I finally found my gg grandfather in Illinois. In a census he was listed as a minister of the Gospel. I would like to know if he was affiliated with a particular church there in Cumberland, Co. Illiois area. He was married to Sussanah McNitt. Reuben Bates was born 1797 in Vermont, lived in New York where my g grandfather Ezra was born, then the family resided in Ohio, then Illinois.
I had been searching for my g grandfather's family for years and they were there in the same area of Illinois all the time.
Reuben and Sussanah had the following children: Ezra, Willard, Reuben, Marshall, Evaline and Henry C.