James Coate, confectioner, Pleasant Hill born in this township in 1839 is of English extraction, and the son of Jonathan C. and Elizabeth Coate; Jonathan C. was born in this township, where he passed his entire life in the occupation of farming. The subject of this sketch was reared to farm life and accustomed to its duties; at his country's call for volunteers to suppress the rebellion, Mr. Coate bade adieu to his family and the comforts of home, and took his place among the patriots of the Union on the battlefield; he was a member of the 1st O. V. C., participated in the Atlanta campaign and the battles of Rome, Ga., Selma, Ala., and Columbus, Ga.; this latter fight occurred after the war had really closed, that fact being unknown to them; they proceeded from this place to Macon, Ga., where they were met by a flag of truce, announcing to them that the armies had agreed upon an armistice; from there they went to Atlanta, and shortly were transferred to the Department of South Carolina; the regim ent was then divided up into numerous small parties and scattered over the State to preserve peace and quiet our subject . was located in the various places of Orangeburg, Florence, Darlington, Charleston and Hilton Read; at this latter place, he embarked on a steamer for New York, and from there to Columbus, Ohio, where he was honorably discharged on the 29th day of September, 1865; during his service, he received several slight wounds, but none severe. In the spring, of 1870, he embarked in the mercantile business, which he carried on extensively till the financial panic that swept under so many of our enterprising business men, when he was compelled to reduce the magnitude of his business; he carries a large stock of goods, which he disposes of at lowest prices. He has held the office of Township Trustee, and also School Director; has been foremost among those who have taken an active interest in the railroad enterprise of this place. Mr. Coate was united in marriage, in 1860, to Miss Mary J. Pearson, a native of Newton Township; they are the parents of seven children-five sons and two daughters.