A History of Muhlenberg County
by Otto Arthur Rothert
X, The Pond River Country
7. The first wife of Major Jesse Oates was, according to a vague family tradition, a Miss Caraway, sister of a Captain John Caraway. His second wife was Zilpah Mason, to whom he was married April 13, 1798, and who died October 1, 1849. Major Jesse Oates was the father of (1) William, (2) Jethro, (3) Mrs. Nancy (Charles) Campbell; (4) David; (5) Bryant; (6) John Mason; (7) Mrs. Betsy (V. L.) Dillingham; (8) Jesse; (9) Richard M.; (10) Rachael (Mrs. Lemuel Boggess, later Mrs. Wickliffe); (11) Mariah; (12) Mrs. Zilpah (Edmond) Dunn, (13) Matthew Mason; (14) Harriet (Mrs. Gough, Mrs. Robert Wickliffe, jr., Mrs. Williams); (15) Oliver Hayes (bachelor); (16) Wyatt, (17) Charles Campbell Oates.
8. William Oates and his wife Elizabeth Earl Oates were the parents of nine children: Bayless Earle, Mrs. Geraldine M. (Ashford D. Randolph, Thomas, Charles, Jethro, William W., Martha, Jesse, and James Wilson Oates.
Photos — Tysons of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky by Patty Tyson Wilson, (Greenacres Publishing Company, 2003).