Lindon Wallace Bates Jr. (July 17, 1883 – May 7, 1915) was an American engineer and politician from New York who died on the ''

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...

''.

Life

Bates was born on July 17, 1883, in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, the son of engineer Lindon Wallace Bates and Josephine White. His paternal grandfather, William Wallace Bates, was the United States Commissioner of Navigation from 1889 to 1892. Bates attended the

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

. He then went to the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, graduating from there in 1902 and later took a post-graduate course. He then began working as an engineer for the

New York Barge Canal The New York State Canal System (formerly known as the New York State Barge Canal) is a successor to the Erie Canal and other canals within New York. Currently, the system is composed of the Erie Canal, the Oswego Canal, the Cayuga–Seneca Canal ...

and as secretary of the United States Engineering Company. He also supervised grade raising in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

, to protect it from flooding. He travelled extensively to examine and supervise construction all over the world. He also wrote a number of books on technical, economic, and sociological subjects. In 1908, Bates was elected to the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, representing the

New York County Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

29th District. He served in the Assembly in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

and 1910. In the 1912 United States House of Representatives election, he was a candidate the

New York's 17th congressional district New York's 17th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in Southern New York. It includes all of Rockland County and portions of central and northwestern Westchester County, i ...

as a Progressive and

Independence League The Independence Party, established as the Independence League, was a short-lived minor American political party sponsored by newspaper publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst in 1906. The organization was the successor to the Munici ...

, but lost to John F. Carew. He ran again in the 1914 United States House of Representatives election for the same district, this time under the Republican, Progressive, and Independence League ticket, but he lost to Carew again. In 1909, Bates was appointed a member of the General Commission of Water Supply by Mayor McClellan. He was also a member of the National Conservation Congress and vice president of the Bates Engineering Company of New York City. He was consulting engineer for a number of companies, including the Western Engineering Corporation, the Denver Mining Investment Company, the Laguintos Oil Company, the Maikop Areas, and the Trinidad Cedros Oil Company. He was a member of the

Western Society of Engineers The Western Society of Engineers is a professional and educational organization founded in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on May 25, 1869 as the Civil Engineers' Club of the Northwest. In 1880 the club was incorporated as the Western Society of Engineers. ...

, the ''Société Belge des Ingénieurs et des Industriels'', and the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. Bates was one of the original 32 founders of the

New York Young Republican Club The New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) is an organization for members of the Republican Party between the ages of 18 and 40 in New York City. The New York Young Republican Club is the oldest and largest chapter in the United States, founded ...

. Bates was unmarried. He was a trustee of the

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) church in New York City. The church, on Fifth Avenue at 7 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, has approximately 2,200 members and is one of the larger PCUSA congregations. The ...

. When

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out, Bates was involved in organizing relief efforts. His father was vice chairman of the vice chairman of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium, while he was a member of the executive committee of the London board. In 1915, he was planning on going to Belgium to help the Commission and boarded the

RMS Lusitania RMS ''Lusitania'' (named after the Roman province in Western Europe corresponding to modern Portugal) was a British ocean liner that was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 and that held the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlanti ...

, where he was a first class passenger. He was on deck with Amy Lea Pearl, a friend of his, when the ship was struck. He spent the last moments prior to the ship sinking helping Amy and her husband Warren find their children. He died with the ship on May 7, 1915. His body was later recovered. He was buried in the Bates Family Cemetery in

Hancock, Massachusetts Hancock is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 757 at the 2020 census. History Hancock was first settled in 1762 as the Plantat ...

References

External links

*
The Political Graveyard
'
Lindon Bates Jr.
at ''

Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...

''
Lindon Bates Jr. Collection
at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Lindon Jr. 1883 births Deaths on the RMS Lusitania Politicians from Portland, Oregon People educated at Harrow School Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni 20th-century American engineers Engineers from New York City Politicians from Manhattan Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly New York (state) Progressives (1912) United States Independence Party politicians Burials in Massachusetts 1915 deaths