st sight of a certain young woman caused him to fall in love. He
says the love was mutual and after a courtship of three weeks they were
married. The girl's mother told Charles that she had always been very
frail, but he did not know that she had consumption. Within three days
after they were married she died and her death caused much grief for
Charles.

He was reluctant to bury her and wanted to continue to stand and look at
her face. A white doctor and a school teacher whose names he does not
remember, told him to put his wife's body in alcohol to preserve it and
he could look at it all the time. At that time white people who had
plenty of money and wanted to see the faces of their deceased used this
method.

A glass casket was used and the dressed body of the deceased was placed
in alcohol inside the casket. Another casket made of wood held the glass
casket and the whole was placed in a vault made of stone or brick. The
walls of the vault were left about four feet above the ground and a
window and ledge were placed in front, so when the casket was placed
inside of the vault the bereaved could lean upon the ledge and look in
at the face of the deceased. The wooden casket was provided with a glass
top part of the way so that the face could easily be seen.

Although the process of preserving the body in alcohol cost $160,
Charles did not regret the expense saying, "I had plenty of money at
that time."

After the death of his wife, Charles left with his mother and father,
Henrietta and Spencer Coates and went to Savannah, Georgia. He said they
were so glad to go, that they walked to within 30 miles of Savannah,
when they saw a man driving a horse and wagon who picked them up and
carried them into Savannah. It was in that city that he met his present
wife, Irene, and they were married about 1876.

There are nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren living and in
March of 1936, when a party was given in honor of Father Coates' 108th
birthday, one of each of the four generations of his family were
present.

The party was given at the Clara White Mission, 615 West Ashley Street
by Ertha M.M. White. Father Coates and his wife were very much honored
and each spoke encouraging words to those present. On the occasion he
said that the cause for his long life was due to living close to nature,
rising early, going to bed early and not dissipating in any way.

He can "shout" (jumping about a foot and a half from the f