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John Estes "Of Dan River" Yates, III[1, 2]

Male 1714 - 1779  (65 years)


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  • Name John Estes "Of Dan River" Yates 
    Suffix III 
    Birth 10 Apr 1714  , Nansemond, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Fact 1 1777 left will in Pittsylvania County, Virginia 
    Fact 2 1770 tavern owner, Pittsylvania County, Virginia 
    Residence 1767  , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    1767 list of tithables, Pittsylvania County 
    Death 22 Jun 1779  Rehoboth, Lunenburg, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial Gretna, Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Person ID I718  Master
    Last Modified 1 Mar 2024 

    Father John Yates, III,   b. Jan 1694, , Anne Arundel, Maryland, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 18 Sep 1731, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 37 years) 
    Mother Joan Elizabeth Yates,   b. 1694, , Anne Arundel, Maryland, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1731, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 37 years) 
    Family ID F10521  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Sarah Elizabeth Ann Kilgore,   b. 15 Jan 1718, , Caroline, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 3 Feb 1793, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 75 years) 
    Marriage 1748  , Brunswick, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Lydia Yates
     2. John L Yates, IV,   b. Abt 1737   d. Yes, date unknown
     3. Elijah Yates,   b. Abt 1741   d. Yes, date unknown
     4. Hannah Yates,   b. 1743, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     5. Ann Yates,   b. Abt 1745   d. Yes, date unknown
     6. Martha Yates,   b. Abt 1747   d. Yes, date unknown
     7. George Yates,   b. Abt 1748   d. Yes, date unknown
     8. William Yates,   b. 1749, , Bedford, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 July 1845, Cross Plains, Robertson, Tennessee, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 96 years)
    +9. Thomas Yates,   b. 1752, , Bedford, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Mar 1834, Cross Plains, Robertson, Tennessee, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years)
    +10. Stephen Yates,   b. 1756, Gretna, Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Dec 1836, White Thorn, Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 80 years)
    +11. James Yates,   b. 1762, , Bedford, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Aug 1844, Cross Plains, Robertson, Tennessee, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years)
    Family ID F206  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 19 Oct 2022 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 10 Apr 1714 - , Nansemond, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 1748 - , Brunswick, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - 1767 list of tithables, Pittsylvania County - 1767 - , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 22 Jun 1779 - Rehoboth, Lunenburg, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Gretna, Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • John Yates is listed in the 1767 Tithables of Pittsylvania Co. with his son John and slaves Bob and Cate. John Yates left his will in Pittsylvania County in 1778. He is known in family history circles as John Yates of Dan River. His will was dated October 24, 1777 and was probated April 23, 1778. He owned a tavern near Gretna, Virginia (on Rte. 29 near Chatham) that is on the Historic Site register. The Blue Ridge Park created in this century took part of the Yates land. There is a Yates reunion in Patrick Springs. The were all Primitive Baptists. Could be the John Yates who received a grant of 356 acres in Virginia in 1735 (Bishop Meade) and the John Yeates who received 204 acres in Brunswick County, July 26, 1747 (No. 28, p. 89). A John Yates also received 348 acres in Pittsylvania County, March 1, 1773; alternatively this could have been his son, John L. Yates. He continued to record most of his land dealings in Halifax Co. even after Pittsylvania was formed in 1767.

      Known children: Lydia, John, George, Stephen, Elijah, Hannah, Ann, Martha.

    • Around 1753 John Yates/Yeatts built the first blockhouse in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia, now the Yates Tavern in Gretna, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This became a waystation on the much traveled Wagon Road to North Carolina, which corresponded with the Great Indian Warpath for much of its length. The blockhouse's purpose was to protect the Indians in nearby Saponi-Town and a nucleus of pioneer families of what became Pittsylvania County from hostile Indians, chiefly the Cherokee and Shawnee. Some of the surnames are Yates, Winn , Sizemore, Adkins, Shelton , Gregory, Tapley, etc. This documents that the Saponi had become "fort Indians" with many intermarriages with the Virginians and at least one of their towns was about ten miles NE of present-day Danville in the 1750s. In the courthouse records of Pittsylvania Co. you will find many taxpayers, slave owners and landowners who are also registered as "Indian" or "Free Colored." Most of these are likely Saponi.
    • Source-RED RIVER SETTLERS-Yates P.94 Found on Ancestry 18 May 2018
      John Yates was born about 1720 in Maryland or Virginia. Was he a brother of George Yates, Elijah Yates, Hannah Shelton, Ann Gibson, and Martha Wells, children of John and Elizabeth Yates? Tradition has it that he married a Miss Kilgore and had at least three sons: *William, +Thomas, & ^James. John Yates (I THINK HE DID NOT GO TO NC SINCE HIS WILL IS PROVED IN PITTSYLVANVIA COUNTY, VA. AND HE DIDN'T NAME THESE 3 SONS IN HIS WILL BECAUSE THEY HAD MOVED TO ANOTHER STATE) and his three sons are said to have fought in the Revolutionary War and moved from HALIFAX COUNTY, VA to Caswell County, NC soon afterwards. They remained in NC only a few years then moved to Cross Plains, Robertson County, TN in the Kilgore Party. *William Yates was born in 1744 and married Agnes Price in Virginia. +Thomas was born in 1752 in Bedford County, VA and was married in 1776 in NC to Rebecca Ragsdale, the daughter of William Ragsdale. ^James married Lydia Kilgore, said to have been the daughter of Thomas & Phoebe Lee Kilgore. John Yates son of either William or Thomas , is said to have married a daughter of George and Mary Isabell. John and his wife were the parents of sally (who married Lewis Ragsdale, Mary, Agatha, and Nancy.

      One *William Yates, a Lieutenant Colonel, was muster master general, 11 April 1777. He was married in Virginia to Agnes Price. About 1780, he moved to Caswell County, NC and later to Robertson County, TN, where he died. His father was John Yates (1720) who it is believed moved to VA from Anne Arundel County, MD.
      **********************************************************
      John Yates Will-1777-78 Pittsylvania County, Virginia, USA

      Transcription of John Yates' will with source data at bottom. The will establishes: that John and Elizabeth had at least six children, that John was the eldest son, and the surnames of the husbands of three daughters. It also establishes the names of several slaves tied to the family. The will fixes John Yates' date of death between 24 Oct 1777 and 23 April 1778.

      THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF JOHN YATES
      Pittsylvania County, Virginia
      D & W5, page 439
      MADE: 24 October 1777
      Recorded: 23 April 1778
      I, John Yates of the County of Pittsylvania and the Colony of Virginia, being of sick and weak in body but of sound and perfect memory do first give my soul to God and my body to be buried in a decent manner at the discretion of my executors hereafter named and now I dispose of my worldly estate as follows to wit. First, I leave unto my beloved wife, Elizabeth Yates , during her life all my estate, real and personal, and after her decease the Negroes and land to be divided as follows: First I give unto my eldest son John Yates and his heirs a part of my land where on I now live, beginning at the corner tree on Hugh's Creek and taking the full mouth of the land up Dan River to a branch at the lower end of my plantation and with the said branch to the back line and a Negro man named Bob.

      ITEM:I give unto my son George Yates and his heirs another part of the land whereon I now dwell beginning where my son John's land ends, and running with the branch to the back line likewise a part of a survey last made adjoining where I now dwell and extending up Thomas Watts line but the land on the river is to extend upwards to a branch that runs below Gibson's plantation and with the said branch to the back line and a Negro man named Sam and all my Smith's tools.
      ITEM:I give unto my son Elijah Yates and his heirs forever all the remainder of the tract of land, whereon I now dwell beginning at the branch below Gibson's and running up the river including all the remainder of the two tracts whereon I now dwell and a Negro Judith.

      ITEM:I give unto my daughter Hannah Shelton, wife of William Shelton and her heirs two Negroes married big Cate and her daughter Chloe.

      ITEM:I give unto my daughter Ann Gibson and her heirs one one Negro girl named Esther. Likewise I give unto her and her heirs forever all the remainder of a tract of land whereon she now dwells adjoining a made line between her and the plantation where Thomas Watts lived allowing one hundred acres to the plantation where Thomas Watts lived.

      ITEM:I give unto my daughter Martha Watts and her heirs one hundred acres of land whereon she lived and all the stock of horses, cattle, hogs, and sheep and all my household furniture and a Negro woman called Little Cate to be divided among my children at the discretion of my wife at or before her decease. I also appoint my wife Elizabeth Yates and William Shelton executors of this my last will and testament revoking and annulling all other wills and this only to be taken for my last will as witness my hand and seal this twenty-fourth day of October in the year of 1777.

      his
      John X Yates
      mark
      Sealed and acknowledged in
      the presence of George Rop, Tom Elliot & Thomas X Wright

      AT a court held for Pittsylvania County the 23rd day of April 1778
      **********************************************************

      U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
      Name John Yates
      Gender Male
      Birth Place VA
      Birth Year 1699
      Spouse Name Elizabeth Kilgore
      Spouse Birth Place of VA
      Marriage Year 1748
      Household Members
      Name Age
      John Yates
      Elizabeth Kilgore

      U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
      Name John Yates
      Gender Male
      Birth Place VA
      Birth Year 1715
      Spouse Name Elizabeth Yates
      Spouse Birth Year 1718
      Marriage Year 1740
      Marriage State VA
      Household Members
      Name Age
      Elizabeth Yates
      John Yates

      U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783
      Name John Yates
      Gender Male
      Military Date 28 Jan 1776
      Military Place USA
      State or Army Served Miscellaneous
      Regiment Spencer's Regiment
      Rank 1st Lieutenant

      U.S. War Bounty Land Warrants, 1789-1858
      Name John Yates
      Warrant Number 98"
      North Carolina and Tennessee, Early Land Records, 1753-1931

      Thomas Yates, Sr.
      (Shows how early in TN)
      Name Thomas Yates
      Record Date 07 Jun 1814
      Location Robertson, Tennessee
      Warrant Number 9340

      Suggested edit: After my research I have concluded that there are 2 different John Yates "The Immigrant (Emigrant)".
      1. The first is a "2nd Baronet" born and died in England, never coming to America. His descendants, specifically George (b. 1639) (m. Mary), came to Anne Arundel, MD. George's son John Yates (b. 1672) (m. Elizabeth) also of Maryland - John II (1694-1731) born Maryland - John Estes Yates III of Dan River (1715-1777) (m Elizabeth (Kilgore?)) *notice-title above says "IV" - then son John L Yates IV (b. 1737) (m. Sarah)
      2. The second is a John Yates “The Emigrant (Immigrant)” born in England (abt. 1599) and died (abt. 1648) in Upper Norfolk, VA. (m. Joan Jobe) – Son John “of Nansemond County” Yates (1635-1731) (m. Jone Keesee or Elinor) born in England, death probably around Nansemond Co. – John Yates of Dan River (no Estes)(b. 1672) – Son Stephen Yates (1756-1836)(m. Lydia Parsons) --There are no I, II, III, IV in this tree—

  • Sources 
    1. [S761] Yates Publishing, Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Tree.

    2. [S1162] Ancestry.com, Geneanet Community Trees Index, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).
      https://gw.geneanet.org/powmch5?n=yates&oc=&p=john+estes+iii

    3. [S857] Maude Carter Clement, History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, (Lynchburg, Virginia: 1929), Page 277, ISBN: 9780974195797. (Reliability: 3).
      A List of Tithables for Pittsylvania County Taken by John Wilson, Gent., in Year 1767:
      John Yates & son John, negroes Bob & Cate.

    4. [S751] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).
      https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/126626039/john-yates