Hiram Ohio Cemetery Pictures

This summer I was in Michigan for a conference, so I rented a car and drove down to Portage County, Ohio to see if I could find any information on Harriett Green Bates's parents. Here are some pictures from that trip. Please note that my camera skills don't do the places justice; the Bates family lived in some beautiful places and they are all still rural.

These first two pictures are of the Bates plot in the Hiram, Ohio cemetery. The cemetery is situated at the southwest corner or town adjacent to where Louden Bates lived or at least owned a plot of land (he owned three different plots in the township. The Bates plot (on this side of and behind the building) in the cemetery has one general headstone that someone added and quite a few unmarked spaces. Samuel Bates and his wife Elizabeth's headstones are still legible as is their son's, Samuel Bates', headstone which is made of metal. Samuel Bates' headstone was broken and the top portion cemented back onto the base. I believe William and Sarah Bates are buried here as well and that they probably lived on section of land adjacent that Louden inherited.

Taylor Hill Cemetery

Just up the hill from where John Bates and William Bates settled in Edmeston, New York (ca. 1805), is the Taylor Hill Cemetery.  A list of headstones from this cemetery can be found here. Of interest relative to the Bates line explored in this blog are Louden Arnold and Charles Burlingame. William Bates named one of his sons Loudon Arnold Bates. Although there were a lot of Arnolds in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Louden or Loudon, is not a common name of the period. There may be a connection here. I wonder if John Bates' wife, Ruth, may have been an Arnold. At this point, this is all speculation, but some interesting possibilities nonetheless.

In addition, I have reason to believe that Charles Burlingame might be a cousin to William's wife Sarah Colvin, daugher of Samuel and Naomi (Burlingame/Burlingham) Colvin.

John B. Bates

The following is from a Biographical Review of Otsego County, New York (974.774 D3b): "Deloss A. Bates was born in Burlington, January 3, 1836. He is a grandson of John B. Bates, who was a native of Rhode Island, and after his marriage came to the State of New York by team, and settled in what is called the Edmeston Woods. While he was a mason by trade, yet he followed farming in this new country, as much, perhaps, from necessity as from choice. He lived in Edmeston until his death, which occurred when he was about eighty-five years old. His family consisted of six sons: John, Comfort, Leonard and Lory, all dead; Walter, who went West, and a younger son, now also deceased. Lory Bates, the father of Deloss, was born in the town of Edmeston, was brought up on the farm, and learned the trade of carpenter. . . ." (p. 691).

Our William Bates is likely a brother to John B Bates. Their father settled further east in Otsego, Otsego, New York. I found a genealogy that gave John B Bates' wife as Dorcas Burlingame. I have no records to corroborate this information, but Dorcas' brother, Charles, is the Charles Burlingame who settled along with John B. Bates in Edmeston.

Here's an excerpt from the Bates Bulletin of October 1921, probably taken from the preceding Biographical Review: "Four brothers, Oliver, John, Samuel, and ______ Bates, came from the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, town of Scituate, about 1800. . . . John Bates was born in Rhode Island and after his marriage moved to New York State and settled in "the Edmeston Woods." He died aged about 85 years, and left a family of six sons, John, Comfort, Leonard, Lory, Walter, and a younger son." I think there are two John's in this record. John, brother to Oliver, Samuel, and (I believe) Nathan came from Rhode Island to Otsego along with his brothers. His son, John B Bates, settled in Edmeston and has six sons.

I came across a record entitled, "Family of Samuel Bates of Scituate Rhode Island," by Frank Greene Bates of Providence, Rhode Island. It gives three generations of the Bates family in Scituate, Rhode Island. The "four brothers" in the Bates Bulletin are listed as sons of John Bates and Experience Bragg. This John Bates (husband of Experience Bragg) is the son of Samuel Bates and Mary Corp.

William Bates

When was William Bates born? We can narrow the date down by looking at census records. In the 1830 census he is listed in Hiram, Portage, Ohio as between the ages of 60 and 70. This means he would have to be born between 1760 and 1770. In the 1820 census he is in the same place and is over 45 years old, meaning he was born prior to 1775. In 1810, William is in Otsego county, New York and is between the ages of 26 and 45, meaning he was born between 1765 and 1776. In 1800, he is listed in Otsego county, New York, still between 26 and 45 years of age, meaning he was born between 1755 and 1774. So, let's do a quick analysis of the possible dates:

1830     1760-1770
1820     before 1775
1810     1765-1776
1800     1755-1774

Logically, William's birthdate could not have been prior to 1765 (according to the 1810 census) or later than 1770 (according to the 1830 census). So, of course, he must have been born sometime between 1765 and 1770. This narrows the field for possible Williams when trying to decipher where he was born and who his parents were. Still, there are some important clues as to his parents from the Otsego County records.

In the 90s, Sally Hayler, a genealogist studying the descendants of Loudon Arnold Bates and Charles Bates, sent me copies of some land records from Otsego County, New York. In 1803, William Bates ("resident owner") and his wife, Sarah, sold land to William Hills. The land transfer was witnessed by John Bates and Isaac Thornton. It would make sense that John Bates might be a relative to William. (It was noted at the time that the land was still subject to a mortgage to William Cooper.) William and Sarah sold land in 1805 to Henry Converss.

So, Sally Hayler, had already established a clear link between the Bates family in Hiram, Ohio and Otsego County, New York. There was also a query in the April 1909 issue of The Bates Bulletin: "William Bates and his wife, Sarah Culver Bates, moved from New York State to Ohio, probably in Portage County, nearly a century ago. Their children, Charles, Waterman, Arnold, Riley, Samuel, and Sheldon were born before the family removed to Ohio. Sheldon Bates was born Aug. 11, 1808. Who can give the ancestry of this William Bates, or from what place in New York State the family came?" (p. 4)

Census and other vital records for the children of William and Sarah, establish the fact that they were born and/or lived in Otsego and Herkimer Counties in New York State. Link to the other posts to see evidence.

Another clue to William's parents can be found in the Otsego County 1800 census where he, "William Baits" is listed following Charles Burlingham who is listed just after "John Baits." (Charles Burlingame is probably John Bates' brother-in-law and a distant cousin to Sarah Colvin.) This John Baits, I believe, is William's brother. Their father is John Bates of Otsego, Otsego, New York.

Up to this point, however, one might say that the evidence regarding William's parents is circumstantial--a signature on a land transfer and a name on a census; the neighbor could be a brother or cousin. However, last year our family took a trip to Illinois and found some clear evidence that John is, indeed, the name of William's father. William Bates' oldest son, Charles, had a daughter, Mary Bates, who married Noble Rogers. Noble Rogers and his brother, Noah, were prominent members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and, at one point, Noble and Mary (Bates) Rogers lived in Nauvoo, a historic Mormon settlement on the Mississippi River. At that time the Mormons had begun performing vicarious baptisms on behalf of their deceased ancestors. We found a record in Nauvoo stating that Mary (Bates) Rogers had a baptism performed on behalf of her great-grandfather, John Bates! Her grandfather, of course, would be William Bates and his father, John Bates.

So, there it is. William Bates, son of John Bates, was born between 1765 and 1770.

Loudon Arnold Bates

Loudon Arnold Bates was born in the vicinity of Taylor Hill (just up the hill from Burlington Flats), in Otsego county, New York. His parents were William Bates and Sarah Colvin. Their family moved just outside of Hiram, Portage county, Ohio where Arnold Bates married Harriett Green on May 26th, 1833. They later moved to southeastern Iowa where Arnold's oldest brother, Charles, had recently settled. The following census record is from Polk township, Wapello county, Iowa in 1860. The Bates family members listed are as follows:

Sheldon Bates, 25 years old, male, farmer, born in Ohio
Sarah A Bates, 24, female, Ohio
Livona Bates, 3, f, Iowa
Gordan Bates, 2, m, Iowa
Luella Bates, 3 months, f, Iowa

Arnold Bates, 54, m, farmer, born in New York
Hariet Bates, 48, f, Connecticut
Harlo G Bates, 18, m, farm laborer, Ohio
Walter L Bates, 11, m, Ohio
Hariet M. Bates, 13, f, Ohio
Elliot Bates, 7, m, Ohio

Sheldon Day Bates

Sheldon Day Bates was born in Hiram township, Portage county, Ohio on April 17th, 1834 to Loudon Arnold Bates and Harriett Green. He married Sarah Ann Rogers on February 17th, 1856 in Monroe county, Iowa. Sarah was born in 1837 in Shalersville, Portage county, Ohio to Noble Rogers and Mary Bates (daughter of Charles Bates, Loudon's brother). So, yes, Sheldon Bates married his cousin's daughter (his first cousin once removed). In about 1865, Sheldon and Sarah moved west.

Here's an excerpt from Ronald R. Batemen's book, Deep Creek Reflections: "Sheldon Day 'Daddy' Bates of Ohio and his wife Sarah Ann Rogers settled in Deep Creek in about 1865. His 112-acre field (section 9) sat directly east across a road from Egan's sawmill and less than a quarter mile south of the Ferguson telegraph office. Mr. Bates was a wheelwright by trade and was described as tall and thin with a moustache. He was also a merchant at Cherry Creek during an early boom period there. His wife is buried at Cherry Creek. He raised a family of four sons and four daughters, some of those posterity still live in and around the Deep Creek country. His sons are Hyrum, Horace, Harkison 'Harry', and Charles. His daughters married local people and lived in the area for many years. The daughters were LaVernie (Rice), Louella (see James Skinner biography), Mary Elizabeth (see Joseph Lee biography, and Naomi Minerva 'Judy' (see Alexander Noble biography)."

My Aunt Marlene Bates gave me a picture a while back of Sheldon Bates with his brothers, Elliot G. Bates and Ulysses Kirk Bates. Evidently, Sheldon made a trip back to Iowa at some point for a visit. Here's the picture (Sheldon on the left, Elliot standing, Ulysses on the right):

Bates Family History

The genealogy bug got me again over the Christmas Break. So, I'm back at it. My intent with this site is to post my Bates ancestry starting with my great-great-grandparents, Sheldon Day Bates and Sarah Ann Rogers. I have done considerable research and hope this will be an effective and free way to share what I have found with interested relatives. Anyway, this is the line as I have it so far: Sheldon Day Bates, Loudon Arnold Bates, William Bates, John B. Bates, John Bates, Samuel Bates. I think from there it is: John Bates, James Bates, Clement Bates, but I don't have anything but circumstantial evidence on the last bit. I'll post what I have along with relevant documentation in subsequent posts.