His rapid ascension through the ranks of the law landed him high paying commissions and high-profile cases, eventually leading him into banking.

Using the considerable sum bestowed upon to him by his father he lived a life of pure excess and began collecting art to soothe his restlessness.

The family can trace their ancestors to John Alden who was crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower, through the union of Elkanah Bates (1779 - 1841) and Hannah Copeland.

[5][6] Alden's daughter Ruth married John Bass, and were survived by Benjamin, Williams and eventually Hannah Copeland, who began the lineage with the Bates family.

[8] Alfred Bates fought in the American Revolution as a captain, and later became a brigadier general for the Massachusetts State Militia.

He became a prominent member of the Whig Party during the 1840s, where his political philosophy closely resembled that of Henry Clay.

While a slaveholder, during this time, Bates became interested in the case of the slave Polly Berry, who in 1843 gained her freedom decades after having been held illegally in the free state of Illinois for several months.

He co-founded the firm of Davis, & Bates in Boston, and his wealth exponentially increased so much so that his overall business engagements quelled the Manhattan panic of 1837's effects in Maine.

He moved to Lewiston, Maine, which was considered a pivotal moment in his life as "the third reincarnation of the Bates man".

He initially gained wealth and influence from manufacturing textiles and estate development with correspondence to the mills.

His efforts concluded numerous periodic shortages of textiles through the war to be quelled, he was dubbed, the "supplier of movement.

"[15] His capitalization of this, saw to great levels of profit for his firms and companies, and caused dozens of mills to be closed due to overwhelming competition.

[16] Bates was drawn to the newly conceptualized Maine State Seminary in central Lewiston, and asked its founder and one of his good friends Oren Burbank Cheney to be involved, which would become his crowning achievement.

[17][18] After being approached by Oren Burbank Cheney, he began offering up the services of his mills, canals, and other holdings in the construction of such an institution.

Benjamin Edward Bates IV's second wife, Sarah Chapman Gilbert, was over 20 years younger than he was.