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Sarah "Sallie" Coats

Female 1823 - 1876  (53 years)


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  • Name Sarah "Sallie" Coats  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
    Nickname Sallie 
    Born 6 Mar 1823  Marion County, Indiana Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 7, 8
    Gender Female 
    Died 11 Oct 1876  Lyon County, Kansas Find all individuals with events at this location  [8
    Buried Haworth Cemetery, Emporia, Lyon County, Kansas Find all individuals with events at this location  [6, 8
    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."



    Person ID I5804  Strong Family Tree
    Last Modified 17 Aug 2014 

    Family Solomon Austin Phenis,   b. 10 Dec 1817, Ohio Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1 Jul 1903, Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 85 years) 
    Married Abt 1839  [8, 9
    Children 
     1. Ursula Phenis,   b. 28 Aug 1843, Indiana Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     2. Isaac Huston Phenis,   b. 23 Jan 1848, Indiana Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     3. Charles Johnson Phenis,   b. 14 Feb 1851, Indiana Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     4. William Riley Phenis,   b. 14 Apr 1852, Indiana Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 May 1909, Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 57 years)
     5. Evangeline L. Phenis,   b. Abt 1855, Indiana Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     6. Nina E. Phenis,   b. 23 Jan 1858, Kansas Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     7. Hannah C. Phenis,   b. 26 Feb 1861, Kansas Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     8. Solomon Ellsworth Phenis,   b. Abt 1862, Kansas Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
    Last Modified 14 Aug 2012 
    Family ID F2957  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 6 Mar 1823 - Marion County, Indiana Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Sources 
    1. [S212] McWethy, Franklin Meade (1970) Three Score and Ten (an autobiography.)-Duplicated but unpublished 111 pages typescript., Courtesy of Kenneth Harvey.

    2. [S612] Davis, A. (1924) Circular letter to potential claiments from the President of the Coppock-Coate Estate Claiment Association, Courtesy of Kenneth Harvey.

    3. [S280] Phenis, Ethel A. (c. 1926) "Families of my Grate-Grandfather (sic) William Coats." Handwritten list in pencil, single sheet., Courtesy of Kenneth Harvey.

    4. [S127] Hickman Co, Kentucky Marriages 1822-1850, Compiler unknown, Courtesy of Kenneth Harvey.

    5. [S522] Coppock, M.A. (1923) Personal correspondence with Mrs. Ethel McWethy, Courtesy of Kenneth Harvey.

    6. [S211] McWethy, Franklin Mead (1956) "McWethy Family Tree." (Duplicated by unpublished 31 page typescript.), Courtesy of Kenneth Harvey.

    7. [S207] 1870 United States Federal Census [Ancestry.com database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2003., (United States. Ninth Census of the United States, 1870. Washington, D.C. National Archives and Records Administration. M593, RG29, 1,761 rolls. Minnesota. Minnesota Census Schedules for 1870. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. T132, RG29, 13 rolls. This database is an index to individuals enumerated in the 1870 United States Federal Census, the Ninth Census of the United States. Census takers recorded many details including each person's name, age at last birthday, sex, color; birthplace, occupation, and more. No relationships were shown between members of a household. Additionally, the names of those listed on the population schedule are linked to actual images of the 1870 Federal Census.), Kansas, Greenwood County, Madison Township, PO Madison Enumerated 7 Jun 1870 Page 6 43-43 (Reliability: 3).

    8. [S124] Harvey, Kenneth C--Family Member; Gedcom, Printed Descendants Reports of Payne and Gentry Families, Correspondence.

    9. [S873] Find A Grave [database online]; http://www.findagrave.com/, (Thousands of contributors submit new listings, updates, corrections, photographs and virtual flowers every hour to the FIND A GRAVE website. When it comes to administrating, building and maintaining the site, Find A Grave is largely operated by its founder, Jim Tipton.).