Clement Bates (1595-1671) 8th Great Grandfather

 
         Clement, son of James Bates, was born in Lydd, Kent, England, in 1595. When he was forty years of age he sailed April 6, 1635, on the ship "Elizabeth" with his wife Anne, also aged forty,  and 5 children, James(14) Clement(12) Rachel(8) Joseph(7) Bengamin(2). They also brought two servants, John Wynchester(19), and Jervice Gould(30). They travelled with Clement's brother James, James' wife Alice Glover, and their 4 children. There were 77 passengers on the ship plus the crew captained by William Stagg.

 Lydd which lies on the Romney Marsh also known as Denge Marsh, whose headland is Dungeness (coincidentally the name that Thomas Carnegie gave to his palatial home on Cumberland Island, GA.)  Lydd reached the height of its prosperity during the 13th century, when it was a corporate member of the Cinque Ports.  Lying at the eastern end of England the Confederation of Cinque Ports  originally formed for military and trade purposes included a historic series of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex .  A Royal Charter of 1155 established the ports to maintain ships ready for the Crown and in return the towns received certain privileges to include exemption from taxes and limited self-government.  This latitude, led to smuggling becoming the predominant economic stimulus. As time went by and some ports declined or silted up, others were added, including Lydd in the 15^th century. The oldest recorded Bates relative was born in 1270.  There are number of Bates entombed in the All Saints Church, also known as Lydd Church and others buried in the adjoining graveyard.

When Clement and his family left Lydd, the British church and government was becoming insufferably hierarchical, tyrannical, and tax-hungry.  Puritans in particular viewed the Church of England as being too much like the Catholic Church.  Puritans were blocked from changing the established church from within, and severely restricted in England by laws controlling the practice of religion, but their views were taken by the emigration of congregations to the Netherlands and later New England.  While common resentment among the English people would lead to Civil War beginning in 1642, approximately 20,000 colonists came to New England from 1630 through 1640 .  Called the “Great Migration” a distinction drawn is that the movement of colonists to New England was not predominantly male, but of families with some education, leading relatively prosperous lives. Winthrop's noted words, a City upon a Hill, refer to a vision of a new society, not just economic opportunity.  Clement settled at Hingham, Massachusetts, about the same time that Rev. Peter Hobart's company arrived in September, 1635, and he had a homestead of five acres on Town Street, near South Street and the house was passed along to several generations. His wife Anna died in Hingham, October 1, 1669, aged seventy-four years, and he died September 17, 1671, aged seventy- six years. His will was dated at Hingham, October 12, 1669, and he left land to his sons, Joseph, Benjamin and Samuel.