Earlier this year (2006) Michelle Felton took me to a file cabinet in the Winton Library. There I found the following Cofieldian history by the late Thelma Perry, a Cofield native and postmaster. I added comments in brackets as well as my memory of Cofield up to 1970. - Marvin T. Jones
Two Histories of Cofield
"A small community lies between Winton and Harrellsville on highway 45 in Hertford County. The people are happy here and move about with the same proudness as do some in the towns and cities. This community is Cofield, which is so called from a man whose surname was Coffus.
This land which contained approximately 960 acres of land once belonged to a Margaret Warren who deeded this land to her five children.
Before this time, the community was called Sallie Archer’s Crossroad because before 1880 that was the name of the largest family living there. Also at the Crossroads there was a man who lived there with his family of five by the name of Richard Wiggins who owned the first grocery store there.
The leadership
of James Boone, shown with his wife Emma at his 50th class reunion,
resulted in the incorporation of Cofield. He was its first mayor.
Courtesy of Curt and Carolyn Winston. |
[Note: Three more generations of Wiggins’ were shopkeepers in Cofield: Richard’s son Bud, Bud’s son Sheldon whose store was taken over by his daughter Denise who closed it a few years ago.] On July 11, 1896, James C. Warren and Josiah Warren sold to B. G. Williams and A. E. Garrett for twenty-two hundred and fifty dollars their share of the Margaret Warren land. When B. G. Williams bought his share of the land, this part being populated, was for awhile Cofieldland. Its name officially became Cofield when the first post office was established there on May 17, 1898. When the post office was established, there had to be a name for it. Two names were submitted, Cofield and Sallie Archer. The name Cofield was chosen. |
From the 1970's to the 1980's Cofield had a fire company led by J.C. Smith and Ike James. Smith is shown here. |
In the early 1870’s Cofield was an active spot. Barrels, Baskets, and wooden tubs were made and carried to Winton where they were shipped to England, Spain and other countries. Later, after Mr. B. G. Williams had purchased this land, he built a store on the same spot where Mr. Tupper Jones now operates. Mr. Williams, being a man of great ambition, also went into the logging business; thus Cofield soon had its first sawmill in operation. This made way for the making of barrel stoves, and later for the sawing of lumber.
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Soon the cotton gin was becoming popular and Mr. Williams built the first one in Cofield. This was said to have been built in early 1910. This mill was destroyed by fire end another one was built by Mr. Claude Holloman and Mr. Eugene Harrell. At first they were successful, but the boll weevil became such a menace to the cotton growth that this gin soon went out of business. The next cotton gin, built by Mr. Raynor Nickens and John Copeland, was a cotton gin and sawmill combined.
Cofield became a shipping center
after the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad Company purchased the land to
build a railroad passing through the community. Now the goods which were
made in Winton were sent to Cofield to be transported to other areas.
Harrellsville too, sent some of its goods to the community to be shipped
out. Many hogs were sent by train from the Cofield station. There were
days when there were as many as three car loads of hogs sent out. It became
necessary for the railroad company to build a station there.
From this 1972 photograph - left to
right: the rear of Tal Reid's service station (James
Bazemore's service station is behind it) and Tal's 1954 Ford; T.W. Jones'
General
Merchandise; that's my cousin Otis "Red" Reid waving at me besides
his Ford F-150;
James Manley's store and poolhall; behind the van is John Manley's poolhall
and store;
finally, up close and needing scrapping and paint, is part of the railroad
station.
Along with the industries, there were the school and churches. The school was operated for the colored youth only. The white children went to school in Harrellsville. This school was built near the present Phillipi Church and bore the same name. It was started by Isaiah Boone and Joe Hall. [In the 1870's, Isaiah Boone was one of the first from the area to attend the new Shaw University in Raleigh . His father, Lemuel Washington Boone, was a founding trustee.] Jack Harrell gave the land and Joe Hall built the school. It was only one room. Some of the first faculty members were Tiny Nickens, Jimmie Ed. Brown, and Isaiah Boone. The principal was Fletcher Chaimons. Charles Nickens was one of the Trustees [ as a trustee of Waters Training School, Nickens co-signed with Dr. Calvin Scott Brown many a diploma]. This school was consolidated with Waters Training School, now C. S. Brown School, in the early 1930's. |
My grandfather, John
Pat Jones, and Gloria |
Jack Perry's dry goods store after it closed. It once held the post office. |
There are churches in the Cofield district. There is only one in the community itself; the others are on the highways nearby. The church within the community is named Phillipi. This church was first made of pine brush. Then it was made of logs and finally of boards. Rev. Tom Collins laid the underpending. [Thomas Collins, a Union Army veteran from Pleasant Plains, was the first preacher of color at Pleasant Plains Baptist church and a brickmason.] This church has continued to grow in membership and love. The Rev. C. A. Hart of Ahoskie is its present pastor. The post office, established May 17, 1898 with Barns G. Williams as postmaster, has continued to grow. [It was probably located in the 2-story store, long abandoned, that stood across from Jones Milling Company until it was demolished in the 1960’s.] The present post mistress is Miss Thelma Perry who has served since December 1, 1952 and became official Post Mistress July 1, 1953.
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Today the area of Cofield in square miles is a question. Its population is estimated to be approximately 450. It can boast of seven stores, a post office, a freight office, (passenger service was discontinued in 1954 [or 1956]), a blacksmith shop, a community center, a feed mill where feed for livestock is sold, and a garage. The sawmill which operated for many years was discontinued in 1955.
References: Post Office [and] Personal Conversation” - Thelma Perry
Memories of Cofield
by Marvin T. Jones
The feed Mill was owned by Fred Jones whose silos still stand. The current post office was built by Tupper Jones in 1968. One of my earliest memories was when my sister Laverne, my father and I stepped down from the train during its last week of passenger service. In the 1980’s, after the railroad bridge over the Chowan was demolished, someone bought the railroad station, disassembled it and moved it elsewhere. I‘d like to know its location. Whenever the circus came to Winton, it would unload from Cofield and the elephants, pulling wagons, walked from Cofield. My grandfather, John Pat Jones, bought his only car from a dealer in Winton but collected it at the railroad. A great deal of the materials for the C.S. Brown Auditorium came from the rail station. |
Delaware Jones' store was in three different
buildings, the last one he built and sold to his brother-in-law
Shelley Wiggins. He let a young T.W. Jones cut
hair in his first store space and later sold T.W. a store. |
In the 1960’s Cofield had more stores than Winton, and I list them here: -James Bazemore’s grocery and service station
– formerly John Taylor’s – was also good for fishing
gear and bait. |
Will Manley at his store in 1972. His wife, Lillian, was one of my Sunday School teachers at Phillipi Baptist. His elder daughter, Ida, was a teacher at Robert L. Vann School. |
An 1980's view from one of Fred Jones' silos: the rear of Jack Perry's store on the left, next the rear of Tal Reid's, James Bazemore's, the post office in the rear, T.W. Jones' store, James Manley's store and John Manley's store. Missing in the right corner is the railroad station which had be removed.
In the 1920’s and 30’s Cofield Athletic Association that had
a tennis court on the site that is now Jean Mitchell’s house. Delaware
Jones, whose earliest store was next to the court, kepg the nets, rackets
and balls. Jimmie Lee Combo is still remembered fondly for her interest
in youth. I was active in her 4-H club meetings held in the old community
center.
Cofield also had a baseball team that played Winton. Winton had the field behind Waters Training School and Cofield had a open field somewhere. James Boone, who later became our first mayor, was the catcher. Pete Nickens was one of the local blacksmiths. His shop was behind Tupper Jones’ store. John Lewis (Dr. Terry Hall's grandfather) and George Manley (father and grandfather of Cofield mayors) were gris mill owners.
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John Manley in
his pool hall and store in the summer of 1972. I think that's Gus
Burke on the left. Many of my photographs came from a six-week period
I spent filling in for my ill mother, helping T.W. at the store,
shopping, cleaning and cooking (a little). Not only was there time
for photography, I also developed the film in the back porch. The
following semester in Chicago was spent printing these. |
Many a Friday and Saturday night in the 1960’s, young
men prepared themselves for dates, ball games in Winton and Ahoskie, movie
showings upstairs at the Earl in Ahoskie, and good times at clubs like
the Casa Mayama and the LTD on US 13, the VIP Club on the Ahoskie-Cofield
Road or at the Cozy Tavern in Murfreesboro. The village was too small
for young people to date each other and most had dated people at least
a couple of miles away. The young women did the same. You’d see
all of them at Phillipi Baptist Church on Sunday.
In my time the school teachers living in Cofield were Undean Wiggins Jones – Richard Wiggins’ granddaughter, Ida Mae Manley – Will Manley’s daughter and, Judy Combo, Jimmie Lee and Johnny Cumbo’s daughter who briefly taught science at C.S. Brown. Besides producing numerous educators who moved elsewhere, out of Cofield came two doctors, the Flood brothers Devon and Allen, and the dentist Howard James.
Billy Downs became a fighter pilot and returned to run his uncle Fred’s mill; my brother Doug was one of Cofield’s earliest commissioned officer (Army). Four of King and Julie James’ sons served in World War II. We had our share of World War I veterans. Among them were Blake Sharpe, Kelly Gatling, and Benny Robbins. Benny's father, Jack, was a Union Army veteran (34th Regiment - U.S. Colored Troops) and is buried at Phillipi Baptist Church where he was a deacon. Speaking of Phillipi, Sadie Archer Manley was usually the top fund-raiser at the fall rally.
And although few people ever noticed him, Quincy Whitaker should never be forgotten.
The logging contractors I can name were Lorenzo Manley, Willie Jones, his son Harvey and Zannie Jernigan. Carpenters Emanuel and Ike James and Paul Mountain built quite a few homes around us and elsewhere. Every one of the men I’ve named were supported and guided by their wives. I used to see a fella hauling sand with a used dump truck when I was in high school. Today, Bobby Newsome’s Commercial Ready Mix Products is a huge local business.The corner at Daddy’s store mostly had its good moments. Most people didn’t have cars and could always catch a ride to Ahoskie, to Winton or towards Harrellsville while sitting on the corner’s bench. Deacons and devils, grandfathers and grandsons shared that bench. |
James Manley had a store next door. James was the father of Gloria Dean (see above). |
A lot of Cofield’s commerce came from the farmers who bought gas, feed, tools and labor. They lived in all four directions: towards Tunis, Harrellsville, Winton and Ahoskie. No telling what effort it would take to list all of our farm families.
At this point, more can be said about Cofield, but perhaps it should come from you. What do you remember of Cofield? - Marvin T. Jones
Copyright 2006, Marvin T. Jones - all rights reserved