revolutionary war - samuel bates

Samuel Bates, a 5th great-grandfather of mine, fought in the revolutionary war from 1775 until 1778. Samuel was from Weymouth and enlisted in Weymouth during these years. He states in his pension that he was not involved in any battles, but did a lot of marching to and from different parts of the country. He also spent the latter part of the war carrying goods as a teamster from city to city. The pension file also allowed me to find Samuel's parents names from his birth date listed on the pension, and gain some other personal information. Samuel spent almost three years helping his country, I am glad to have some record of it.

Samuel first enlisted in May of 1775, a month after the battles of Lexington and Concord. This term of service lasted until January of 1776 as a private in the Massachusetts Militia under the command of Capt. Jacob Gould in Col. Greaton’s regiment. During this term, Samuel "marched from Weymouth to Boston was stationed there through the vicinity the whole term: that he served at Cambridge with a portion of the regular troops; and Gen. Washington, General Heath, and General Putnam regular officers were known to him: that he was in no battle." According to the Wikipedia article on the Massachusetts line, Greaton's regiment was part of the Seige of Boston, "The 21st Massachusetts Bay Provincial Regiment was commanded by Colonel William Heath, of Roxbury. Heath was made a Continental brigadier general on June 22, 1775, and command of the regiment passed to Lieutenant Colonel John Greaton. Greaton was promoted to the rank of colonel on July 1, 1775, and the regiment became Greaton’s Regiment. In August 1775, Greaton's Regiment was designated "The 36th Regiment of Foot." It served in the Siege of Boston until its disbandment." The reference given for wikipedia's information is the Historical Register of the Officers of the Continental Army..., which can be found on google books. There is also an article in Massachusetts Magazine on this regiment, referenced in my to do list below, which I will have to obtain.

Samuel's next term of service was from January 1776 to January 1777 as a private under the "command of Jacob Gould in Col. John Greaton’s Regiment. That he marched from Boston to
Cambridge, from thence to New London, from thence in Hartford and New York from thence to Ticonderoga and from thence to New Jersey: that he served at all these places with the regular troops; and General Heath and General Schuyler" Wikipedia's entry on this regiment is as follows, "The 24th Continental Regiment was formed by consolidating the remnant of Crafts' Company, Bond's Regiment, with the remnant of Greaton’s Regiment. Colonel John Greaton commanded this regiment throughout 1776. Greaton's regiment remained with the Main Army, moving to New York City in April. In the same month it was ordered to reinforce the American army in Canada. The regiment rejoined the Main Army in November, marching directly to Morristown." Wikipedia references The Historical Register, Wright's book, The Continental Army, and Carrington's Battles of the American Revolution.... Doing a search on Greaton in any of these books follows the regiment in the Revolutionary war. Greaton's regiment is stated to have gone to Canada, but Samuel does not mention this location in his pension. Samuel does mention General Schulyer and Ticonderoga and New Jersey, which does correspond to other activities of Greaton's regiment as discussed in the above books. Perhaps Samuel did go to Canada, but did not mention it on his pension.

I thought I would try to find some more information on Colonel John Greaton. Searching in Google books led me to the following excerpt in The memorial history of Boston: including Suffolk County, Massachusetts

This passage gives a little more detail as to what Greaton's regiment was involved in during the Seige of Boston. It also mentions the Invasion of Canada, which is not mentioned in Samuel's pension file. According to The Campaign of Trenton, 1776-1777, Greaton's regiment was told by Lee to march back to Morristown, NJ after arriving in Canada. Since Samuel mentions New Jersey after New York in his pension, it seems likely he was involved in the march to Canada also. The book also mentions Greaton's other activites in the Revolutionary War in 1777 and beyond. Samuel was not part of Greaton's regiment however after January of 1777.

It seems that Samuel took some time from the war after January of 1777, enlisting next in August of 1777 until March of 1778. His pension is difficult to read in some parts, but it states he was "under the command of Capt. Levett, that he was detached from the army and selected as a teamster and in that capacity under the whole term went from Boston to Philadelphia, from Boston to Duxbury, with hospital ? – from Boston to ? for the army – carried wood from Boston to Cambridge."

Samuel's pension did not just provide military information, but it also listed personal information; including his wife's name Selah, a daughter Lydia, and his birth date and some family information. His birth date of November 5, 1754 in Weymouth made it possible to find his parents, Samuel and Hannah Bates, as listed in the Weymouth town records. As there are a couple of Samuel Bates born around that time in Weymouth, I was not able to find which parents were my 5th great-granfather's until now. I had searched in the History of Weymout book on the Bates family, which noted that my Samuel Bates, who marries Selah, was the son of Jonathan and Deborah. I know now that this is not correct.

The other interesting bit of family information on Samuel's pension is his state of his family in 1820 when he applied for a pension. Samuel states the following:
"I am a farmer but in consequence of having lost my sight, and other infirmities am unable to labour. I have in my family a wife aged 66 years who has been a long time sick and ? ? and a daughter, whose health is declining and is unable to do any work. My wife's name is Selah, my daughter’s name is Lydia.
35 acres land – ½ part of an old house – 2 tons English hay – ½ house – 2 cows – iron pewter crockery ? ware – looking glass – 1 desk – 1 chest – 1 musket, 2 tables, 7 chairs –
… about 289.70$ to … …
Saml Bates
Sworn to and declared on the 14th day of August 1820"

I learned quite a bit about Samuel by finding his pension file on footnote.com. I am so happy to have this bit of knowledge into Samuel's life. It seemed by 1820 that he and his family were leading a difficult life in Weymouth with ill health. Lydia, Samuel's daughter did eventually marry in 1836, at the age of about 40. This was 4 years after her mother Selah died, and two years before her father Samuel died in 1838. Perhaps she married late due to her illness as mentioned in Samuel's pension, or maybe she stayed with her parents to take care of them. I have seen referenced in many places that Samuel and Selah are buried in Elmwood Cemetery in South Weymouth. I have not visited Elmwood Cemetery in a while, I will have to go back and find their stones.

to do list:

1. obtain this article : “Colonel William Heath’s and Colonel John Greaton’s Regiments. Colonel William Heath’s Regiment April 19, 1775. Colonel John Greaton’s Regiment April 19, 1775. Colonel William Heath’s 21st Regiment, 21st Regiment, Provincial Army, April-July, 1775. Colonel John Greaton’s 36th Regiment, Army of the United Colonies, July-December, 1775.”[The Massachusetts Magazine, January, 1912, 5:1, p. 15-28; April, 1912, p. 55-72].

2. look up Jacob Gould in Massachusetts Sailors and Soldiers in Revolutionary War - see if it mentions Canada.

3. look at pension rolls and activities on footnote.com for the 24th regiment in 1776 and the 21st Massachusetts Bay Provincial Regiment or the 36th regiment of foot for 1775; both were Greaton's regiments.

4. locate samuel and selah bates gravestones in elmwood cemetery.

revolutionary war

I have traced many of my ancestors back to the Revolutionary War period of 1775-1783. After reading an article in the November 2008 issue of Family Tree Magazine, "Operation Online Records", I thought I would try to find out which ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War. This article includes a handy chart which lists the range of birth years of men who may have fought in the war. I searched my family database for any men that were born between 1726 and 1767 and came up with a possible list to check for revolutionary war records. I wanted to focus on my direct line ancestors first, so I narrowed the search for only great grandparents and not great uncles or cousins on my collateral line. I came up with the following list:

Direct Line Ancestors that may have fought in the Revolutionary War

Joshua Bates (b. 1755)
Samuel Bates (b. 1754)
John Blackington (b. 1756)
George Lane French (b. 1741)
Abner Holbrook (b. 1741)
Pierre Labrec (b. 1756 Canada)
Samuel Torrey (b. 1761)

The first place I looked for records was footnote's database of Revolutionary War Pensions. I was only able to find two pensions in this database for the men listed above, oddly it was the first two I searched for; Joshua Bates (6th great grandfather) and Samuel Bates (5th great grandfather). My next two posts will be about these two Revolutionary ancestors.


to do list:
1. The following men are my other ancestors that are on my collateral line that may have fought in the Revolutionary War. I will look more closely at these men later. George French (b. 1766), Joshua French (b. 1764), Adam Holbrook (b. 1750), John Holbrook (b. 1765), William Holbrook (b. 1739), Cushing Pratt (b. 1759), Zanas Pratt (b. 1766), James Vining (b. 1744), John Vining (b. 1752), Jeremiah White (b. 1756), John White (b. 1760), Luther White (b. 1743)

samuel bates and selah white

The anniversary of Samuel Bates and Selah White is today. They were married 232 years ago today, March 24, 1778 in Abington, MA. Their intentions were recorded in Weymouth records. Samuel was from Weymouth and Selah was born in Abington. It does seem that the White family though was originally from Weymouth according to the many local genealogies on the White family.

Samuel and Selah were both about 24 years old when they married. They were married at an important time in history, during the Revolutionary War. Samuel did enlist in the war and I was able to find his pension file on footnote. According to this file, he served from May 1775 to August 1777. He did not fight in any battles, but marched from state to state, town from town, carrying supplies and goods for the army. Perhaps Selah knew Samuel before he enlisted and waited for him to come home to marry him, or maybe she did not meet Samuel until he returned in 1777. Either scenario, it was only seven months after Samuel returned from service that they were married.

The marriage record in Abington does not state which church they were married in. I looked for some historical books on the town of Abington on google books and found, History of the town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement. According to this book, the only church for the town at this period in time was The First Congregational Church in Abington Center. During the time that Samuel and Selah were married, the Reverend was Samuel Niles. Below is a drawing of the church from the above mentioned book.




Samuel and Selah Bates did not stay in Abington, as their first child, Elijah, was born in Weymouth in 1781, about three years after they married. They continued to have seven more children, all born in Weymouth.

I looked in the History of Weymouth book available on ancestry.com and found some references (vol. 2 page 554) to a Samuel Bates living near Whitmond Pond in Weymouth around 1752. This was a couple of years before this Samuel Bates was born, but perhaps it was his parents, Samuel and Hannah, who were living here. There are a lot of Samuel Bates in the Weymouth Vital records (book available on google books), so it difficult to say which Samuel they are referring to that is living by Whitman's pond. I do know that both Samuel and Selah (Celia) were buried at Elmwood Cemetery in South Weymouth, so by the end of their lives they were at least living near the parish and cemetery in South Weymouth. They probably did not move around the town throughout their lives, so it will probably be safe to assume they lived in South Weymouth for most of their lives. I am not sure if his parents lived in this different section of town near Whitman Pond, but it could be that Samuel moved when he was older to South Weymouth.

I took a look at the census data for Samuel and Selah to find some clues as to where they may have lived in Weymouth, if they were living in South Weymouth near the cemetery they were buried in. The early censuses listed only head of households, and sometimes the enumerators alphabetized the surnames when they re-wrote the data to submit it. For the censuses that were alphabetized, it would be impossible to figure out who their neighbors were. Luckily, the enumerator for the Weymouth 1790 census listed the families in the order he visited them. This shows me that Samuel and Selah Bates were neighbors with some of my other ancestors that I know lived on Union Street in South Weymouth. They were neighbors with David Whitman, Widow Whitman (there is a parenthesis linking the Bates with Widow Whitman, but I have not established who this is yet), Widow Holbrook (who I established was most likely Jerusha Vining, mother of his daughter's husband - in another blog entry here), and John Vining (Jerusha's father). This fits in with what I already know of this family. First, they were buried at Elmwood Cemetery on Union Street. According to their neighbors on the census information, they would have lived across the street from this cemetery. Secondly, their daughter, Hannah Bates (my 4th great-grandmother), married James Holbrook, their neighbor that lived on Union Street with them according to the 1790 census as mentioned above.

The 1800 and 1810 Census entries are alphabetized and provide no information as to the location in Weymouth that this Bates family lived. The 1820 Census does list the families in order they were enumerated once again, and we still see them living near the same families of the Holbrooks. Some other families listed are most likely his son, Samuel Bates Jr., Cushing (their daughter Selah married David Cushing), White and Shaw (their son Reuben married a Shaw) families. The 1820 Census also lists the street they live on as Boxbury Street. I have not been able to find the location of this street in Weymouth, as it no longer exists. The 1830 Census again lists neighboring families of the Holbrooks in addition to Lemuel Paine (their daughter Lydia's husband) and Whitman families.

The History of Weymouth book also lists in the chapter of Century old-houses in Weymouth, a Samuel Bates living on Union Street after the Holbrooks. Chamberlain states that it "was later times known as the house of Melvin Bates. It was until recent years owned by the Bates family, and then became the property of Thomas Kiernan, 520 Union Street." (vol. 2, p. 934) Melvin Bates is Samuel and Selah's grandson, the son of Samuel and Phebe Bates. This makes it likely that the property was handed down to their son Samuel, then to Melvin. The map of Weymouth from the Historical Land Ownership and Reference Atlases on ancestry.com does have an M. Bates listed next to the cemetery. This location on the map is most likely the original property of Samuel and Selah.

It seems that Samuel and Selah both spent their lives together in Weymouth. They both died in Weymouth, Selah in 1832 at the age of 78 and Samuel in 1838 at the age of 84. They lived a very long life together.

to do list:
1. find a connection between the samuel bates living in whitman pond area in 1752 and the samuel bates living on union street in 1790-1830
2. find connection between widow whitman and samuel bates living on union street