Charles P. Bates Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1140-1143 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				CHARLES P. BATES.  

	Charles P. Bates, senior partner in the well known law firm of 
Bates & Bates, was born in Florence, Oneida county, New York, December 
4, 1859, a son of Rev. Laban E. and Caroline (Bronson) Bates, his 
father being a clergyman in the Congregational church. Mr. Bates was 
educated in the public schools and Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, 
New York, where he was graduated in 1881. He was engaged in teaching 
school, and in studying law in the office of J. & Q. Van Voorhis, at 
Rochester, New York, until May, 1883, when he came to the state of 
South Dakota and located at Ipswich in Edmunds county, where he was 
engaged in the hardware business with Elmer E. Parsons, under the firm 
name of Parsons & Bates, until March, 1885, when he removed to Sioux 
Falls and resumed the study of law in the office of Hosmer H. Keith.  

	He was admitted to the bar in November, 1886, but continued in 
the office of Mr. Keith until January, 1889, when they formed a 
partnership under the title of Keith & Bates, which continued until 
January, 1893, when the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Bates engaged 
in the practice independently until January, 1898, at which time he 
entered into partnership with P. J. Rogde, under the firm name of Bates 
& Rogde. On January 1, 1904, this partnership was dissolved and Mr. 
Bates formed a business alliance with Ralph W. Parliman, under the firm 
name of Bates & Parliman, which continued until January 1, 1911, when 
the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Bates again engaged in the 
practice alone. On July 1, 1915, he took his son, Chester Bates, into 
partnership with him, which partnership exists at the present time 
under the firm name of Bates & Bates.  

	Mr. Bates has held the following official positions: city 
attorney of Sioux Falls for the years 1894, 1895 and 1907; states 
attorney of Minnehaha county from 1897 to 1901; and state senator from 
Minnehaha county from 1909 to 1911.  

	He has always been active in civic affairs, and in 1914 assisted 
in reorganizing the Sioux Fulls Commercial Club and was elected its 
president. He has been president of the Minnehaha County Bar 
Association, and, for a number of years, has been active in the South 
Dakota State Bar Association, having held important committee 
positions, including the chairmanship of the committee on legal reform 
in 1914.  

	He is a member of the various branches of Masonry, being a 
thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner. He is also 
a member of Sioux Falls Lodge No. 262, of the Benevolent Protective 
Order of Elks; has held all of the offices in the subordinate lodge, 
was president of the State Association in 1914; was for three years a 
member of the judiciary committee of the Grand Lodge; and for two years 
chairman of such committee. He is also a member of Granite Lodge, No. 
18, in which he has held all-the official chairs, and has frequently 
represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge of the state. He is also 
affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen.  

	On February 5, 1891, Mr. Bates was united in marriage to Miss 
Grace Chester, of Elmira, New York. They are the parents of two sons, 
Chester Bronson Bates, who is now engaged in the practice of law with 
his father, and Lawrence Russell Bates, who is a district agent for the 
Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company.