Mrs. Martha (Maze) Bates. Our readers will be both pleased and profited to read a life-sketch of this mother in Israel who has for so many years exerted an influence for good, not only in her home and church, but throughout the whole community. Her devotion as a wife and mother and her long and faithful membership in the Shiloh Baptist Church, which has lasted almost fifty years, as well as her active interest in public affairs, have placed her in the fore front of the women of Macoupin County. She still resides at the old homestead which her husband had established on section 22, Bird Township.
The father of Mrs. Bates was John Maze, a native of Virginia, and her mother, Sarah Morrow, was born in Eastern Tennessee, in the mountainous regions. This couple emigrated from Tennessee to Greene County in this State early in the ‘30s and afterward removed to Barr Township. It was while they were living there that Mr. Maze went on business to Kentucky and there met his death. His widow continued to maker her home in Barr Township until she passed from life.
Mrs. Bates was the fifth child of her father’s family and was born in Jefferson County, Tenn., July 17, 1816. She came with her parents to Macoupin County, and was married in Barr Township, March 25, 1836. The gentleman to whom she was wedded and with whom she spent more than a half century of happy wedded life, was William J. Bates, a son of Hampton and Jane (Bryson) Bates. He was born in Jefferson County, Tenn., October 20, 1813. Their earliest married home was in Western Mound Township, where they lived for upwards of sixteen years, after which they removed to Bird Township, where Mr. Bates died September 16, 1890. This long life together was one of unusual harmony and congeniality, and was filled with acts of unostentatious goodness and the quiet fulfillment of duty.
Mr. Bates made substantial improvements upon his farm and left it in an excellent condition. He had been a member of the Shiloh Baptist Church for more than forty-five years, and was a power in it for good. Six children crowned this union, namely: George W., who married Miss Agnes Adams; Sarah J., who was the wife of John Morris, and died June 26, 1859; John H., who took to wife Catherine McAliney; James C., Frances M., who married William Adams, and Addison, who married Ellen B. Barr. to this faithful mother those children owe much, not only in the influences which tended to form their characters, but also their social standing and their worldly success. She is a woman who is deeply interested in the affairs of today and keeps herself fully informed of public movements. Not only her children, but all who know her, rise up to “call her blessed.”