Coats (James L.) Collection, 1852-1907

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Summary

Title:
Coats (James L.) Collection,
Dates:
1852-1907
Creators:
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Coats (James L.) Collection, Mss253, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Background

Scope and content:

The Coats Collection consists of correspondence and other business papers relating to the alcoholic beverages gauging business, politics and economics, as well as photographs, memorabilia, and California school texts (1852-1907).

Biographical / historical:

James L. Coats was the second son of Felix G. Coats, who, in 1853, settled in the Tassajara Valley of Contra Costa County. In 1860, Felix Coats married Levina Doggett. James Coats was raised on his father's Contra Costa farm. He attended the University of the Pacific in Santa Clara from 1883 through 1887, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in the latter year.

Following graduation from college, Coats farmed for awhile in Contra Costa County, where he was also active in Populist Party politics. Coats married Fanny Williams in 1895. Sometime after 1900, James L. Coats became a gauger of alchoholic beverages for the Internal Revenue Service. He was headquartered at a distillery in Agnews, Santa Clara County, and later in Stockton, where he acted as gauger for Calaveras, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne counties. Coats spent the last years of his working life in the employ of the California Wine Association. He died in 1934.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Physical description:
2 linear ft.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker
Date Prepared:
© 1998
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from paper by means of scanning and OCR; OCR file edited for typographical errors before encoding. Date of source: 1993.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Coats (James L.) Collection, Mss253, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Location of this collection:
University of the Pacific, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University Library
Stockton, CA 95211, US
Contact:
(209) 946-2404
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