Joseph S. Bates was a descendant of Caleb, of Hingham, through Comfort of Pembroke, in which town he was born.  He served his time with Col. J. B. Barstow and married his daughter, Sarah, Oct. 2, 1820.  They lived on Broadway, northeast of Hanover Four Corners, at the house on the corner of Oakland Ave.  They had three children:

• Henry S., born November, 1821, married first _____ Gardner, and second, in 1888, Mrs. Emeline Sylvester;
• Sarah Ann, b. Nov., 1823
• John Burden, b. Feb. 17, 1826, who married Lydia Waterman, and later lived at the corner of Rockland Street, next to the Episcopal Church at the Four Corners.

In partnership with William Copeland and Capt. Thomas Waterman, in 1819 he built the 73-ton brig "Cashier."   Later, in 1832, William Copeland & Co. sold their firm to a new partnership that Joseph S. Bates and Capt. Waterman had formed.  Between 1833 -1836 they would build 4 ships: the 390-ton "Hilo," (the largest ship ever built at Fox Hill yard), the "Ontario," the "Almina" and the "Rienzi," which was captured and burned at sea by a privateer.