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Elijah Bates
Gender:
Male
Born:
July 27, 1770
Died:
February 4, 1850
Home Town:
East Granville, MA
Later Residences:
Westfield, MA
Marriage(s):
Mary Ashley Bates (June 15, 1800)
Biographical Notes:
Elijah Bates was the son of Captain Nathaniel Bates and Hannah Church. He was born on July 27, 1770 in East Granville, Massachusetts. Bates graduated from Yale College in 1794 and attended the Litchfield Law School that same year. He was first admitted to the Hampshire County, Massachusetts bar in 1797 and later to the Suffolk Bar in Boston, Massachusetts before 1807. Bates practiced as a lawyer in Westfield until 1825. In 1826, he began engaging in agricultural pursuits. Bates and his wife Mary Ashley of Westfield had two sons and one daughter. Elijah died of lung fever in Westfield, MA on February 4, 1850.
Education
Years at LLS:
1794
Other Education:
Graduated from Yale College in 1794.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Agriculture
Admitted To Bar:
Hampshire County, MA in 1797, and Suffolk Bar in Boston, MA ca. 1807
Training with Other Lawyers:
He studied with Joseph Lyman after completing his courses at the Litchfield Law School.
Immediate Family (Why only immediate family?)
- Mary Ashley Bates
Wife - Hannah Church Bates
Mother - Nathaniel Bates
Father
The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation. Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
[We are currently working to update and confirm citations of attendance.]
Secondary Sources:
Trowbridge, Francis Bacon. The Ashley Genealogy: a history of the descendants of Robert Ashley of Springfield, Massachusetts. 1896.
Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of College History, Vol. 5. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911.
Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of College History, Vol. 5. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911.
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