Johannes Yates
by
Stefan Bielinski


Johannes Yates was born in October 1716. He was the son of Albany blacksmith Christoffel Yates and his wife, Catharina Winne Yates.

Following a family pattern, Johannes grew up at his father's smithy learning the blacksmith's trade that would ensure his place in Albany society for years to come.

He married Albany native Rebecca Waldron in November 1737. Over the next eighteen years, their eight children were baptized in the Albany Dutch church where both parents were members.

By the time of his marriage, he had joined a number of kin working as Albany blacksmiths. John's family seems to have shared a home with his parents where John succeeded his father at the forge and also as a firemaster in the city's third ward. By the time of his father's death in 1754, he had acquired additional property - a stables in the first ward and a farm across the river in Rensselaerswyck.

Fifty-nine-year-old John Yates made his will in December 1775. At that time, he identified himself as the proprietor of a Greenbush farm and its two-acre orchard and as the owner of another farm in the manor as well. He was able to provide for his wife and to enrich the lives of his six living children. He died early in 1776. His son, Christopher J. Yates, inherited his father's blacksmith's tools.

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notes

the people of colonial Albany The life of name is CAP biography number 4479. He was often referred to as "John" rather than "Johannes" Yates. This profile is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.



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first posted: 12/24/01; last revised 3/20/03