CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - GEORGE COATES
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CEDAR COUNTY NEWS   August 20, 1925

Oldest Resident of county Dead 

George W.P. Coates was 97 years of age when he passed away.

Mate the plates for the Monitor

Famous Ironclad of Civil War had Armor Manufactured in the Rolling mills 
he owned in Pennsylvania

	George Washington P. Coates of Coleridge, Cedar county’s oldest 
resident, passed away at his home last Saturday afternoon being over 97 
years of age at the time of his death. Old age was the cause of his 
demise, his health failing rapidly during the two weeks prior to his 
death. 

	Volumes could be written about the life of this grand old man, 
who has played an important part in the nation’s development and who has 
numerous claims to fame. He was born on January 30, 1828, in Coatesville, 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, and up to writing 24 hours of his death he 
could recall many interesting incidents of the country’s history. 

	He was a member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, at 
Philadelphia, and received his education in the Friends school in Chester 
county. When still a young man, he went into the iron business nears 
Coatesville, and later he and his brother managed the Locust Point Rolling 
Mills during the Civil war. 

	The famous battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac during the 
Civil war will probably never be forgotten  as it was the first fight 
between iron clads, but it not generally known that the armor plates with 
which the Monitor was clad were manufactured in Mr. Coates’ rolling mill. 
This fact was not known until alter as all that was known at the time was 
that the government ordered a part of the output of the mill. 

	Mr. Coates supplied boiler plates to many leading eastern railways, 
and for a time  was connected with some of these roads in transportation 
work. In this way he became well acquainted with many of the great figures 
in railroad history and it said that when he decided to come west, it was 
James Hill, the great railroad magnate who advised him to settle in Cedar 
county.

	He came to Coleridge in 1884 bringing with him his wife, whom he 
had married at Milton, Delaware on Oct. 12, 1854. Their only child a 
daughter. After the death of the child, Mr. and Mrs. Coates moved to Omaha 
for several years, but returned to Coleridge in 1894, as Mr. Coates wished 
to look after his farm interests. He never actively engaged in farming, but 
owned much land and devoted much time to looking after the way in which it 
was managed.

	On April 18, 1924, the second link in the family chain was broken, 
Mrs. Coates passed away then at Coleridge. Despite his advanced age, Mr. 
Coates accompanied her remains back to Pennsylvania and then returned to 
Coleridge. Life wasn’t the same for him without his wife and his friends 
could see that he was failing. The recent hot weather counted against him 
severely.

	Mr. Coates won many friends by his interesting personality. He was 
always a quiet man, but a most interesting talker, because of the many 
incidents in his country’s history which he could actually recall as having 
witnessed and the distinction of having attended the funeral of a member of 
the Continental Congress. Mr. Coates was a staunch republican during his 
lifetime and the story is told of him that when a man asked him if he 
didn’t believe there were some good democrats, Mr. Coates replied, “There 
may be, but I haven’t seen one yet.”

	He is survived by a sister, Sarah Coates of Coatesville, PA, who is 
now 90 years of age. A sister-in-law, Mrs. Gertrude D. Clark of Council 
Bluffs, and her daughter Sara were with him when he passed away, also a 
niece, Mrs. W.E.S. Thompson of Omaha.

	Funeral services were held at the home last Monday morning, and the 
body was then sent to Coatesville, PA;, where it was buried on Wednesday.