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John Bates (1642–1722), son of Edward Bates and Lydia Unknown

Mary Farwell (say 1642–1714), daughter of Henry Farwell and Olive Welby

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John Bates was born on 9 January 1641/2. He was baptized on 23 January 1641/2 at about 14 days in the First Church in Boston. [1][2, 45] He died on 11 April 1722, age about 80, in Chelmsford. [3, 364][2, 45] He married Mary Farwell on 22 December 1665 in Chelmsford. [1][2, 45][3, 226]

Mary Farwell was born say 1642 in Concord. [2, 45] She died on 7 March 1713/4 in Chelmsford. [2, 45]

The inscripton on John's gravestone in Chelmsford says, "Mr. John Bates, Sen., April 17, 1722, age about 80 years." [4, 723]

Mary’s father refers to her as Mary Bates in his will.

John was an early settler of Chelmsford. [4, 38] He is on a 1671 tax list and a 1674 list of able-bodied men in Chelmsford. [4, 59, 89] A 1672 account of his estate for tax purposes lists one horse, three cows, two yearlings, four swine and eight acres of land and housing. [4, 616]

John was a soldier in King Philip's War. He was credited with service under Captain Wheeler on 29 February 1675/6. He was at the siege of Brookfield on 19 October 1675. [4, 94, 115]

In 1698 he was paid £0-1-6 for mending the stocks. [4, 49]

His family shared a garrison with Joseph Farwell and the families of Samuel and William Fletcher. [4, 134]

The deaths of John and his son John were probably due to small pox. On 23 April 1722 the town noted that his family had caught small pox and they were quarantined. [4, 581]

John Bates, a cooper, wrote his will on 18 July 1716 and said that he was about 74. He mentioned his son John; his daughters Mary Cleveland, Elizabeth Richardson and Sarah Butterfield; the children of Lydia Cotton. His son-in-law Jonathan Richardson was his executor.

Children of John Bates and Mary Farwell: [3, births as children of John and Mary, 22]

i. Mary Bates was born on 8 May 1667 in Chelmsford. [2, 45] She married first Josiah Cleveland. [2, 45] She married second Robert Boswell or Buswell. [2, 45]

ii. John Bates was born on 22 December 1668 in Chelmsford. [2, 45] John, Jr., died on 1 May 1722 in Chelmsford, age 53 years, four months and nine days. [3, 364] He married Deborah Unknown. [2, 45]

The inscription on his gravestone in Chelmsford says, "Mr. John Bates, May 1, 1722, age 53 yrs, 4 mos, 9d." [4, 723]

iv. Lydia Bates was born on 25 February 1673 in Chelmsford. She died on 6 September 1713. [5] She married Samuel Cotton on 22 July 1695 in Chelmsford. [3, 211]

v. Sarah Bates was born about 1677. She died on 5 April 1735. She married first Benjamin Butterfield. She married second David Carver. She married third Richard Hildreth.

vi. Rebecca Bates died on 6 July 1682 in Chelmsford. [3, 365]

Endnotes:

1. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 132.

2. John Dennis Farwell, Jane Harter Abbott and Lillian M. Wilson, The Farwell Family (Rutland, VT: Frederick Henry Farwell and Fanny Barber Farwell, 1929)

3.Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1914).

4. Wilson Waters, History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts (Lowell, MA: Courier-Citizen, 1917).

5. "Connecticut Vital Records: (The Barbour Collection), 1630–1870," database with images, AmericanAncestors. Death of Lydia (w. Samuel), Middletown, 129.

Revised 15-Jun-2023

©2019 A. Buiter