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Note: From the personal testimony of Mary Helen Bates. Death info on Mary Helen Bates from personal journal of Jeffrey Bates McKinnis Written in 1975 by Jeffrey Bates McKinnis My mother is Mary Helen Bates. She was born 27 March 1921, in the City of Alameda, Alameda, California, to parents Henry Jocelyn Bates and Maratha Elizabeth Linderman. Mary Helen is the oldest child and only daughter in a family of three children. Her two brothers are-from older to younger- Richard Jocelyn and Robert Edward. Both my mother's father and mother were born in Alameda to well established families, which, though not of great wealth, were none-the-less, living quite comfortably. Henry Jocelyn Bates was the youngest of five boys born to Henry Lesley Alexander Bates and Rebecca Helen Rixon. Henry Lesley Alexander Bates was the son of a British Naval officer, and was born in Cudalore, India. My great great grandfather, Henry Lesley Alexander Bates, opened a fire insurance company in the still somewhat untamed town of billings, Montana. In a manuscript written by his hand (now in the possession of Martha Elizabeth Bates) he relates an experience of interest. Apparently an individual, who had taken out an insurance policy with Mr. Bates on his business establishment, had failed to pay his premiums. Well, unfortunately, this fellow's establishment burned to the ground. One day he approached my great grandfather in his office seeking recompense for his loss. Mr. Bates attempted to explain to him that due to the fact that the fellow had not kept up his premiums for several months, he could not hope to collect. The unfortunate fellow was not in a completely sober condition as a result of trying to drink his sorrows away prior to this encounter, and was therefore unable to accept these natural consequences. Before storming out the door, he verbally attacked my great grandfather and even threatened to shoot him if he ever saw him again in Billings. When the encounter had come to an end, Henry L.A. Bates decided that this fellow might be dangerous in his present condition. He determined to close up shop for the day, and knowing that this drunken fellow would probably continue to drown his own consciousness, he sought to find out where the fellow was so as to stay clear of him. Henry L.A. Bates went from saloon to saloon looking for the fellow and asking those present of the irate fellow's where-a-bouts. He never did fid him and so decided to go on home. My great grandfather learned later that the irate fellow, upon hearing that Henry Lesley Alexander Bates was packing a gun and going from bar to bar asking his whereabouts became frightened for his life, thinking, of course, that he was gunning for him. My great grandmother, Rebecca Helen Rixon, came originally from Milton, Ontario. She and her husband Henry raised their boys to appreciate and respected the traditions and propriety which are characteristic of their ancestry, both the Bates and Rixon lines ultimately having come from England. My mother's parents attended both high school and later the University of California at Berkeley together. Henry Jocelyn Bates was an aggressive individual as exemplified by his participation in football while attending U.C. He was first team offensive and defensive end and was considered by some to be one of the best defensive football players on the west coast. In his sophomore year he broke his collar bone and was thus compelled to give up his collegiate football career. After a relatively short career in the rice business, Henry moved his family to Sacramento, California where he opened a branch of Ellsworth Investment Co. of which he was a founding partner. The main office was in San Francisco. My mother, Mary Helen Bates, though born in Alameda spent most of her childhood and all of her adolescent years in Sacramento. My mother attended C.K. McClatchy High School the very first year of its existence and, also, later graduated from it. She attended Sacramento Junior College for a short time after. My parents met each other while my father was attending cadet flying school at Mather Air Base. Henry J. Bates apparently thought much of my father upon meeting him, according to the testimony of my mother. Mom also states that her father was critical of her other boy friends and would have little to do with them. Father and Mother were married 1 June 1942 in Carson City, Nevada."
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