BATESBURG. S. C., May 1. — This town and community was saddened this week by the death of R. L Prater, well known citizen who died at the home of his son, R. L. Prater Jr., last Sunday. The funeral services were held Monday at Batesburg.

Mr. Prater was 66 years old. He was engaged in business here. Mr. Prater was in his 66th year, having been born on May 10, 1866. He was engaged in the lumber business. He held the high esteem of all who knew him.

He is survived by his widow, Mrs. R. L. Prater; by six sons, E. Prater, R. L. Prater Jr., S. O. Prater, B. B. Prater and C. A. Prater, all of Batesburg, and L. E. Prater of Goldville; by three daughters, Mrs. T. P. Ramsey [Ramsay] of Columbia; Mrs. Mike McCarley [McCarty] of Batesburg and Mrs. Nannie Miller of Batesburg; by two sisters, Mrs. C. A. Duncan of Batesburg and Mrs. DoIlie Prater of Newberry and by two brothers, Sumter Prater of Saluda and J. H. Prater of Busy Bee [Bisbee], Arizona.

The Record, Sunday, 2 May 1926

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Robert Lee Prater Sr (1866-1926) is my maternal Great Grandfather. His mother Mary Ann Whittle Prater, daughter of Ambrose Whittle, was the widow of James Hezekiah Prater.

Mary Ann and Hezekiah lived in Alabama before the Civil War. Records indicate that Hezekiah died in July 1863 in Florida. Mary Ann returned to South Carolina and is buried in the Ambrose Whittle cemetery near Clouds Creek in Saluda County.

Mary Ann had 3 children after Hezekiah died.

We have done Y-DNA testing on male Prater descendants of Robert Lee Prater Sr. The Y-DNA testing shows that male descendants of Robert Lee Prater Sr do not match the Y-DNA of descendants from the James Hezekiah Prater lineage that traces back to Maryland. This confirms the genealogy which tells us that the father of Robert Lee Prater Sr is not a Prater man.

We have also done AncestryDNA testing on more than ten descendants of Robert Lee Prater. Study of the in-common and ThruLine matches of these descendants shows the following:

10 matches descended from William C Smith, brother of Tillman.
21 matches descended from Pinckney William Smith, brother of Tillman.
32 matches descended from Warren Kirkland Smith, brother of Tillman.
9 matches descended from Tillman W Smith. Excluding the ten descendants of Robert Lee Prater.

The number of matches only tells us that more people in that lineage have done tests.

33 cM average of matches descended from William C Smith.
23 cM average of matches descended from Pinckney William Smith.
30 cM average of matches descended from Warren Kirkland Smith.
51 cM average of matches descended from Tillman W Smith. Excluding descendants of Robert Lee Prater.

There are in-common matches with descendants from each of the siblings of Tillman Smith. The matches under Tillman have a closer predicted relationship. This tells us that Tillman is the direct ancestor. This confirms this lineage genetically.

In addition to the genetics, the genealogy research shows us that these Smith and Whittle families lived in proximity of each other and had personal contact.

Steven James Coker
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/10370741/recent