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]

Notes:

Probably died young.

Notes:

Deceased by 1956.

Family/Spouse: Alice Norton. Alice (daughter of William Norton and Sarah Freer) was born after 1847; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

c.1926 address: Charley Phenis, Cleveland, Oklahoma. Deceased by 1956.

Notes:

Known as Riley. The I.G.I. records April 21 as his birthday. This was probably the day he was baptised. Made the "run," with his brother Isaac, on 22 April 1889 and each filed on a 160 acre farm about eight miles north-east of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Using his father's watch he timed his last dose of medicine.

Phenis family information is based in part on Ethel Arretha Phenis bible entries (initiated circa 1930) in THE HOLY BIBLE CONTAINING OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, translated out of the original tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. "International" series, self-pronouncing edition-International Bible Press, Philadelphia, USA The John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia. Small pica. octavio. clear type edition 1223 pages plus 17 maps [Holy Bible Self Pronouncing inscribed on spine] green cloth board cover, is in very fragile state. This family Bible, of which edition there is no copy in the Library of Congress, was passed down in the family Mrs. Ethel Arrentha McWethy to her daughter, Faye McWethy. Collection of Judith Keeth of Wichita (1998).

William married Flora Jane Norton on 3 Jul 1873 in Kansas. Flora (daughter of William Norton and Sarah Freer) was born on 8 Jun 1855 in Mohaska County, Iowa; died on 12 Apr 1929 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma; was buried in Ripley Oak Park Cemetery, Ripley, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

c.1926 address: Mrs Nina Roberts, Cucamunga, California. Deceased by 1956.

Notes:

c. 1926 address: Mrs Hannah Urels, 3314 Los Angeles, Glenhurst Air, California. Deceased by 1956.

Notes:

The family data below needs confirmation;

Ethel listed her gt.uncles and aunts (children of William, son of Marmaduke Coats) as John, Thomas -whom she personally knew as Uncle Tom, William, her grandmother Sally, Esley Coats Hayworth and Hester Coats McCool.

John Coats had offspring George, Harmon (who had four children), Marthy and Sindy.

Thomas Coats had offspring Oliver, Albert, Hester, Lotta and Sinda.

Esley Coats Hayworth had offspring Rodssanna, Lottie, Rilla, Henry and John.

Hester Coats McCool had offspring Henry (husband of aunt Maggie? Phenis) and Emeline (mother of Mrs Paxton).

Ethel married William Meade McWethy on 29 Sep 1897. William (son of John Graham McWethy and Elizabeth Strait) was born on 8 Feb 1867 in Darke County, Ohio; died on 13 Sep 1945 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma; was buried in Fairlawn Cemetery, Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Address in 1926: RR4, Perkins, OK.

Orpha Anise Phenis was born in Madison, Kansas, September 28, 1875 and died September 24, 1953, at Cresthaven Rest Home, Olympia, Washington, at the age of 77 years, 11 months and 27 days. She was the daughter of William Riley & Flora Jane Phenis. She moved with her parents to Oklahoma at the age of 14 when her father made the run for the opening of Oklahoma Territory in 1889, staking a claim near Guthrie. The family resided there until 1897 when they moved to Perkins.
She taught school two years in Logan County and 14 years in Payne County, including two years at Forest Valley where she was teaching when she was married to Edwin Thomas on September 21, 1904, at Agra, Oklahoma. To this union, five children were born.

The couple lived in Ripley until 1906 when they moved to a farm in Forest Valley community where they resided until a few months before the death of her husband. She was a member of the Christian Church and a charter member of Forest Valley Farm Women's Club and remained a member until she moved to Stillwater. After the husband's death, she lived at 1005 Main Street, Stillwater, until four years ago when she moved to Olympia, Washington, to make her home with her daughter, Lorene.

Her father built the original structure of the present Christian Church at Perkins. Her father, mother, and brother Evart Phenis were charter members of the Church at Perkins when it was organized on Sunday, March 6, 1898, and her membership was transferred to this church about 1899. Her father was one of the first three elders of the church and her brother, Evart, was clerk of the church board in 1899.

Survivors include three children: Wayne H. Thomas, 612 South Ninth, Yukon, Oklahoma; Mrs. Lorene Mahurin, Olympia, Washington; and Mrs. DeeVilla Clark, Stillwater, Oklahoma; one sister, Mrs. Ethel McWethy, 1010 W. Admiral Road, Stillwater, Oklahoma, six grandchildren, two great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, and a host of friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband on January 28, 1945, and by two children who died in infancy, her parents, and one brother.

Orpha married Edward Valejo Thomas on 21 Aug 1904 in Agra, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Edward was born on 14 Apr 1872 in Xenia, Bourbon County, Kansas; died on 30 Jan 1945 in Ripley Oak Park Cemetery, Ripley, Payne County, Oklahoma; was buried in Ripley Oak Park Cemetery, Ripley, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Evart married Elma Hurley Shipley on 21 Aug 1901. Elma was born on 27 Apr 1882 in San Francisco, San Francisco County, California; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Faye was born northeast of Guthrie, Oklahoma. She died at the Westhaven Nursing Home.

Notes:

Mead was also born northeast of Guthrie.

Franklin married Velma Lucile Richards on 8 Mar 1925 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. Velma (daughter of Walter Scott Richards and Emma Katherine Knauss) was born on 30 Mar 1903 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma; died on 15 Aug 1976 in Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas; was buried on 18 Aug 1976 in Memorial Park Cemetery, Berryville, Carroll County, Arkansas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Moved to Wichita to live with daughter Judith in December, 1990.

Marie married Jesse Roe Keeth on 28 Jun 1925 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. Jesse was born on 24 Mar 1903 in Herndon, Saline County, Missouri; died on 28 Nov 1963 in Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma; was buried in Greenhill Cemetery, Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

April 23, 1947 Mrs. Lewis Adair Payne and daughters, Robin Adair and Penny, and Mrs. Payne's mother, Mrs. W.M. McWethy, Stillwater, are visiting Mrs. and Mrs. Marvin Payne, 1106 Oak [Duncan, Oklahoma]. Mrs. Payne is the daughter-in-law of the Marvin Paynes.

Lunora married Lewis Adair Payne on 8 May 1943 in Pawnee, Pawnee County, Oklahoma. Lewis (son of Marvin Walter Payne and Grace Ellen Gentry) was born on 15 Mar 1914 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; died on 18 Aug 1998 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Described as "of southwest Stillwater"

Payne County area schoolteacher Dee Villa Clark of Perkins died Thursday, Sept. 3, 1987 in Stillwater Medical Center at the age of 81. Her funeral is scheduled Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the First Christian Church in Perkins.

Internment will be held in the Elm Grove Cemetery. Charles Wall and the Rev. C. Jeffrey Gill will officiate at the service, which are being arranged by Strode Funeral Home.
Mrs. Clark was born in Ripley on Feb. 4, 1906, the daughter of Edwin V. and Orpha (Phenis) Thomas. She lived in the Ripley area most of her early life, except for a year when her parents lived in Tonkawa.

She married Earl Harrison Clark on Feb. 21, 1934, on her parents farm west of Ripley. The couple lived in or near Stillwater until he retired in 1968 and they moved to Perkins.
She graduated from Oklahoma A & M College in 1930 and earned her teaching certificate. She taught school for 38 years in a number of towns in the area and was a member of the First Christian Church.

Mrs. Clark is survived by her husband; one son, Arthur Edwin Clark of Oklahoma City; one grandchild; one brother, Wayne Haskell Thomas of Yukon; and one sister, Mrs. Howard (Lorene) Mahurin of Olympia, Wash.

Dee married Earl Harrison Clark on 21 Feb 1934 in Payne County, Oklahoma. Earl was born on 9 Aug 1902 in Oklahoma; died on 30 Nov 1994 in Perkins, Payne County, Oklahoma; was buried in Elm Grove Cemetery, Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Wayne married Alma Mitchell on 1 Jun 1934. Alma was born on 22 Aug 1908. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

RR2 Box 109, Olympia, Washington, 98502

Family/Spouse: Howard A. Mahurin. Howard was born on 19 Sep 1917 in Oklahoma; died on 7 Oct 1991 in Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her birth year was corrected from 1901 to 1902. 137 South Monticello, Stillwater, OK

Ione married Willis D. Gallup on 29 Mar 1924. Willis was born on 6 Jul 1902 in Perkins, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]