Here is a brief history:  There were three attempts from the Lechlade Branch to emigrate to Colonial America. The first was Colonel Lancelot Bathurst, who settled in Virginia c1670. His three daughters have descendants through the families of the Skelton, Gillham, Meriwether, Jones, Daingerfield, Stith just to name a few.

The second attempt was by Sir Francis Bathurst 5th Baronet. On October 7, 1734  who started a Plantation named  Bathurst Bluff. He obtained from the Trustees of Gerogia a grant of 200 acres of land on the west bank of the Savannah River, 10 miles upstream of Savannah, Gerogia. Later that month he and his wife and three of their children boarded the "Prince of Wales" and sailed for Savannah, Gerogia. Other passengers included Rev'd John & Charles Wesley, General Oglethorpe, and Rev'd Ingram.The ship arrived in Georgia December 28, 1734. On this acreage Sir Francis established a plantation he called Bathurst Bluff, but for various reasons the enterprise ended in disaster. He died on 19 December 1734. His son Robert tried unsuccessfully to keep the plantation going, but he was killed during a slave riot in Charleston, South Carolina, on 9 September 1739. Bathurst Bluff eventually became part of the old Drakies Plantation. oSir Francis left no Bathurst descendants in Georgia.

The third & last attempt was by Sir Francis's eldest son Lawrence Bathurst; who became the 6th  Baronet after his fathers death. In 1728, when he was 15 years of age he was kidnapped from London, England, transported to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and sold to a farmer named Mr. Walker of German town, PA with whom he stayed with him until 1735.  He was subsequently employed by the Roberts family as a tutor of Jonathon Roberts; who eventually became a Pennsylvanian Senator. Lawrence married Anne Roberts (she was apparently not related) in Philadelphia on April 21, 1741. The marriage produced seven children, but ended in separation.

The American Revolutionary War divided the family. The old Baronet was a Torey but his children sided with the Colonies. At least two sons, John and Lawrence, fought with the Pennsylvania Militia. After the War Lawrence Jr. settled in Bald Eagle Valley, in central Pennsylvania. Centre County. He took his aging father along, the old Baronet becoming one of the first teachers in what is now Centre County. It is through Lawrence Bathurst Jr. that the majority of the Bathursts in the United States are descended. Others over the past two centuries are descended from various branches of the family, all of which - like Lechlade - have roots which go back to a common Englash forefather in the 14th century.

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