2. GEORGE W.2 BATES (NICHOLAS(BOTTS)1) was born November 21, 1851 in Lee County, Iowa, and died March 22, 1916 in Portland, OR. He married LIZZIE MAE MENZIES, daughter of JAMES MENZIES and PARTHENIA MILLER.
Notes for GEORGE W. BATES:
From: "PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY" written 1903 170-173\
HON. GEORGE W. BATES. To follow the career of George W. Bates from the time when, as a sturdy youth on his father's farm back in Lee county, Iowa, he worked and played beside the stream that sang its refreshing way through the meadows, and in which he ofttimes plunged to dissipate the noon-day heat, were to travel faster and with more accomplishable vigor than is either consistent or profitable to average mortals. Yet so seemingly exhaustless is the present vitality and resourcefulness of this intrepid promoter of western enterprises, so varied are his interests, and so splendid his grasp of the opportunities by which he is surrounded, that one is contrained to look forward rather than back, and to expect as well as appreciate.
Of Teutonic ancestry, Mr. Bates was born in Lee county, Iowa, November 21, 1851, and lived among the home surroundings until his seventeenth year. His father, Nicholas, was born in Germany, and came to America with the grandfather Bates, locating in Iowa when that part of the country was yet a territory. Nicholas farmed for many years in Iowa, but spent the last fifteen years of his life with his son, Hon. George W. He married Matilda Harris, a native of Illinois, and member of an old southern family. Mrs. Bates died in Iowa in 1868. Of her six children a daughter and three sons are living. Of these, one son, J. W., is a bridge-builder, at present operating near Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, and William is a resident of San Francisco.
At the age of seventeen George W. Bates started out upon an independent career, and from the bottom learned all about railroading and railroad building, finally completing his instruction with laying track and bridge building. In 1874 he identified himself with the San Francisco Pacific Bridge Company, and engaged in building bridges and docks, and was sent by the same company to Portland in 1880, intending to remain for three months. The business chances represented in this town appealed to his largeness of perception with considerable force, and in due time he found himself a part of the moving forces around him. He constructed the dock for William Reed in 1880, and while associated with A. S. Miller & Son contracted for building the bridges between Roseburg and Ashland, on the California & Oregon Railroad. He was associated with Lee Hoffman for eight years, or until 1890, and during that time put in piers and steel bridges all through Oregon. The bridge across the Columbia river at Pasco, most of the snow sheds and the bridge on the Cascade division, and many kindred constructions in dirrerent parts of the state, are due to his practical grasp of an enormously interesting and responsible occupation. However. building bridges required frequent absences from home, and often called for deprivations and exposures to extremely trying and inclement weather, so after contributing to an unusual degree to the promotion of bridge building in the state Mr. Bates decided to engage in some occupation more concentrated and less wearing.
With others similarly interested, Mr. Bates purchased the little water plant in Albina and organized the Albina Light and Water Company. From a very small beginning the plant was enlarged and modernized, and made to conform to the most pressing needs of this part of the city. An electric lighting system was introduced all over Albina and East Portland, for which valuable franchises were secured. In December, 1891, was begun a deal with the Portland General Electric Company, which was carried through in January, 1892, and by the terms of which the company disposed of their electric lighting business for $200,000. January 1, 1902, the water business was also sold for a like amount. When Mr. Bates first bought the water plant it was realizing $350 a month.
At the present time Mr. Bates is engaged in banking Portland, and has under his supervision the Bank of Albina, incorporated in the spring of 1893; the Multnomah County Bank, and the Albina Savings Bank. During the panic of 1893, having plenty of money on hand from the sale of the water works, he used it to enable the Savings Bank to maintain its credit, and he also bought the other two banks. The banking business is incorporated under the firm name of George W. Bates & Co. He built his present bank building in 1896. Mr Bates is also interested in the laundry business, and in 1894 incorporated the Union Laundry Company, of which he is president, and which is one of the largest laundry enterprises in the Northwest. The present building was erected in 1902 on the corner of Second and Columbia Streets, has three floors, and is 60 x 100 feet ground dimensions. The Diamond Vitrified Brick Company, near Vancouver, is another enterprise in which Mr. Bates is interested, and of which he is president and a director. This is a very large plant, and its brick are shipped over all the country. For some years he owned the Parker Mill, and during that time organized the Albina Saw Mill Company, of which he became president, and managed to work up the affairs of the mill to a high standard. This plant was disposed of in 1899, in response to the more pressing demands upon the time of Mr. Bates.
As a Republican Mr. Bates has rendered the same kind of service to his party which has characterized his many business enterprises. He represented Multnomah county in the state senate during the sessions of 1897-99, and was appointed police commissioner, by Mayor Frank, but resigned from the same. Mayor Mason also appointed him police commissioner, and he was appointed to the same office by Governor Geer upon the passage of the new charter. He is a member of the Commercial Club, and attends the Presbyterian Church of which his wife is a member. Mrs. Bates was formerly Miss L. M. Menzies, who was born in Oregon, and whose father, Capt. James Menzies, owned a home near Sandy, and was a pioneer of that district. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bates, Lloyd, George W., Jr., and Bruce Adler.
More About GEORGE W. BATES:
Fact 1: 1900, lived at 161 22nd St. Census,
Fact 2: 795 N.W. Flanders (last home)
Notes for LIZZIE MAE MENZIES:
Her parents & siblings migrated from Kentucky to Missouri in about 1840. Then they moved on to Oregon
Children of GEORGE BATES and LIZZIE MENZIES are:
i.
LLOYD3 BATES, b. May 1887.
3.
ii.
GEROGE W. BATES II, b. March 1889, Portland, OR; d. September 18, 1961, Davis Bar, Columbia River, Oregon.
4.
iii.
BRUCE ADLER BATES, b. March 01, 1893, Portland, OR; d. January 28, 1934, Portland, OR.
