UDC Hears About The Life Of Hannah Lide Coker

The Ann Fulmore Harllee Chapter of the UDC met November 10, 2016 at the Episcopal Parish House with Chris Harris serving as hostess. Special guests for the afternoon were Delores Pringle and Brenda Pringle of Myrtle Beach and Rev. Fred Gough and Bill Ward. Mrs. Mattie Strickland opened the meeting with prayer, after which everyone enjoyed a delicious dessert course of apple pie.
Mrs. Strickland called the meeting to order and everyone participated in the club ritual which was closed with prayer by Rev. Gough.
The minutes were read and approved and a treasurer’s report was given. Fay Sloan reported that all dues have been collected except for two, $50.00 has been sent for the Louisiana flood relief and $100.00 has been sent to the Francis Marion University scholarship fund. Three dollars had also been deducted for banking fees.
Mrs. Strickland reminded everyone of the recent death of one of our members, Julia Naugle McIntyre. She said that a memorial service would be held at a later date.
Delores Pringle, Pee Dee District Chairman, discussed plans for the upcoming District meeting which will be held in Dillon on February 4, 2017 at the Twin Lakes Country Club. She also reported that the convention had to be canceled due to Hurricane Matthew.
Mary Mac Stephens, program chairman for the afternoon, gave some interesting and unusual accounts in the life of Hannah Lide Coker. Mrs. Coker, wife of Caleb Coker and mother of ten children, was from Society Hill, S.C. She was born in 1812 and died in 1900.
When The War Between the States began, three of her sons went off to fight with the Confederacy. Her son Charlie was killed at the Battle of Malvern Hills. Her son Willie had been taken prisoner and her son James had been severely wounded and captured at Chattanooga.
Mrs. Coker, at the request of her family, wrote an account of the nine months she spent from October 1863 until July 1864 trying to care for James in his critical condition. This account was published in book form and was entitled “A Story of the Late War.” It all began when she took a train from Darlington to Chickamauga and then went by a mule-drawn ambulance to Lookout Mt. Tennessee. There she found James suffering with a high fever as a result of a shattered hip caused by a minnie-ball.
Hannah nursed her son for the next several weeks but he suffered from lack of medical attention. It was difficult to find nourishing food and she even walked five miles to Chattanooga to ask the medical director for help. A kind surgeon was sent to help and he continued to bring treatment and rations for the next two months. This was one of the many times she had to make this walk to seek help.
Hannah was a woman of great faith. She wrote often of how she and James relied on their daily Bible readings and singing of familiar hymns. She told how she would seek solace before the “mercy seat” in prayer. She related many accounts of how they were assisted by acquaintances and strangers and the Federal officers even when the circumstances seemed impossible. She believed the outcome to always be providential.
Hanna, James and a friend named Sam Nettles lived in one room of a house that was occupied by Union soldiers. This proved to be very uncomfortable because they were at the mercy of the movements of the others who were also occupying the house.
She washed James’ bandages everyday and Sam cooked for them over an open fire. During the next six months,
Hannah tried desperately to get a parole or pass for them to leave. Finally, they were given permission to leave but they had to go by way of Louisville and she had to sell James’ watch in order to pay their fare.
This trip entailed taking a train to Nashville and then to Louisville. Once in Louisville, where they stayed two weeks, it was necessary to go by goat to Parkersburg, WV. After reaching Parkersburg, they went by train to Baltimore where James was placed in the prison hospital at Fort McHenry. Once in Baltimore, Hannah managed to find a place to stay at the home of Mrs. Berry.
She was treated very kindly by Mrs. Berry and her friends, who not only befriended her, but sent food and other treats to James. She was not allowed to see James while he was at Fort McHenry.
After three weeks in Baltimore, James was moved to Fort Monroe. He and Hannah and Sam went by boat to Fort Monroe and then to Richmond where Hanna had an opportunity to meet with President Jefferson Davis. From there, they were allowed to travel by train to Florence, S.C. were they were met by family and friends on the 21st of July, nine months after Hannah began her arduous journey.
Hanna’s son, James Lide Coker, lived in Hartsville, S.C. until his death in 1918. He was educated at St. David’s Academy and The Citadel in Charleston. Prior to starting his career in agriculture, Major Coker, as he was affectionately known, attended Harvard University to study heredity, genetics, and scientific principles of farming.
Using the money from his early farming, Major Coker founded a cotton and naval post in Charleston, the Darlington Manufacturing Company, the Hartsville Cotton Mill, the Hartville Oil Mill, and the Pedigreed Seed Company. He also built a railroad spur to Hartsville at his own expense. He helped establish Welsh Neck High School which later became Coker College, where he served as the school’s first president. He was also a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives where he introduced the first bill for universal public education in South Carolina.
In 1890, the Major and his son perfected a process to turn southern pine trees into pulp for paper-making which resulted in the formation of the Carolina Fiber Company. Due to lack of customers, the Southern Novelty Company, later renamed Sonoco Products, was formed to use the paper to produce cone-shaped yarn carriers.
Today, Sonoco is the world’s largest producer of composite cans, tubes and cores with more than 335 operations in 33 countries.
Motivated by a mother’s love and determination, Hannah had no way of knowing of the accomplishments of her son James and of the contributions that would be made by him and his descendants to economic, political and cultural life in South Carolina. His life was certainly a climatic sequel to “A Story of the Late War.”
At the conclusion of the program the meeting was adjourned.

Chris Harris and Mary Mac Stephens

Chris Harris and Mary Mac Stephens

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