"SUB BATES" Would like to subscribe to Bates discussion group as outlined in the "Bates Booster Quarterly Publication. I descend from two Bates lines prominent in the settlement of Hickman County, Tn. James Bates & Elizabeth Tubb are my earliest ancestors on one line. They both presumably died between 1800 and 1820 in the middle Tn. area, and it would appear that they came here by way of Greenville, South Carolina. My third great grandparents are John Bates & Elizabeth Spencer Bates of Beaverdam, Hickman County, Tn. John Bates, born ca 1790, died ca 1835, was said to have come from Va., and his wife Elizabeth, from Mississippi. They had eleven children: Samuel S.; Malinda; Kissiah; James; Margaret; Elizabeth; Sarah; John Bell; Thomas Elijah; William; and Elias. Have much information on both groups but can't determine the ancestry of either old John Bates or old James Bates. Am hopeful that "networking" will produce new ideas. I descend from John and Elizabeth Spencer Bates through their son, James, who married Catherine Black. I descend from James and Elizabeth Tubb Bates through their daughter, Mary, who married William Chandler. Thanks so much for establishing this means of communication.