Notes:

George Coats, possibly this one, witnessed the will of William Say, a Philadelphia shopkeeper on Aug 3, 1713. He is likely the George Coates who was mentioned in the will of Thomas Masters, a Philadelphia merchant on Dec 4, 1723 in his will.

He is also highly likely to be the George Coats, Sadler, who made his will on Dec. 31, 1736 in Philadelphia mentioning his son William and naming his brother John as executor. His will is transcribed by Charlotte Coats Siercks: George Coats, PA Will Book F p. 65/#61, city of Philadelphia, he's a sadler, brother John Coats, friend Richard Parker, merchant, Housekeeper Mary Hotson, son William Coats, signed May 31, 1736, witnesses John Campbell, Mary Summers, probated Jan 13, 1737 (C-1006).

George married Gracey SNEAD on 12 Nov 1713 in Philadelphia. Gracey was born in 1690; died in Feb 1724 in , Philadelphia, PA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Hannah COATS was born before 1716; and died.
2. George COATS was born before 1717; died on 10 Jun 1719 in Philadelphia M.M., Philadelphia, PA.
3. William COATS was born about 1721 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; died on 24 Jan 1780 in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Notes:

This Coats male has been in controversary since his descendants forgot his name. I started my search to find his name by checking all the sources for the prevailing theories of William, Thomas and James. All of them were 2nd hand records. In my quest to find proof, I first decided to find Mr. Coats wife, Joan Sisom and her brother Thomas. I theorized that Mr. Coates would likely be of the same place. I also had one other clue. Her sons, Thomas, William and George had each attended some Quaker meetings.

I next hunted for a family that included both a Joan/Jean and Thomas Sisom in it as siblings. After an exhaustive search in all counties in England, I found only 1 family that could account for them in West Riding, Yorkshire, England at freereg.org/uk. The problem was that Joan was considerably older than we expected her to be. She was born in 1634 and her brother Thomas in 1631. That suggested she would have had a marriage previous to having children with a Mr. Coates. Again, I looked in all counties in England in the Church of England records to find a marriage for a Coates to a Jean or Joan. There were 4: Three marriages of a William Coates to various wives and a John Cots/Coats to a Jean/Joan Robinson. None of the wives had the name Sisom/Sisson. I then checked each of their wives to see if they had a first husband by that surname with a maiden name of Sissom/Sisson. I thought I’d found one of the William’s that fit, but his wife lived well past when Joan Sisom was married to a Mr. Coats. That left John Cots/Coats who married a Jean Robinson in 1664 in Quaker records (not the Church of England). This couple represented a family of children that was closer to a match to what we already knew about them than anywhere else in England. They happened to be in in neighboring North Riding, York, England which abutted West Riding, Yorkshire, England where Joan was born.

Then I went on a search to see if she had a first marriage to a Robinson. Sure enough. Jean “Robinson” married a Thomas Robinson in 1662. Sadly, it listed her under her marriage name in this record and not her maiden name. It is the one fact that is inconclusive in this tightly fitting puzzle. There is no marriage or death record for the Joan Sisson, sister to Thomas in all of England suggesting that the Jean who married Thomas Robinson could be Jean/Joan who also married John Coats and lived the end of her days in the colonies. The good news genealogically speaking, is that Thomas Robinson, her husband, died within 5 months of their marriage in early 1663 according to Church of England records.

So, we come full circle. Jean/Joan Robinson then marries John Cots in 1664 and this time in the Quaker records. They have their first child in 1664/1665, exactly 9 months later named Lyddia. This is not a child that there is record of in the colonies nor is their further record of in England. The rest of the children all match the children in Joan/Jean Sisom Coats will dated 1627. Thomas is missing from the England and Wales
Quaker Birth Marriage and Death Records, but I found who is likely him in the Non-Conformist 1588-1977 Records Index along with all of John and Joan's children including the Lydia we did not know about previously. I say it's likely to be him. His name was unreadable in the original Non-Conformist records. He was born in 1670 and was also the son of John Coats of Thirsk.
All of his siblings were born in Thirsk, North Riding, Yorkshire, England.

Another anomaly occurred. There is a John and Jane Coates having children christened mostly in Bolton upon Swale, Yorkshire, England in Church of England records. Their daughter Mary and son John were born too early to account for John and Joan Sisom Coates son John as their father. It occurred to me that they might be one and the same John and Joan/Jane/Jeane Sisom. When I put these new Coats additions in as theory, a picture appeared of a likely family of wealth who were only practicing Quakers when they lived in Thirsk, Yorkshire, England and otherwise attended the Church of England. They apparently also had property in Bolton upon Swale, Yorkshire, England and possibly in Leake, Yorkshire, England.
What is interesting is that the only children living in Philadelphia would have had the exact birth order in which Joan's children are listed in her will. Two of their children in Philadelphia were listed in Quaker records in England and 3 of them were listed in Church of England Bolton upon Swale, Yorkshire, England records when they were born. Their dates now fit all of the dates that persons being traced as children of John and Joan Coates in various church records. They had named previous children who had apparently died earlier, John and Mary. Each of these named children seemed to have birthdates that were too early, and as first hand documents would have it, it was because they died young, only to have later siblings named after them.

Then as icing on the cake, John and Joan Sisom Coats had a grandson, William, who returned to West Riding, Yorkshire, England where he courted and married his wife. He returned to his “grandmother” Joan’s birth region.

This is a reasonable case for a family that has been so elusive previously.

I also have another theory to support or refute. Several of John and Joan’s grandchildren in the states have affiliations with the Swede’s in Philadelphia or have a parent whom is Swedish. It turns out that John and Joan were very early Quakers in England. The founder of the Friends Society started spreading his own spiritual thoughts in the 1650’s and John and Joan were Quakers by the mid 1660’s. England was a very cruel place to live in as a Quaker. Quakers seeking refuge from this persecution were emigrating elsewhere shortly after the movement began to grow. One of these places of refuge by the 1660’s was Sweden suggesting that this is where they might have moved anytime after George was born in 1685. What if this family was just beginning to feel the discomfort of being closeted Quakers and they moved to retain their wealth? We do know they were in Pennsylvania by 1706 when son William marries there. That is a 21 year period of time unaccounted for that might find them in Sweden where they took Swedish spouses and where Lyddia/Lydia possibly died.

Linda Coate

Johannis married Joan\Jane\Jeane SISOM on 8 May 1664 in York M.M., Yorkshire, England. Joan\Jane\Jeane (daughter of Richard SISSON and Jona DEWES) was born in Sep 1634 in Allerton Mauleverer, Yorkshire, England; was christened on 13 Nov 1679 in Bolton upon Swale, Yorkshire, England; died before 23 Apr 1729 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She is listed as Jeane Coates, sister to Thomas Sisom when Thomas sent for her sons and asked them to come to Pennsylvania in 1693. In her will, she is listed as Joan Clemson, widow and names children Mary, wife of John Harris, William, Thomas, John, and George Coates. Her executor was her son John Coates. She obviously married an unnamed Clemson after her second husband, a Coates, died. (C-1006, E)

Besides Thomas, she might also have had a brother or nephew named John Sisom. He apparently lived near her son William and witnessed a deed contract William made in 1746 selling land to Peter Aldermost through a yearly rental fee for a period of years. The land became Peter's in a deed recorded in Philadelphia in 1767. John's widow, Ann Sisom, testified that he had witnessed the deed back in 1746.

After hunting for Sisom's in every county in England, the name was commonly spelled Sisson instead. The large majority of Sison's lived in Yorkshire, England. The only family I found that had both a son Thomas and daughter Jane Joan (Jana in latin) was in West Riding, Yorkshire, England, the same place where grandson William traveled and married his wife. However, Joan's age is unexpected. She was born in 1734. The likely reason researchers could not find her in England was because she was born earlier than thought and married before she married a Coats.

Her marriage to what we now have documentary evidence for as John Coates would have been her 2nd marriage. She first married Thomas Robinson in July of 1662. He passed 5 months later. Somewhere after she married Thomas Robinson and before she married John Coats, she became a Quaker. John and she (under the name Jean Robinson) married in 1664 in a Quaker Monthly Meeting. He likely died in Yorkshire, England in 1693. She would have brought mostly grown children to the U.S. near the age of 60 sometime in the early 1700's. The Quaker religion was very new when they were drawn to it's radical ideas at the time. Quakers endured great trials in England as they did not believe in paying tithes to the Church of England. They also believed everyone was equal and did not address authority in a way that denoted their superiority.

We now know that John and Joan practiced the Quaker faith in Thirsk and the Church of England religion in Bolton Upon Swale, both in Yorkshire. This fits all the 1st hand records for the ages of their children according to Philadelphia records. The named 3 sons John and 2 daughters Mary indicating that the younger named children had died before renaming a child the same name. Their two locations suggested that they might have had a summer home or at least were of the wealthy class.

Notes:

Married:
Her name was Joan Robinson at the time of their marriage in a Quaker Monthly Meeting. The birth of all their children except Thomas was recorded in this monthly meeting.

Notes:

Johannis or John in English married in Alne. He had at least 3 of his children in Alne. He probably is the John Coates who died in 1669 in Stokesley. Stokesly is 30 miles north of Alne. Thirsk where his possible son John had children was halfway in between the two. John might have originally been from Stokesley as there were Cootes families there in the 1580's as attested by the following frereg.org.uk record.Place (Links to more information) Stokesley
Church name (Links to more information) St Peter and St Paul
Register type (Links to more information) Other Transcript
Burial date 27 May 1580
Burial person forename George
Burial person surname COOTESThis theory is supported by the fact that between John's birth in Stokesly and his burial in Stokely, he had no other life events there. His life events took place in Alne. He might have died in Alne also and simply been buried back on the family plot in Stokesly at his death. If this theory is correct, he would have been the right peerage to be the son of William in the following record from Familysearch.org.Principal
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
Christening24 June 1594
Stokesley, Yorkshire, England
Father:Willm. CotesThe next closest fit is even further in distance and makes him too old (b. 1580 to the son of Robert) to likely be the father of his children.)

Johannis married Anna FIRRYMAN on 16 Oct 1627 in Alne, York, England. Anna was born before 1611 in of Alne, North Riding, Yorkshire, England; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Jona DEWES. Jona was born before 1618; died in Oct 1670 in Allerton Mauleverer, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Willm married Ann BOWES on 20 Nov 1580 in Stokesley, Yorkshire, England. Ann (daughter of Robert BOWES and Elizabeth YATT) was born before 1567 in Of Stokesley, Yorkshire, ENG; died in Dec 1616 in Stokesley, Yorkshire, England; was buried on 10 Dec 1616 in Stokesley, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Maria WARDE. Maria (daughter of John WARDE and Mabella) was born about Feb 1578 in Allerton, Allerton Mauleverer, Yorkshire, England; died on 7 Nov 1655 in Allerton Mauleverer, Yorkshire, West Riding, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]