Author: Bates, Elisha
Biography:
BATES, Elisha (1781-1861: ANBO)
Quaker controversialist and publisher, he was the son of Benjamin and Hannah Bates, farmers in Virginia. He was largely self-educated and became a farmer, a surveyor, and a schoolteacher. Strong views against slavery were a problem for him in Virginia, and he moved with his wife and children to Mount Pleasant, Ohio. His book The Doctrines of Friends (1825) established him, in the words of ANBO, as "a bulldog of evangelical Quakerism"; it was in its 12th edition by 1835 and continued to be reprinted to 1896. Following visits to England in 1832-4 and 1836, he renounced Quakerism and joined the Methodists, but when he died he was buried in the Quaker burial ground in Mount Pleasant. (ANBO 11 Nov. 2017) HJ
Books written (1):
Mountpleasant [Mount Pleasant OH]: the author, 1825