Coatney (Arrington) Battle

Quick Facts

Place of Birth:

Nick, NC

Date of Birth:

February 17, 1884

Date of Death:

about 1916

"I often wish that I could make a specialty of the study of agriculture and then practice it, but then I think there is little good a woman can do by practicing agriculture."
- Coatney Arrington to Alice Longfellow, 27 February 1908. Alice Mary Longfellow Papers.

Born in Nash County, North Carolina, Arrington described her family home as "a two story log house with four rooms, not including the kitchen," on a "three horse farm." She entered Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in October 1905, where she studied "Arithmetic English, Geography, Physiology, Science, Reading, Spelling, Vocal Music, Drawing and Manual Training."

According to alumni records at Hampton, Arrington went on to teach in Virginia and North Carolina. According to Hampton's alumni records, "In 1913 she taught near her home at Battleboro, N.C., she had 159 pupils on roll to be taught with no assistant, in a room 32 by 16 feet." In 1914, Arrington married Ceasar Battle.