History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with
Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious,
Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons
and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co.,
Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 420, Astoria Township
Andrew J. Bates, farmer, sec. 6; P. O., Vermont. This
gentileman settled in Vermont tp., Fulton Co., April 1, 1854. He
was born in Westmoreland Co., Pa., June 2, 1825. His father,
Daniel Bates, was a native of the same State, and devoted the principal
part of his life to mercantile pursuits; he married Miss Susannah
Bechtel. Of the 10 children she bore, Andrew was the
seventh. Our subject learned the wagon-maker's trade, and worked
at that employment for a number of years. While a resident of
Pennsylvania he was married to Miss Eliza J. McGuire. Mr. B.
Enlisted as a private in Co. E, 2d Pa Vol., to engage in the war with
Mexico. He participated in the noted battle of Vera Cruz.
At the Cerro Gordo fight he remained under fire about 13 hours.
He was in the noted engagements of Contreras and Churubusco. At
the storming of the city of Mexico he displayed no ordinary courage;
once severely wounded he again and again refused to retire from the
field until a minie ball, sped on its deadly mission, buried itself in
his right limb and he sank to the ground. To-day he carries
battle-scars received in Uncle Sam's service, but receives no pension
and declines any. He has 5 children, - 4 boys and one 1
girl. Mrs. Bates passed away in 1876, her remains laid at rest in
Vermont cemetery.
