Background On Bates Genealogy

For the starting post on this site, I will provide a little information on what the blog is about and follow with my basic family background.

What I’m Doing Here

My intent here is to share the information I find (and have found) while digging into my family history.   I am focusing initially on my father’s side, the Bates lines reaching back five generations (so far), and families they merged with along the way.  My mother’s family has been well documented her brother, so I will be sharing Bates family history before hers.

I will be including what I will call sidetracks from time to time.  These are stories or topics that I have run across that I have found particularly interesting, even if they are not about family members.

I will also be writing about how the family information was located and providing tips on research, records, and using several online genealogy programs.  Hopefully, these topics will be of help to other genealogy enthusiasts, as well as those researching the same surnames.

My Family Background

I was born in Orange County, California to Edgar and Janet Bates.  My family moved northward to Ventura County before I started kindergarten.  Both of my parents worked at the Camarillo State Hospital (rumored to be the Eagles ‘ Hotel California’).

We often visited my grandparents, Gilbert and Beatrice Bates, at their Valley Center farm in San Diego County.  They bought Walnut Slope Ranch in 1921 and raised sons Clarence, Clifford, Edgar, James, and William there.  My father was the middle son.  Clifford and his wife Luella raised two sons on the property, and James and wife Margaret raised their family nearby.  The other three son eventually moved out of the area.

The “ranch”, as we called it then, was a great place to visit growing up.  It was a working farm, where they raised walnuts and produce, mainly melons.  They had a few milk cows and bottled their own milk.  I can remember my grandmother separating cream and making butter.  I spent many enjoyable weekends as well as a few summers there – the city kid visiting the country cousins.

The ranch was a gathering place for family and friends and the only place I crossed paths with some of my relatives from out of the area.  The property has stayed in the family and it is now the site of Bates Nut Farm, where they sell nuts from all over the world and hold special events.