Albert Lewis Bates - Honeysuckle Farm, LLC

Albert Bates: Fiddle Player, Photographer, and Farmer

Albert BATES was my maternal great grandfather. I’ve written about him several times. You can find those posts here:
Looking for Land in All the Wrong Places
I Know What You Did That Day
Dettie Louisa GIBSON BATES and the Sibling Melting Pot (Although this one is about Dettie, you will find a photograph of a young Albert BATES included in the post.)
Not Breaking, But Succeeding- Lum’s Apple Orchard (You can find a photo of Albert as a child here.)
Albert was born 1 February 1881 in Hiwasse, Benton County, Arkansas to George and Mary (SEELY) BATES. He was the first of four children- 3 boys and a girl. When Albert was born, the family lived in Hiwasse, Benton County, Arkansas. He was 6 years old before his little brother Charlie came into the world. He was 10 when his brother Herman was born and 13 when his sister Vesta was born. As far as I know, Albert lived in the same area for these first 13 years. Because the 1890 census was destroyed, the first record I’ve found for Albert is the 1900 census. The census enumerator came by the BATES’ home on 5 June 1900. Albert was 19 years old and single. He was living at home with his parents and siblings. He was working as a photographer. This information about his job supports family stories that he worked as an itinerant photographer when he was young. I would absolutely love to have a photograph he took although I’m not sure how I would identify his photographs.
Family stories say that he would travel around, take photographs and play his fiddle at barn dances. It was on one of these “fiddle and photograph” trips that he met his future wife, Dettie Louisa GIBSON. Dettie was living in Dickson Township, Benton County, Arkansas in 1900 so maybe Albert didn’t venture out too far to do his job. My mom and granny used to tell me that after Albert and Dettie met they wrote letters back and forth to each other until they married.
By 1900, photography had been in existence for about 60-70 years or so. Even so, in the early 1900’s photographers were still trying to legitimize photography as an art form. Also in 1900, the Kodak Brownie camera was finally reaching the middle class in America. Kodak had been a brand name for 13 years and the x-ray was only 5 years old. Tintypes were still prevalent in those days and along with developing tintypes came the use of extremely hazardous chemicals like mercury chloride. I don’t know what types of photos Albert took nor do I know if he would have had to use mercury chloride but the possibility was there.

ca. 1900 photographer (not Albert) with a folding plate camera; photo found at Antiquecameras.net.
Now back to that fiddle…I wish I had a picture of it. Sadly, I don’t. Like I said before, Albert played at barn dances. The purpose of a barn dance was to get people together and have fun dancing, of course! It was a social gathering for people in the community. A way to spend the evening with friends and meet new people. Just like dances of today. The Library of Congress website has a great page where you can listen to old fiddle songs being played. Here is one from their page:
Arkansas Traveler
I definitely recommend you take some time and visit their site and listen to a few of the songs. Close your eyes and imagine them there- Albert playing, Dettie dancing. And then, maybe, let someone else take over the fiddle playing and imagine them dancing together. Two people, falling in love, before you were ever even a thought in someone’s mind. I think that’s where I want to leave my great grandparents today. Dancing the night away in someone’s Arkansas barn, just happy to spend a little time together, long before I was ever a thought in their minds.
Love,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Sources:
Britannica.com
Khanacademy.org
Softschools.com
Edinphoto.org.uk

Not Breaking, But Succeeding- Lum’s Apple Orchard

Come, Let us Watch and Walk

I’ve talked before about my 2^nd great grandpa, George Columbus BATES, but not in much detail. George went by “Lum”, just like my grandfather Troy Columbus BATES did.

Photo of Lum and Mary Seely Bates with their 3 youngest children Charlie, Herman, and Vesta.
Lum had an apple orchard when he filed his homestead land entry paperwork. David COOPER and William T. LUCAS- a couple of his neighbors- were witnesses for Lum saying that Lum’s land was “rough timber land”.

Photo of David and Nancy COOPER. David COOPER was a farmer and ran a mill near Hiwasse, Benton County, Arkansas. He also had a supply store on the bank of the river there. He later became Superintendent of Schools for the Hiwasse/Dug Hill area.

The witnesses stated Lum settled on his acreage “in the latter part of September or first of October 1896” (Mr. COOPER) and “on or about October 1^st 1896” (Mr. LUCAS). They testified that Lum had resided continuously on the land since he first got it and that he had not been absent from the property since he first made homestead. When the men were asked how much of the homestead Lum had cultivated and for how many seasons Lum had raised crops on the land, Mr. COOPER said, “It would average about 8 or 9 acres for 7 years” and Mr. LUCAS said, “He has cultivated 7 acres for 7 seasons”. Mr. COOPER gave details about the improvements Lum had made to the property saying, “1 box house, 3 rooms. 1 log house, 1 smoke house, 1 cistern, small orchard, perhaps 100 trees- $300”. Mr. LUCAS gave the following details about improvements Lum made, “1 3-room box dwelling, 1 smoke house, 1 log house, about 13 acres in cultivation, small orchard, 1 cistern, 1 chicken house- $300.”

Example of a corn crib from Homesteader Wannabe blog.

Example of a late 1800’s smoke house from Smoking Meat Forums.

Example of a circa 1900 log house from Discovering Russellville Arkansas blog. I imagine the “3-room box dwelling” looked very similar to this building.

Example of a large cistern under construction from Wisconsin Historical Society blog.

Example of a circa 1900 chicken house (with modern updates) from Leelanau Conservancy blog.
Mr. Cooper said the land was more valuable for “agriculture” and Mr. Lucas added it was more valuable for “orchard”. Both men testified that Lum had not mortgaged, sold, or contracted to sell any portion of the homestead land. Both men testified that they were not personally interested in Lum’s claim and that they believed Lum had acted in good faith in perfecting the homestead land entry requirements. There were additional witnesses- H. N. WILLIAMS and J. E. FERRELL, both of Hiwasse, Arkansas. Their testimony was not included in the file I received.

We Had Long Collected, Saved, and Harbored Old Memories

In Lum’s testimony he stated he was 46 years old and lived in Hiwasse, Arkansas. He stated he was born in the state of Georgia.

Lum’s birth certificate.
He stated he was the same George C. BATES who had made homestead entry #22919 at the Harrison, Arkansas land office on 17 September 1896 and a true description of his land was “NE quarter of the NE quarter of Section 32, Township 21N, Range 31W”. He stated he built a house on the land and established residence there about 1 October 1896 and had built a 3-room box house with 1 room being 15×16 and 1 room being 14×15 and the third room being 12×14. He stated he had built a log house sized 16×16, 1 smoke house, 1 crib, and 1 cistern. He had 13 acres in cultivation, 100 apple trees set, and an estimated value of $250 for his improvements. I must say, I’d love to have all these improvements for $250!!
Lum listed his family members living on the property as himself, his wife, and 3 children. His wife was Mary Ann SEELY BATES.

Marriage record for Lum and Mary BATES.
On 28 August 1903, the children that would have been living at home would have been the 3 youngest children- Charles Leroy, Herman Luther, and Vesta Josephine. The oldest child (my great-grandfather), Albert Lewis, had gotten married and moved out the previous year.

Another Season’s Hundred Days of Toil

Prior to completing the application process, Lum had to run a notice about the homestead claim in the Benton County Democrat weekly newspaper for 6 consecutive weeks.

Newspaper ad photo.

By Not Breaking, But Succeeding

And so, for the sum of $6 (plus a $1 “testimony fee” for his required testimony- gotta love the government, right?!) he completed his homestead application process for 40 acres in Benton County, Arkansas on 28 August 1903. The homestead was finally approved on 16 June 1904 and patented on 26 August 1904 and just like that Lum was the proud owner of 40 acres in Benton County, Arkansas.

Photo of certificate
On a day when I have more bandwidth or faster internet I will post a photo of where his land was in Benton County, Arkansas.

Silently Growing to Bear Fruit

About the time Lum started his apple orchard, the Arkansas Black apple was being cultivated. So in mine and my husband’s orchard, we planted an Arkansas Black in memory of Lum. It’s producing apples this year and we’re excited to be able to taste them. Maybe I’ll make an apple pie in honor of Lum and Mary and all they did and all they sacrificed to give me the life I have today.
By the way, I’ve been making plans to visit a distant cousin from the BATES family. I’m meeting with her soon and she says she has a photo of Lum standing in front of a wagon full of apples. I’m so hoping she can find it and bring it so I can have a copy. What a treasure! I think I’ll frame it and hang it in my kitchen. I sure am looking forward to apple season…
Until then though, take care of yourself and remember- an apple a day keeps the doctor away!
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Dettie Louisa GIBSON BATES and the Sibling Melting Pot

On this day in 1957 my maternal great grandmother Dettie GIBSON BATES passed away. On this same day in 1828, Bart’s maternal 3rd great grandfather, Heinrich Wolhelm WOLF was born. As for the blog, I’ll celebrate Dettie’s life today and celebrate Heinrich’s tomorrow. I can’t wait to get started!
I’m going to tell you a secret. I don’t always know what story I’m going to tell when I sit down to write. Sometimes I sit down and I’m stuck because I just don’t see the story. Dettie was one of those. I was surprised that I’d never written specifically about her and yet I really didn’t know what story to tell you about her. When I’m stuck I have a formula to get “un-stuck”. Usually by the time I’m done with the formula, I’m able to keep writing and finish the story. With Dettie, I pulled through the formula and by the time I was starting the second paragraph I knew what I was going to write. Except, I didn’t write it. This is one of those stories that hijacked ME. I was going to go one way and the story said, “Nope! THIS is the story that’s going to be told today!” I have to tell you, I never would have chosen this story line about siblings but this is the one that was dying to get out today so here it is. I hope you enjoy it.
Dettie was my maternal great grandmother. She was born in 1883 in Kansas to James Thomas “JT” and Lucinda DOW GIBSON.

Portrait of sisters Dettie and Barbara Gibson.

Dettie is sitting and her sister, Barbara Myrtle, is standing.
My mom doesn’t recall much about Dettie but says what she remembers is that Dettie was a small woman. One of Dettie’s legs was shorter the other. Dettie also lost a finger in a canning factory accident. If you look closely you can see that she has only 3 fingers in this photo of she and her husband, Albert Lewis BATES.

Portrait of Albert and Dettie (Gibson) Bates.

Albert and Dettie GIBSON BATES’ wedding photograph.
I wanted to tell you stories only about Dettie but her mom (Lucinda) kept poking her head into the story. You can go here for background about Dettie’s mom but long story short- she couldn’t keep a man…or maybe the men couldn’t keep her! I’m not sure which way it was but every time- and I mean EVERY time- I research Lucinda I find a new record. Her background lays the foundation for Dettie’s story.
The first census that Dettie was enumerated in was the State of Kansas census of 1885. Dettie was one year old. The census is interesting to me not because of Dettie but because Dettie’s mom is listed as ‘Mulatto’. I have not found any evidence of her being Native American nor that she is any race other than Caucasian but I am still searching.
By the time the next census rolled around Dettie’s mom had remarried to David JONES. Other minors in the home in this 1900 Federal census for Arkansas were Dettie’s sister Barbara and her half-brother Leander. Dettie also had two other half-siblings through her mother plus at least one child borne by her mother that I cannot account for yet), at least 10 half-siblings through her father, at least four additional step-siblings through her stepfather David, and at least two additional step-siblings through her stepfather Robert GATEWOOD. By those numbers this family should have exactly ZERO secrets! We should be floating in information! And today, once again, I found new information about Lucinda. That information provided the two GATEWOOD step-siblings I just told you about. The other thing I discovered today is that unlike what Lucinda told public officials, she wasn’t a widow of Robert GATEWOOD. All that time I spent looking for his death certificate circa 1910-1920 in Missouri was in vain. Just today I located him. He lived until at least 1920 and was living in Oklahoma at that time. He outlived Lucinda by at least a year.
THE SIBLINGS
Siblings are such an important part of life and Dettie had an abundance of them! Since she had so many, I want to close by giving you a list of the ones I know about.
Dettie’s full sister:
Barbara Myrtle GIBSON (married Frank FISHER)
Dettie’s half-siblings through her mom (and mom’s several husbands):
Mary Rebecca ALBIN (married Ulyssus GOSSETT)
William Edgar (ALBIN) GIESE (he was adopted out at a very young age)
Leander B. JONES (one of only two known siblings younger than Dettie)
Dettie’s half-siblings through her dad:
William Lafayette GIBSON
Jane Lucinda GIBSON (married a HENRY)
Mary E. GIBSON (married James McHALEY)
James Melvin GIBSON
Martha GIBSON
Oscar GIBSON
Samuel Luke A. GIBSON
Eliza J. GIBSON (married Issacher KELLUM)
Reed Isiah GIBSON
Ella Amanda GIBSON (married Shorty LONG; I wrote a blog post about this couple here)
Dettie’s step-siblings through her mom’s several husbands:
Emma JONES (married Charles KROPP)
William JONES
John H. JONES
Samuel L. JONES
Felix GATEWOOD
Harry Monroe GATEWOOD (one of only two known siblings younger than Dettie)
If you count the children that George ALBIN had after his marriage with Dettie’s mom ended (before Dettie was born) you would have to include these step-siblings on top of the ones already named:
Clara Lula ALBIN
Clyde Emmerson ALBIN
Ethel Eliza ALBIN (married Ray F. GLENN)
In addition to all of these children, there is one child I have been unable to account for and am assuming either this baby was adopted out or was born and died in between census years. On the 1900 census, Lucinda stated she had given birth to 6 children. I have only been able to account for 5 of these children. I’m still holding out hope that one of us finds this child.
I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a peek into Dettie’s childhood. It would be interesting to know what kinds of relationships she had with all these siblings. Perhaps one day I’ll find out. Hug your siblings tight today. Whatever squabbles you have between you, set them aside- it isn’t worth losing a sibling over.

Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Surname Saturday- SEELY

2022 Update:

I made a correction to my 2nd great-grandfather’s name in the original portion of the blog post.
I added images to the original post.
For clarification to my family members who follow the blog, the line goes from Troy Columbus BATES’ dad Albert to Albert’s mom Mary SEELY BATES to Mary’s father, Charles George SEELY who is listed below in the original portion of the blog post.
Since I do have an Ancestry account at this point, I did a quick search for Theodore again. It turns out (if the Ancestry trees I consulted are correct), Theodore Martin SEELY is possibly related to us. It appears we share an English ancestral couple: Sir William SEELEY of Huntingdon and his wife, Lady Grace PRETT SEELEY. William and Grace are my 11th great-grandparents and Theodore Martin’s 10th great-grandparents. I haven’t done the research necessary to solidify this connection but I welcome others to join the search and verify this connection.

Happy searching! Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Original Blog Post:

My connections to SEELY: I can only trace my SEELY line back to my great-great grandfather Charles ~~Harvey~~ George SEELY. He was a Baptist preacher. He married Synthia Arrena FOSTER and together they had 8 known children. I descend through their daughter, Mary Ann, who was the sixth of the eight children. Charles and Synthia were married in Lawrence County, Missouri.

A review of online death records for Lawrence County, Missouri shows that Theodore Martin SEELY died on 17 Dec 1944 in the town of Marionville.

Death Certificate for Theodore Martin Seely. Image located at Ancestry.com.

Theodore lived in that area for 1 year and 2 months prior to his death. Theodore was a white male. He was married to Joyce Opal SEELY at the time of his death. He began his life on 28 Dec 1878 in Indiana. He was a retired oil worker. His cause of death was listed as “appoplexy” due to arteriosclerosis, a condition he had for 5 years prior to his death. Theodore’s wife, who was 20 years his junior, was unable to identify Theodore’s parents. I searched HeritageQuest but was unable to locate any information about Theodore with the information that I have from his death certificate. Ancestry listed Theodore and Joyce as living together in McDonald County, Missouri on the 1930 Federal Census.

Theodore Martin Seely family, 1930 U.S. Federal Census. Image located at Ancestry.com.

Beyond these details, I was not able to find anything else by doing a cursory internet search for Theodore and Joyce. If I had a subscription to Ancestry, I would have been able to find more and to possibly find out whether Theodore was a part of my SEELY family that lived for many years in Lawrence County before moving on to other parts of Missouri and nearby Benton County, Arkansas.

~~For now, Theodore and Joyce will remain a mystery for me.~~ Blessings to all my SEELY’s who are out there. I would love to connect with living relatives.

Tag: Albert Lewis Bates