An Answer To My Prayer (Email)?

     For years I have been trying to find out where Elisha Gates lived in Prince George's County, Maryland.  As yesterday's blog entry stated I was trying to find Aquasco Creek since a land deed stated that part of Anchovy Hills lay along this creek/stream.  I sent out two emails, one to the Prince George's County Historical Society and the other to the Prince George's Park Department.  My email was a request for any information about Aquasco or Anchovy Hills.  I sent one to the Park Department because the department included several historical parks and museums.  
     This morning I heard back from Mary Haley-Amen, the Facility Director of the Marietta and Patuxent Rural Life Museums and Natural and Historical Resources Division (NHRD) Historic Resources Manager.  Her email asked that i contact her directly as she had "quite a lot of information on Anchovy Hills".  She sent alone a few pictures of a house that would have been on the property that Elisha Gates owned.  I will pass along anything I learn and I will share the pictures if the pictures are in the public domain or if I can get permission to share them.  Based upon the preliminary information that Mary Haley-Amen sent me it appears that Anchovy Hills is about five miles north of Aquasco on yesterday's map.  
    Here is a link to the museums in the area. Patuxent Rural Life Museums 

Gates Family in Early Maryland: Robert (1686-1733/34)

Robert Gates, son of Robert Gates and Dorothy Hunt

     The second generation of the Gates family in Maryland consisted of six siblings, including Robert Gates.  This Robert Gates was born on Feb. 13, 1686 in Charles County, Maryland.  He was about twelve years of age when his father passed away.  
     Robert Gates wrote a will¹ on Jan 16, 1733/34 and mentioned sons, Robert, Joseph and Peter.  The will was recorded Feb 4, 1733/34 in Charles County.  Robert was the oldest son and it appears that he was the executor. Robert's brother, Joseph, was made the guardian of Peter and Joseph.  Robert did not mention any other children, although, according to Mary Louise Donnelly, he had several.  He also does not mention his wife, so she probably preceded him in death.  In his father's will, Robert and his brothers were left a tract of land called Loving Brothers to share.  

Robert's will was written on 16 Jan 1733/34 and recorded on 4 Feb 1733/34
This document is typical of many old documents.  Parts have faded and the ink from previous and subsequent pages has bled through making it difficult to transcribe.

Children of Robert²  (At this time his wife is unknown) 
1) Robert
2) James died prior to 10 Aug 1758 when Robert sold his share of the land
3) Margaret
4) Peter
5) Joseph died without issue in 1772
6) John


1. "Maryland, Register of Wills Books, 1629-1999." Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2014. Citing Prerogative Court. Hall of Records, Annapolis. Wills 1704-1733 Vol. 3 page 266 Image 160 of 166
2.  Donnelly, Mary Louise, Charles County, Maryland My Colonial Ancestors Plus Others, Published by Mary Louise Donnelly, 2000, page 112

Gates Family in Early Maryland

     For the last dozen years or so I have been chasing and researching the ancestry of Elisha Gates.  We first met Elisha Gates in Nelson County, Kentucky where he owned land, raised a family, died, and is buried.  He served in War of 1812 while living in Kentucky.  We quickly found his marriage record in Prince George's County in 1817 to Christina Ann Summers.  From there the trail ran cold.  Mary Louise Donnelly had researched members of the Gates family in Charles County but neither Elisha nor his father were mentioned in her books.  As we found out later that was because Elisha and his parents were a couple miles and two counties away in Prince George's County.  Robert Cady Gates published Records of the Gates Families of America From Colonial Period to 1860 (3rd Edition) follows thousands of people with the surname Gates. He fails to connect Elisha to his parents but in truth his book is a compilation of known records and one could not expect him to connect these dots.  His book was a massive project. There are over two dozen men with the name Elisha Gates mostly in Connecticut and other parts of New England. Any connection with our Maryland family would probably be in England prior to settling in the colonies if there is any connection at all.  
   After joining the Prince George's County Genealogical Society, I purchased a CD-Rom containing back issues of their newsletter.  This turned out to be a good purchase because buried deep inside a reference mentioned an orphan record for Elisha Gates.  Unfortunately, the only known copy of this record was in the Maryland Archives in Annapolis.  It took me about seven years before I made it to Annapolis but while there I found a couple records that stated that Elisha was the son of James T. Gates and Mary A. Gates.  
     Eventually more records about Elisha and his sister, Elizabeth, showed up on family search.org.  These records had not been filmed before this and these 42 pages firmly connected Elisha to a James Truman Gates and Mary Ann Gates.
     By examining land records and wills, I was able to show that James Truman Gates was the son of Peter and Jane Gates.  Once this relationship was established we were able to connect to several more generations.
     Over the next few blog posts we will establish the following relations in the Gates family.  We will also list known siblings of the direct ancestors.  The Gates family lineage includes the following generations 
1)  Robert Gates married Dorothy Hunt 
2) Robert Gates married ____________
3) Peter Gates married Jane _______
4) James Truman Gates married Mary Ann _______
5) Elisha Gates married Christina Ann Summers

     These families lived in St. Mary's, Charles, and Prince George's Counties.  Even though they lived in three counties the various land holdings lay within a few miles of each other.  

An image from Google Maps showing the portions of three counties in Maryland where five generation of the Gates family lived.

     The documents that have helped me trace these relationships include guardianship records, land deeds and probate records found on familysearch.org as well as Family History Library microfilms.  I also used Land records found on MDLANDREC.NET, an Archives of Maryland Online Publication. As I said before, I also made a trip to the Maryland Archives and later contacted an archivist for an additional record.  In addition, two books that helped tremendously were Robert Cole’s World Agriculture and Society in Early Maryland, which I uncovered on Google Search and Charles County, Maryland My Colonial Ancestors Plus Others.  Both books are now in my library.

Is Peter Gates the Grandfather of Elisha Gates?

     Several of my blog posts have dealt with a great-great-great-grandfather, Elisha Gates.  Some of the posts pertained to his service in the War of 1812 and the Battle of the River Thames.  Some were about his travel between Maryland and Kentucky. 
     Elisha settled near Bardstown, Kentucky and his descendants stayed in that general area for over a century.   Elisha was a leader in his church and so there are numerous records mentioning Elisha and his family.  
     But finding the ancestors of Elisha proved problematic.  I found clues that hinted that Elisha was an orphan child.   It took a trip to the Maryland Archives to find some records that mentioned his parents.  Later I found over forty records pages of records on familysearch.org.  As far as I can tell those records had never been microfilmed, which might explain the reason that no researcher had located those records. In any case these orphan records¹, clearly identify Elisha's parents as James T. and Mary A. Gates.  
    James T. Gates died sometime prior to 1800.  A newspaper article dated 20 Jan 1800, lists Mary Ann Gates as the owner of a parcel of land at Anchovy Hills.  I believe that Mary Ann Gates is the Mary A. Gates who is Elisha's mother because, eventually Elisha sold some a parcel at Anchovy Hills.  Mary Ann Gates died prior to 10 August 1801, since that is the earliest dates shown in the orphan records.

1787 Will of Peter Gates  Prince Georges County, Maryland Liber T page 255-62

    Recently I found  some records that may push back the Gates family about three more generations.  The will of a Peter Gates², leaves property to his oldest son, James Truman Gates.  Could this James Truman Gates be Elisha's father, James T. Gates?   I would like to find some more proof but one hint that it might be is the birth record of James Truman Gates, who is a grandson of Elisha³.

I will continue looking for more records to provide more proof that this is the correct family.



1.  "Maryland, Probate Estate and Guardianship Files, 1796-1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XXFC-PPB : accessed 28 July 2013), Elisha Gates, 01 Jan 1800

2.  "Maryland, Probate Estate and Guardianship Files, 1796-1940." Index and images. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org : accessed 2014.

3.  Ancestry.com. Kentucky, Birth Records, 1852-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Kentucky. Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records – Microfilm (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky. (Indexed incorrectly as James Freeman Gates)

The Gates' Farm

     The Gates' farm was along the waters of Froman's Creek near Coxs Creek.  Elisha probably purchased this land with the proceeds from the sale of the Anchovie Hills Plantation in Prince George's County, Maryland.  The 1850 Census shows the farm valued at $10,000 which was considerably more than other farms in the area.  In 1855 Elisha and Christina gave 153 acres of land to their sons, John and William.  Elisha Gates died during the Civil War but Christina Gates lived until 1869.  William had married Elizabeth Mattingly in 1849.  John did not marry until much later in life.  
     My Aunt Jane, who met some of the Gates family, told about an episode involving Elizabeth Mattingly Gates.  During the Civil War, Union soldiers came through taking all the meat from the farm.  They eyed the nice wool blankets longingly saying, "Wish we were further south, then we'd take these".  Elizabeth Mattingly Gates sat in front of the dresser where their money was hidden but they didn't ask her to move. 

Gates' Family Home near Coxs Creek, Kentucky - May 1905
 from left: Russell Gates; Mattie Gates; Metta Gates Spaulding; Elizabeth Mattingly Gates (wife of W^m Gates)

By comparing this old map¹ with the Google map you can see that the Gates' Farm is close to where Samuels Road (509) turns south.   Zooming makes Froman's Creek visible.  St. Gregory Cemetery is located a little west and south along Mobley Mill Road. (Coxs Creek is also known as Cox Creek or Cox's Creek)

View Larger Map

1. An Atlas of Nelson & Spencer Counties, Kentucky. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: D. J. Lake & Co., 1882.

Elisha Gates and the Catholic Church in Nelson County

     Fairly soon after the marriage of Elisha Gates and Christina Summers the two of them traveled to Nelson County, Kentucky.  Elisha was able to establish himself in the community rather quickly.  It is probable that he already knew many people in the area.  He had already lived there when he served in the War of 1812 and many of the families could have been neighbors in Prince George's and Charles Counties in Maryland.
      In 1820 he is listed as an elder of the Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown¹.  The cathedral was being built when Elisha and Christina arrived and priests started holding mass at the cathedral at about that same time.
     About 1836 Elisha helped establish the first Catholic newspaper in central Kentucky¹ - The Catholic Advocate.  Eventually the Catholic newspaper in the area was called The Record.
     Since the Gates’ farm was located about 8 miles from Bardstown, Elisha and many of his neighbors hosted priests to hold mass in the area¹.   Mass was held as early as 1827 at the Gates' house.  Records indicate that in 1852 the bishop confirmed 30 people at the home of Elisha Gates².  Around 1850 some forty Catholic families lived in the area and so they constructed a small brick church, St. Gregory’s Church, in Samuels, Kentucky.   Elisha Gates is one of the parishoners who was given special credit for the erection of the church.
     At the time a cemetery was adjacent to the church.  The present church is a few miles from the cemetery.  Elisha and most of his family area buried in the cemetery.

St Gregory Cemetery

1.  "History of St. Gregory’s Parish." The Record, Nov 26, 1949.

2   Benedict Joseph Webb, The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky, (Louisville, Kentucky: C. A. Rogers, 1884), 63; 578.

Elisha - Maryland to Kentucky and Back Again and Again

     How many times did Elisha travel between Maryland and Kentucky?   From records that exist he may have traveled at least three times.  
     Although no birth or baptism record has been found, Elisha's tombstone shows a birth in 1789, most likely in Maryland.  The earliest orphan guardianship record¹ uncovered dates to 1802 in Prince George's County, Maryland with Joshua Mudd as guardian.  By 1804 some of his records seem to be originating in Kentucky with Elisha under the care of Thomas Cambron.  So that might indicate that he traveled once to Kentucky by the time he was about 12 or 13 years old.  
     There is also evidence that he made a trip from Maryland in 1812.  The biography of John Joseph Montgomery²,  states that when John Joseph Montgomery's grandfather "Thomas Montgomery was twenty-one, he joined his cousin, Elisha Gates, in the trek over the 'Old Indian Road'  through Pennsylvania's Cumberland Gap, southwest to Kentucky."  This might have been his second trip.
    After the War of 1812, we know that Elisha traveled back to Maryland because he sold Anchovy Hills Plantation and got married in April 1817³ in Prince George's County.  And 1818 Nelson County records show he purchased some sheep from an estate and paid taxes on land in Kentucky.
     So if our interpretation of these records is correct he made at three roundtrips between Maryland and Kentucky.  Each one-way trip is about 640 miles by today's roads.  They probably averaged less than twenty miles per day but at that rate each one way trip was over 32 days.  On his last known trip he traveled with his new bride, Christina. 
     And don't forget in 1813 he traveled north to Canada to participate in the Battle of the Thames.  Elisha did his share of traveling.



View Larger Map
1.  "Maryland, Probate Estate and Guardianship Files, 1796-1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XXFC-PPB : accessed 28 July 2013), Elisha Gates, 01 Jan 1800

2.  Spearman, Arthur Dunning John Joseph Montgomery 1858-1911 Father of Basic Flying University of Santa Clara, 1967

3.  Prince George's County (Maryland). Clerk of the Circuit Court, Marriage licenses, 1777-1880,  Film #14305  Family History Library,  Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949

That First Discovery - Researching Elisha Gates

     In the early 1990s I purchased a genealogy software package and started entering our family tree information that had been researched and written down by dad's sister, Jane Armstrong Healey.  For some unknown reason, I became interested in Elisha Gates.  I found it interesting that Elisha had been from Maryland and had moved his family to Kentucky.  Aunt Jane knew birth and death dates from pictures of his tombstone. I decided that I would try to discover when he had married Christina Ann Summers.
     I heard that I could go to the local Family History Center and find out more information.  At that local FHC, I received some help from a volunteer and I ordered a film that was recommended as a possible source of information about Elisha. 

Christina Ann Summers (1794-1869)

Elisha Gates (1789-1863)

     A few weeks later I went back and started through the film.  It wasn't too long before I found a marriage record for Elisha Gates and Christina Ann Summers¹.  A connection to my 3G-grandparents.  Their marriage record was recorded in Prince George's County, Maryland on 12 April 1817.  The film seemed to be disorganized with some pages out of sequence and some upside down on the film.  But if that was all I had to deal with then finding new information was going to be easy.
    I was just a little naive.  It was another five years before I found anything else about Elisha and over a dozen years before I found the identity of his parents.  Now I am on an Elisha Gates binge.  I have focused on him in my blog entries in particular because he was a soldier for three months exactly two-hundred years ago.  It has been nice to meet you, Elisha and Christina!    

1. Prince George's County (Maryland). Clerk of the Circuit Court, Marriage licenses, 1777-1880,  Film #14305  Family History Library,  Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949

Who is that with Elisha?

    Two-hundred years ago Elisha Gates answered the call to go to battle against the British and their Native-American allies.  Is it possible that Elisha Gates was with family and friends while serving in the Kentucky Mounted Volunteer Militia¹?    
     Elisha's name appears on page 166 of the book "Kentucky Soldiers of the War of 1812".  A couple of interesting names appear on page 167. (See below)
     One name of interest is John S. Summers.  Is John S. Summers related to the woman who Elisha married.  In 1818 Elisha married Christina Ann Summers in Prince George's County, Maryland.   In 1827 Elisha and Christina, while living in Kentucky, sold a tract of land called Meadows Resurvey located in Prince George's County to a John G. Summers.  Are John G. Summers, John S. Summers and Christina Ann Summers related?  Ongoing research is a requirement.  
       Another name, 'John Yates' is last on the list.  Whenever I see the name Yates, I wonder if it is Gates transcribed incorrectly.  I have found records where the last name Gates has been misread as Yates.  In the third image on this webpage you can see where the 'G' in Gates looks perilously like a 'Y'.  Handwriting has changed over the years and a capital G used to be open at the top and have a tail below the line.  If the name is John Gates is this John related to Elisha?  Elisha named his first son John so it is certainly a possibility. Some day I would like to find if that name should be 'John Gates'.  The only way to be certain would be to find the original piece of paper.  This might require a trip to the Kentucky Archives in order to see the original.
     Is Henderson Mudd related to the Elisha's first guardian, Joshua Mudd?  Again further research will be required.
     As is normally the case, whenever one locates information about an ancestor, that same information raises more questions than answers.

   

1. Clift, G. Glenn. Kentucky Soldiers of the War of 1812. Frankfort, Kentucky: Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky, 1891