It has been concluded that the Bates house, above, was built by both Oliver and Cyrus Bates, circa 1820, along with the help of a friend, Eaton Alexander,
a young man whose family settled in what is now known as Alexander Corners.  This photo from Evert's History of Jefferson County, in 1878, shows the stone house with a kitchen and a wooden carriage house that was torn down in the
twentieth century.


Presently, only the house remains of all the structures shown in the drawing above, but many of the limestone rocks were saved by the Rhodes family in the 1960's and incorpor-
ated into the display gardens located on the greenhouse property next to the Bates house.
Truman O. Whitney and Martha Wood Whitney are shown in the  drawing as they purchased the house in 1845 from the heirs of Cyrus Bates who passed away in 1839.  One of the most notable features of the house is the curved archway above the main door.  Most doorways of the period simply consisted of a straight, flat piece of rock as the doorway header.

1.   OLIVER BATES was born 7 Aug. 1763 in Shelburn, Franklin co. Mass, the son of JOHN and MARTHA FOSTER BATES. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, enlisting July 1, 1778 in Capt. Prichard's Co, Col. John Creaton's Massachusetts Regiment and was discharged April 7, 1779. He enlisted July 1, 1780 served as a private in Capt. William Taylor's Company, in the Second Massachusetts Regiment commanded by Col. Badlam and was discharged Jan. 1, 1781. He was allowed his pension which was executed April 23, 1818 and at that time was 55 and living in Henderson, Jefferson County New York. ( File #S-44598)

OLIVER built a long cabin in Henderson in the area now called Alexander Corners, named for the family of Jonathan S. Alexander who also came from the Halifax area to Henderson with his four sons. CYRUS and OLIVER built a stone house at Alexander Corners about the year 1820 so we assume they lived in a log cabin as did many of the settlers at that time. This fine stone house still stands today, being placed on the state and National Register of Historic Sites in 2004.

At the time of OLIVER'S son's CYRUS'S death in October 1839 the local farm had 141 acres. Most of the family left the town and county, some with the Mormons before the history books were written. There are many websites that deal with the Bates family and one of the better ones is called the Bates Place.

REBECCA HART

 +      2       i   OLIVER BATES Jr. b 7 June 1784 Shelburne, Mass

        4      iii    POLLY BATES b 16 March 1789 Randolph, VT

        6      v    ELIAS BATES b 30 August 1794 Halifax, VT

        8      vi    LAURA BATES b 8 July 1799

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