both with hand and heart
This site provides the history of one branch of the Bate family and its allied families. As part of its contribution to the larger Bate lineage, it also provides a general history of the Bate surname and contains resources and links for other branches of the surname. After all, we’re all related somewhere in time.
OUR SURNAME
The Bate surname traces its roots back to the Anglo-Saxon tribes that once ruled over Britain. Centuries of marriage and children have added a long list of other surnames related to the Bate lineage that now spans continents and countries from far to near.
Descendants of the Bate surname include famous (and a few infamous) individuals. Early generations, however, generally marked their time on earth by toiling on farms or working in factories. They put in an honest day’s work so that they could place bread and butter on their family’s table. When they realized the prized possession of spare time, they chose to spend it with their family (often playing sports or card games together). Regardless of branch or affluence (or lack thereof), this commitment to hard work and family are hallmarks of the Bate lineage that have been passed down across different centuries and different countries in direct lines and allied surnames.
OUR FAMILY
This site focuses on one branch of the Bate family and allied surnames. Over time, members of our Bate clan have made a home in Canada, England, America, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Netherlands and South Africa.
On the main Bate line, we currently trace our roots back nine generations (300 years) to a weaver named Henry Bate who was born in 1702 and baptised in Winwick, Lancashire, England. Eight generations of heirs with the same surname descend from this weaver.
Though marriage and maternal lines, an abundance of other surnames are found in our family history. Some of these lines date back further than the main Bate line. Every person and every surname known to be associated with our Bate family may be found in our database. Each of these allied branches is under various states of research.
GENERAL RESEARCH
Bate is not a popular surname but not an uncommon surname. In absolute terms, there are a lot of Bates in the world, particularly from specific parts of England. In the process of researching our family history, various records were collected that involved other branches of the Bate family. We recognize that many of these records might be useful to other people researching the Bate surname. While we have excluded these records from our family tree (as they are not known to relate to us at this time), we have ring fenced these documents in the ‘Resources’ section of this site. We hope that these records might help other people to connect to or enrich their family history or perhaps even find a link to our history that we have overlooked or could not confirm without additional information.
We are lifetime members of The Bates Association. To encourage opportunities to identify linkages between different branches of the surname, The Bates Association has made its information available online through the ‘Bates Association’ section of this site. Some information is available to review at no charge. Most (detailed) information is available to review by taking out a membership in The Bates Association and obtaining a password to the protected information.
We also participate in The Bates DNA Project which offers a suite of simple genetic tests to help identify linkages between different branches of the Bate surname. A link to this Project is available on this site.