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An American Family History

The Bates Family of Leeds County, Ontario

Leeds County, Ontario, Canada was first surveyed in 1792 in preparation for the United Empire Loyalists settlers. In 1850, Leeds County merged with Grenville to create the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.

George Bates was born about 1766 in Tribes Hill, Montgomery County, New York.

He married Patience Churchill, in 1787.

Patience and George's children may have included:

Ezra Bates (1792),
James Bates (1793, married Sarah Munsell),
Martin Bates (1795),
Sarah Bates (1797, married Samuel Shipman),
Elizabeth Bates (1797, married Dwight Giffin) ,
Eleanor Bates (1799, married Sterling Deming),
Joshua Bates (1801, married Tamison Bigelow),
Patience Bates (1803, married Nathan Cromwell),
George Murry Bates (1805, married Betsey Blanchard) ,
Rebecca Bates (1807, married William Rowsome),
Ninian Bates (1809, married Elizabeth McIntosh), and
Oliva Bates (1813).

The family moved to Canada from New York, near the Connecticut line, in 1791, and bought 715 acres of land in the Rear of Yonge, Leeds County, Ontario, Canada.

. . .the nearest mill being situated at Kingston. At one time Wm. Parish and George Bates left home with a grist, which they carried to Cole s Ferry ; at that point it was placed in a canoe and transported to Kingston. On their return to the Ferry, the flour was carried on home. The entire trip occupied a period of two weeks. (from History of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario)

George was in the 1805 assessment of Yonge.

George died in 1840.

The first European settlements in Ontario were after the American Revolution when 5,000 loyalists left the new United States.

 
 
 

By mid-1832 Joshua Bates owned most of the land at the crossroads and began to develop it as the village of Farmersville [now Athens]. . .

 
 
 

from A Record of Marriages Solemnized by William Smart

1818 Feb. 3rd.-Samuel Shipman and Sarah Bates, both of Yonge, banns, witnesses Ninian Bates, Joshua Bates.

1841 Feb. llth.—Levi Alguire and Polly Bates, both of Yonge, lie,
wit. G. B. Deming, W. Landon.

 
 

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On February 7, 1813, the American army raided Elizabethtown (present day Brockville, Leeds County, Ontario). The Americans crossed the frozen St. Lawrence River and seized equipment, freed American prisoners, and captured Canadian men.

from History of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario

Munsell R. Bates now resides on a farm of some 230 acres, comprising part of the 3rd Lot of the 8th Concession of the Rear of Yonge, and other lands. He was born in 1821, and married in 1851 a daughter of John Brown, by whom he has one son, James (born in 1853.) His residence, shown in illustration, was the home of his grandfather,

George Bates, who removed to Canada from Niscanny, New York, near the Connecticut line, in the year 1791, and took up 715 acres of land in the Rear of Yonge, the greater portion of which is still owned by his grandsons, Munsell R. Charles B. and George Murray Bates, Jr.

George Bates was born in 1766, and married in 1787, the maiden name of his wife being Patience Churchill, born in 1768. Mr. Bates died in 1840, his wife surviving him 18 years. He had fourteen children, eleven of whom lived to a mature age.

Ezra Bates, born in 1792, died some years ago in the west, leaving a large family, none of whom reside in the United Counties.

James Bates, born in 1793, settled on the homestead and died in 1855, leaving eleven children, nine of whom reside in Leeds County. Sarah, wife of Samuel Shipman, born in 1797, died in 1822, and her twin sister, Elizabeth, wife of Dwight Giffin, died in 1854.

Eleanor [Bates], born in 1799, married in 1819, Sterling Deming, a farmer, residing near Farmersville [now Athens], and died in 1844, leaving eight children. . .

George Murray Bates, born in 1805, married in 1830, Betsey Blanchard, by whom he had five children

 
Colonial Maryland
Colonial New England
Colonial Virginia & West Virginia
Quakers & Mennonites
New Jersey Baptists
 
German Lutherans
Watauga Settlement
Pennsylvania Pioneers
Midwest Pioneers
Californians
Jewish Immigrants

©Roberta Tuller 2023
tuller.roberta@gmail.com
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