Martha Louella Bates Died September 15, 2015

Martha Louella Bates Jackson passed in her sleep at her home in Suwanee, Georgia on September 15, 2015. She was laid to rest at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs on Friday, September 18, 2015. Born July 11, 1916, Martha was 99 years old at the time of her death.

Born to Lem and Lillie (Smith) Bates, Martha's siblings were Cora, Jay, Bethel, Ethel, Vada, and Mary Bates. 

Martha was married to Fred Jackson for 53 years before his death in 1988. Their children are Edmond Jackson (deceased), Dorothy Parker Cole, Doris Mauldin, Kathryn Stanfield, and Fred Jackson.  She had 12 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and 20 great-great-grandchildren.

The following was read at her funeral, which was officiated by Reverend James Hicks. James visited Martha every month for five years while she was in hospice. During that time, her daughters Doris Mauldin and Dorothy Cole cared for her in Doris and Kenneth's home.

On Sundays at the Oak Road house, Martha's grandkids and great-grandkids were running in and out of the house, playing ball in the front yard and trying to keep it out of the garden while waiting to be called to the table for a delicious Southern-cooked meal. Nanny made some of the best biscuits and gravy, peach cobbler, fried chicken, and homemade dill pickles you ever tasted.

Anyone who entered Nanny's house was treated as family. One would always be offered something to eat and drink when they came over. The matriarch of five generations, she loved every one of her five children, her 12 grandchildren, her 35 great-grandchildren, her 20 great-great-grandchildren. Their spouses were loved as if they were her own kids. Her unconditional love made our family a safe place where everyone's needs were met.

In her middle years, she kept her grandkids while their parents worked. Her example as an excellent housekeeper, Christian, and nurturing caregiver took hold in their hearts and lives. Martha took care of a garden including the canning and freezing of the harvested food and mowing her own lawn while caring for her husband who ailed with emphysema for many years. She lived alone for nearly ten years after his death and helped tend to her great-grandkids who lived next door--there was always a milkshake ready when they got off the bus at her house.

Giving up her independence and moving in with her daughter and son-in-law was a difficult decision she made in 1998. But she quickly adjusted and the Sunday family dinners moved with her to Doris and Kenneth's house. She participated in meal preparation and housekeeping until the day she fell and broke her hip and shoulder while putting up groceries in the kitchen. Her battle with pain, surgery, and several close calls with death robbed her of the active lifestyle she had always enjoyed. As a loving nurturer, she never wanted to be a burden to her family. As her worst nightmare unfolded, she did not give up her faith. While sitting in the chair that she had been hoisted to, she would sing hymns as she dusted the frames that contained the photos of her beloved family.

Her love remained strong even as her body became a prisoner of her bed and dementia took its toll on her mind. The love her family had for her became more evident. She would not have lived to celebrate her 99^th birthday if it had not been for the excellent non-stop elder care her daughters provided.

We will all miss Nanny, but we also know she is in a better place. She has joined her parents, her siblings, her husband, two of her children, as well as Jesus and the angels in heaven."
~~~~~~~~~~~

Feel no guilt in laughter, she’d know how much you care. Feel no sorrow in a smile that she is not here to share. You cannot grieve forever; she would not want you to.

She’d hope that you could carry on the way you always do. So, talk about the good times and the way you showed you cared, the days you spent together, all the happiness you shared.

Let memories surround you, a word someone may say will suddenly recapture a time, an hour, a day, that brings her back as clearly as though she were still here, and fills you with the feeling that she is always near. For if you keep those moments, you will never be apart And she will live forever locked safely within your heart.

 ~ Author unknown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for grief, you'll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you're drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it's some physical thing. Maybe it's a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it's a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.

In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don't even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you'll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what's going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything...and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.

Somewhere down the line, and it's different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you'll come out.
he waves never stop coming, and somehow you don't really want them to. But you learn that you'll survive them. And other waves will come. And you'll survive them too.  

These songs were sang at the funeral by her granddaughters, Carla (Parker) Buck and Yvonne (Mauldin) Perry. The congregation joined in on several of the familiar hymns.

Oh, Come, Angel Band
Amazing Grace
Oh, How I Love Jesus
In the Sweet By and By

Lamanac Brother: Franklin Lee, Philip Lester, and Kenneth Ray

The children of Hugh Lee and Sarah Bates Lamanac are the grandchildren of J.B. (Jay) and Lois Sims Bates. This photo was taken in 1955.

Vernie Grogan and His Cousin, Sarah Elizabeth Bates

As a child, Sarah Bates Lamanac (daughter of J.B. Bates and Lois Christine Sims) always watched over her cousin, Vernie Grogan. Vernie was the son of Tommy Grogan and Vada Bates. 

Lucious Ward and his wife Margie Henderson

Lucious Wilson and his wife Margie Henderson Wilson. Lucious is the son of Indiana Ward Wilson, who was the sister of our Big Granny Sarah Elizabeth Ward Bates.

Columnist Juanita Hughes Mentioning Bates Family Ancestry Book in Cherokee Tribute

I got an email from Juanita Hughes, a columnist for the Cherokee Tribune, asking for permission to use a couple of quotes from my ode to my grandfather, Fred A. Jackson. The entire poem is published in the book my cousin, Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls, and I co-authored, Oh, Come, Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family. (I will also post it below.)

Jenny gave Juanita a personal copy of the book and included a copy for the Preservation Woodstock family files. Juanita loved reading about the families and the many priceless stories in the book. She said, "It's a shame that other families don't realize the need for preserving these stories." I agree. That is why a team of cousins is now working on the ancestry for my dad's side of the family.

Home is Where Pap Is

Loblolly pines

Standing like matchsticks in Georgia red clay

Pull their canopies up past their bellybuttons

to prevent children from climbing their long, lean, limber legs

On this terrain there were three in a row

partial acres that reared the clan

One-third an acre belonged to my parents but housed my aunt

One-third owned and occupied by Nanny and Pap

And one lot of red dirt where we

raised the garden that kept us fed

1965 was the year it began

when Nanny and Pap paid ten grand

for two bedrooms on Oak Road

Soon it was home for Sunday dinners

with all the grandkids stomping in the daffodils

and using the yellowbell bush as first base for our ballgame

A triangular bed of floral fantasies intermingled

with chickweed, wild onion, and Bermuda grass

was home to praying mantas that loved to hide there

This delighted Pap who thought it clever to take hostage

those green sticks with bulging eyes

and attach them to the inside of the screened-in front porch

He warned us that those bugs would eat children who got into mischief

A strange tree that never managed more stature than eight feet

had broad leaves that the catawba worms loved

and we loved to teach catawba worms to swim

with the catfish at Twin Lakes in Cumming

when we could talk Pap into taking the four of us fishing

I was disgraced in my high school days

Having to ride the bus to Nanny’s after school

Liberty Heights was known as a low-class sanctuary

But it was convenient to band rehearsal and little league practice

Since Mom worked a real job,

Pap chauffeured my cousins, my brother, and me

in his 1971 green Datsun pickup—

the same one in which he took his twelve intermarried Beagles hunting

The luxurious camper boasted of deluxe seating:

a two-by-six wedged atop the wheel wells

We slid from one side to the other as Pap never did quite get the hang of gearing down

or using brakes to turn a corner

One year, Economy Auto ran a sale on green paint

Pap painted everything:

the house trim,

the front porch,

the rocking chairs,

the metal glider,

the out house

all four dog houses,

and the open wound on the peach tree he’d butchered with a hand saw

I think he even touched up a few scratches on the Datsun.

It would snow at least once in a season just to make sure winter’s cold breath

equaled the steam and heat of the summer picnics at Stone Mountain

when the humidity was so thick you could cut it with the plastic knives

that nearly melted in the basket

In springtime, yellow pollen blanketed the entire state

One could tell the transplants from the natives by their sneezes

Fall colors were perfect and the weather still warm enough on Thanksgiving Day

to wear short sleeves while watching the young boys and old men

make a fool of themselves playing in the middle of the street

while playing football in the annual Turkey Bowl

Norcross grew a four-lane highway to honor Jimmy Carter

when he changed his name to Mr. President

I-285 spread to six-lanes near Spaghetti Junction,

reducing the drive time downtown to twenty minutes

Underground Atlanta awakened from hibernation

with a new face, and Marta could take you there for fifty cents

I’d married by then a man whose job made him a part-time resident,

and me a single parent with a wedding band

but I managed to bear him two young ‘ens

The second child was on her way when

the house on Oak Road next to Nanny and Pap

came to market with the garden lot we’d envied for years

We were hesitant to buy in the faltering ‘hood but the price was right and

my family of three plus one moved in

Living next to my grandparents had its advantages

Nanny cooked at five o’clock everyday

And if my kids did not like what I was having

They trotted across the garden to see what was on the neighbor’s table

Tuesdays after school was especially fine since

Nanny made cookies, or milkshakes to reward the kids for having to put up

with their Momma working a part-time job

on the days when Nanny would give her the day off from gardening

Urban renewal never occurred in Doraville

but minorities took a liking to the low land

My kids never needed diversity training

Barbie dolls and baseball with the Hispanics, Africans, and Puerto Ricans

was a daily multi-cultural experience for them

And since Mrs. Lopez cooked much better than me,

my kids had a third choice of menu at five o’clock

In spite of the commercialization, residential boom,

and industrial takeover of the rural land of Gwinnett County,

native dogwoods will spread their blossoms come April.

Roadsides will hail Queen Anne’s lace, ragweed, and goldenrod all summer.

And I suppose the yards we abandoned years ago will flower

with mums we planted to mark the day

Pap went home for good

(C) 2013 Yvonne Perry

Estell Pruitt Grogan, daughter of Frances and Mary Bates Pruitt and her son Calvin Grogan

Estelle Pruitt Grogan the oldest granddaughter of Lem and Lillie Bates and holding her son Calvin Grogan, the oldest great grandson.

Kathryn (Kat) Jackson, Patricia, Janell and Larry Grogan

Patricia Grogan with her doll, Kathryn (Kat) Jackson in the middle, Janell and Larry Grogan in the country in 1950.

Kenneth and Doris Lillian Jackson Mauldin in 1957

Kenneth and Doris Lillian Jackson Maudlin when they visited Sunlight Baptist Church during a homecoming event in 1957. They would visit Grandma Lillie and go to church with the family. Doris is the daughter of Fred A. Jackson and Martha Louella Bates Jackson.

The Grogan Brothers, Stedman, Paul and Tommy with J.B. (Jay Bates)

The Grogan Brothers, Stedman, Paul and Tommy with J.B. (Jay Bates) in front of the Grogan Homestead. They all were friends growing up. Tommy became Jay's brother-in law when he married his sister, Vada Bates.

Bates and Grogan Cousins

The Bates and Grogan cousins having fun in front of 625 State Street.  Photographed is Janell Grogan, Katherine Grogan, Barbara Bates with Floyd Bates and Patricia Grogan in the front row. This is after Martha and Fred Bates moved and Vada and Tommy moved in when they moved to Atlanta.

(Sam and Amanda Smith Bates daughter and her husband Hattie and Frank Hester

Frank and Mattie Bates Hester

The Charlton and Nancy Bates Genealogy is Now Available!

Oh, Come Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family authored by Yvonne M. Perry and Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls is now available on CreateSpace.com

Click to purchase https://www.createspace.com/4419491

The genealogy of the Bates family of Cherokee County, Georgia is traced back to Charlton Bates and Nancy Kelly (O'Kelly) Bates, who are first mentioned living in South Carolina in 1812.

The descending lineage mentioned in this book are David Ward and Nancy Martin, Thomas F. Bates and Sarah Elizabeth Ward, Savannah Bates and Alexander Newton Smith, and Lemuel Harris Bates and Lillian Margaret Smith. Many of the children and extended family members of these family heads are mentioned and more than 200 photos document the journey.

This book also contains some history of the Cherokee and Hall Counties of Georgia as remembered by the Bates family who lived in the area.

Title: Oh, Come, Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family 
Authors: Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls and Yvonne Perry
ISBN-13: 978-1492269700
ISBN-10: 1492269700
Pub date: December 2013
Retail price: $18.99

Also available on Amazon.com

The Bates Ancestry Book Is Now Available!

Oh, Come Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family authored by Yvonne Perry and Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls is now available!

Purchase on CreateSpace
Purchase on Amazon.com

The genealogy of the Bates family of Georgia is traced back to Charlton Bates and Nancy Kelly (O'Kelly) Bates, first recorded as living in South Carolina in 1812. The descending lineage mentioned in this book are David Ward and Nancy Martin, Thomas F. Bates and Sarah Elizabeth Ward, Savannah Bates and Alexander Newton Smith, and Lemuel Harris Bates and Lillian Margaret Smith. More than 200 photos and some interesting history of Cherokee County, Georgia as remembered by the Bates family who lived in the area.

 




Request the paperback book at retail stores or your local library using the info below:

Title: Oh, Come, Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family
Authors: Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls and Yvonne Perry
ISBN-13: 978-1492269700
ISBN-10: 1492269700
Pub date: December 13, 2013

Mary Lizzie and Jesse Suggs

Mary and Jesse Suggs at Will Waters grave in 1947. The old school house where the Bates Family went to school is in the background.

The Bates Genealogy Book is Almost Ready!

The book that the Bates family has been waiting for is almost ready!

Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls and Yvonne Perry have been working together for more than a year on the genealogy and history of the Charlton and Nancy Kelly (O'Kelly) Bates family.

The interior of the book has been edited, proofread, and formatted. The cover has been created by Rick Chappell. We plan to upload it to the publisher this evening. It will take a few days to get approval before we can release it, but Oh, Come, Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family will soon be on Amazon.com and other online retailers.

You will be able to request it at retails store or your local library by giving the info below:

Title: Oh, Come, Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family
Authors: Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls and Yvonne Perry
ISBN-13: 978-1492269700
ISBN-10: 1492269700
Pub date: December 13, 2013

Photo from Sweet Apple

Photographed here is Estelle Pruitt Grogan, Vernie Grogan, son of Vada Bates Grogan, Grandma Lillie Bates, Sarah Elizabeth Bates, daughter of J.B. and Lois Bates, and Amos Pruitt, son of Mary Bates Pruitt at Sweet Apple.

Cousins - Vernie Grogan and Sarah Elizabeth Bates

This is a photo of cousins, Vernie Grogan and Sarah Elizabeth Bates. Sarah was like Vernie's big sister growing up.  His mother would always tell Sarah to watch over him.

New Home Baptist Church Members with Preacher Holbrook after a Baptizing

New Home Baptist Church members with Preacher Holbrook after a baptizing.  Photographed are Preacher Holbrook, Ellen Ellis Pruitt, Nita Pruitt Kennedy, and Jewel Pruitt.

Does anyone know who the other children are?

Update on Bates Ancestry Book

Yvonne Perry and her cousin, Jenny B. Meadows-Sauls, have been working for more than a year on a book about their family's history. This genealogy project will include 200 photos and many stories from descendants of a line dating back to the early 1800s. If you are of the lineage of South Carolina-born Charlton Bates (b. 1812) and Nancy O'Kelly (b. 1813) who migrated to Cherokee County of North Georgia, you may be interested in reading the book that is due to be published in about two weeks.

Oh, Come, Angel Band will be available on Amazon.com in 8x10-inch paperback.

Twins, Doris and Dorothy Jackson

Twins, Doris and Dorothy Jackson, were born to Fred and Martha Bates Jackson in 1939. Here is a photograph of them in their little red wagon about a year or two old.  It looks as though one of them is trying to push the other out or saying "move over!" They were born at the Old Sweatman Farm which is where this photograph was taken.

J.B. Bates with Indian Relative

J.B. Bates on the right speaking with an Indian relative on the left. This picture was found in our Grandma Lillie's old pictures. Picture appears to be from the 1920's or 1930's since Jay was born 1913.

Sunlight Baptist Church in 1949

Sunlight Baptist Church located on Highway 92 was established in 1949. The hill was shortened and some of the land was taken in front of the church due to the road expansion in the sixties. The church was remodeled and now has a baptizing pool inside the church and a fellowship house. The property was given to the church by Charlie Stells. The first service was in his chicken house. 

Photographed above are members of the early fifties by the old well.  From left to right, Buddy with his father Dewey Stephens, the husband of  Lois Turner Stephens, and Hugh Lee Lamanac, the husband of Sarah Bates Lamanac. 

Fred and Martha Bates Jackson

Fred Jackson and Martha Bates raised five children in the three-room shotgun house on 629 State Street in Atlanta, Ga.

William Allen Ward, Son of Marion and Phoebe Ward

William Allen Ward May 1890-1948 married Sarah Elizabeth Johnson 1900-1964. They had three children, Owen, Mary and Berdie.  He is the brother of Sarah Elizabeth Ward Bates (Big Granny). Her son Lemuel(Lem) resembles him.

Children of Frances and Mary Bates Pruitt

These are the children of Frances and Mary Bates Pruitt: Nita, Mary, Mildred, Martha, Alfred and Amos Pruitt. They lived in Sweet Apple on the Old Pruitt Farm. 

Brothers, Jack Henry & Luther Calvin Wilson

 

Jack and Luther (also known as Lucious) Wilson were the sons of Cicero and Indiana Ward Wilson. Jack married Linda Fowler. Two of their eight children, Albert Lee and James Odell, drowned in Snapfinger Creek when they were 10 and 11 years old.  Luther Calvin married Margie Mae Henderson. They had four children. One of their children, Marie, died from infected scratches from picking blackberries.

Alfred Gravitt and Ellen Hembree Gravitt

The mother and father of James Elvin and Mildred Gravitt Bates.  Elvin was married to Ethel (Deedle) Bates and Mildred was married to her twin brother Bethel (Buster) Bates.

Newton Alexander and Savannah Bates Smith

It was believed that this picture was taken when Savannah was expecting a child. We do not know who her parents actually were. We have a few theories in the book. We think she was not raised by her birth parents.  We do know that she was a cousin to Lem Bates. In 1891, Savannah married Newton Alexander Smith when she was 14.  We are sure she knew him from childhood.

Sarah Elizabeth Bates Lamanac and her 1st born son, Franklin Lee

Sarah Elizabeth Bates Lamanac is the daughter of J.B. and Lois Sims Bates. She lived with her husband, Hugh Lee, in the little red asbestos covered rental home belonging to Grady Daniel on Sandy Plains Road in 1952. Grady owned the general store in the background. The store had an apartment upstairs and the Daniels living quarters were built on to the store. You can barely see the top of the Rock Store across Highway 92.  The two stores were side by side just across the road from one another. The Rock Store was owned by Tommy Garrett.  It was ran at that time by his daughter and son in law Edith and Gene Erwin. The Garrett family owned about 9 rental houses that the Bates family and their friends occupied at one time or another. The homes were within a mile of each another and within walking distance to the store.

J.B. (Jay) & Lois Christine Sims Bates and Daughter Jenny

This is a photograph of J.B. & Lois Christine Sims Bates and their daughter Jenny standing in front of  Tommy Garrett's old Rock Store with the old Gulf sign.  The store was at the corner of Highway 92 and Sandy Plains Rd, just inside Cobb County in 1949.  It was ran by Mr. Garrett's wife, Ms. Lu, her daughter, son-in-law Eugene and Edith Garrett Erwin, after he passed away. The land was later sold in the sixties and the store was replaced by a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a shopping center with a Public. The Public shopping center took three of the Garrett's rental houses.

Nellie Smith Tilley Whitley

This is Nellie Smith Tilley Whitley and her grandson, Richard, who is the son of  Ralph and Myrtice Tilley Grogan. Nellie is the sister of Lillie Smith Bates. She lived in Roswell in the 1960s.  Nellie cared for children in her home. Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls's daughter, Jane, was one of them. They all loved to stay with Aunt Nellie.

Jenny is the co-author of a soon-to-be-released book titled Oh, Come, Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family.

New Home Baptist Church 2013

New Home Baptist Church in 2013.  The church is bricked with indoor facilities, Sunday school rooms in back, outdoor covered marble tables for dinner, a baptizing pool on the left side of church,  and a paved parking lot.  The church still believes and worships as our ancestors, preaching from the King James Version of the Bible, and singing the old southern gospel songs along with some new ones. The love and traditions are the same today as they were for our ancestors.

New Home Baptist Church on Highway 92 Woodstock, Georgia in the 1950s

New Home Baptist Church is located at Wiley Bridge Road and Highway 92. This picture was taken in the fifties before the church was turned around and remodeled. This is where the Bates Family went to church and are buried in the New Home Church Cemetery. The 1954 Ford believed to be the Pastor, Rev. Carter Ellis's, and the 1956 Chevy belonged to a Deacon, Glenn Butterworth. They got drinking water from the spring on the property and the outside facilities were in the back down in the woods. It was heated with a pot bellied wood heater. The cemetery was located across the dirt road that ran in front of the church back then. It was turned around facing Highway 92 in the sixties and the church was remodeled with indoor facilities, Sunday school rooms, air conditioning and gas heat.  

The Old Grogan Homestead Wiley Bridge and Cox Road

The Old Grogan Homestead at the intersection of Wiley Bridge and Cox Roads. The home has been remodeled and updated by its new owners in 2013 but this property holds a lot of memories for the Bates family who sharecropped in the area in the early 1900s until about 1950.

Vada Bates and Tommy Grogan

Vada Bates was the daughter of Lem and Lillie Smith Bates. Vada married Tommy Grogan. This is a photograph of Vada with Tommy Grogan and their son, Vernie. This picture was taken at the Old Grogan Homestead located on Old Alabama Road now known as Wiley Bridge Road in Woodstock, Georgia.

Tommy Grogan is the son of Charlie and Leavy Grogan who owned this farm. Charlie died at age 42, leaving Leavy with seven small children. She sold the farm off in pieces until it was all gone trying to support the children. Many of the children were raised by relatives who helped out as much as they could.

Moses Petty and Indy (Endy) Bates Barnfield, with children Adell, Nina and Loyd

This is a postcard sent by Indy (Endy) Anna Barnfield to her parents, Thomas and Sarah Elizabeth Ward Bates. It reads "to my dear old father and mother." The postcard is a photograph of Petty Moses and Indy (Endy) Barnfield with their children, Adell, Nina and Loyd, taken in about 1920.

Endy Anna bates Barnfield came by train to Vernon, Texas in 1904. Her parents, Thomas F. and Sarah Elizabeth Bates, came to Texas for the birth of their grandchildren in 1906 and 1908. Both of those children died the year they were born.

In 1910, Nina Elizabeth was born and the Bates grandparents were here for her birth; however, they never got to come again. After Nina came Loyd Harrison in 1912. Adele was born in 1915, and Hester Lee was born in 1918, and John Bunion (J.B.) was born in 1924. Hester Lee is 97 and still active in 2015.

Petty Moses and Indy (Endy) Bates Barfield

Petty and Indy Bates Barfield with their children showing their new car. Indy is the daughter of  Thomas and Sarah Elizabeth Ward Bates. She is the sister of Lem Bates. Indy married Mr. Barfield at the age of 14 and she only knew him for a few weeks when he came through Georgia. They married on December 26, 1904. They left for Texas and she never returned to Georgia except for only two different occasions. She always wrote letters beginning with Dear Old Maw and shared about her life in Texas. She never returned for her parent's funerals.  She escaped her poor Georgia farm life. A cousin kept some of the letters in an old shoebox.  We found out that she sent money back to Georgia to help to pay off their farm loan.  

Pierce Dobbs Jr. & Pearl Edith Smith

Pierce Dobbs Jr. and Pearl Edith Smith with their children PeeWee, Jerry, and Doris. Peewe had MS and didn't live beyond his teens. They had another child, Kenneth, who was not born at the time of this picture. Kenneth is still living in 2013.

Eugene Mercier and Estelle Pruitt Grogan

Eugene Mercier Grogan and Estelle Pruitt with their three children, Calvin, Janell, and Patricia. They had another child named Larry who was not born at this time (abt 1947). Estelle is the daughter of Frances and Mary Bates Pruitt.

Book Update for September 16

Yvonne made it through the first round of edits and has rewritten sections of the Bates ancestry book as she verified facts. The book is being proofread by Yvonne's mother, Doris Mauldin, to catch as many typos as possible before going to an editor.

Once the editing is complete, the book will go to Jenny, who will have her nephew insert the photos into the manuscript.

Then, it will come back to Yvonne for final formatting before being uploaded to CreateSpace for publishing. We are on target for a late October publishing date. The title will be Oh, Come, Angel Band ~ The Living Genealogy of the Charlton Bates Family by Jenny Bates Meadows-Sauls and Yvonne Mauldin Perry.