Katherine Bates (mtDNA)

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Status Summary

As of January 3, 2023

  • Page created for matrilineal line of Katherine Bates
  • Further research is needed

Biography

First Generation

Noted Mayflower researcher Caleb Johnson located a marriage record at Stratford St. Mary, Suffolk, 9 May 1594 between Katherine Bates and John Crackstone. Given the extreme rarity of the Crackston(e), etc. surname and the fact the Leiden marriage record of her daughter Anne called the bride of nearby Colchester, Essex, it is assumed this is the marriage of the Mayflower passenger. There is currently no other record known for Katherine so it is assumed she was already deceased when her husband and son emigrated to New Plimoth aboard the Mayflower. Currently only two children are known for this couple: Ann and John (d. unm. shortly after the 1627 Cattle Division).

Second Generation

The Leiden records contain the marriage banns between Ann Crackstone of Colchester and Thomas Smith "of Bury" (poss. Bures St. Mary, Suffolk) on 22 Dec 1618. There are a number of Leiden baptisms for children of Thomas Smith, but these baptisms are from the various Dutch churches in Leiden (and none of them would be children of THIS couple). If John Robinson ever kept a record of baptisms of his congregation, this record has been lost.

Other tidbits

a 1639 Plymouth record[1] states the "Heirs of John Crackstone" were allotted land and by 1652 half of this land was "passed over by Bradford to Mr. John Howland" while the other half was owned by William Bassett.[2] How Bradford and Bassett acquired the land originally set aside for the heirs of John Crackstone is currently unknown. Given the fact Ann (Crackstone) Smith is the only known surviving heir of her father, some sources state she later came over to America. However, it is possible John and Katherine may have had other children. It is also possible Plymouth Colony set aside some land for the heirs of John Crackstone, but when no one came to claim this land, the colony redistributed it to Bradford and Bassett.

  1. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth 2:177.
  2. Mayflower Quarterly 40:118 citing Mayflower Descendant 4:186

References and External Links

  • Johnson, Caleb, "A Note on the English Origins of John1 Crackstone and John1 Hooke", The American Genealogist 80:100-101
  • Wakefield, Robert S., "Pilgrim John Crackstone: A Search for his Ancestry and Posterity", Mayflower Quarterly 40:117-19
  • N/A, "Known Children of Mayf. Passengers Remained in England", Mayflower Quareterly 26.4:2