Thomas came to Virginia with his father, John Batte, in 1646. He and his brother Henry patented 5875 acres of land August 29, 1688 on the south side of the James River in "Appomatock" in Prince George County, VA He was a member of General Abraham Wood's exploring party in 1671 when they went over the Alleghany Mountains (from Wm & Mary quarterly Vol XV pp 234-5) He was a member of the Orphans Court in 1679 and the Henrico County Court in 1680. (Henrico County is now known as Chesterfield County)
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Henrico County, Virginia: Beginnings of Its Families: Part I, William Clayton Torrence
William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 24, No. 2., (Oct., 1915), pp. 116-142.
P 132 Heads of Families in Henrico in 1679 with Tythables, Mr. Tho Batte 4
P 140 Henrico County patents, and other sources, of other names which appear in the list for 1679 are:
"Patents also appear for Thomas Batte 1665(2); "
Thomas Batte and Henry Batte sons of Mr. John Batte, deceased, had patent 29 April 1665 [or 1668] for 5878 acreas, 2 rods, 8 poles, on south side James River in Appomattox in Charles City County beginning at head of Jordan's land and Merchants Hope - the head of Charles City Creek; due for transportation of 118 persons into the colony, among them, William Bate, Jur. 2 times, Martha Bate, Jno. Bate, Senior, Jno Batte, Junr. Henry Batte, Tho Batte.
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Henrico County, Virginia: Beginnings of Its Families: Part II, William Clayton Torrence
William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 24, No. 3., (Jan., 1916), pp. 202-210.
P 207 Thomas Batte(1) was the son of John Batte, Esquire, captain in the regiment of Agbrigg and Morley and justice of the peace in the West Riding, and his wife Maratha, daughter of Thomas Mallory, Dean of Chester; grandson of Robert Batte, fellow and vice master of University College, Oxford;
great grandson of Henry Batte and great great grandson of Henry Batte, of Okewell in Birstall (in the West Riding, Yorkshire) who lived in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and until the second year of Queen Elizabeth(2).
Thomas Batte has no descendants of the name in Virginia at this day. His only (known) son, Thomas Batte, Junior, having left issue only one daughter. There are, however, many descendants of Thomas Batte, Senior, through his daughters. Those persons of the name of Bate now resident in Virginia are descendants of Captain Henry Batte (a brother of Thomas Batte, Senior) who lived in Charles City County, later Prince George, was a member of the House of Burgesses and a milita officer. The
brothers, Thomas and Henry Batte, had two uncles, named Wililam and Henry Batte, who were in Virginia at an earlier date.
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The History of Henrico County, Louis Manarin and Clifford Dowdey, University Press of VIrginia, Charlottesville
"During a race at the Varina track where Thomas Batte and Richard Parker waged one hundred pounds of tobacco. Batte claimed that Parker crossed in front of him and forced his horse to a slower stride. When the dispute was submitted to the court, the judges ordered that the race should be run again on the same course."
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The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, The Virginia Historical Society, Vol XIX, p 222
The article discusses the literacy among the early colonists in a book review of "Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century" by Philip Bruce, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1910. " ...among the hundreds of justices whose signatures appear in our county records in the 17th century, Mr. Bruce could find only three who could not write their names is another piece of strong evidence as to the amount of education among the upper classes. One of these three, Thomas Batte, must, it would seem, have been physically disqualified, for he was paternally grandson of an Oxford M.A. and maternally of a dean of Chester."
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William and Mary College Quarterly, Volume XXIV, 1915-1916, p 268
Thomas Batte moved from Henrico County to Charles City County and probably died there.
