate than she, as many a greatful heart will testify by a thrill of sadness upon hearing of her death. She acted well her part in all the relations of life, as wife, mother and neighbor. Though humble in life she was widely known by a large circle of friends and acquaintances; who extend their sympathies to the sadly bereaved family in this their hour of their sore affliction.

For consolation we would point the afflicted to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; and may they and we take warning by this dispensation, and ever be ready to meet the messenger when he comes.


Ken Harvey writes that she was "The family name Coats is believed to be associated with the "Coats-Clark" thread manufacturers.

William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, is supposed to have given to a forefather of Sallie Coats a tract of land including the Philadelphia waterfront. The fortunate ancestors were supposed to have been Bartholomew Coppack (original grantee) whose daughter Mary married Marmaduke Coate. Bartholomew also had sons. The idea is that the lease on this valuable land expired and that it should have reverted to the heirs.

Swindlers tell "heirs" in such cases that enormous corporations and banks are illegally conspiring to hold on to their property. A properly financed claim, they say, would return the "estate" to them. To launch a claim, the "heirs" must raise funds for attorney's fees and establish their lineages.

In this case Ethel A. Phenis was asked for $6 which in 1926 was quite a lot of money. There is no certainty that she paid. In such cases hungry and genealogically unsophisticated people often grafted the ancestry of somebody else onto their own family tree to prove their connection.

In her submission Ethel A. Phenis gave Sarah's total number of children as eight. They were listed as Newton, Isaac, Charlie, Rilley, Esley, Minna, Eva and Hannah. Her son gives the number as nine It is however very likely in my opinion that Cyrus, Esley, Newton, Eve and Ellsworth were not Sarah's children.

It was claimed by Ethel A. Phenis that Sallie's parents were William Coate and Lottie Wright but as there was a financial objective, see above, this data is possible more hopeful than factual and certainly needs confirmation.

Ethel was in contact, in 1923, with another presumed claiment who considered herself a cousin of Ethel. She was M.A. Coppock of Emporia, Kansas. At least she addressed her letter to "Dear Cousin" - possibly an assumption based on their mutual goal.

Mead McWethy would have known of the information that his mother had intended giving to the Ohio based Coppock-Coate Claimant Association in 1926. This particular Association was possibly a fraudulent exploitation of an arguably legitimate claim. It is unlikely that Ethel ever sent the $6 required as the original application is in the possession of Penny Ethlen Payne (1996) and Lunora McWethy (1996) thinks that her mother was unable to afford it at the time.

Mead McWethy states very clearly that there is very little reliable information available regarding Sallie Coats' parentage. He noted that all of Solomon and Sallie Phenis's children were deceased by 1956 and he seems to have had little patience with the claim, unlike his mother."

Sarah married Solomon Austin Phenis about 1839. Solomon was born on 10 Dec 1817 in Ohio; died on 1 Jul 1903 in Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma; was buried in Camp Russell Cemetery, Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Ursula Phenis was born on 28 Aug 1843 in Indiana; and died.
2. Isaac Huston Phenis was born on 23 Jan 1848 in Indiana; and died.
3. Charles Johnson Phenis was born on 14 Feb 1851 in Indiana; and died.
4. William Riley Phenis was born on 14 Apr 1852 in Indiana; died on 26 May 1909 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma; was buried in Ripley Oak Park Cemetery, Ripley, Payne County, Oklahoma.
5. Evangeline L. Phenis was born about 1855 in Indiana; and died.
6. Nina E. Phenis was born on 23 Jan 1858 in Kansas; and died.
7. Hannah C. Phenis was born on 26 Feb 1861 in Kansas; and died.
8. Solomon Ellsworth Phenis was born about 1862 in Kansas; and died.