James T. Bates

Who was James T. Bates?

James T. Bates was an American businessman who founded the daily newspaper Tribune de Genève on 1 February 1879.

The son of Joseph C. Bates, a shipowner, James Bates was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He enlisted at age 17 in the Union army, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at age 21. He became a stockbroker in New York City. In 1873, he married Amélie, the daughter of Arthur Chenevière. After making a fortune in the States, he settled in 1875 in Geneva, Switzerland, the hometown of his wife.

Soon after moving, in 1876, he acquired the newspaper The Continental Herald and Swiss Times which shortly after became the daily Tribune de Genève on 1 February 1879.

He later married Henriette Baron, the widow of Léonce Pictet.

Since 1878, he was one of the more active members of the Emmanuel Church, the American church of Geneva.

In 1887, he founded the "Union Bank", which got absorbed into the Union Bank of Switzerland in 1919.

Bates died in Geneva on 24 December 1914.