The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: RI
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
Photo by permission: Shawn Doyle, Empire State SAR
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
Photo: 1 of 1
Author: Shawn Patrick Doyle
Born--6 April 1763, Attleborough, Bristol County, Massachusetts Died--15/16 May 1835 Richland Twp., Oswego County, New York Buried--May 1835, Riverside Cem., Richland Twp., Oswego County, New York Parents--Reuben & Susanna (Marble) Bates Married--1st-29 November 1783, Attleborough, Bristol County, Massachusetts 2nd-24 December 1793, Lansingburgh, Rensselaer County, New York Spouses--1st-Luthania Leland (no children) 2nd-Abigail Bull Service Information--Served as a teamster 1781-83
Departing Rank--Teamster with Rhode Island Reg’t
Born and raised in Attleborough, Massachusetts, Bates came from a very patriotic family. His father Reuben Bates, Sr. had responded to the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775 and later served as a Private in Captain John Ellis’s Company of the Massachusetts Line. The senior Bates was killed in the war. Reuben Jr. himself joined up as soon as he came of age, serving in the Rhode Island Line as a teamster. He had enlisted from Allenby, near Providence, Rhode Island. According to his pension records, Reuben served as a teamster with the Rhode Island troops. He headed south about 1781, bringing along his own team of oxen. Reuben accompanied the Rhode Island troops for nearly two years, from 1781-83, , and reportedly was present at Yorktown, Virginia when Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington. Following the war Bates was married twice, first to Luthania Leland on the 29th of November 1783 at Attleborough, Massachusetts. Luthania was born in 1765 the daughter of Jesse & Meriba (Burden) Leland. The couple had no children, and Luthania died prior to 1792. On the 24th of December 1793 Reuben was married to Abigail Bull of Dutchess County, New York by Esquire Montgomery at Lansingburgh in Rensselaer County, New York. Abigail was the daughter of Abraham & Abigail (Paine) Bull; she was born 13 August 1774 and died 23 July 1860. Her death is often cited as occurring in Ozaukee, Wisconsin; however, a stone exists for her in Riverside Cemetery in Pulaski, New York. Abigail was from a Quaker family who lived in the region known as “the oblong” along the borders of Connecticut and New York. Abigail told her descendents of sitting on General George Washington’s knee while he visited with her family in 1778. Washington reportedly was there awaiting the crossing of his baggage and horses across the Bull family’s new bridge on the Housatonic River. Abigail Bull Bates had great difficulty finding first-hand sources in order to obtain a pension for her husband’s service. She last applied for a pension 28 October 1854 under the new 1853 laws. She received corroborating statements of her late husband’s service from her brother Aaron Bull (of Tompkins County, New York) and sister-in-law Elizabeth Bates Hawkins (of Rensselear County, New York). Mrs. Hawkins recalled that Reuben returned from the South without his oxen and was very sick.
Children of Reuben & Abigail (Bull) Bates
1-Lucy Bates, (December 26, 1794- ) =1-Benjamin French, (c1790- ) =2-Joseph Cass, (c1790- ) 2-Benjamin Bates, (October 1797- after 1880 in Rhode Island) =Betsey _________, (c1793, Rhode Island-after 1880 in Rhode Island) 3-Otis Bates, (March 15, 1800, Massachusetts-29 Aug 1850, Port Washington, Wisconsin) =Laura Lombard, (23 July 1799-after 1870, Port Washington, Ozaukee Co. Wisconsin) 4-Abraham Bates, (1803- April 25, 1882, Vernon County, Wisconsin) =Lucinda Tracy, (1806-1885, Vernon County, Wisconsin) 5-Sally Jane Bates, (November 18, 1805-February 22, 1862, Horicon, Dodge County, Wisconsin) =George Hunter English, (May 1, 1804, Bennington, VT-February 13, 1877, Horicon, Dodge County, WI) 6-John Bates, (1809-1894) =Emmeline Tracy, (1811-1894) 7-Aaron Bates, (1810-1854, Port Washington, WI) =Emmeline Tucker, (c1811- ) 8-Nancy Bates, (1815-April 26, 1894, Sterling Twp., Vernon County, WI) =Dexter Lombard, (August 11, 1803, Pelham, Hampshire County, Mass-1833)
Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolution, compiled by the Secretary of the Commonwealth in 17 volumes, 1896-1908; Wright & Potter Printing, Volume 6, page 798. Bull family papers Pension File R-608, Copies in possession of Half-Shire Historical Society, Richland, New York Letter cited in pension papers. These vital statistics are taken from the records of Brent Schlottman, whose wife is a descendant.
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