Lem Bates son of Thomas Bates and Sarah Elizabeth Ward

Lem Bates c. 1913

Lemuel Harris Bates (a.k.a. Lem) was born in Homer (Banks County), Georgia on March 15, 1883 and died in Woodstock (Cherokee County), Georgia on September 21, 1954.

On May 25, 1907 Lem married his cousin Lillian (Lillie) Margaret Smith Bates. He was 24 and she was 14 years old. They had nine children (eight lived to adulthood) between 1910 and 1920 and one (Martha Louella Bates Jackson) who is still living at age 97.

Lem was the grandson of Charlton and Nancy Kelly Bates and the son of Thomas F. Bates and Sarah Elizabeth Ward Bates. His sister was Indy (Endy) Bates.