Fountain County IN Archives Biographies.....Coats, Joseph 1802 - 1877
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Author: H. W. Beckwith (1881)

   Judge Joseph Coats (deceased) was born in 1802, and was a native of Loudoun
county, Virginia. At the age of two years he emigrated to Garret county,
Kentucky, with his parents, Elisha and Celia (Furr) Coats, where he lived till
grown. His father, Elisha Coats, was a native of Virginia, arid was married
prior to his marriage with Mrs. Celia (Furr) Hinds, and had two children. Miss
Furr was first married to John Hinds, by whom she had five children. Elisha
Coats, by his second wife, Mrs. Celia (Furr) Hinds, had two children: Joseph,
the subject of this sketch, and Agnes (now Mrs. Cook). Judge Coats was educated
as a farmer, receiving no literary training beyond the limits of the pioneer
schools of Kentucky. He possessed a natural fondness for books, and let no
opportunity for gathering knowledge pass unheeded. Thus it was he became a fair
scholar, and well posted and thoroughly conversant on all practical subjects. In
1828 he came to Fountain county, and in 1829 was married to Serena D. White,
daughter of White, whose sketch will appear in this work. The judge then located
in Van Buren township, southeast of Veedersburg one and a half miles. By this
union he had one child. Among the early men of Fountain county none were more
prominent than Judge Coats. He was called to fill several of the first offices
in the gift of the people of Fountain, among which are the following: In 1830 he
was appointed deputy marshal of Fountain county, and made the first enumeration
of property and persons in that county. He was one of the first three trustees
who took measures for organizing free schools in Van Buren township. He was
elected probate judge for Fountain county in 1841, which office he filled until
he was elected state senator in 1844. In this last office he served until 1848.
In 1850 he was elected senatorial delegate to the constitutional convention by
the citizens of Fountain county. Following the adoption of the present state
constitution he retired from public life and again resumed the business of
farming, which he pursued with success, accumulating a handsome property. Prior
to 1854 he voted with the democratic party. In 1856 he united with the
republican party, voting with the same till his death. He was a strong advocate
of the war for the suppression of the rebellion. He manifested a hearty interest
in behalf of universal intellectual culture. The poor and unfortunate touched
the sympathetic cords of his great heart. Several friendless orphans found under
his roof a comfortable home and a father. His views were, always broad and
liberal. He gave generously for public improvement and public good. His
religion, to be a christian was to do good. Rich and poor, stranger and friend,
alike were recipients of his hospitality. He was in the highest sense strictly
moral and temperate in all things. No person possessed a higher regard for the
opinions and feelings of others. He never lost sight of the fact that he was
once a poor boy, with fortune and reputation to be achieved and won. In
conversation he was jovial, which won him many lasting friends. Judge Coats died
on his farm in Van Buren township, November 9, 1877. By his death the state lost
one of her noblest pioneers, the county another of her just, able, and valued
citizens, his family a generous and doting husband and father. His widow, a very
exemplary lady, resides upon the old farm. His only child, W. B., resides near
by. W. B. Coats was married in 1830 to Elizabeth M. Lucas, daughter of J. G.
Lucas, by whom he has seven children. W. B. is an energetic farmer and trader,
makes money rapidly, and gives generously. In politics he is a radical republican.

Additional Comments:
Van Buren Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY,

TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,

GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST
PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.

BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF
WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS.
1881.

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