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HARRISON COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@earthlink.net
July 23, 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 562
Harrison
CLARENCE SILAS BATES, M. D. A native of Harrison
County, where he devoted his early years to farming. Doctor
Bates after graduating from medical college returned to
the same community for the work of his profession, and
for upward of twenty years has performed with quiet effi-
ciency and ability the arduous round of duties required
of a country practitioner.
He was born on a farm in Harrison County, July 4, 1874.
His great-grandfather was a native of England, and on
coming to America settled in Erie County, Pennsylvania.
The grandfather of Doctor Bates was Andy Bates, a native
of Erie County, Pennsylvania, and an early settler in West
Virginia. Notley S. Bates, father of Doctor Bates, was
born in Doddridge County, this state, in 1846, and when
he was three years of age his mother died and at the age
of fourteen he left the home of his father and stepmother
to begin life for himself. For several years he worked
as a farm hand for a man whose daughter he married.
After his marriage he settled on a farm in Harrison
County. He served one year in the Union Army during
Civil war, was an active republican, and he and his wife
were Methodists. Notley S. Bates married Laura Frances
Swiger, who was born in Harrison County. She died in
1898, and her husband died at Wilsonburg in 1918. She
was a daughter of Jerah and Ruth (Wilson) Swiger, the
former a native of Harrison County and the latter a native
of Ireland, she having been brought to America when an
infant.
Clarence Silas Bates was one of a family of twelve chil-
dren, ten of whom reached mature years. While on the
farm he attended the public schools, also took a course
in Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, and he remained a
factor on the farm until he was twenty-six. He then
entered the Baltimore Medical College, and remained there
until graduating M. D. in 1904. In May of that year
Doctor Bates located at Lumberport, and has ever since
carried the burdens of a general practitioner. He is a
member of the Harrison County, West Virginia State and
American Medical Associations. Three times he has taken
a vacation from his practice in order to keep in touch with
the advanced knowledge of his science, and he took one
postgraduate course in the Mayo Brothers Clinic at Roches-
ter, Minnesota. Doctor Bates is a republican, a Baptist,
and is a member of the Masons and Odd Fellows.
In 1898 he married Allie A. Coffman, daughter of Jesse
F. and Virginia (Harbert) Coffman, of Harrison County.
Their two sons are Selman J., and Everett Brice.
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