Oliver A. Bates Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 436-439

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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OLIVER A. BATES. Among the many prosperous and prominent younger 
members of the farming community of Perry township, Davison county, may 
well be named the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch and whose 
farm comprises the northeast quarter of section 23. He is possessed of 
unbounded energy and enterprise, and has arrived at his present 
comfortable circumstances by the exercise of earnest industry and the 
strictest honesty. 

Mr. Bates is a native of the Hawkeye state, born in Fayette county, 
June 7, 1871. His father, Oliver Bates, who was born in Ohio, opened a 
lumber business in Buchanan county, Iowa, soon after the birth of our 
subject, and continued the same until he moved to Dakota. The mother, 
who bore the maiden name of Mary Sanders, was born in New York state, 
May 8, 1850. Oliver A. Bates, the subject of our sketch, is the eldest 
of a family of seven children, all of whom are now residing in Davison 
county, whither the whole family moved in 1880. The father filed a 
claim, the farm occupied by our subject since the death of the former. 
The place is in a good state of cultivation and is highly improved, 
being furnished with an artesian well, barn and outbuildings, including 
a new and conveniently arranged granary. The residence is octagonal in 
shape and is two stories high. Among his farm pursuits Mr. Bates adds 
that of a breeder of fancy poultry. Mr. Bates is truly a Dakotan, and 
is a young man who is known to be frugal and industrious, a man who 
plans well whatever he attempts and carries out his plans with a spirit 
and determination that would be commendable even in much older men. He 
is undoubtedly a man with a future, and one to whom his fellow men may 
look for a leader and a power in the upbuilding of the better interests 
of the community. In politics he has always used his elective franchise 
in the support of the candidates of the Populist party ever since he 
attained his majority, and has been active in the promotion of the 
local interests of that organization. His fellow men have seen fit at 
different times to entrust to his care the duties of some of the local 
offices, and he has served in the capacity of chairman of the township 
central committee, assessor of the township and chairman of the school 
board. 

Mr. Bates was united in marriage Octobers 7, 1896, to Miss Caroline 
Stowell, a native of the state of New York, born June 13, 1875. They 
are the parents of one child, Myron Rodell, born November 22, 1898. On 
another page of this volume will be found portraits of Mr. and Mrs. 
Bates.