Benoni Bates

REV. BENONI BATES was born at Trappe, Montgomery Co., Pa. His early education was received in the public schools of Johnstown, Pa., and Clarion Collegiate Institute, Rimersburg, Pa., where he graduated as salutatorian in 1889. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1893 and from the Theological Seminary in 1896. When Christ Church, Norristown, Pa., was organized it extended a call to him. The call was accepted and be was ordained and installed on August 2, 1896. Under the leadership of Rev. Bates, Christ Church developed a steady and substantial growth. He died on Sunday, May 6, 1917. He served this congregation faithfully for twenty-one years, as his first and only pastorate and as the congregation’s first and only pastor. For a number of years and up to the time of his death, Rev. Bates was the statistical editor of the Reformed Church Almanac. A wife and daughter survive.

Obituaries including Portraits and Biographical Sketches, Almanac and Year Book for the Reformed Church in the United States, 1918, page 49