Tillabee Bathrick was born in Littleton, Massachusetts on 28 August 1750. He was the third oldest of the ten children of Samuel and Susannah (Ewers) Bathrick. All his brothers and sisters were born in nearby Concord. His family had lived in that part of Middlesex County for several generations and that is where young Tilley grew up.
While the rest of his family stayed in that area, as a young man Tilley moved to western Massachusetts, to the land around the frontier community of Deerfield. There, he became a member of the local Montague Militia and, on 19 April 1775, he answered the alarm call. That was the day when the British Army marched out of Boston to seize arms they thought were stored at Lexington and Concord. Tilley served for 18 days under Captain Thomas Grover in Col. Williams’ Regiment. He must have had lots to think about hearing the news that the Redcoats had attacked his old hometown.
Less than a year later, on 14 March 1776, Tilley married Abigail Dougal in Montague, the widow of Mansir Kettle. Kettle had died three years earlier and left her with five young children. Tilley now had an instant family. He and Abigail added four more children in the coming decade. They lived in Leverett, Massachusetts, and according to a tax notice placed in the Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser, he was the Leverett town constable in 1800.
By 1810, Tilley and two of his now grown children had moved over 300 miles to Cayuga County in the Finger Lakes region of western New York. This was land, newly opened to settlement, where a growing family could find opportunity.
The 1810 census places Tilley in Owasco, but when Abigail died on 9 September 1812, she was in neighboring Sempronius, New York. Her daughter, Susan, lived there with her husband, Consider Batchelor. Her son, Peter, lived there as well with his wife, Eleanor Philips. Both had large families with young children. Abigail may have been living there to help.
Tilley operated a tavern stand and grocery in Owasco. By 1820 he was ready to let someone else take over. In an ad placed in the Auburn, New York Cayuga Republican in January, he offered to rent the establishment.
At the age of 80, Tilley was apparently attempting to open his house as a tavern once again. He placed another advertisement to that effect in the Cayuga Republican> of 19 January 19 1831. Unfortunately, it did not work out. Tilley died on 17 March 1831 only two months later. According to his will, probated 6 May 6 1831, he had remarried. Among his heirs he made generous provisions for his wife, Lois, during her lifetime. He appointed his son, Peter, as an executor.
On 5 October 1831 Peter placed a notice, again, in the Cayuga Republican. It read, “A farm and Tavern Stand in the Town of Owasco, formerly occupied by Tilley Bathrick, now deceased, with one dwelling house, two small barns, one shed, with two wells of water, and a good orchard and thirty four acres of the Lease Land about one mile from the village of Auburn, a little east of the yellow mill, with two small houses, one small barn, and fruit trees, three acres and three fourths of land. For further information inquire of Peter Bathrick living in Sempronius.”
From militiaman to pioneer, from town constable to tavern owner, Tilley Bathrick, farmer, and businessman, led a varied and, by all accounts, successful life. He was laid to rest in the Parcell Cemetery in Owasco. A simple headstone marks his grave.
References and Notes
MA Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, Vol. 1, Page: 710.
Cayuga Republican, Jan. 12, 1820, Auburn, NY, Page:1.
Cayuga Republican, Oct. 26, 1831, Auburn, NY, Page:3.
Continental Journal Republican and Weekly Advertiser, Nov 30, 1780, Boston, MA, Issue: CCXLIX, Page:4.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Littleton 1689-1905, Jay Mack Holbrook ed., pub 1996, Holbrook Research Institute, Oxford, MA, Page: 48.
Probate Records, 1799-1905; Index, 1799-1952; Author: New York Surrogate’s Court (Cayuga County); Probate Place: Cayuga, New York. Record for Tilly Bathrick. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=USProbateNY&h=4894159&indiv=try.
Cayuga County, NYGenWeb Project, Cemetery List & Records, Hewitt Cemetery, Owasco, Cayuga Co., NY, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycayuga/cem/cem139.htm.
1790 US Federal Census, Leverett, Hampshire, Massachusetts; Series: M637; Roll: 4; Page: 305; Image: 343; Family History Library Film: 0568144.
1800 US Federal Census, Conway, Hampshire, Massachusetts; Series: M32; Roll: 15; Page: 761; Image: 61; Family History Library Film: 205614.
1810 US Federal Census Owasco, Cayuga, New York; Roll: 31; Page: 1135; Image: 00013; Family History Library Film: 0181385.
1830 US Federal Census Owasco, Cayuga, New York; Series: M19; Roll: 88; Page: 202; Family History Library Film: 0017148.
Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988. Record for Abigail Kettle, Montague Page: 71.
Find A Grave Index, 1664-2011 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012), www.ancestry.com, Database online. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=23989528