Field Notes

Researching Family History One Record at a Time

Ancestors / Bates

William Webster Bates

b. c. 1858 · Elbert County, Georgia – d. 13 Aug 1926 · Eldorado, Jackson County, Oklahoma

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Black-and-white studio portrait of a young William Webster Bates, close-cropped, wearing a dark suit jacket, waistcoat, and high white collar with a light necktie. He has a full mustache and short, side-parted hair.
William Webster Bates, cropped from a larger family portrait with Minnie and three of their children. Original photo from the Bates family picture collection, shared on Ancestry by cousin Lashelle Fisher.

Vital Facts

Event Date Place Status Source
Birth c. 1858 (see Open Research Questions) probably Elbert or Jackson County, Georgia Conflicting 1a,1b
Marriage 22 Dec 1887 Morrilton, Conway County, Arkansas Proven 2a,2b Confirmed by the Bates family Bible, by Find A Grave, and by a FamilySearch-hosted marriage index (source key: minnie-staggs-marriage-1887, giving Minnie's age as 21). A second, Ancestry-hosted index entry for the same underlying Arkansas county marriage record instead distinguishes a license date of 22 Dec 1887 from a marriage date of 22 Dec 1888 — a full year apart on the same day and month. Given three independent sources agreeing on 1887, the 1888 marriage date is treated as a probable transcription artifact in the original register or its indexing, not a genuine second ceremony. A physical marriage license is also reported to be held by Shannon Field; this has not yet been examined against the index entries.
Death 13 Aug 1926 Eldorado, Jackson County, Oklahoma Proven 1a The Eldorado Courier obituary states William died at his home ten miles west of Eldorado, and that burial followed at Louis Cemetery, Harmon County (source key: louis-cemetery-minnie-ww-bates). Death and burial took place in two different counties; earlier site content and the Find A Grave memorial's county field had conflated the two. The obituary further states he left a wife and three sons and three daughters — matching exactly the six of his eight children still living in 1926 (Chancy and Nora having predeceased him), independently corroborating the family reconstruction already on this site.

Family

Parents

  • William E. F. Bates — Father. Born 17 Oct 1833, Newton, Baker County, Georgia — corroborated by a separate Bates/Coker/Cheek family vital-record page. Married Sarah Coker 18/24 Dec 1857, Hall County, Georgia3. Convicted of horse theft with his brother Charlton ('Chat') Bates in Jackson County, Georgia in early 1859 and sentenced to 8 years in the Georgia Penitentiary; a penitentiary census4 confirms he was still incarcerated as of June 1860 — a RootsWeb-hosted transcription of the original schedule, not yet the schedule image itself. Family account holds he died in 1860, and separately that he fought for the Union Army and could not safely return to his family — but no death record, discharge record, or military service record has been located to confirm either claim, and the two accounts are not obviously reconcilable with each other or with his documented mid-1860 incarceration. See Open Research Questions.
  • Sarah Coker — Mother. Born 7 Feb 1829, Newton, Baker County, Georgia. Married William E. F. Bates 18/24 Dec 1857, Hall County, Georgia3. Died 7 Aug 1863, Elbert County, Georgia, when William was approximately 2–3 years old. The 1860 census5 shows Sarah and 2-year-old William sheltering in the household of Alsea and Martha Coker, likely her parents, in Jackson County, Georgia — consistent with her husband's imprisonment that year.

Spouse

  • Florence Arminda Staggs — m. 1887 , Morrilton, Conway County, Arkansas (Proven) 6,2b — Married 22 December 1887. Seven children — see Florence Arminda Staggs's page for the full family record.

Timeline

  1. 17/24 Dec 1857 Parents William E. F. Bates and Sarah Coker marry, Hall County, Georgia. 3
  2. 8 Nov 1858 William E. F. Bates and his brother Charlton ('Chat') Bates arrested and jailed at Jefferson, Georgia, on suspicion of horse theft. Southern Watchman (Athens, GA), 18 Nov 1858
  3. Mar 1859 William E. F. Bates convicted of horse theft, Jackson County, Georgia; sentenced to 8 years in the Georgia Penitentiary. Southern Banner (Athens, GA), 10 Mar 1859
  4. c. 1858 Born, probably Elbert or Jackson County, Georgia. His 1926 obituary gives 25 Nov 1860, but the 1860 U.S. census — taken 4 July 1860, independent of and earlier than the obituary — already records him at age 2, which is inconsistent with a November 1860 birth. See Open Research Questions. 1a,1b
  5. 18–28 Jun 1860 Father, William E. F. Bates, confirmed still incarcerated in the Georgia Penitentiary. 4
  6. 4 Jul 1860 Enumerated as 'William,' age 2, with mother Sarah in the household of Alsea and Martha Coker (likely Sarah's parents), Jackson County, Georgia. 5
  7. 7 Aug 1863 Mother, Sarah Coker Bates, dies, Elbert County, Georgia. William approximately 2–3 years old. Family genealogical research (FamilySearch-compiled)
  8. 22 Jun 1880 Enumerated as 'William Bates,' age 19, nephew in the household of S. Ann Cheek, Gaithers District, Newton County, Georgia. 7
  9. 22 Dec 1887 Marries Florence Arminda 'Minnie' Staggs, Morrilton, Conway County, Arkansas. William applied for a marriage license this date; the Arkansas County Marriages Index separately records a marriage date of 22 Dec 1888, but this is more than likely a clerical error, since the family Bible and a family-held marriage certificate both independently give 22 Dec 1887 as the marriage date itself. 8,6,2b
  10. 1 Oct 1898 Stakes homestead claim, 160 acres, Section 8 Township 1N Range 24W, south of Hollis (then Bethel), Old Greer County. Find A Grave memorial 39219603
  11. 13 Aug 1926 Dies at home, ten miles west of Eldorado, Jackson County, Oklahoma, after a period of poor health; buried at Louis Cemetery, Louis, Harmon County, funeral services conducted by Elder F. S. Vance. Survived by wife and six living children. 1a

Open Research Questions

  1. What was William Webster Bates's actual birth year? His 1926 obituary gives 25 Nov 1860, but the 1860 U.S. census, enumerated 4 July 1860 — five months before that date — already records him as 'William,' age 2, in the Coker household. A contemporary census showing him already age 2 is inconsistent with a birth five months later that same year; his actual birth year was more likely 1858, with the obituary's date probably a decades-later informant's approximation rather than a documented fact. Both dates are shown pending further evidence; no primary birth record has been located.
  2. What did the initials 'L. Z.' in L. Z. "Bun" Bates's name stand for? A Bates family Bible entry records this child's birth (1 Nov 1904) under the name 'Albert B. Bates,' not 'L.Z.' — the 'L.Z.' form may be a nickname/initials convention layered over a birth name the family's own Bible simply records as Albert. A separate Bible entry for an 'L.J. Bates' (b. 1911) appears in what looks like a distinct generational block, possibly this child's own son rather than the child himself — unconfirmed. May also bear on an OKHS fingerprint card for an 'L.L. Bates' received 10/31/1930 for burglary.
  3. Which of the two recorded birthplaces for Beulah Beatrice Bates — Greer County or Eldorado, Oklahoma — is correct?
  4. Can a primary source (death certificate, contemporary newspaper, or similar) be located to verify Nora Minnie Bates's 1918 influenza death independently of family letters?
  5. William's own parentage birthplace is recorded inconsistently across census years: Georgia/Georgia (1880, 1910) vs. North Carolina/North Carolina (1920). Given that his actual parents, William E. F. Bates and Sarah Coker, are both independently documented as born in Georgia, the weight of evidence favors Georgia; the 1920 entry is treated as an outlier pending further explanation.
  6. What became of William E. F. Bates after June 1860, when the Georgia penitentiary census confirms he was still incarcerated? Family accounts offer two different and seemingly irreconcilable explanations (death in 1860; desertion to the Union Army) — a pattern of family myth-making around a difficult death that also appears on the Staggs side of the family (see Florence Staggs's page). A primary death record has not yet been located; a cousin has recently surfaced bank records suggesting William Webster Bates himself had a pattern of homesteading property, taking out loans against it, defaulting, and relocating to another county — not yet personally verified, but a possible thread for future research.
  7. Whose sister was S. Ann Cheek, in whose household 19-year-old William was living in 1880? Not yet confirmed as either a paternal or maternal aunt, though family records place Bates, Coker, and Cheek as an intermarried kinship cluster across at least two prior generations.
  8. William was still alive at the time of the burglary offense underlying Bates v. State (1930 OK CR 50) — committed 19 Apr 1926 in Louis, Harmon County, the same place of his burial. It is not yet confirmed whether the 'Bob Bates' named in that case is his son Robert Webster Bates; this is held open primarily on Robert's page pending primary-source verification.
  9. Family accounts (not yet backed by any located court record) describe William orchestrating a cover-up after his son Jesse killed a boy in a bare-knuckle betting match staged at the family home, directing his son Robert to take the blame in Jesse's place. Two family tellings of this story differ in detail. Reserved for future Journal treatment; see also Robert Webster Bates's page.

References

  • 1a. ↩ “Death of William Bates,” Eldorado Courier (Eldorado, Oklahoma), 20 Aug 1926, p. 8; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/906597215/ : accessed 17 Jul 2026), courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.
  • 1b. ↩ ⚠ Missing source key: "bates-william-1860-census-coker" — check sources.json
  • 2a. ↩ “Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837–1957,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Jul 2026), W. W. Bates and Minnie Staggs, marriage license dated 22 Dec 1887, marriage recorded 22 Dec 1888, Conway County, Arkansas, residence Opolo, Conway County, Arkansas; citing “Arkansas County Marriages, 1838–1957,” database, FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah; FHL microfilm 1,025,332.
  • 2b. ↩ “Arkansas Marriages, 1837–1944,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7SQ-RP1 : 11 January 2020), Minnie Staggs in entry for W. W. Bates, 1887. [Age recorded as 21.]
  • 3. ↩ Hall County, Georgia, Marriage Records, William Bates and Sarah Coker, license issued 18 December 1857 by E. M. Johnson, C.C.O.; marriage certified 24 December 1857 by A. J. Davis, J.P.; digital image from original county marriage record.
  • 4. ↩ “1860 Federal Census, Penitentiary of the State of Georgia,” enumeration 18–28 June 1860, listing “Bates, W., incarcerated 1859, age 24, Common Laborer, GA” among inmates; compiled by Eileen Babb McAdams (2004), RootsWeb (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gabaldw2/1860pen.html : accessed 17 Jul 2026).
  • 5. ↩ 1860 U.S. census, Jackson County, Georgia, Cunningham District, population schedule, p. 93 (stamped), dwelling/family 358, Sarah Bates (age 30) and William (age 2) in household of Alsea Coker; enumerated by William Bell, Asst. Marshal, 4 July 1860; "1860 United States Federal Census," database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jul 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication M653.
  • 6. ↩ William W. Bates and Minnie Staggs, marriage certificate, 22 December 1887, Morrilton, Conway County, Arkansas; digital image shared by Carol Chapin (great-granddaughter of William and Minnie, via her grandmother Beulah Beatrice Bates), from the original document in family possession.
  • 7. ↩ 1880 U.S. census, Newton County, Georgia, Gaithers District (Supervisor's District 4, Enumeration District 98), population schedule, p. 7 (stamped), dwelling 54, family 54, William Bates (age 19, nephew) in household of S. Ann Cheek; enumerated by Wm. B. Dodge, 22 June 1880; "1880 United States Federal Census," database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jul 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication T9.
  • 8. ↩ Bates family Bible, marriage entry for William Webster Bates and Florence Arminda "Minnie" Staggs, 22 December 1887, Morrilton, Conway County, Arkansas; digital image shared by Carol Chapin (great-granddaughter of William and Minnie, via her grandmother Beulah Beatrice Bates), from the original document in family possession.