The Coates Family
Thomas Coates (1741-1813), his wife Martha Ann Hood (1749-1780) and daughter Mary, just two years old, departed the village of Thirlby west of Hovingham in Yorkshire and arrived in Nova Scotia on the Duke of York in the spring of 1772. Thomas's first wife Martha Ann Hood, with whom he had 6 children, died about 1780 and he married Elizabeth Henry (1760-1820) in 1782 with whom he had an additional 9 children. The Coates family is closely connected with the Ripley family. Thomas and Ann's daughter Hannah Coates married Robert and Isabella Ripley's son William. Their son Robert Coates married Robert and Isabella's daughter Jane Ripley. Matthew Coates, the son of Thomas Coates and his second wife Elizabeth Henry, married Ruth Ripley, the daughter of Robert and Isabella Ripley's son Henry. Thomas Coates and Martha Ann Hood are my 4th great grandparents through the marriage of Hannah Coates and William Ripley.
The Chignecto Isthmus and its First Settlers (1902) provides the following information about Thomas Coates: "Thomas Coates emigrated from Yorkshire, England, to Nova Scotia in the year, 1774, and settled at Nappan, Cumberland County. His son, Robert, by his second wife, married Jane Ripley and inherited the homestead. This property is now owned by his grandson, Rupert Coates. Joseph Coates, a son of Robert, married Mary Lawrence. They had a family of ten children. Mr. Coates was a successful farmer and amassed a large property. His sons, Thompson and Rupert, are at the present time prominent men and leading farmers of Nappan, N.S. Another branch of the Coates' family removed to King's County, N.B., and planted the name there." There are a few errors in this passage. Robert was the son of Thomas Coates and his first wife Martha Ann Hood, not the second wife. And Robert did not inherit Thomas's first homestead in Nappan that became the Experimental Farm. Robert's homestead was a farm on Smith Road in Amherst.
In 1803, Thomas Coates purchased a 500-acre farm from Samuel McCully at Smiths Creek, King's County, N.B. and relocated to that property. In 1805, Thomas Coates acquired another 450-acre property at Smiths Creek adjoining his first purchase. The inscription on his headstone in the Smiths Creek United Cemetery reads: "Thomas Coates emigrated from England in 1772 and resided in Nova Scotia until 1804. From thense came to this place when the country was almost a wilderness with but few inhabitants - departed this life April 3, 1813, in the 72nd year of his age."
The Chignecto Isthmus and its First Settlers (1902) provides the following information about Thomas Coates: "Thomas Coates emigrated from Yorkshire, England, to Nova Scotia in the year, 1774, and settled at Nappan, Cumberland County. His son, Robert, by his second wife, married Jane Ripley and inherited the homestead. This property is now owned by his grandson, Rupert Coates. Joseph Coates, a son of Robert, married Mary Lawrence. They had a family of ten children. Mr. Coates was a successful farmer and amassed a large property. His sons, Thompson and Rupert, are at the present time prominent men and leading farmers of Nappan, N.S. Another branch of the Coates' family removed to King's County, N.B., and planted the name there." There are a few errors in this passage. Robert was the son of Thomas Coates and his first wife Martha Ann Hood, not the second wife. And Robert did not inherit Thomas's first homestead in Nappan that became the Experimental Farm. Robert's homestead was a farm on Smith Road in Amherst.
In 1803, Thomas Coates purchased a 500-acre farm from Samuel McCully at Smiths Creek, King's County, N.B. and relocated to that property. In 1805, Thomas Coates acquired another 450-acre property at Smiths Creek adjoining his first purchase. The inscription on his headstone in the Smiths Creek United Cemetery reads: "Thomas Coates emigrated from England in 1772 and resided in Nova Scotia until 1804. From thense came to this place when the country was almost a wilderness with but few inhabitants - departed this life April 3, 1813, in the 72nd year of his age."
Sources:
Aiton, Grace. The Story of Sussex and Vicinity. Published by the Kings County Historical Society, 1979.
Bailyn, Bernard. Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the American Revolution, Toronto, Random House, 1986. Winner of the Pulitzer prize in history 1987. Portions of this outstanding book are available for online viewing. An entire section is devoted to Francklin and Yorkshire. The information about Thomas Coates appears in a section called "Competence and Emergence."
Nova Scotia Crown Land Management Information Centre website. You can view land grant maps here or order them in a large paper format.
Nova Scotia Land Papers 1765-1800 website. You can look up early land petitions and grants here. The index leaves a little to be desired.
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick website. This is an excellent website for researching family members who lived in what was formerly Nova Scotia but is now New Brunswick. Births, deaths, and wills are among the documents searchable online.
Ripley, Gordon. Yorkshire Emigration to Nova Scotia 1772-1775 website, Duke of York passenger list.
Trueman, Howard. The Chignecto Isthmus and its First Settlers, 1902. Online version at Project Gutenburg.
Aiton, Grace. The Story of Sussex and Vicinity. Published by the Kings County Historical Society, 1979.
Bailyn, Bernard. Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the American Revolution, Toronto, Random House, 1986. Winner of the Pulitzer prize in history 1987. Portions of this outstanding book are available for online viewing. An entire section is devoted to Francklin and Yorkshire. The information about Thomas Coates appears in a section called "Competence and Emergence."
Nova Scotia Crown Land Management Information Centre website. You can view land grant maps here or order them in a large paper format.
Nova Scotia Land Papers 1765-1800 website. You can look up early land petitions and grants here. The index leaves a little to be desired.
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick website. This is an excellent website for researching family members who lived in what was formerly Nova Scotia but is now New Brunswick. Births, deaths, and wills are among the documents searchable online.
Ripley, Gordon. Yorkshire Emigration to Nova Scotia 1772-1775 website, Duke of York passenger list.
Trueman, Howard. The Chignecto Isthmus and its First Settlers, 1902. Online version at Project Gutenburg.