Fuller The Gates family CS71 .G259 1877 mm Wm ■ ^m ■ ■•'Vft-'J ' THE GATES FAMILY. BY THE HON. BENJAMIN A. G. FULLER, A.M., OF BOSTON. Ij^ROM certain old manuscripts in my possession, it appears that Ste- phen Gates, the second son of Thomas Gates, of Norwich, Norfolk County, England, came to this country in 1642, and settled first at Hing- ham, Mass. With him came his wife, two sons, Stephen and Simon, and a daughter Elizabeth. A son Thomas and a daughter Mary (as appears from his will, though she is not named in any other of the papers) were born in this country. He removed to Nashaway (Lancaster) in 1653, and became one of the largest proprietors of the town, and was one of the peti- tioners for its incorporation in 1654. He subsequently removed to Cam- bridge, where (as shown by his will) he hired a farm, and where he died in 1662. This will, witnessed by Edmund Angier and Esther Sparhawke, and proved Oct. 7, 1662, is as follows : Camb v . y c 9 th of y e 4 th : 1662. 1. Stephen Gates being sick upon my bed, but of p r fect memorie Desire to Comit my Soul to God that gaue it in a hope of a Joy- full resurrection and my body to be comely buried. And for my other Estate my will is that my wife and my sun Simon continue in y e place where God haue now set me During the time 1 haue in it, and to keep the stock in theire hands till the term is out and to pay the Rent according to my agreement ; and that my son Thomas to continnue with them as long as he please. 1 give to my wife a Third of my Lands, and all the rest of my Estate during her life. 1 give to my Son Stephen my house and my house lott of Twenty acres at Nashaway and Twenty acres of Intervale Lands and all my Land at Hemp Swamp and all my Medow at Fostepolekin. The third of these Lands being excepted as aboue to my wife during her life. Item. I give Three hundred and fourteen acres of Land wi th in the bounds of Nashaway, and a parcell of Medow at Still River To be Divided Equally between Simon & Thomas. Item my mind is that my wife Shall give a Colt of a year old unto my Daughter Elizabeth when y e Lease of y e Harm is out. Item my will is that my wife giue to my Daughter. Mary Maynar a heifer of Two years old when y e Lease of the fl'arm is out. Item. I give power to my wife to dispose of all the Stock and my moveables when she die amongst my Children according to her discretion. Item my will is that Elizabeth Bradshaw abide w th my wife "her Service Ship and that when her time is out my wife shall put her in a double suit of apparell and giue her a heifer a year old. I appoint my wife and my son Simon to be Executors. The descendants of this Stephen are quite numerous, and the manuscripts in my possession show as follows : i. Stephen 2 (first son b. in England), settled in Stow ; m. , and had eight children : Stephen* Simon* Thomas * Isaac* Nathaniel* Daniel* Rebec- ca* Sarah* LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 027 211 034 7 % ii. Simox 2 (second son b. in England), lived at Winter Hill; m. , and had Simon, 3 who resided in Marlboro', and had sons who resided in Worcester ; Amos, 3 who lived in Framingham ; Samuel; 3 [Jonathan, 3 b. in Cambridge, 1683, and d. in Worcester, 1756, wife Persis*]. iii. Thomas, 2 resided at Stow, and had eleven children, viz. : John 3 of Stow (see below); Joseph; 3 Josiah; 3 Caleb; 3 Elizabeth 3 m. Holmes; Sarah, 3 d. unm. ; Mary 3 m. Rose ; Joanna, 3 m. Standish ; Abigail 3 m. Forbes ; Anne 3 m. Tyler ; Ruth 3 m. Sanders. Several of these resided at Preston and Colchester, Ct. John 3 Gates ( Thomas, 2 Stephen 1 ), of Stow, had five children, i. Hezekiah 4 (see below), who settled at Lancaster, Mass. ii. Ephraim. 4 iii. Samuel. 4 iv. John. 4 v. Mary. 4 All of Stow. Hezekiah 4 Gates {John 3 Thomas, 2 Stephen 1 ), had seven children. i. Thomas, 6 of Lancaster. ii. Mary, 6 m. Rathburn, of Colchester, Ct. iii. Elizabeth, 6 m. — — Leach, of Portsmouth, N. H. iv. Dorothy, 6 m. Peter Thurston, of Lancaster, Mass. v. Rebecca, 6 m. Houghton, of " " vi. Sarah, 6 m. Elder, of Lancaster. vii. Anne, 6 m. Moore, of.Lancaster. This Hezekiah Gates was a large landed proprietor of Lancaster, and owned lands which had belonged to his great-grandfather Stephen. In 1759 he published a pamphlet of 17 pages, entitled, King George's Right to the Crown of Great Britain Displayed ; Being a Collec- tion from History from the first known Times to the present 3 7 ear, 1769. Extracted for the Benefit of those in the Province of Massachusetts Bay who have not Leisure to study History. Shewing it to be the Duty of all officers and others to defend the Heirs of Sophia, being Protestants, upon the British Throne, and the undoubted Right that King George the Third hath to the Crown of Great Britain. Printed by^Richard Draper, in Newbury Street, Boston. 1769. Dorothy Thurston, dau. of Peter and Dorothy, granddaughter of Heze- kiah Gates, married Josiah Flagg, of Lancaster, whose daughter Sally still resides there, aged about 85 years, and from whom these papers have come into my hands. To save these loose, detached memoranda from oblivion, I have put them in shape, and send them to the Register for preserva- tion, if perchauce of interest and value. It is proper for me to add that said Hezekiah, notwithstanding the title of his pamphlet may suggest a doubt, was wholly patriotic in the days of the Revolution, and in 1777 was elected by the town of Lancaster as one of the " Committee of Safety and Correspondence." * The addition within brackets is made on the authority of a manuscript genealogical record compiled by Gardiner Paine Gates, of West Newton and placed by him in the archives of the New-England Historic, Genealogical Society. In this manuscript the descent of the compiler is thus given : Stephen^ Gates of Hingham, Simon, 2 Jonathan, 3 Jonathan, 4 Paulf Nathaniel , 6 Gardiner P. 1 — Ed. [Reprinted from the N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register for Oct. 1877. David Clapp