Octavia Williams Bates
Born in 1846 in Detroit.[1] Daughter of Samuel Gershom Bates and Rebecca Williams.[2] Involved in women’s suffrage and served as secretary of the Detroit Female Suffrage Association, 1870–1871.[3] Earned a BA from the University of Michigan, 1877, as one of the first women to attend the university.[4] Lifelong member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.[5] Served as president of the Detroit Woman’s Club and the Detroit Equal Suffrage Association.[6] On the board of directors of the Association for the Advancement of Women.[7] Served on the dress reform committee for the National Council of Women of the United States, beginning 1891.[8] Member of the advisory board of the Federation of Woman’s Clubs, 1892.[9] Presented four papers at the World’s Congress of Representative Women at the Chicago World’s Fair, May 1893.[10] Acted as secretary for the High School Scholarship Fund Association of Detroit, 1894.[11] Earned a law degree from the University of Michigan and was the post graduate president of the law class, 1896–1897.[12] Qualified for the Michigan bar, 1897.[13] Attended meetings of the National Council of Women in Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska, with EBW, Oct. 1898.[14] Spoke and served as a U.S. delegate at the International Council of Women in London, 1899, which EBW attended.[15] Lived in Baltimore, 1905–1911.[16] Died 12 Jan. 1911 in Baltimore.[17]
[1] 1850 U.S. Census, Detroit, Wayne Co., MI, 39.
[2] 1860 U.S. Census, Detroit, Wayne Co., MI, 63, Octavia Bates. Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle, ed., “Municipal Suffrage for Women in Michigan,” The Congress of Women, 1893 (Philadelphia: C. R. Parish, 1894), 664–667.
[3] Detroit City Directory, 1870–71 (Detroit: Charles F. Clark, 1870), 56. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, eds., Report of the Sixteenth Annual Washington Convention, March 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th 1884 . . . (Rochester, NY: Charles Mann, 1884), 202. “Octavia Williams Bates,” Newark (OH) Daily Advocate, 9 Jan. 1897, 6. Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle, ed., “Municipal Suffrage for Women in Michigan,” The Congress of Women, 1893 (Philadelphia: C. R. Parish, 1894), 664–667.
[4] “Miss Octavia Williams Bates,” Law Student’s Helper (Detroit), Jan. 1895, 458.
[5] Mrs. Elroy M. Avery, ed., “The American Monthly Magazine,” Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine 29 (July–Dec. 1901): 182.
[6] “Miss Octavia Williams Bates,” Law Student’s Helper (Detroit), Jan. 1895, 458. “Octavia Williams Bates,” Newark (OH) Daily Advocate, 9 Jan. 1897, 6.
[7] “Miss Octavia Williams Bates,” Law Student’s Helper (Detroit), Jan. 1895, 458. “Octavia Williams Bates,” Newark (OH) Daily Advocate, 9 Jan. 1897, 6.
[8] “From the Fair,” Madison County (MT) Monitor, 20 May 1893, 9. “Woman’s World-Dress Reform Recommended by Women’s National Council,” Trenton (NJ) Times, 7 Apr. 1893, 7. May Wright Seawall, ed., Worlds Congress of Representative Women . . . (Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally, 1894), 351. “Among the Women’s Clubs,” Sunday Herald (Boston), 8 Apr. 1900, 43. “Leaders of Thought,” Baltimore Morning Herald, 15 Mar. 1900, 12.
[9] “Miss Octavia Williams Bates,” Law Student’s Helper (Detroit), Jan. 1895, 458. “Club Life,” Detroit as She Is (Detroit: Mabley, 1889), 21. “The Federation of Woman’s Clubs Winds Up Its Business,” Davenport (IA) Daily Leader, 16 May 1892, 3. “Final Course of Lectures,” Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago), 2 Oct. 1893, 7.
[10] May Wright Seawall, ed., Worlds Congress of Representative Women . . . (Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally, 1894), 351. Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle, ed., “Municipal Suffrage for Women in Michigan,” The Congress of Women, 1893 (Philadelphia: C. R. Parish, 1894), 664–667.
[11] Detroit City Directory, 1894 (Southfield, MI: R. L. Polk, 1894), 81.
[12] “Miss Octavia Williams Bates,” Law Student’s Helper (Detroit), Jan. 1895, 458. “Octavia Williams Bates,” Newark (OH) Daily Advocate, 9 Jan. 1897, 6.
[13] George Irving Reed, ed., Bench and Bar of Michigan: A Volume of History and Biography (Chicago: Century Publishing and Engraving, 1897), xiv.
[14] EBW, Diary, 25 and 30 Oct. 1898.
[15] EBW, Diary, 27 June and 6 July 1899. “International Council,” New York Daily Tribune, 19 May 1899, 5. “The International Council of Women,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 May 1899, 6. “The International Council of Women,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Aug. 1898, 1.
[16] 1910 U.S. Census, Baltimore, MD, p. B9, Octavia W. Bates. “Octavia Williams Bates Dead,” Detroit Times, 14 Jan. 1911, 8. Baltimore City Business Directory, 1905–1906 (Baltimore: R. L. Polk, [1905]), 182.
[17] “Octavia Williams Bates Dead,” Detroit Times, 14 Jan. 1911, 8. “Died, & Miss Octavia W. Bates,” Sun (Baltimore), 14 Jan. 1911, 6, 9.