The wonderful growth of the Young Men's Christian Association has had its origin in two things—its high standards of moral progress and its thorough systematization. No other religious organization has planned its work so effectively, with a recognition of all of the forces that work for the harmonious development of the individual along physical, mental and moral lines. For a third of a century Ezra Thomas Bates has labored in this field and is now state secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association of Connecticut, having been called to the position in July, 1894. He is constantly reaching out along broadening lines for the achievement of the purposes of the organization and his labors have indeed been resultant.
     Mr. Bates was born September 29, 1843, at Whitman, Massachusetts, a son of Cyrus and Mary (Alden) Bates. The father was born in Hanover, Massachusetts, in 1811. The mother was a representative in the eighth generation of the direct descendants of John and Priscilla Alden. Through her mother, who belonged to the Dyer family, she was descended from Colonel Bela Dyer, who was one of the officers of the Revolutionary war. Cyrus Bates also came of early colonial stock, being a descendant of the old Massachusetts family of that name that was founded in America in 1620 by an ancestor who came from England. He became a successful builder of Whitman, Massachusetts, where he resided during the greater part of his life. He passed away in 1885, at the age of seventy-four years, while his wife, surviving until 1893, was seventy-six years of age at the time of her demise, her birth having occurred in 1817. Their family numbered ten children, nine of whom reached adult age, and one of the sons, Solon, died in active service in the Civil war in 1863, when twenty-two years of age.
     Ezra Thomas Bates, the fifth of the family, pursued his education in the public schools of his native city, becoming a high school pupil there. As a boy he learned the trade of shoemaking but did not find it a congenial occupation and followed it for only a short time. When twenty-two years of age he secured a clerkship in a grocery store in his native city and there remained until 1884. In January of that year he became secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association at Stoneham, Massachusetts, where he continued for several years and then accepted a similar line of work at Holyoke. He there aided in the formation and establishment of the association and became its first secretary, so continuing for eight years and two months. In July, 1894, he was called to the position of state secretary and through the intervening period of twenty-three years has devoted his entire time and attention and his best talents to the organization. Today the Young Men's Christian Association of Connecticut stands among the first of all the states of the Union in its organization and the effective work being carried out in its local branches. This is due in no inconsiderable measure to the efforts and influence of Mr. Bates, who studies the question from every possible standpoint and is actuated by the spirit of modern-day progress and improvement.
     In 1866, in Lynn, Massachusetts, Mr. Bates was married to Miss Charlotte Dodge Porter, a native of Hamilton, Massachusetts, and a daughter of Benjamin and Abigail (Hamilton) Porter, the latter a representative of the well known Hamilton family. In 1915 Mr. Bates was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away on the 3d of July of that year at the age of seventy-four. They had traveled life's journey together for almost a half century, sharing with each other in the joys and sorrows, the adversity and prosperity which checker the careers of all, and they had become the parents of four children, of whom two are living; Mrs. A. E. Pickup, of Holyoke, Massachusetts; and Eldred Sumner, a photographer of Brooklyn. The former has three children, Herbert Bates, Ezra Alden and Charlotte Porter, who are a source of much comfort and joy to their grandfather, who is justly proud of them. The deceased children of the family are: Sarah Abbie, who died at the age of five years; and Ernest Leslie, who was a bright and promising young man of exceptional qualities and attainments when he passed away at the age of eighteen, his loss bringing great sorrow to the family and his large circle of friends. While Mr. Bates is in his seventy-fourth year, he has none of the infirmities which one frequently associates with old age. In spirit and interest he seems yet in his prime and his strong stalwart manhood is the expression of the clean, wholesome Christian life which he lias lived. To him may be applied the words of Victor Hugo: