Contra Costa County Biography

COL. J. R. COATES, deceased, 

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
was born in Charlotte, Maine, March 26, 1826. At the age of twenty-three, 
together with his brother-in-law, John Beckford, he left home in the brig 
"Sirocco," December 6, 1849. In addition to paying fifty dollars for his 
passage, he worked before the mast, and arriving in San Francisco he was 
employed in lightering work on the docks. He went to Sacramento with Captain 
Crocker on the schooner "Elizabeth," of Barnstable. Leaving Sacramento he went 
to Boone's Bar on the Feather River, where he soon made a small fortune. 
Learning there was a great demand for pork in the Hawaiian Islands, he and a 
companion decided to buy a shipload of hogs and take them to the islands. 
However, when about half�way to their destination the hogs were taken ill and 
all died with cholera. The young men had invested all their money in the cargo, 
and, being penniless, signed as able seamen and continued their voyage. They 
visited the South Sea Islands, and during a trip to Tahiti the queen of that 
domain fell in love with young Coates. She proposed marriage to him and agreed 
to make him king. He did not care to accept, and through the strategy of his 
friends he was smuggled aboard the ship at night while the queen was looking for 
him. He then followed a roving life and visited many of the countries of Central 
and South America. He afterward returned to California and took up mining. He 
was again successful, and later returned to his native city, where he purchased 
a farm and engaged in the lumber business and ship building. On March 3, 1852, 
Colonel Coates was united in marriage to Miss Juliet M. Fisher, also a native of 
Charlotte, Maine, the bride belonging to one of the well-known and highly 
respected colonial families. To this union there were two children, Mrs. 
Juliette C. Harding, of Antioch, California, and Margaret Reynolds Coates, who 
died at the age of seven. When the call for troops was made at the beginning of 
the Civil War, Colonel Coates organized Company A, Fifteenth Regiment, Maine 
Volunteer Infantry, being selected as sergeant. He had a fine military record, 
being promoted rapidly for bravery until the end of the conflict, when he 
returned with the rank of colonel. He was wounded many times, one ball 
shattering his left hand, another ploughing a furrow through his scalp, and a 
third shattering his ankle. The latter wound was received during Banks' Red 
River campaign, the wound being received at the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, 
following which he was captured. He saw service with General Butler when he 
captured New Orleans, and also was present with Grant's troops during the siege 
of Richmond. Being mustered out on parole, he soon afterward joined his regiment 
in the Shenandoah Valley, and served until the end of the war, being finally 
mustered out at Charleston, South Carolina. After getting back to Maine, Colonel 
Coates decided to return to California. He arrived here in 1867, with his 
family. He went to the mines, but found he had lost all right to his claims. He 
finally located in Contra Costa County and bought a tract of land upon which is 
now located Bixler Station on the Santa Fe Railroad. His original holding was 
the one-hundred-and-sixty-acre soldier's grant, but he soon bought more land 
until he owned six hundred and forty acres. In 1874 Mrs. Coates and her daughter 
returned East for her health, and she died in 1878. In 1880 Colonel Coates was 
united in marriage to Elizabeth Blanche Madigan, of Baltimore. Directly after 
the death of his wife, in 1878, he left the Bixler tract and made his home on 
what is known as the Hill Ranch, south of Antioch, where one of the most 
improved dairy ranches in the State is operated. Colonel Coates first engaged in 
the cattle business and gradually changed to farming. At one time he engaged in 
a general merchandise business with Henry Brewer. When oil was first discovered 
south of Antioch, Colonel Coates purchased eight hundred and three acres in Oil 
Ca�on. About thirty-one years ago he purchased property in Brentwood, and 
erected Coates' Hall in that place. He was affiliated with the Masonic order for 
many years. Colonel Coates' death occurred in Antioch on July 27, 1915. In all 
the relations of life he proved himself a useful, conscientious citizen of sound 
ideas and principles, and one who considered an untarnished name of greater 
value than the mere acquirement of wealth. He was a man of excellent judgment, 
fair in his views, and highly honorable in all his relations with his 
fellow-man. Two grandchildren survive him, John Coates Harding, born in San 
Francisco, July 8, 1882, and Stacy L. Harding, a graduate of the University of 
California, born in Waltham, Massachusetts, September 20, 1892. The latter is 
now employed in the Commercial Bank of Santa Barbara, and will eventually look 
after the property and business interests of his father.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co., 1918, 
pp. 440-441