Knights of Honor Sword returned to Coffield Family

Good Knight! Sword returned to family

Rockdale Reporter - 2015-12-03

It’s not the Holy Grail, but for Milam County it’s pretty close.

A sword, which looks for all the world like it could have hailed from Camelot or Hogwarts

turned up this year in a 160-year-old barn in the Tracy community.

But there’s no mystery or legend about this “weapon.” In fact, it isn’t a weapon at all.

The ceremonial sword is inscribed “J. F. Coffield,” a familiar name in Rockdale history.

It indicates Coffield (1850-1925) achieved the highest degree in the Knights of Honor, a

now dormant fraternal benevolent society.

Steve and Lynn Young, who own the property where the sword was found presented it to

Tommy Coffield — J F. (Jule) Coffield’s grandson — and his family in a recent ceremony at

St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

DISCOVERY — Because it’s engraved, and because the Knights of Honor is still a well-

remembered organization, it may seem like a fair amount is known about the sword.

But in many ways the find has whetted the appetites of all those connected with it for

more information.

“We really wish we know more about all of this,” Steve Young told The Reporter.

Young said one of his hands found the sword hanging in the barn, which dates back to pre-

Civil War days.

The barn is located on the former property of Wavy and Bernice Charles, a 200-acre spread

at the intersection of County Road 412 and 412A in the Tracy community.

HISTORIC — The structure is very old. “It’s really about to fall down, but we are wanting

to preserve it because of its age,” Young said.

It is the identical design and structure of the old San Andres Post Office which stood

for many years about one mile south of the barn.

San Andres was once a thriving community on the north bank of the San Gabriel River on

what is now County Road 412A.

In the late 1800s, San Andres had a general store, saloon post office, a Civil War-era

outpost for capturing wild horses, plus Masonic and Woodmen of the World lodges.

(When the San Andres Masonic Lodge was disbanded it moved to Cameron but retained its

name).

Of course the Youngs immediately contacted the Coffield family. “But they did not know

anything about the sword nor J. F. Coffield’s involvement with the Knights of Honor.

FRATERNITY — A little research revealed the Knights were a prominent organization in the

late 19th and early 20th Century, similar to the International Order of Odd Fellows

(IOOF) and Woodmen of the World.

It was founded in 1873 in Kentucky as a benevolent fraternity, and secret society, to

provide monetary assistance to deserving people in need.

Similar to IOOF and the Woodmen, Knights of Honor also provided an opportunity to

purchase life insurance when such insurance was difficult to buy for most Americans.

Membership in the Knights was open to community leaders of good moral character and a

belief in God was required.

Unlike most fraternal orders of its day it did not require prospective members to swear

an oath in the initiation rite, but merely to promise to obey the rules of the order and

“protect a worthy brother in his adversities and afflictions”.

The secrecy of the order was declared to be only that which was necessary to keep

“intruders and unworthy men” from gaining benefits.

Knights of Honor was disbanded in 1916.

HIGHEST HONOR — Young said it is believed receipt of the sword indicated Jule Coffield

achieved the highest degree in the organization.

“The sword is beautifully preserved,” Young said. “It has a cross guard with a knight

design and knight head pommel.”

“We don’t know how of when, or really why, the sword was placed in the barn,” he said.

The Coffield family, one of Milam County’s oldest, owned land nearby for over 100 years.

“In fact, my grandfather worked some of the land just down the road from a barn owned by

Jule Coffield shortly after the turn of the 20th Century,” Young said.

The barn is constructed of hand-hewed elm logs and was probably originally built to store

corn, since it was constructed with ample air spaces between the logs, presumably to keep

the grain dry.

Jule F. Coffield was a banker and owned a hardware and furniture store in downtown

Rockdale at the corner of Cameron and Main, today’s US 79 and FM 487.

His store’s slogan was “I sell for cash; I sell for less.”

He is buried in Rockdale’s Old City Cemetery, about a block from the location of his

business.

“The mystery of how the sword got into the barn, and why it took so long for anyone to

notice it, may never be solved,” Young said.

“But it is indicative of the benevolent character of Mr. Coffield,” he added.