Joshua, was born April 26, 1869, in Wanship to Margaret Brooks and John Bates.

The house where Joshua was born had the back part as a dugout in the hillside.

Joshua Bates, gave added details to what life was like during his early years. In a handwritten biography, he related that he wore skirts and sunbonnets until he was about three and one-half years old.

Joshua Bates said his family lived on a ranch until he was about eight years old which would have been about 1877. The ranch was about one and one half miles west of Wanship.

He also remembered straying from home. "A team driven by a man came along and picked him up. As the man did not know who the boy was, he drove him toward Wanship. On the way they met another man with a team and he said the boy belonged the other way, so he took him back toward his home. "He was having a good time with all the inquiring who he was and where he lived. He did not suspect that he was lost."

He was about seven when his parents separated. "He was with his father a great deal. His father lived on a farm one mile from Wanship, a 1/2 mile farther west than the dugout."

When Joshua was about ten, his father took him to conference in Salt Lake City. Another time he went to Salt Lake with his father. "The trip took two days to reach Salt Lake with the horses and wagon. They drove into Salt Lake City and into the wood yard, where the city and county building now stands. When he left home, he was barefooted but his mother had given him a clean pair of stockings. That evening he walked barefooted up to ZCMI's and sat on the counter to put on his clean stockings. His father, John Bates, bought him a pair of shoes two sizes too large and with brass tips on the toes for longer wear. Being very proud of the shoes, he wore them all the next day."

"The next day he and his father started home to Wanship in a new wagon. As the trip home took two days, he and his father camped in Parley's Canyon the first night. They made a bed in the wagon. During the night his father heard voices in the brush near the wagon. A man came out to the wagon and asked for a place to sleep. Joshua's father was afraid of the man but dare not refuse so he put the man in the bed with the boy and he sat up on the spring seat all night with a gun on his lap for he had a large amount of money on him. They reached Wanship the next day safely."

Shoes were an expensive item and Joshua would go barefoot during the summer. Joshua recalled "We children went barefoot most of the summer in those days. On Saturday nights, mother would wash my feet in bran and water to get them clean for Sunday."

Joshua recalled, "I have enjoyed hunting and fishing all my life. I inherited this interest from my father who was looked upon as an outstanding sportsman."

June 6, 1894, Joshua Bates and Eliza Jane Petersen married. Eliza was born on Nov 8, 1872 in Waship to Andrew Petersen and Carolina Dorothea Dabelstein.

Joshua and Eliza had 7 children; 4 boys and 3 girls. Joshua Henry 1895, Andrew Parley 1898, Roy Richard 1903, Dorothy Marie 1907, Effie Lucille 1911, Lorenzo John 1913 and Ruth M 1917.

Eliza died June 11, 1946 in Wanship.

Joshua died August 3, 1958 in Vancouver Washington and is buried in The Wanship Cemetery next to his wife Eliza. Story provided by Sharon Huff.