In Which There Are Batesons

(This is the fifth part of a series.  If you would like to read the first part, click here.)

Sometimes when I find out a lot of details about a family, I don’t know where to start writing a new blog post.  This is the case with these Bateson people.

I’ll probably just hop about a bit, because that’s usually the way it goes with searching for records.  I find something useful on the way to something else, and I get distracted easily.  I’m like Alice down the rabbit hole.

In this case, I’ll start with another Alice, young Alice Bateson of Savannah.  She was born February 12, 1869 according to the Funeral Record.  (An image of the actual record is below.)  I found her in the 1880 federal census living in the Episcopal Orphan Home, along with her sister Georgia, which was located at the southwest corner of Liberty and Jefferson.

I do most of my searching online, with trips to historical societies, graveyards, and libraries.  Here’s the first wonderful find which was on ancestry.com:  the funeral record of Alice Bateson Herzog.

 

If you left-click on the image, you’ll see that Alice’s father is Thomas Bateson, born in New York, and her mother is Martha Mann, born in Germany.  This little bit of information confirms that she’s the Alice we’re looking for, and it adds to what we know.  Her mother Martha’s maiden name was Mann.

I searched the city of Savannah’s online cemetery records, just sure that I would find Martha Mann’s mother and father.

Nothing.

So I did a search on ancestry.com, and found Agnes Mann living in Beaufort, SC.  This might not seem incredible to you, but when you realize that I only live about 30 minutes from Beaufort, can you understand how amazed I am that I can travel easily to where Agnes Mann lived?  For Agnes was Martha Bateson’s mother.  Sugar’s grandfather Bateson lived many years in New York City, where Thomas Bateson was born, and then moved to Beaufort, SC, where Thomas Bateson’s wife lived for a while.  Yet these two branches, perhaps only 2nd cousins, did not know of each other, separated by time, distance, and a large ocean.

And Sugar Bateson, traveling through time and distance, has linked the two families together.

The common ancestor is Reverend Christopher Bateson in Lancashire, England, about 200 years ago.  One of his sons, Christopher Remington Bateson, immigrated to New York City, before 1839 when he was perhaps about 20 years old with his brother Robert Remington Bateson.

I found this record of Christopher Remington Bateson on ancestry.com, and I’ve copied and pasted here:

Manhattan, New York City, New York Directory: 1839-1840 about Christopher R. Bateson

Given Name: Christopher R. Surname: Bateson Occupation: fruits Address: 126 Broadway h. 351 Greenwich

Last Thursday, I hopped over to the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah in an effort to find Alice and Georgia Bateson in the Episcopal Orphan Home records.  I didn’t have any luck there,  but I decided to look in the newspaper abstracts starting in 1855, the year that Christopher Remington Bateson died.

*****

In 1855, there are 5 references to Christopher R. Bateson in the Savannah, Georgia, newspapers.  The index shows pages 6, 11, 85, 86, and 216.

Page 6:  Jauary 1, 1855, an advertisement for the confectionery on Congress and Drayton.

Page 11:  June 13, 1855, an advertisement for Mrs. C. R. Bateson’s Confectionery.

Page 85:  Jan 1, 1855, a notice of freight consignees; the steamer “Calhoun” from Charleston has items for a list of consignees, C. R. Bateson among them.

Page 86:  May 16, 1855, a notice of freight consignees; the steamer “Knoxville” from New York.

Page 216:  April 23, 1855, an advertisement for C. R. Bateson’s confectionery at the corner of Congress and Drayton.

*****

From ancestry.com, we find that Christopher R. Bateson purchased a cemetery plot in Laurel Grove Cemetery in 1853.  Little did he know he’d use that cemetery plot himself in two years.

GEORGIA

CITY OF SAVANNAH

                This Indenture, made this twenty Seventh day of June

in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and fifty three Between “The Mayor and Aldermen of

the City of Savannah and the Hamlets therof,” of the first part, and

Christopher R. Bateson of the second part:

                Witnesseth, That whereas, by virtue of the provisions of an Ordinance of the City of Savannah

entitled an Ordinance “To set apart and dedicate a portion of the Springfield Plantation, lately purchased

by the Corporation of the City of Savannah from the heirs and devisees of JOSEPH STILES, deceased,

for a public Cemetery, to provide for a sale of the lots in said Cemetery for purposes of sepulture,

and for the protection, preservation, adornment and regulation of said Cemetery, and further to regulate

future interments,” passed in Council the third day of June, 1852, the lot of Land in said Cemetery,

known in the plan thereof as Lot number /322/ Three hundred & twenty two

was, under the direction of the Board constituted by the said Ordinance, set up for sale at or near said

Cemetery, the time of said sale having been advertised for twenty days in the Gazettes of the City

and knocked off to the said Christopher R. Bateson

being the highest bidder for the same above the valuation of said Lot.  Now Therefore, in consideration

of the sum of ten Dollars,

paid to the City Treasurer, by the said Christopher R. Bateson

at and before the sealing and delivery of these

presents, the said the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah and the Hamlets thereof, hath

granted, bargained, sold and conveyed, and by these presents doth grant, bargain, sell and convey unto

the said Christopher R. Bateson and to his heirs, the said

lot of Land in said LAUREL GROVE CEMETERY, known in the plan of said Lot as number

/322/ Three Hundred & twenty Two

To Have and to Hold the said lot of Land unto the said Christopher R.

Bateson and his heirs forever.  UPON CONDITION

NEVERTHELESS, that neither the said Christopher R. Bateson

nor his heirs, nor any of them, shall at any time, nor for any purpose, convey, grant, bargain, sell or

aliene the said Lot to any other person or persons whatsoever, and shall at all times use and occupy

the same in accordance with all the rules which may from time to time be prescribed by authority of

the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah for the government and management of said Cemetery,

and the regulations which they may establish for the manner of interments on the said lots.  And

upon breach of any of these conditions, the said lot shall revert to “The Mayor and Aldermen of the

City of Savannah,” and it shall be lawful for them to enter upon the same by an of its officers, and

upon such re-entry the estate hereby created shall cease and determine, and be revested in the

Corporation of the City of Savannah to all intents and purposes.

                In Witness Whereof, The Seal of the City of Savannah is hereto attached by

                                authority of the City Council.  Signed by the Mayor, and countersigned

                                by the Clerk of Council the day and year first above written.

                                                R. Wayne

                                                                Mayor

In presence of

Rob D Walker

J Lenge

                Not Pub              

                                L P

                                Attest

                                                Edward L Wilson

                                                                Clerk of Court

Here’s his record of death.  He died on May 12, 1855, and was buried on the following day, May 13, 1855.  There were two other funerals for people who also died and were buried that day in Laurel Grove.  One is Lucretia Lawton, but we don’t know how she fits into Sugar’s family tree.  At least, not yet.

 

 Then I’m back to the Savannah Morning News abstracts.  I choose 1870 because that’s when Christopher R. Bateson’s son, Christopher H. Bateson died at age 29 or 30.

Page 9:  November 24, 1870, an advertisement for “Toys, Fancy Goods, Fireworks for sale at Thomas Bateson’s, corner of Congress and Drayton.

Page 165:  October 19, 1870, Friends and acquaintances of Mr. and Mrs. T. Bateson and of C. H. Bateson, funeral from the residence this afternoon at 3PM.

Next I look at the newspaper abstracts for 1874, the year that Martha Mann Bateson died.

Page 195:  May 6, 1874.  On May 1, 1874, died Martha, the beloved wife of Thomas Bateson, aged 25 years, 7 months, 20 days.

Going forward to 1876, the year that Thomas Bateson relinquished his daughters to the Episcopal Orphan Home…

Page 15:  December 17, 1876.  An advertisement for toys, etc.  “Santa Clause hereby announces his advent in this city, call upon him at Bateson’s, Congress & Drayton.

(The irony is not lost on me that Thomas has relinquished the care of his daughters Alice and Georgia to the Episcopal Orphan Home the same year that he advertises that Santa Clause is coming to Savannah.)

Page 32:  December 20, 1876.  The property at Congress and Drayton is being listed as being levied on and sold for non-payment of back taxes.  The sale is to take place on January 2, 1877.

Later in 1877, Thomas Bateson dies.

 

Savannah Morning News Nov. 7, 1877:  3/2 – Mr. Thomas Bateson, the proprietor of Bateson’s Toy Shop, at the corner of Congress and Drayton streets, a place which has been known to the children of Savannah for a quarter of a century, died suddenly at his residence, adjoining his store, about half-past ten o’clock yesterday morning.

The deceased was native to the State of new York, but came to this city, when quite young, with his father, who established the business which had descended to him.  He was about thirty-five years of age, and leaves three little children, who had the misfortune to lose their Mother a year or two ago.

Here’s the funeral notice.

 

Savannah Morning News, Nov. 8, 1877:  3/1 – Funeral Invitation –

Bateson – The friends and acquaintance of Thomas Bateson, and of Mrs. Agnes Mann, are invited to attend the funeral of the former, from his late residence, corner of Congress and Drayton streets, this morning at half past 10 o’clock.

When I saw the name “Agnes Mann”, I thought perhaps that she was the mother of Thomas’s wife Martha, and that I could find her in Savannah.  She was in Savannah for a brief period, which is probably when Martha met Thomas, but almost all of the records for Agnes Mann are in Beaufort, Beaufort County, South Carolina.

Soon, we’re off to Beaufort!  But first, more about Thomas Bateson…

(To be continued.  Of course.)

Tags: Bateson, Beaufort, Death, Family History, Funeral, Georgia, History, Mann, Savannah, South Carolina, Toy Shop