James Woodson BATES, Congress, AR (1788-1846)

BATES, James Woodson, (brother of Edward Bates), a Delegate from the Territory of Arkansas; born in Goochland County, Va., August 25, 1788; attended Yale College and was graduated from Princeton College in 1807; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Virginia; moved to St. Louis, Mo., in 1816, and thence to the Post of Arkansas in 1819; elected as first Delegate from Arkansas to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses and served from December 21, 1819, to March 3, 1823; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1822 to the Eighteenth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Batesville, Ark.; judge of the fourth judicial circuit of Arkansas Territory 1824-1828; judge of the superior court of Arkansas 1828-1832; delegate to the Arkansas state constitutional convention in 1835; judge of the probate court of Crawford County in 1836; register of the land office in Clarksville 1841-1845; died in Van Buren, Crawford County, Ark., December 26, 1846; interment in the family burying ground at Moores Rock, Crawford (now Sebastian) County, Ark.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present