Benjamin E. Bates
Benjamin Edward Bates IV July 12, 1808 January 14, 1878 was an American business magnate, and philanthropist. Known for his widespread business endeavors in New England during the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s, he produced some of the most prominent academic institutions, buildings, and manufacturing sites in the United States. He belonged to the Bates family, a wealthy business family during the Gilded Age.
Benjamin Edward Bates IV, was born in Mansfield, Massachusetts on July 12, 1808, to Hannah Copeland and Elkanah Bates as their third child. His father, Elkanah Bates was a cotton manufacturer and prominent merchant. Both of his parents were religious and belonged to the Congregational Church of Mansfield. In 1838, the new denomination split from the church to create a theologian association that questioned the divinity of Christ, Elkanah Bates was picked to lead the movement. His paternal grandfather fought in the American Revolution as a Captain, and later became a brigadier general for the Massachusetts state militia. When Bates was a younger boy, his brother recounts him being dragged by two horses across a considerable distance which left him badly cut and bruised, he pulled the horses down and eventually halted their movement, a considerable task considering Bates was onlyyears old at the time. Bates attended various private schools and enrolled at the age ofto the Wrentha
Source: Wikipedia