My Genealogy Hound

Martin Stephen Bates is a man whom nature seems to have especially designed to be a planter, for he has met with a more than average degree of success in pursuing that calling, and owing to his desire to keep out of the beaten path and to his adoption of new and improved methods he is now the owner of a good plantation. He was born in Cherokee County, Ga., March 2, 1843, a son of Elder J. R. and Mary Ann (Dobbs) Bates, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter of Georgia. When a boy Mr. Bates went to Georgia with his parents, there grew to manhood, married and lived until 1870, when he came to Scott County, Ark., having traveled over the county in 1848 and reported it a good one. At the above-mentioned date he and sixty other persons came here, and now 1,000 persons are the offspring of the members of this colony. Mr. Bates lived in Scott County until 1877, then came to near Mt. Ida, and here quietly breathed his last at the age of seventy-six years. He had studied medicine when a young man, and although he practiced his profession for about forty years before coming to this State, he afterward gave his attention to farming. In 1868 he joined the Primitive Baptist Church, was ordained an elder soon after, and preached the gospel until his death. He was a Mason for many years, was a Democrat politically, and while in Georgia and also Scott County, Ark., held the office of justice of the peace. He helped remove the Indians to their reservation west of the Mississippi River, being an officer. The Bates family are of Scotch and English descent, the grandfather, Stephen Bates, being a Virginia planter and a son of William Bates, one of the wealthiest men of the Old Dominion. The mother of the subject of this sketch is still living and resides on the old homestead in Arkansas, being now seventy years of age. She has been a member of the Missionary Baptist Church for twenty-five years, and has always been a kind, considerate Christian lady. Of a family of fourteen children she bore her husband, Martin Stephen is their fifth son. In his youth he was given the advantages of the schools of Cherokee County, Ga., but put aside his books in 1861 to join the Confederate Army, becoming a member of Company G, Twenty-third Georgia Infantry, with which he served four years, taking part in many battles: Siege of Yorktown, Seven Pines, Williamsburg, besides many others, but escaped without receiving a wound or being taken prisoner. At the close of the war he commenced to farm for himself, but in 1870 left his native State, and for two years was a resident of Scott County, Ark., at the end of which time he came to Montgomery County, settling on the old Willard place on Caddo road, which he has improved with excellent buildings, fences, orchard, etc. On coming here he was without means, but his efforts have been attended with success, and he now owns a good farm, on which he raises excellent crops. In 1874 he joined the Primitive Baptist Church, was ordained one of its elders eight years since, and has since been engaged in preaching the Gospel. He was married, in 1866, to Miss Elizabeth Brooks, and eight sons and four daughters have been born to their union, seven sons and one daughter now living. Mrs. Bates is also a member of the Primitive Baptist Church, and Mr. Bates is a stanch Democrat.