John C. Bates - Honeysuckle Farm, LLC

There’s Power in Numbers

I had totally intended to write about my Power family this week but it seemed everyone else was and I prefer to do something different. My thoughts went in a few different directions: “power in the blood” (i.e.- the life of one of my several Reverends) or “power in numbers” (i.e.- many offspring), etc. About the middle of the week though, something happened and I wrote about neither. I wrote nothing but emails…but I’m getting ahead of myself. About the middle of the week RootsTech conference started and of course, due to Covid it’s virtual. One of the few things I’ve been grateful that Covid changed…one of the few things Covid changed for the better…is a free and virtual conference! So I got busy with RootsTech and they have this amazing online tool this year where you can see who is at the conference that you’re related to so I started finding all these cousins and messaging them through the FamilySearch system and folks, that’s all the family history writing I’ve done this week! It’s been fun, though! A few have responded back and some I’ve asked to guest write or co-write some blog posts. We’ll see if anyone is willing to do that…fingers crossed, knock on wood, rub the lucky rabbit’s foot, pray-pray-pray!! I love guest writers on the blog and haven’t had one for a long time! Anyway…I decided to combine “power in the blood” and “power in numbers” and revamp them a little so that today I’m not telling the story of an ancestor so much as I’m telling the story of who I’ve been in touch with this week. I hope you’ll stick around and read this one and then come back next week for an ancestor story.

It’s funny how knowing that someone is related to you changes how you feel about them. It changes how much leeway you’ll give them and changes how you interact with them. Even if you don’t think it does…it does. There’s something about a blood connection that changes the way you think about and interact with someone initially. Now…after you get to know them that might change, but initially it seems to make a difference. Not only does it make you more open to introducing yourself to strangers, it’s an eye-opening, visual experience in genetics. It’s been very interesting to see which lines of my families have lots of researchers at the genealogy conference and which have seemingly no one at all. I’m not a statistics person but surely the number of researchers in a specific line makes a difference in which lines of the family get preserved (as far as information, stories, and pictures) and which don’t. I thought it would be interesting to let you see who/which family lines I’ve been in touch with so far.

Power in the Blood AND the Numbers

Dad’s Lines

Braxton DRAKE/Martha Patsy GREER line: 1 person.
Mordecai MITCHELL/Lucretia HUTCHISON: 5 people.
Jesse BAKER/Mary BAIR: 1person.
John HUBBARD/Nancy CHAMBERS: 1 person.
Levi HUBBARD/Nancy Indiana WHITE: 21 people!
John HUBBARD/Nancy WEDDLE: 2 people.
Josep LARKIN/Mary LANE: 1 person.
Bartlett UNDERWOOD/Minerva BRINSFIELD/BRINCEFIELD: 1 person.
James LANE/Nancy CONKWRIGHT/CONKRITE: 1 person.
John WEDDING/Mary McAfee/McAtee: 1 person.
John WILLIAMS/Nancy WALLS(?): 1 person.
John BELL Jr./Sarah HARDIN: 4 people
Hardy HARDIN/Tabitha ROBERTS: 1 person.

Mom’s Lines

John BATES/Mary MOBLEY: 1 person.
Charles G. SEELY/Synthia FOSTER: 3 people.
George SEELY/Elizabeth SHELLY: 3 people.
Frederick FOSTER/Mary BURNETT/PICKENS: 5 people.
John SEELY/Katherine BRINKER: 1 person.
James GIBSON/Lucinda DOW: 2 people.
Samuel GIBSON/Lucinda BELL PETTIT: 7 people!
Henry DOW/Rebecca WHITE: 1 person.
James GIBSON/Sarah PHILLIPS: 5 people.
John DOW/Harty ELLIS: 2 people.
Benjamin WHITE/Mary ELSTON/WALDROP: 6 people!
James BULLOCK/Cynthia DALE: 4 people.
James Squire DALE/Elizabeth SMITH: 3 people.
John LATTY/Martha Frances SCOTT: 4 people.
Edwin WALLS/Delilah UNKNOWN: 1 person.

Each person I contacted was only counted once. That’s 89 people I’ve connected with so far! Some people are connections for lines I struggle with so that’s very exciting. There are several people I’ve asked to guest write or co-write a blog post about their branch of the family (or about our common ancestor, either way). Some have already given me leads to resources I didn’t know existed for our family! The computer only shows me 300 relatives out of a whopping 45,000+ that are registered for the conference!!! I probably won’t even get through all 300 but I got as far as 5th cousins as of this evening. I’ve also learned how I connect to several professional genealogists I follow. Amy JOHNSON CROW, one of my favorite genealogists, is my 7th cousin through my mom’s FOSTER line. Thomas MacENTEE, another genealogist is my 10th cousin twice removed through my dad’s LARKIN line. Michele Simmons LEWIS, another genealogy friend, is my 11th cousin through my dad’s GREER line. Not all of my favorite genealogists have shown up on RootsTech and some have been no relationship at all. It’s been fun to find out though and I love this online tool.

This is certainly an exciting weekend. It’s been dampened a little by the fact that my computer has decided it no longer wants to live but I’m going tomorrow to get a new one so the adventure can continue! (By the way, I apologize if this post is unreadable or has lots of errors. I was fighting a dying computer that was randomly deleting entire paragraphs and other crazy things.) Over the remainder of the weekend I will likely begin looking up DNA matches to see if I can find any connections there. I hope you have a fun, exciting weekend. Do something for yourself!

Until next weekend,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Sorry guys!

I truly will get back to blogging about John BATES. It’s crazy busy right now with my job though. I had an after-school meeting today and then went to a school board meeting tonight pertaining to the upcoming teacher walkout. Important stuff!! In the next two weeks I’ll be doing parent-teacher conferences, helping Freshman enroll in next year’s classes, holding a book fair, etc. I WILL get back to it though, I promise!

I love working in a place where administration and the community supports you!
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

John Bates, Confederate POW, Part 2

Note: I was quite a ways along on this post on Sunday evening. The plan was to finish it up Monday and let it post on Tuesday. Instead I ended up in the ER Monday afternoon and am not feeling well enough to finish this. I am choosing to let it post as-is. I didn’t quite make it to Shelbyville. I’ll pick up that part next week. I also had photos I wanted to add but those will also have to wait. Hopefully you will enjoy it despite its unfinished state.
This is part two of the final years of John BATES’ life. For those of you just getting here, I’ve posted several times about John. My initial post about John is here and it gives you the background you’ll need about John’s life. My cousin visited Rock Island (where we thought John had died) and he guest-wrote a blog post that you can find here. On a trip to Georgia I found some documents related to John and wrote about some of those here. Recently I made another discovery that initiated this blog series about John and you can read that post here. The initial timeline for the final years of John BATES is included in that post however, I was able to create a more accurate timeline that will serve as the outline for this series and I posted that here. Lastly, you’ll find part one of the final years of his life here. Each installment of his final years will be posted on Tuesdays. Next stop, Tennessee.

Before Shelbyville, Tennessee

Before I get into Shelbyville, Tennessee, I want to talk about the Battle of Fort Donelson. The Battle of Fort Donelson happened in Tennessee between February 11th and 16th, 1862. Initially I thought John was in that battle due to a regimental history I found online. However, with the discovery of the pay records, I am not sure what to think. I’m going to briefly discuss the Battle of Fort Donelson with the caveat that I don’t know if John was really there or not. According to Wikipedia, this is the battle that catapulted the Union’s Ulysses S. Grant into Major General status and earned him the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. (Wikipedia) So you can imagine the battle didn’t go well for John’s regiment. Fort Donelson was a Confederate fort and an important target for the Union to capture if they wanted to win the war. Don’t make the mistake, though, of thinking the Confederates didn’t try to hold the fort. Despite a snowstorm that rolled in the night of February 13th, the Confederates put up a valiant fight. The storm brought 3 inches of snow overnight and the strong winds that accompanied the storm brought the wind child down to the teens. The wet, muddy ground froze. Guns and wagons were frozen to the ground and the troops couldn’t start campfires for cooking or heat due to the close proximity of enemy lines. Many troops had arrived with no coats or blankets. It was a miserable night. During the early morning hours of February 14th, Confederate Brigadier General Floyd had a meeting of leaders during which one of his top aides was picked off by a Union sharpshooter. Later that day, “Union gunboats…attempted to reduce the fort with gunfire” and “were forced to withdraw after sustaining heavy damage from Fort Donelson’s water batteries”. (Wikipedia)
The following day (the 15th) the Confederates attacked Union forces in a surprise attack. Grant was not with his troops at the time but he did come back in time to launch a counterattack. Brigadier General Floyd apparently lost his nerve and didn’t follow through with a planned attack on the Union soldiers. I’m sure that Floyd watching his top aide die in front of him in the early morning hours of the 14th, coupled with the fact that Floyd was a wanted man in Union territory influenced his decisions and actions heavily that day. For whatever reason, the top two Confederate Brigadier Generals (Floyd and Pillow) left the fort in the command of a lower Brigadier General and escaped the fort with a few troops. The fort was unconditionally surrendered on February 16th to Grant by the Brigadier General later that day. Fort Henry had been surrendered just days earlier thus giving the Union a huge advantage in Tennessee. I recommend going to the Wikipedia link above and reading about the battle, about Grant’s relationship with the Confederate Brigadier General that surrendered Fort Donelson. I also recommend reading up on the battle at https://www.civilwar.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-donelson.

New, Updated Military Timeline for John Bates

Following is the updated timeline of John Bates’ final years in the military. This is the timeline I’m currently working with after finding better information online than what I was working with last week.
10 Nov 1861                     Initial enlistment
19 Jan 1862                      Battle of Mill Springs (KY)
11-16 Feb 1862                Battle of Fort Donelson (TN)
March 1862                      Confederate President Jefferson Davis discusses drafting men 18- 35 years old
10 May 1862                     John re-enlists
16 May 1862                     John reported for duty/joined service/Mustered in
September 1862              Confederate Congress passes legislation requiring men 18-35 to enlist for a period of 3 years
8 Oct 1862                         Battle of Perryville (KY)
16 Oct 1862                       Battle (?)- Lexington, KY
31 Dec 1862- 2 Jan 1863 Battle at Murfreesborough, TN (Battle of Stones River?)
2 Jan 1863                          Battle (?)- Tullahoma, TN
Between 2 Jan-10 Sep 1863    Captured at Tullahoma, TN- Prisoner of War
Between 2 Jan-10 Sep 1863    POW- Rock Island Military Prison, Rock Island, IL (information obtained from the Murray County Museum, Murray County, GA. They got it from info in a book at the courthouse there. This info differs from military records.)
31 Aug 1862-18 Jan 1863     Last paid by Captain Gibbons to 31 Aug 1862 PRESENT
31 Dec 1862-30 Apr 1863     Undated/non-information military document (perhaps they didn’t know where he was?)
6 May 1863                            Unit was reorganized into Company A, 37th GA Volunteer Infantry Regt. while John was imprisoned
19-20 Sep 1863                     Battle of Chickamauga (GA)
15-25 Oct 1863                     Battle of Philadelphia (TN)
20 Oct 1863                         Captured in Monroe County, Tennessee, during Battle of Philadelphia
14 Nov 1863                       Appears on a descriptive roll of Prisoners of War at Camp Chase, Ohio from Camp Nelson, KY received by Colonel S. G. Griffin.
31 Dec 1863                       Muster Roll: 30 Apr-31 Dec 1863 dated 31 Dec 1863; last paid 30 Apr 1863 ABSENT FROM DUTY
Jan & Feb 1864                  Undated; last paid by Captain J. L. Gibbons to 30 Apr 1863 ABSENT
22-27 Feb 1864                   Battle of Dalton (GA) occurred while John was a POW.
29 Feb 1864                        Transferred from Camp Chase, OH to Fort Delaware, DE
4 Mar 1864                          Received at Fort Delaware, DE from Camp Chase, Ohio
7 May 1864                          Skirmish (?)- Tunnel Hill (GA) occurred while John was a POW.
14-15 May 1864                  Battle of Resaca (GA) occurred while John was a POW.
4 July 1864    Pay            May & June 1864; Last paid by Captain Gibbons to 30 April 1863 ABSENT
14 Oct 1864                        Admitted (notes don’t say where- maybe Point Lookout, MD?)
30 Oct 1864                        Discharged/”paroled” at Fort Delaware in prisoner exchange
31 Oct 1864                       Other record says date of arrival at Fort Delaware is 31 Oct ; Exchanged on this date.
14 Nov 1864                     John must have died en-route to Venus Point as his tombstone says this date.
15 Nov 1864                   Received at Venus Point, Savannah River, Savannah, GA from Point Lookout, MD. Delivered by Lt Col. John E. Mulford & Assistant Agent for Exchange- 3,023 paroled Confederate Prisoners of War including 4 citizens and 4 surgeons & 74 officers. W. H. Hatch asst agent of exchange. Note: Venus Point is attributed to both Jasper County, South Carolina and to Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia.

At Last!

Imagine the opening words of the song At Last sung by Etta James.
“At last…..”
You know you’re singing it. Go ahead and listen to it if you need to get your fix before you continue reading.
At long, long last, I finally know what happened to my Confederate soldier John C. BATES. I can write the end of his story. This has been a 3-decade-plus search but I was in it for the long haul and what a reward! I wanted so much to tell you the full story right away but it is taking considerably more research time than I anticipated. So today I will give you a timeline of where he was during the Civil War and I will expand on that timeline in the coming weeks. I want to make sure I get the story right.

John BATES, 4 Sergeant (and former Captain) of Company F, 3rd Confederate Cavalry

John Bates is my maternal 3rd great grandfather. In January of 2015 I made a last-minute change of blog topics so I could write about an exciting new discovery about John that I had made the night before. In June of 2106 my cousin wrote a guest post about his visit to Rock Island and the veteran’s cemetery there. He learned that if a prisoner of war died en route to the Rock Island military prison the soldier’s body “was unceremoniously dumped off the train” and that in some of the communities the train went through, the people there would bury the unknown Confederate soldiers. We had never been able to locate a grave for John. No family stories had been passed down about where he was buried either. So, since June of 2016 I have believed that it was likely that John had been dumped on the side of the train tracks and buried as an unknown soldier in a location no longer remembered or recorded by anyone and that made me sad. In September and October of 2016 I was able to spend a few weeks in Georgia doing some genealogical research. Exactly one year ago today, I wrote another post about John that detailed some of the documents I found on that trip. The research I did on location in Georgia led me to John’s parent and grandparents. Despite all these great discoveries, I still didn’t know about the end of John’s life. I still believed he had probably been dumped off the train at some unknown location to be (hopefully) buried by people who had no idea who he was.
Fast forward to this week. I have discovered the rest of the story and I want you to know about the end of John’s life and where he is buried so that no one has to wonder anymore.
Some things to remember before you start reading the story:

I couldn’t always follow Company F (or Company C) so I will sometimes revert to giving you the location of the 3rd Confederate Cavalry as a whole with the understanding that it is possible his Company was elsewhere at the time.
This new information was given to me by other researchers and I’m in the process of verifying what I can.
I may add to this timeline as needed and when needed if new information is found.
I’ve done the best I could with the resources available to me to compile an accurate account of John’s whereabouts during the final years of his life. If you have different information, I would love to be corrected on this. I want an accurate account of his life.
Remember that today is just a timeline and I will flesh out the story in the weeks to come.
Some of the information may change over the next few weeks as I continue to research. Please keep coming back so you have the full story.

November, 1861- John BATES enlisted, Company C, 3rd Confederate Cavalry, Whorton Brigade, Army of Tennessee
March, 1862- Confederate President Jefferson DAVIS discusses a draft of men ages 18-35
May, 1862- John C. BATES enlists in Company F, 3rd Confederate Cavalry, at Spring Place, Georgia
September, 1862- Men ages 36-45 are required to enlist
September-October 1862- possibly had a base camp at Shelbyville, Tennessee during this period
December, 1862 through early January, 1863- Battle of Stones River
Late January, 1863- marched to Fort Donelson, Tennessee
Early April, 1863- skirmish near Liberty, Tennessee
Late April 1863- stationed at Varnell, Georgia
September, 1863- Battle of Chickamauga
October, 1863- Battle of Philadelphia (Tennessee)
20 October, 1863- John was captured and taken as a prisoner of war
March, 1864- John was received at Fort Delaware (Delaware)
October, 1864- John was part of a prisoner exchange and was “paroled” at Venus Point, Savannah, Georgia
14 November 1864- John died and was buried in Savannah, Georgia.
So there’s the timeline we’ll be fleshing out. I chose to space out the story because I felt like I was having to choose between giving you a marginally researched story versus taking my time and giving you a solidly researched story. I am erring on the side of solid research since I hope this blog will be on the internet for many years to come. In the near future I’ll be telling you about the locations John was at and what he might have experienced. I’m hoping to come up with even more information than I have now. Stay tuned!
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Happy Anniversary, Lum and Mary

Today’s blog post is about George Columbus BATES and Mary Ann SEELY, my maternal 2nd great grandparents. They were married on this date (13 January) in 1880. If you’d like to review what I’ve already written about George, you can find posts about George’s apple orchard here and I mentioned George in this post, too.

1860-1869

George Columbus BATES was born in December of 1856 in Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia, to John C. and Mary Jane (MOBLEY) BATES. George went by a shortened form of his middle name- Lum – and that’s how I’ll be referring to him here in this blog post. By 1860 (4 years after Lum’s birth) he was living with his family in Fancy Hill, 1013th Georgia Militia District in Murray County, Georgia. Hiram GARRETT (possibly SARRETT) was the census enumerator that year and he came by the family home on a Wednesday- 1 August 1860. Lum would have still been a few months shy of his 4th birthday at that time but he is enumerated as 4 years old in the census. His father, John, was a farmer. John valued his real estate at $800 and his personal estate at $1000. These amounts were about “middle of the pack” in comparison the other families censused on the same page.
In 1860, Lum’s older brother, Greenberry BATES was living with the family. Green was 18 years old and was a farm laborer. Just a few years later Green would be serving in the Civil War for the Confederacy.
Mary was born on Sunday, 6 June 1858 in Lawrence County, Missouri, to Charles and Synthia (FOSTER) SEELY. In 1860 Mary and her family were living in Mount Pleasant, Mount Pleasant Township, Lawrence County, Missouri. Their census enumerator that year was John W. PAYNE who came to enumerate the family on Saturday, 16 June 1860. Mary was 2 years old at the time. Living in the home were Mary’s parents plus four of her older siblings including Elijah, William, James, and John. In addition to these older siblings, she had an older brother who died as an infant. His name was George. In the years to come, Mary would help welcome two younger siblings- Elzora Josephine and Charles Harvey. Mary was living right next door to her maternal grandparents, Frederick and Mary (BURNETT) FOSTER. Mary’s dad was a farmer. Charles valued his real estate at $400 and his personal estate at $700. These values were toward the lower end of the spectrum in comparison to the families censused on the same page as Charles.

1863: A Difficult Year

In July of 1863, Lum was 6 years old. That year both his dad and his older brother were fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War. John (his dad) was fighting at Tullahoma, Tennessee when he was taken prisoner and transported to Rock Island. Rock Island was the Yankee version of Andersonville Prison. It wasn’t a place you wanted to go. In July of 1863 John died. I blogged a little about John’s military service and death here and my cousin did a guest blog post for us here.
Lum’s brother, Green, was taken as a prisoner of war at Missionary Ridge in November of 1863. He was initially sent to Rock Island but was transferred to a different military prison a couple of weeks after his capture. Green survived the war. I’m sure it was a pretty rough year for the whole family. If you want to read more about Rock Island and our part in the Civil War you can follow the links above that discuss John’s service. You can view the Missionary Ridge battlefield here. You can view a dramatic skit that explains the Tullahoma Campaign here. I also recommend Wikipedia for a brief, to-the-point overview of any topic.
Other known siblings of Lum’s were an older sister Martha, an older brother Washington who I think died in 1860, and a younger brother Henry Franklin who wasn’t yet born in 1860. In 1868, Lum’s mom got married again. This time she married Paul E. BRINEGAR.
Side note:
The best I could tell, this was the location of John and Mary (MOBLEY) BATES’ homestead in Georgia. They had a nice view of the mountain.

1870-1879

On Tuesday, 26 July 1870, census enumerator Robert M. ROMBERT visited the BATES family. By this time Lum’s dad, John, had died as a prisoner of war at Rock Island prison and Lum’s mom had remarried to Paul E. BRINEGAR. The family consisted of stepdad Paul E. BRINEGAR, mom Mary J. (MOBLEY) BRINEGAR, younger half brother Franklin (later enumerated as ‘Henry’). In 1870, Paul was farming and he valued his real estate at $850 and his personal estate at $200. If I were to judge based on the information given by other respondents on the page, Paul was in the middle of the pack as far as money and possessions owned by the people in his area. Mary Jane was “keeping house” as were the majority of women that I’ve encountered on older census records. Lum was a farm laborer. Franklin was only 2 years old. He was not working or in school.
On Thursday, 23 June 1870 enumerator John H. STROUD visited the SEELY family. Parents Charles and Sinthia were living in Bentonville, Osage Township, Benton County, Arkansas with their children, James, John, Mary, Elzora, and Charles. The elder Charles was a farmer and valued his real estate at $500 and his personal estate at $250. If I were to judge based on the information given by other respondents on the same page, Charles more well off than most of the people around him. Sinthia was keeping house. Despite their ages, the older children (ages 20 and 17) were not working – or at least no occupation was listed by the census enumerator.

1880

Sometime between 26 July 1870 and 28 June 1880, Lum and Mary met each other and fell in love. I wish I had stories to tell you either from records or family stories passed down through the years. Sadly I don’t, so we’ll skip right to the month of the wedding.
On Wednesday, 7 January 1880 it was warmer than usual in Benton County, Arkansas. The weather was described as “too warm for overcoats and fires”. (Arkansas Democrat, 7 Jan 1880) That was the day that the license was issued for George Columbus BATES and Mary Ann SEELY to marry. The wedding didn’t happen until Tuesday, 13 January 1880. By then, it was “decidedly cooler”. (Arkansas Democrat, 14 Jan 1880) Lum (George) was 21 years old according to the marriage license although other official documents have put him at age 24 at the time of his marriage. (My personal belief is 24 years old.) Mary was 20 years old according to the marriage license.
The first record I have that was dated after the wedding is the 1880 Federal Census. On the Monday, 28 June or Tuesday, 29 June 1880, census enumerator John M. CLAYTON arrived at the newly-married couple’s home. They were living in Dickson Township, Benton County, Arkansas. He was listed as being 23 years old and she as being 22. They lived next door to Lum’s now-widowed mother, Mary and Lum’s half brother who is now listed as Henry. Living on the other side of Mary was her older son Berry, now married and with his own large family. Lum was farming and Mary was keeping house.

A Good Stopping Point

If you work on your own family history then you know that most of the 1890 census was destroyed. So, unfortunately it’s hard to know what Lum and Mary did in the 20 years between the 1880 and 1900 censuses. One thing I do know they did was have babies. Starting with Albert (my great-grandfather) in 1881 and continuing with Charles in 1887, Herman in 1891, and Vesta in 1894.
It is at this point that I’m going to stop their story. I’ll finish it during the year in other blog posts about Lum and Mary as I celebrate their births and write about their deaths.
Until then,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

John Bates- The New Head of the Line

I intended to go on with storytimes this week but I’m running a fever and hurting all over so I’ll probably just be giving you quick snippets this week. It was almost exactly two years ago that I made a huge discovery about John C. BATES (also spelled BAITS) who was my 3rd great grandfather- Civil War prisoner of war and killed in action. Later in the year my cousin guest-wrote a post for my blog about the prison this John was in. The POW John BATES is the grandson of the John BATES we’re talking about today. Today’s John BATES is my maternal 5th great grandfather. When I wrote those posts about the POW John BATES, I didn’t even know about today’s John BATES yet!
In September and October of last year I was fortunate to get to spend a few weeks in Georgia with Bart while he was working a job there. I spent a lot of time in libraries, archives, courthouses, cemeteries, etc researching my POW John BATES. While there I discovered the people I believe to be POW John BATES’ parents and grandparents. I base this on records I found in the courthouses there. I believe that POW John BATES’ parents are Jesse and Delila AARON/ARENT BATES and his grandparents are John and Frances L. BURNETT BATES. I base this, in part, on land records I found in Cherokee County, Georgia. The elder John BATES’ family had ties in the land records to POW John BATES’ wife’s (Mary Jane MOBLEY BATES) family. I’m going to post some photos today of the land records I found on John BATES including one where he witnessed a land record for Mary Jane MOBLEY BATES’ dad, Burwell MOBLEY. Here are the photos and I hope that later in the year I can tell you a more complete story about the elder John BATES. Today, however, I need to rest and get well.

Earliest John BATES deed I found- 1833 Cherokee County, Georgia.

1830s land deed. Deeds land to Burwell Mobley with John Bates as witness. — Mobley deed witnessed by John Bates.

Two MOBLEY deeds witnessed by John BATES.

Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

There’s a Way

Today you’re going to get a small glimpse of how my crazy mind works. I’m going back to the second week of May to make up that week’s blog post. The theme was “there’s a way”. In my mind I kept thinking “the way”. Do you remember playing a game where someone says a word and you’re supposed to say the first word that comes to your mind (no filtering)? Well this is how that worked for me on this blog post. My mind said “the way” and then responded with “the truth and the life”. (The Holy Bible~ John 4:16, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.) So that thought led to Christianity, which led to church, which led to preachers, which led to Reverend Charles SEELY. So I present to you today, my Baptist minister ancestor- Charles SEELY.

Charles SEELY and wife, Synthia Arrena FOSTER

Charles SEELY was born in 1826 in Missouri. I don’t know anything of his childhood and I don’t know anything about his parents, siblings, or any of his family. The first time he shows up in any record that I can find is on 15 October 1845 when he married Synthia Arrena FOSTER in Lawrence County, Missouri.

Charles Seely and Syntha Foster marriage record.

Second page of marriage record for Charles Seely and Syntha Foster.

The marriage record started on one page and ended on the next, thus the reason for two photos to show one record.
Synthia was born in 1824 in South Carolina to Frederick FOSTER and Mary (BURNETT) FOSTER. Her family moved from South Carolina to Tennessee sometime between 1830 and 1840. Sometime between 1840 and 1860 they moved to Lawrence County, Missouri.

Finding Their Way from Missouri to Arkansas

Both SEELYs and FOSTERs were present in the area at the time Lawrence County was created. There is an annual “pioneer families” reunion each year in September. The reunion is a big deal complete with printed t-shirts, a day for genealogical information exchanges, etc. See these two websites for information about previous years’ reunions: http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/wormington/44/ (2013 gathering and includes a contact name and email address) and http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/spilman/361/ (2014 gathering). Although neither of our families are listed as pioneer families that are included in the reunion, another SEELY researcher said that she went one year and she seemed to feel it was profitable to her research.

Charles and Synthia had eight children together- Fifth Sergeant Elijah SEELY, blacksmith William, blacksmith James (who went by Frank), farmer John, baby George who only lived 8 months, Mary Ann (my great-grandmother and wife of George BATES), Elzora (who went by Josephine and married a HARRELL), and farmer Charles. They resided in Lawrence County, Missouri until the late 1860’s. Charles owned land there as evidenced by a land patent issued in 1860 and a deed dated 1867. You can view the land patent at this link along with a map of where the property was located-

http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MO5700__.226&docClass=STA&sid=cduxnu03.ddp.

Around 1868, Charles packed up his family and left Lawrence County, Missouri for Benton County, Arkansas. On 7 April 1869, Charles was licensed as a Minister of the Gospel in Benton County, Arkansas. He was the first preacher at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church located in Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas.

The Way, The Truth, The Life

The recording of his credentials:

Charles Seely's official credentials as a minister in Benton County, Arkansas. — Charles Seely’s official credentials as a minister in Benton County, Arkansas.

I’ve transcribed it here the best I can, leaving any misspellings as they appear in the record:

Credentials of Seely: Credentials of Charles Seely- Benton County Arkansas This is to certify that we being duly called as a
presbytary have examined into the carcter, call qualifications of our beloved brother Charles Seely and with the consent of the
Church of Christ at New Sili (?) to which he belongs have by prayer and imposition of hands set him apart to the great work of
the gospel ministry and he is hereby authorized to excrise himself in the several parts of the ministerial functions where he may
be called whether occasionally or Slated by Given under our hands this the 26 day of October 1868
E. T. Willingham, J. Dungan, Presbytary
Filed and recorded the 7 day of April 1869
J. R. Rutherford recorder

Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, Gravette, Arkansas.

The Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church was organized in a log school house above Cash Springs in the Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas area on 28 May 1870. The church moved to it’s present location in 1880. The story I read was that Charles was an elder in the church and moderator of the organization committee when he was chosen as the first pastor. I have contacted the church and am waiting on a response. Maybe soon I’ll have an update with new information if the church has any. I wasn’t able to find Cash Springs on any map but I found Cash Springs Road in Gravette so I’m going on the assumption that Cash Springs is nearby. Here is a map showing the distance from Cash Springs Road (Where the arrow and pinned spot is) to the current church location:

Map showing Cash Springs Road and the current location of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church.

I know Charles performed marriages while he was licensed. He was the minister who performed the wedding ceremony for Greenberry BATES and Eliza PENDERGRAFT in 1872. (Greenberry was one of the sons of John C. BATES. You can read about John BATES in a previous blog post found here: http://happy-girl-24.livejournal.com/16413.html. Charles SEELY’s daughter, Mary Ann, married George BATES- another of John C. BATES’ sons). Later in Charles’ life (after the death of Synthia), Charles himself married a PENDERGRAFT. Two years after Synthia’s death, Charles married Mary Ann (PENDERGRAFT) SEAMSTER. She was the widow of Williamson SEAMSTER who was also a Baptist minister.

Rock Island…Haven’t We Been This Way Before?

One interesting story I found while researching for this blog post was the story of why Charles’ son William packed up his family and moved to Texas and what happened along the way. The story goes that William and his family were living near Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas. He was a blacksmith there. His house and shop were next to each other. Crews were blasting out a path for the Rock Island Railroad nearby (that is possibly the same railroad company that ran the train that hit my great-great-grandfather Samuel WILLIAMS whom you can read about in the blog post at http://happy-girl-24.livejournal.com/20385.html). The crews were having to blast through a hillside to make a deep cut for a section of the railroad and the rocks from all the blasting were falling on William’s house and blacksmith shop. William said he wasn’t going to live where they were tearing up everything so he packed up his family and set out for Texas in a wagon. Somewhere along the way Indians started to attack the family. William’s sons were big boys and they scared the Indians away with their guns. That’s all of the story I know. I have to believe they made it to Texas alright since there is now a large branch of distantly-related SEELYs in Texas.

I love this postcard found at http://ahc.digital-ar.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16790coll7/id/112/rec/ depicting a railroad cut similar to the one being done (maybe the actual one being done??) near William’s home that made him decide to move. I also love how Rock Island crept into my stories again. If you’ll remember, Rock Island was where John BATES (referenced above) was imprisoned during the Civil War. Also every day on my way to work during the school year, I pass a Rock Island caboose that’s been restored. I don’t have a photo of it but here is another Rock Island caboose for you to look at:

I also found this great picture of the old depot in Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas at myoldtownpics.com:

And I couldn’t help but post this 1901 depot sign:

Finding His Way to His (Heavenly) Home
In addition to being a preacher, Charles was a farmer. He died on 29 June 1891. He had a very short obituary which reads:

Rev. Charles Seeley died on the 29^th of June and was buried on the day following at Gamble’s
grave yard. Mr. Seeley had lived here a number of years and had lots of warm friends to mourn
his death.

The obituary appeared in The Bentonville Sun on 11 July 1891.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Charles SEELY and “the way” he lived his life. Here’s hoping you find your way to a safe and happy weekend spent with loved ones.

Until next week,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Plowing Through the Lean Times

John C. Bates (1817- 21 July 1863)
When I started drafting this blog post I was not planning on writing about my 2nd great-grandfather, John C. BATES. Nope. I was going to tell you about my great-grandfather Nicholas Wilhelm REITER. Both of these men are my ancestors on my mother’s side. I’m very proud of both men for very different reasons. The theme this week was “plowing through” and I wanted to tell you how Nicholas persevered through some difficult situations in his life and how late in life he became a cabinet maker and I wanted to show you pictures of a circa-1900 plow plane similar to what he likely used in his work. One day- I’ll finish that post and publish it. But today, I want to tell you about “plowing through” all the dead ends until you finally hit pay dirt.
It was getting late tonight when I was trying to write the original post and I don’t write well when I’m tired but I couldn’t go to bed yet either. So I switched tactics and began browsing through Ancestry.com. I decided to click on one of my “brick walls”- John C. BATES. I didn’t expect to find anything that I hadn’t already found a hundred times. There was no “little leaf” telling me Ancestry had found new hints for me. It was just a routine “I’ll try one more time because I’m bored and tired and have nothing better to do” try. As has happened so many times- and always when I least expect it- one of those routine “tries” netted me some much-needed and long-sought-for bits of information.
Before we get there though, let me back up and fill you in on who John is to me. John C. BATES is my second great-grandfather. I’m almost certain his middle name is Columbus as that is a name that has been handed down through the generations. John’s son was George Columbus BATES. George’s grandson was Troy Columbus BATES. So it stands to reason that John’s middle name was most likely Columbus as well. I always surmised that John died while fighting in the Civil War. I lost track of him in the records around that time and he never re-appeared. It was a hunch that I could never prove.
John was born about 1818 in Georgia. In 1840 he was living in Murray County, Georgia which is just south of the Georgia-Tennessee state line. That was also the year he married Mary Jane MOBLEY. In the 10 years between census enumerations, they had three children together- Martha, Greenberry, and Washington. In 1850 they were in East Chickamauga, Walker County, Georgia but by 1856 they had moved to Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia where they had my great-grandfather, George. As far as I know, they lived in Murray County, Georgia when John died. I previously believed John died between 1860 and 1862.

Portrait of Mary (Mobley) Bates Brinegar.

Mary Jane MOBLEY BATES BRINEGAR
In 1868, Mary married Paul BRINEGAR and they remained in Murray County, Georgia until sometime between 1870 and 1880. In 1880, the family was living in Benton County, Arkansas where Mary remained until her death. Mary is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Hiwasse, Benton County, Arkansas. One story my granny always told me that I have neither proved nor disproved is that George walked behind a wagon all the way from Georgia to Arkansas when the family moved to Arkansas.
Now to the exciting find on Ancestry.com tonight! I found the following story tonight that finally explained John’s death and why it has been so difficult to find information about his death and burial.

John BATES
When a man and wife both have very common names it is difficult to
determine exactly who they were and which families they came from.
This John BATES was born about 1817 in Georgia. His wife, Mary
BATES, was born about 1822.
The Census of 1860 listed the household as: John BATES, age 43;
Mary BATES, age 38; Green B. BATES, age 18; and Columbus BATES,
age 4. They used the post office at Fancy Hill.
Records in the Murray County Courthouse listed John BATES
(or BAITS), with service that began November 1861. While a member
of Company F, 3rd Confederate (Whorton Brigade), Army of Tennessee,
was captured at Tullahoma, Tennessee. He was taken to Rock Island
Prison, in Illinois and died there while a prisoner-of-war. Confederate
Army records listed him as John BAITS.
A transcription (also found on the Ancestry website) of Civil War records states,
JOHN BATES (Private). Service began November 1861. First known
as Company C, 3rd Confederate, then reorganized into Company F, 3rd
Confederate, Whorton Brigade, Army of Tennessee. Captured at Tullahoma,
Tennessee, during fighting in that area from January 2 to September 10,
1863. Died while a prisoner-of war at Rock Island Prison, Illinois.
Preceding was copied from records in Murray County Courthouse, with
spelling of battles and place names corrected as needed and dates of
engagements added. Military service records contain this information:
John Baits, Company F, 3rd Confederate Cavalry. Murray County
Census of 1860, visitation #720, shows John Bates, age 43, wife Mary,
used post office at Fancy Hill.
I just made this discovery late tonight so I have not had time to further research it. There is a lot left to learn. There is a conflict in the dates given in the above transcriptions and the official opening date for Rock Island Prison. (Just so you know- Rock Island was the Yankee version of the Confederates’ Andersonville Prison. It was the worst possible place for a Confederate soldier to go.) I’m hoping to clear up some of the confusion in the near future. In the meantime, I will leave you with some photographs and links to information about Rock Island Prison.
Click here to read a personal account from a former Rock Island Prisoner.

Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois.

Click here to look at the official National Park Service website about Rock Island Confederate Cemetery.
I am looking forward to learning where Rock Island prisoners were buried and other information about Rock Island prison and John BATES’ service during the Civil War. I am looking forward to finding my own way to say ‘thank you’ to POW Private John C. Bates of Company F, 3rd Confederate Cavalry, Whorton Brigade, Army of Tennessee- a man who fought for something he believed in and fought to keep his family safe.
So tonight I encourage you to plow through all your dead ends and all those endless genealogies and records that don’t seem to be the right ones. Plow through those websites, lists of researchers and potential relatives to contact “one day”, and all those notes and copies you’ve made. The only people who are guaranteed to never break through their brick wall ancestral lines are those who stop looking. Don’t be that person!
Be sure to click on over to these blogs for more great stories! Down in the Root Cellar and Theology for Mom.

Until next week,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Tag: John C. Bates