[1] She was, perhaps, the first woman in the state who engaged in regular newspaper work, having been connected with the Grand Traverse Herald, of which her husband, Thomas Tomlinson Bates, was editor, since 1876.

[2] At the age of 14, Bates began to teach school, being a teenager of remarkable mental ability and a good student.

[4] In early womanhood, she contributed constantly to the leading magazines of that period and her work was eagerly sought by publishers.

[2] The Herald was a large, 8-column, 10-page paper, and was home-printed, a feature involving an extra amount of editorial labor of husband, wife, and daughter working together.

[5] Bates was the oldest, continuous, newspaper correspondent in Michigan, and for nearly forty years, had been one of the most prominent writers for the Detroit Tribune.

She was survived by her husband, Thomas, and three children, George G. Bates, proprietor of the American Poultry Journal of Chicago and vice president of the Herald and Record Co.; Mabel and Clara.