Biography - Charles T. Bates
CHARLES T. BATES, well known and honored in financial circles in Greene county, is filling the position of cashier and general manager of the People's Bank of Roodhouse. He was born in Pierpont, Ohio, January 10, 1864, and is of English lineage, although several generations of the family have been represented in the new world. His grandfather was Melzo Bates, who died in 1875, at the age of fifty-six years. His wife bore the maiden name of Laura Gould. Their son, T. M. Bates, father of Charles T. Bates, was born in Pierpont, Ohio, in 1841, and after residing in that state for a number of years came to Illinois. He was for twelve years general superintendent for the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, being stationed at Roodhouse, Bloomington and Jacksonville. He is now living a retired life and makes his home in Chicago. He married Miss Frances Dutcher, daughter of David and Fidelia (Wright) Dutcher. Her father died in 1890, at the age of sixty years. Their son Frank is at home with them in Chicago, and their daughter Flora is also under the parental roof, while another daughter, Mrs. Blanche Begole, is living in East St. Louis. She was married in 1898 and her husband is a merchant tailor of that city.
Charles T. Bates became a resident of Illinois in his youth and after acquiring his preliminary education in the public schools he continued his studies in Jacksonville. He entered the banking business in 1881 when he accepted a position in the Roodhouse Bank, where he remained from 1881 until 1889, when he assisted in organizing the People's bank of Roodhouse, in connection with his father-in-law, John Roodhouse, William M. Morrow, ex-county treasurer, and the latter's son, H. C. Morrow, of White Hall. Mr. Bates was elected cashier of the new institution with W. A. Thompson as assistant cashier and Lee Freers as bookkeeper. The leading stockholders are well known and reliable business men and from the beginning, under capable management, the business has grown and prospered, the bank becoming one of the strong financial institutions of the county. Mr. Bates' previous experience in the banking business had well qualified him for the onerous and responsible duties which now devolve upon him, and his efforts have been one of the potent elements in the success of the bank.
Mr. Bates has been married twice, his first wife being Anna Morrow, a daughter of William M. Morrow. For his second wife he chose Mary Roodhouse, a daughter of John Roodhouse. There were three children by the first marriage: Margaret, born in 1892; T. Merrill, born in 1893; and C. William, born in 1896. There is a little daughter by the second marriage, Helen, born in 1903.
Mr. Bates endorses republican principles and earnestly desires the success of the party although he personally has no political aspirations. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to E. M. Husted lodge. He is also a member of the Congregational church. His life has, in a manner, been quietly passed, as he has not sought to figure prominently in public affairs, but he is representative of that class of business men who advance the general prosperity and development of their respective localities, commanding the confidence and respect of those who know them and receiving the warmest regard from those with whom they are most intimately acquainted.
Extracted by Norma Hass from Past and Present of Greene County, Illinois, by Ed Miner, published in 1905, page 272.
