The Matthew Bates Story
In the mid-1850s the North Bend area of Boone County, Kentucky had a lot of large farms and thriving communities. The Ohio River was the commercial highway at the time. It also served as the final barrier between slaveholding Kentucky and the free states of Indiana and Ohio. There was heavy Underground Railroad traffic in Boone County. Boone County freedom seekers fled from the area as well as enslaved peoples from the South came through the county looking to reach a free state.
Matt Bates and his family were once enslaved by William and Peggy Bates who lived in the North Bend area. William was fond of Matt. In fact, William stated in his will that Matt was to be freed upon his death, though several other enslaved people were given to Bate's grandson. When William's wife Peggy died in 1845, she manumitted the eleven enslaved people that remained.
In 1846, a Free Black man named Matt "Kersey" manumitted eight of his children and grandchildren by deed in Boone County. It is believed that Matt Bates and Matt Kersey are ther same person. Matt Kersey purchased several items at Peggy's estate sale, as did a woman listed only by her first name, "Dinah." Additionally, there were several notes owed to Peggy's estate by Matt Kersey, which may have been loans related to freeing the family members he manumitted. In the 1850 census, Matt and Dinah were Free Blacks living in Boone County as were other Bates and Kersey family members. However, just because they were a free family, doesn't mean life was easy.
In a letter written by local resident Jonas Crisler on Nov. 11, 1852, he states, "there has been at least 30 ran off this fall, 14 at least at and about Burlington and the rest about Petersburg: Abraham Piatt's, Thomas Graves', and William Whittaker, all the most valuable. I have no doubt if things continue slaves will be scarce near the Ohio River, particularly if old Matt Bates and his clan continue their privilege they have had. I believe they have been their pilots."
The letter referenced Matt Bates who they believed was helping people escape slavery. The proximity of the Matt's home to the river put him in a position to be aware of the comings and goings of abolitionists and slave hunters. Jonas Crisler's suspicions may have been correct.
Many of the Bates family members, incuding Matt, had left Boone County sometime after 1852. Two years later, Jerry Bates was involved in a court case in Boone County, accused of stealing a horse. Jerry initially denied the charge, but later admitted to coming over from Lawrenceburg and attending a party at the Kirtleys the same night the horse was stolen. The next morning a man named Stockwell testified to seeing Bates riding a horse towards Covington. Stockwell asked Bates if he was trying to help people escape slavery, to which he replied "no."