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)

You've Got Mail

 

Maryland Gazette, Aug 4, 1791

   Because of current technology, it only takes a few moments to check to see if you have received any email.  Can you imagine waiting weeks for a letter or walking miles to pick up that letter?

    One feature that used to be appear in newspapers was a section that listed people who had letters waiting at the post office.  I have found a number of instances where ancestors had their names printed in a mail-waiting list.

    On Aug 4, 1791 the Maryland Gazette indicated that the was a letter waiting for James T. Gates at the Annapolis Post Office.  Unfortunately, James lived approximately 40 miles from Annapolis.  (James T. Gates was my GGGG-Grandfather and the father of Elisha Gates.) James had until October to get to Annapolis.

On July 7, 1852 the Sacramento Union printed almost two pages of names.  An estimated 3000 names were printed in the newspaper on that date.  The most likely reason for the excessive number of letters in the newspaper is the fact that the 49ers had arrived in California by the thousands and disappeared up into the foothills looking for gold.

One of the letters was for James T. Lorton.  James T. Lorton was the great grandfather of John Boyd.  (Jayme considers John as her father and John is known affectionately to us as ‘Pop’.)  In 1849, James Lorton had come west with his parents.  He was about 16 years old and both of them had died on the journey west.  In 1852, James was most likely living somewhere in the foothills of the Sierras with other miners.  He was trying to eek out a living by panning for gold. He would probably have been anywhere from 40 to 120 miles from Sacramento.  

This causes one to wonder about three things. 1)  Did James Gates or James Lorton ever pick up their mail?  2)  Who sent them the letter? 3) Could they read the letter.

  I cannot imagine that we will ever find out.