NINTH GENERATION

258. Thomas, Sr. Batte was born in 1634 in England. He died in 1698 in Henrico Co., VA. "The Reverend William Clayton Torrence thought that Thomas Batts left descendants through the Joneses and Evanses." (William Clayton Torrence, "Henrico County: Virginia: Beginnings of its Families," William and Mary Quarterly, 1st ser., XXIV (1915-1916), 268-269, also 207)

"...of Henrico and Charles City Counties, VA."

"Thomas Battes, Sr., has been conclusively established as codiscoveref of New River along with Robert Fallam in 1671."

"Thomas Batts was in Virginia as early as 1667. He was son of John Batts and grandson of Robert Batts, fellow and vicar-master of University College, Oxford. With his brother Henry, to whom Beverley ascribes the leadership in this present expedition, he patented five thousand, eight hundred, seventy eight acres of land in the Appomattox Valley, August 29, 1668. Henry Batts was burgess for Charles City County in 1691. Thomas Batts died in 1698, and his will ison record in Henrico County" From: Expedition of Batts and Fallam, p 184, from "The First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region by the Virginians, 1650-1674, by Clarence Walworth Alvord and Lee Bidgood

(This fascinating journal of their expedition is on file I012 (John Evans).

259. Mary Randolph was born about 1634 in Henrico Co., VA. Children were:

i. Thomas, Jr. Batte was born in 1660. He died in 1691.
ii. Martha Batte was born in 1667. Martha Batte [3524.9.5] married Lt. Abraham Wood Jones, the son of Maj. Peter Jones I and his wife, Margaret —. Middle names in Colonial Virginia were very rare and his appeared in a patent to John Ellis. Martha’s sister, Mary, married Abraham’s brother, Peter Jones II.
Abraham was a militia lieutenant in 1683. On 20 November 1683, he obtained a patent for 1,217 acres in Bristol Parish, Charles City County, for the transportation of twenty-five persons. His property was south of the Appomattox River and next to land of Maj. Gen. Abraham Wood. Martha and Abraham had at least two children for in 1704 Stephen Cocke, then Martha’s husband, paid quit rents on 2,405 acres of land “for Jones Orphans.”
We know the name of only one child. Another may have been Abraham Jones because fragmentary records of Prince George County suggest more Abrahams than otherwise known.

Martha marries John Banister
Abraham died before 3 December 1689 when the Charles City County court granted Thomas Wynne a judgement against the estate of Abraham Jones, deceased. Martha was by then the wife of Rev. John Banister. They had married before April 1687 when William Byrd I in a letter to English horticulturist, Jacob Bobart, told him Banister had married a “young widow.”
Banister had entered Saint Mary Magdalen College of Oxford University on 21 June 1667 at age seventeen. He received his B.A. degree in 1671 and a master’s degree in 1674. He was a “clerk [cleric]” two years and chaplain from 1676 to 1678. On 9 October 1690, Charles City County confirmed John Banister was due 300 acres for six importations: four slaves and himself twice — once from England and once from New York. He was probably in the Colony by mid-1678 to serve as rector of Bristol Parish and was later an original trustee of the College of William and Mary. Upon his arrival, Banister began immediately to inspect the wildlife. A letter he wrote 6 April 1679 to Dr. Robert Morrison, Professor of Botany at Oxford, described his early observations.
North America’s first “resident naturalist,” John Banister spent fourteen years collecting specimens of insects, spiders, plants, and molluscs to send back to England. John Banister and his Natural History of Virginia 1678-1692 by Joseph Ewan and Nesta Ewan (University of Illinois Press, 1970) presents a collection of Banister’s works and document his place in the growth of knowledge of natural history of the Atlantic seaboard. They show that had his works been published, even as incomplete as they were at his death, they would have altered the course of American botany, entomology, and malacology. In addition, anthropologists would have rightfully credited Banister with much of the Virginian Indian lore attributed to Robert Beverly.
The Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography devotes two pages to the life and family of John Banister.
During May 1692 Banister traveled southwestward to the Roanoke River to collect specimens. With him was a “woodsman” Jacob Colson. These two were undoubtedly part of a larger party of explorers — perhaps accompanying William Byrd I who inspected land he owned on the lower Roanoke River about this time. Banister strayed from the group to collect plants along the river and Colson, perhaps thinking he was a wild animal, shot him dead.
Henrico County investigated “the death of Mr. John Banister, dec’d, per misadventure” and acquitted Colson for his death. During December 1692 Charles City County court ordered “Mrs. Banister, relict of Abraham Jones & John Banister” to report on her late husband’s estate. Some of her Banister children were still underage on 15 May 1713 when she and two others made a £173 orphans bond in Prince George County.
Charles City County granted his widow administration of his estate on 3 June 1692. She was due in court 3 October 1692 to swear to the inventory of her husband’s estate but was too sick to get there. The court empowered Richard Bland to see her and administer the oath. Acknowledging Martha now administered two estates, Charles City County ordered her to bring sureties for both estates to the October Court 1692. She evidently did not reply and they ordered her to appear at the February Court 1692/3.

Martha marries Stephen Cocke
In Henrico County on 26 May (license) 1694, Martha became the second wife of Stephen Cocke, the son of Capt. Thomas Cocke. Stephen had previously been married to Sarah (—) Marston. Stephen’s father had married second Margaret (—) Jones, Martha’s widowed mother-in-law. In December 1694 Stephen and Martha Cocke sued John Evans.
A wealthy land owner, Capt. Cocke paid quit rents on 2,976½ acres in 1704. He refused to pay the quit rents on 1,970 acres belonging to the orphans of John Banister. Martha and Stephen were the parents of four children.
During 1687 Stephen’s father had conveyed to him 200 acres of land “one part of which was part of the tract or dividend of land at Malvern Hills,” including a mill. Stephen patented 1,040 acres in Henrico and Charles City counties in 1695. In 1701 Stephen and Martha conveyed 56 acres, including “an old mill,” to John Pleasants. They sold his brother Thomas Cocke their 200 acres at “Malvern Hills” 2 March 1703/4.
Stephen Cocke was living 24 February 1710/1 when William Byrd mentioned John Banister’s “father-in-law [stepfather]” in his diary. He was dead by 14 August 1711 when Martha Cocke, his widow, returned to Prince George County court a list of things not inventoried in his estate.
Martha’s father, Thomas Batte, owed £45 to his son-in-law Rev. John Banister and had given him a mortgage on four slaves in June 1689. Fifteen years later, on 13 January 1713/4, Banister’s widow, Martha (Batte) Jones Banister Cocke, quit claimed her right to two surviving slaves to Richard Jones of Prince George County for 40 pounds.
Martha still had Banister children less than twenty-one on 12 May 1713 when she, Richard Jones, and John Woodlief made a £173-bond to the benefit of the orphans of John Banister. Martha was still living 9 July 1717 when she delivered an accounting of the debts of Stephen Cocke to court.
The only known child of Abraham and Martha (Batte) Jones
4› Peter Jones [3524.9.5.1] was remembered in the 1718-will of his grandmother Margaret (—) Jones Cocke. He married his cousin Mary Jones. (From Virginians.com)

iii. Mary Batte was born in 1669.
iv. Amy Batte was born in 1671.
129 v. Sarah Batte.