Will Coates was born in Tennessee in 1876, to the union of Pledge Coates and Hannah Coates, he migrated to Birmingham, Alabama and worked at the American cast Iorn Pipe Company as a pipe cleaner. William C Coates, 38 years old, married Sally Freeman, 28 years old on April 1, 1911 in Birmingham, Alabama, by Rev. J H Stephney. Children born to this union are Charley C Coates, Marlene Coates, and William Taft "Sonny: Coates.