Notes:

They had 10 children, one of which whom is probably the Sarah b. Dec. 15, 1776 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (C-1666) This William is thought to be the Col. William Coates who was a Revolutionary War Soldier from Pennsylvania. He was captured by the British. (C-1071)

"Aurora, that of May 8th, contains an obituary notice of Colonel William Coats, which speaks of him as an Associate Justice and Colonel of the 88th regiment, mentioning his distinguished revolutionary career, and his personal character in the highest terms. William Coats married Margaret Norris, daughter of Thomas Norris, of Princeton, N.J., and of Philadelphia and left issue, one of his daughters being the grandmother of General George Meade, and numerous other distinguished men and women..." (Charlotte Coats)

The best proof we have that he is the son of William Coates and Rachel Dubois, is 3 solid triangulations between one of his possible son James' descendants and the descendants of John and Joan Sisom Coates as well as 8 solid triangulations with descendants of Louis Dubois with one of these specifically narrowed down to Rachel Dubois.

Rachel did not name a son in her will. He would have been an adult at the time and well established if he was Colonel William Coates. Colonel William Coates was known to have descended from the brickmaker Coates in 2nd hand histories, but how was not known. This is the theory that fits with a couple year study of autosomal DNA at the time.

Colonel married Margaret NORRIS on 10 Jan 1761 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Margaret (daughter of Thomas NORRIS and 1st Wife of Thomas Norris) was born on 23 Feb 1743 in Princeton, Mercer, New Jersey, USA; died on 5 Jan 1828 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; was buried in Coats Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

There are many events that apply to a William of this time period. However, there are also at least 3 Williams living in Philadelphia at this same time. This William may be any of the following. A William witnessed the will of Thomas Fairman, in Philadelphia on 7/27/1711. (C-1006)

A William purchased land in Bucks Co., PA in 1712. A William was the only appointed commissioner for Philadelphia County in Oct. of 1732 as published in the PA Gazette. All other appointed offices had several persons filling them.

This William is likely to be the one that is in the following 1746 deed transaction: Commission Book A3 p. 347 and 349 On the fifth day of March in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred Forty Six.. William Coats of the Northern Liberties of the city of Philadelphia Gentleman of the one part and Peter Aldermost of the City of Philadelphia in the province of Pennsylvania "weaver" on the other part witnesses that the said William Coates for and in consideration of ......a certain lot of land situated on Frankford Road in the Northern Liberties of the City of Philadelphia... 45 feet...all the ground between William Shukerson and Jo? Herbestons lotts...between William Sheeters lot to the Northward and John Herbestons lot to the southward .... Wit Grace Grisiom, John Sisom recorded 1767... Ann Coats wife of Thomas Coats, gentleman, late, Ann Sisom widow of John Sisom late of etc... (Ann Coates attested to the fact that her late husband, John Sisom, witnessed the original deed.) A William owned a house on the west side of the road leading from Philadelphia to Germantown on Apr. 2, 1747. A public Wharf was to be built on the adjacent property to it. (C-1741: #1152, C-1746)

He is the William who requested that some of the land between Coats and Brown on 2nd and 3rd St. in Philadelphia be saved aside for the Coates Family Burying Ground in Deed Book E.F. No. 6, p. 113. (C-2188)

His and his son's burial records are as follows in that "Coats Burial Ground" provided by Osborn Cresson. William Coats, Sr. died 4/1/1749, age _4 (the first number of the age is illegible). The wife of this William Coats is buried there, too, and she was Mary Coats, who died 12/1/1732, age 60. His son William Coats was buried there and had died in March _, 1749, age 36. He is therefore one of the following wills. William Sr. or Jr. left a will in 1749 in Philadelphia, PA in book F, p. 232 (C-1665, 1670, 1688)

The event that follows shortly thereafter is related. William was listed as incapable for nearly the last 12 months of transacting his affairs or managing his estate in Northern Liberties of the city of Philadelphia on Jan. 13, 1746-7. His children, William Coats, Jr, Elizabeth Edge, Ann Kilcress (via John Coats, Sr., and Priscilla Brown, Desc (via Peter Brown) impowered Thomas Say, Sadler of Philadelphia, to manage William Coate, Sr.'s affairs. (C-1814)

On April 13, 1748/1749, all persons indebted to the estate of William Cotes, Sr., and William Coats, Jr. late of Northern Liberties, brickmakers, deceased were asked to pay their respective debts in the PA Gazette. In the same article it then announces the publick sale of William Jr.'s estate on the 29th of April. It included his house, one negroe male, two horses, one mare, one cow, a small cart, one chair, and sundry household items. Executors appeared to be Thomas Say and John Cotes, Jr. (C-1813)

William married Rachel DUBOIS. Rachel (daughter of Abraham Louis DUBOIS and Margaret DEYO) was born on 13 Oct 1689 in New Paltz, Ulster, New York, United States; died before 14 May 1773 in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She first married what has been stated to be her first cousin, Isaac Dubois (which is no longer valid), then a Mr. Stratton and then William Coate (the brickmaker). She had children with her other husbands. William died in 1749. No children of Rachel and William Coates were named in her will.

Recorded Will book P, p.408. Her will is transcribed by me as follows: In the Name of God amen the Sixth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand Seven hundred and Sixty nine I Rachel Coats Widow of William Coats late of the Northern Liberties deceased being very sick weak in body but and of perfect mind and memory thanks be given unto God for the same and calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all women ( ) to die do make and ordain this my last Will and Testatment, that is to say, Principally and first of all I give and recommend my Sole into the hands of God that gave it and ( ) Body recommend it to the Earth to be buried in tha Christian like and decent manner at the direction of my Executors Impr( ) I do order that in the first place (mony) Just debts and funeral charges be paid and satisfied. And (reaching) much ( ) ( ) Estate wherewith it ( ) pleased God to Bless me in this life I give devise and disperse of the Same ( ) and (f ) following: That is today, In the (f ) I give and bequethed to my dearly beloved Grandson Theobald Ent along right ( ) and property of what I have at or near mount hally, but in case the aforsaid Theobald Ent doth not live to the age of one and twenty years and die without heirs then the above right and property shall come to my dearly beloved grand daughter Rachel Sahler and likewise all my household goods and furniture as bed bedding furniture and every other Individual thing or article Its my wish that after my decease my dearly beloved Grandson Joseph Hopewell shall have the sum of twenty pounds ( ) lawful money of (p ) as to be paid to him out of my estate and likewise my dearly beloved Granddaughter Sarah Miller to have the like sum of twenty pounds paid to her after all my just debts and charges be paid and in each there should not be left so much not to pay them or either of them their twenty pounds then to pay them both share alike of what there be left and I do hereby make and ordain my loving friend and Son in Law Abraham Sahler my sole executor of this my last Will and Testament ratifying and allowing this and no other to being last Will and Testament In Witness where of I have here unto set my Hand and Seal the day and year above written Rachel Coats in her last Will and Testament in the presence of Johannes G(rofs) Frederick ( ). Philadelphia May 14th 1773, Personally appeared Johannes Gross, Frederick Hesser (Shittlinesen) to the forgoing Will and on Oath did declare that they saw and heard Rachel Coats the Testatrix therein named Sign Seal and publish and declare the same Will found as her last Will and Testatment and that at the Execution thereof she was of Sound diposing Mind Memory and understanding to the best of their knowldege and Belief ( )Benjamin ( ) Reg. Genl. Be it remembered that on the 14th Day of May 1773 The last Will and Tesament of Rachel Coates deceased in du form of law was proved and probate and Letters Testimentary thereof are granted To Abraham Sahler Sole Executor in the said Will named being first duty sworn well and truly to Administer the said deeds Estate and being ( ) there of into the Register Generals Office at Philadelphia ( ) before the 14th day of June next, and ( tive) amount of these Admistration on or before the 15th day of May 1774 or when the( ) Legally required, Given (recorder) the Seal of the said Office .... of Benjamin (Chew) Reg. Genl. (C-2384)

Notes:

According to Dr. Mary Peebles, Thomas is the likely father of Margaret Norris. She believes he was married 3 times. His 2nd wife was Sarah and his 3rd wife was Hannah. He lived in Princeton, NJ and worked in Philadelphia also.

Thomas married 1st Wife of Thomas Norris. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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.

Abraham married Margaret DEYO on 6 Mar 1681 in Kingston, Ulster, New York, United States. Margaret (daughter of Christian DEYO and Jeanne VERBEAU) was born on 7 Oct 1662 in Artois, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 27 Mar 1741 in New Paltz, Ulster County, New York, United States of America; was buried in New Paltz, Ulster County, New York, United States of America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]