Sheldon Day Bates

Sheldon Day Bates was born in Hiram township, Portage county, Ohio on April 17th, 1834 to Loudon Arnold Bates and Harriett Green. He married Sarah Ann Rogers on February 17th, 1856 in Monroe county, Iowa. Sarah was born in 1837 in Shalersville, Portage county, Ohio to Noble Rogers and Mary Bates (daughter of Charles Bates, Loudon's brother). So, yes, Sheldon Bates married his cousin's daughter (his first cousin once removed). In about 1865, Sheldon and Sarah moved west.

Here's an excerpt from Ronald R. Batemen's book, Deep Creek Reflections: "Sheldon Day 'Daddy' Bates of Ohio and his wife Sarah Ann Rogers settled in Deep Creek in about 1865. His 112-acre field (section 9) sat directly east across a road from Egan's sawmill and less than a quarter mile south of the Ferguson telegraph office. Mr. Bates was a wheelwright by trade and was described as tall and thin with a moustache. He was also a merchant at Cherry Creek during an early boom period there. His wife is buried at Cherry Creek. He raised a family of four sons and four daughters, some of those posterity still live in and around the Deep Creek country. His sons are Hyrum, Horace, Harkison 'Harry', and Charles. His daughters married local people and lived in the area for many years. The daughters were LaVernie (Rice), Louella (see James Skinner biography), Mary Elizabeth (see Joseph Lee biography, and Naomi Minerva 'Judy' (see Alexander Noble biography)."

My Aunt Marlene Bates gave me a picture a while back of Sheldon Bates with his brothers, Elliot G. Bates and Ulysses Kirk Bates. Evidently, Sheldon made a trip back to Iowa at some point for a visit. Here's the picture (Sheldon on the left, Elliot standing, Ulysses on the right):