John Bates, Jr.

Is buried in Unitarian Cemetery, Chelmsford, MA (http://www.rgcle.com/SS/transcript_of_the_april_1930_bates_bulletin...)

John Jr. married Deborah Spaulding in 1693. They had eight children, Deborah, Hannah, Mary, Betty, John (whose name appears on the Chelmsford monument), Jonathan, Robert and Edward. In 1702 they bought land at what is now 26 Worthen Street and built a house which stood until 1915. Tragedy struck in 1722 when smallpox spread through the family, killing many of them. The town record of April 23, 1722 makes explicit the understanding of contagion: ordering the quarantine of the family, building a wall built across the road leading to their property, and posting a warning. The devastation of the family can be seen in the dates of many of the Bates graves in Chelmsford. John Sr. and John Jr. died within a month of each other as did several others. Presumably the quarantine of the family succeeded as there is no record of an epidemic in the town at the time.