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Thomas Gates and Patty Plumly
Writer of this history Richard Bingham
Thomas Gates, son
of Isaac and Mary (Wheeler) Gates, born 7 May
1772 [1776] in Henniker, Merrimack, New Hampshire; died in Ogden, Weber,
Utah, 22 June 1851. He married in Acworth, Sullivan, New Hampshire, 15
December 1796, Patty Plumly, daughter of John and Susannah (Clayton)
Plumly, born in Keene, Cheshire, New Hampshire, 27 April [August] 1776;
died in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, 18 September 1845.
Thomas Gates and his wife relocated from
Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, to Kirtland, Ohio, soon after they joined the
Mormon Church. In 1834, as a member of "Zion's Camp," Thomas went
with Joseph Smith to Jackson, County, Missouri, but returned with him to
Kirtland where, in February 1835, he was appointed a member of the Second
Quorum of Seventies. See Orson Whitney's History of Utah,
Vol. I. We find Thomas in Missouri again in 1838, but do not know
the date of his arrival there. Having been expelled from Missouri
with the rest of the Mormons in 1839, Thomas settled in Nauvoo where, in
1845, he lost his wife. In 1846, he accompanied his daughter, Lucinda,
and her husband, Erastus Bingham, to the camp at Swift River in Iowa, north
of Winter Quarters. On 8 August 1846, Thomas and Erastus were both
named High Councilors to George Miller, who presided over the saints in
that location. See An Enduring Legacy, Vol. I. Thomas,
age 75, went to Utah the following year as a member of Bingham's ten, which
reached Salt Lake on 19 September 1847.
Children of Thomas GATES and Patty PLUMLY:
Lucinda Gates, married
Erastus Bingham.
Sally Gates, born in Ackworth, 31 July 1799; died 23 January 1835. She married
(1) Willard Bingham, son of Elisha
Warner Bingham and Sarah Perry, and (2) Elijah Este.
John Gates, born in Marlboro, Cheshire, New Hampshire, 15 December 1800;
died 10 September 1880. Married (1) Betsy Ayre and (2) Abigail Currier.
Betsey Gates, born in Ackworth, 8 March 1803; married William Gilbert.
Thomas Gates, born in Ackworth, 13 August 1805; died in Hancock, Illinois,
8 March 1887; married Emeline Dunbar Little.
Patty Gates, born in Saint Johnsbury, Caledonia, Vermont, 10 August 1807;
married Guy Carleton Rex.
Almira Gates, born in Saint Johnsbury, 9 February 1810
Marcia[Maria] Gates, born in Saint Johnsbury, 9 February 1810.
Jacob Gates, born in Saint Johnsbury, 9 March 1811; died in Provo, Utah,
Utah, 14 April 1892; buried in Provo. Baptized a Mormon, 18 June
1833. Married (1) Mary Minerva (Millie) Snow (16 March 1833), (2) Elizabeth
Hutchings, (3) Emma Forsberry (in Salt Lake, 23 October 1853), (4) Mary
Ware (in Salt Lake, 25 October 1862), and probably others.
The following account of Jacob's
life and work is from the Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia
(1:197-198):
Gates, Jacob, one of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies from 1862
to 1892... His father was a farmer, and during the early period
of Brother Gates' life he worked on the farm. He also worked at the carpenter
and joiner trade, and his education was confined to a limited period of
time. He married Millie M. Snow, daughter of Levi Snow and Lucinia
Streeter, March 16, 1833. He was baptized by Orson Pratt June 18, 1833,
and confirmed a member of the Church the same day by Zerubbabel Snow.
April 11, 1834, with his young wife, he left his father's house for
Missouri, where he arrived June 30, 1834, and located seven miles
west of Liberty, Clay county, which was quite a small village at that time.
While here Brother Gates was invited to go with Caleb Baldwin upon
a mission, on which he left Jan. 25, 1836. At Flat Branch, Sangamon
county, Ill., on Feb. 18, 1836, he was ordained an Elder in the Church
under the hands of Elder Baldwin, and on the 25th of the same month
he left Edgar county, Ill., to return home to Clay county, in company with
32 souls, who chose Elder Gates as their captain. In the fall
of 1836 Elder Gates moved to Caldwell county, Mo., a distance of
about fifty miles, where he was ordained a Seventy under the hands of the
Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, Dec. 19, 1838. In the
same fall (1838) he had been compelled to march under a large military
escort, in company with some fifty-seven other brethren, a distance of
about forty miles, to Richmond, Ray county, to which place Joseph
and Hyrum Smith had also been taken from Far West. Elder Gates' journal
says: "It was here that we were tried for all the capital crimes, save
one, before Judge Austin A. King, and we were imprisoned some three
weeks. Finally we went each other's bail and were released, when we left
for Quincy, Illinois." Not long after this Elder Gates went to Hancock
county and received a commission as ensign in a company of militia.
The same month he left home in company with Chandler Holbrook to preach
the gospel, going as far east as Kirtland, Ohio... He left
Nauvoo, July 7, 1840, on a mission to La Porte, in the northern part
of Indiana, and the fall of 1841 he went south into Marshall county and
organized a branch of the Church; a goodly number were baptized.
In June, 1843, he again left home for a mission to the New England
States, and before going he met the Prophet Joseph. His health was feeble,
but the Prophet said: "Go and fill your mission, and we will wrestle
after you come back." The Prophet and Elder Gates would often engage in
the game for exercise. When Elder Gates returned home from his mission,
May 26, 1844, he saw the Prophet for the last time, a little distance
from him, on his horse, going to his martyrdom. At the October conference,
1844, he was ordained and set apart as senior president of the fourth quorum
of Seventies, under the hands of Parley P. and Orson Pratt. In the
autumn of 1847 he came to Utah, and in the fall conference of 1849 he was
appointed, with several others, to take a mission to England. He left Salt
Lake City Oct. 19, 1849, and embarked at New Orleans on the steamer
"Maine," which arrived in Liverpool April 6, 1850. While on this
mission, which lasted three Years, Elder Gates filled several important
positions... On his return home he was appointed to take charge
of a company of Saints, which he successfully brought across the plains,
arriving in Salt Lake City, Sept. 30, 1853. During the following few years
he traveled throughout Utah, assisting in the organization of the
different quorums of Seventy. In 1859 he was called on another mission
to Europe. He left Utah Sept. 19, 1859, and reached Liverpool
on the 13th day of December. Soon after his arrival there he received a
letter from Pres. Brigham Young, informing him that he had been selected
as one of the First Council of Seventies. While upon this mission
he traveled with Apostles Amassa M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich. In 1861
he returned home; on his way he stopped at the different points and
assisted in outfitting companies of Saints about to cross the plains.
At the October conference, 1862, he was ordained a member of the First
Council of Seventies. While living in St. George, Washington county, he
served as a member of the county court for several years. He was also elected
a member of the house of representatives [in the territorial legislature]
to represent the district composed of Washington and Kane counties. He
was re-elected three times to the same office, namely, in the years 1864,
1865, 1866 and 1867. He was also elected a member of the council
of the legislative assembly in 1873, to represent Kane and Washington counties.
May 12, 1866, he was appointed brigade aid-de-camp, First Brigade of
the Nauvoo Legion in Iron military district, with the rank of colonel of
infantry. Elder Gates died at his residence in Provo, Utah county,
Utah, April 14, 1892, as a true and faithful Latter-day Saint.
We encounter Jacob Gates frequently
in the multi-volume works published or supported by Daughters of the Utah
Pioneers: Fighting mobs as company commander in the Nauvoo Legion (1845);
a member of the first company to reach Salt Lake (1847); entertaining friends
in his home at the "Old Fort" (28 December 1847), during which Apostle
Parley Pratt spoke on "The Velocity of the Motion of Bodies When Surrounded
by a Refined Element"; member of a committee (with Erastus Snow) to locate
the city of Saint George; a participant of the Salmon River Mission (1857);
unjustly ousted by soldiers of Camp Floyd from the ranch he had opened
in Rush Valley in partnership with Daniel Spencer and Jessie C. Little
(1859); president of the European mission and, briefly, editor of the Millenial
Star (1860); on a preaching tour (1867); a proponent of the Zion's Cooperative
Mercantile Institution and Director of the Southern Utah Cooperative Mercantile
Association (1868); marrying his son, Jacob F., to Brigham Young's second
daughter, Susa (1880). See, for example, An Enduring Legacy,
Our
Pioneer Heritage, Encyclopedic History of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, Obituary Scapbook, Orson Whitney's
History
of Utah, and Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah.
Lucy Gates, born in Saint Johnsbury, 7 June 1813; died 30 November 1855;
married Milo Andurs.
Cynthia Gates, born in Saint Johnsbury, 19 December 1816; died 28 January 1877;
married George Beach.
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