Horace Goss GATES

1842 - 1903  (61 years)

• Name	Horace Goss GATES  [2, 3]
  	Horace married Estella R Martin on December 17, 1874 in Newark, Caledonia, Vermont. The 1880 US Census shows the couple living in Keene, where Horace worked as a "huckster" (peddler). At the time of his death, Horace was working as a carpenter. Horace and Estella's children include - Perely Ball, born Feb 21 1884 in Keene New Hampshire. - Carlton, born July 29 1892 in Keene, New Hampshire. ------------------------ The burial of Elizabeth A. (Williams) Gates in the same Gates family plot as Horace Goss Gates and his father, John Gates, should be considered in the context of historical records, which establish that Betsey (Ayer), not Elizabeth A. (Williams), was Horace?s mother. Horace?s birth in 1842 (1, 2, gravestone photo here) occurred while Betsey was married to John (1, 3-6). Her 1844 death record specifies that she was married to John (4), and her gravestone inscription is ?wife of JOHN GATES? (5). Horace was born in St. Johnsbury, VT (1, 2, 7), which is where Betsey lived (1-3, 8). Betsey died in the adjacent town of Lyndon (4). Betsey?s date of birth of June 9, 1807 (1, 4, 5) is consistent with the date of birth of Horace and his full brothers (1). In addition, the Gates genealogy book lists Betsey as his mother, as does his death record (1, 2). The minor misspelling of her maiden name as Ayre and Ayers instead of Ayer in these two records is clearly of no significance when viewed in the context of historical records, which establish Betsey?s maiden name as Ayer (5, 9). Betsey was part of a large Ayer family group that lived in the St. Johnsbury, VT area in the early 1800s and Horace was named in memory of Betsey?s Ayer-side 1st cousin, Horace Goss, who died in an accident (5 and sources cited therein). Horace was simply buried in the same plot as his father. The phrase in the Memorial ? ?Note: Gates family lot: Annie, Leroy, Horace, Elizabeth O, John, Maynard?- implies that Elizabeth, not Betsey, may actually have been Horace?s mother, and indeed this phrase was accompanied by the listing of Elizabeth as Elizabeth ?Betsey? in the title of an earlier version of Elizabeth?s Memorial. It is listed this way in several posted family trees. What seems to have happened is that Horace was incorrectly assumed to be Elizabeth?s son because he was buried in the same plot. And since Horace?s mother was known to be Betsey Ayer, Elizabeth, was assumed to be Betsey Ayer, or at least to have gone by the name of Betsey. This is an important issue for correctly identifying family members and for understanding the history of this family (including John?s three marriages). The following evidence that Elizabeth A. (Williams) was not Horace?s mother is in addition to the substantial evidence already described. Elizabeth?s maiden name of Williams (10-19) is inconsistent with the known maiden name of Horace?s mother. Her middle initial of A. stands for Ann (11, 17, 18), or possibility Abigail (1) if she had two middle names. Elizabeth?s date of birth of July 1, 1825 (gravestone photo in 10, 13) is inconsistent with the date of birth of Horace?s older full brothers, Harvey, James and George (1). For example, Harvey was born when Elizabeth was one-year-old (1, 8, 20, 21). Elizabeth?s marriage record (as Williams, Evans, Currier, Gates and Colby) is inconsistent with Horace being her child (10). This includes the date of her marriage to John, which occurred 19 years after Horace was born. Related evidence is the 20-year gap between Horace?s 1842 birth (1, 2, 7, this Memorial) and the births of John and Elizabeth?s actual shared children, Oscar, Henry and Lydia (1). Historical records provide no evidence that Elizabeth ever lived in St. Johnsbury, which is where Horace was born. All known records pertaining to Elizabeth indicate that she lived in the Derby/Brighton area of Vermont around that time. Specifically, she was born in Derby in 1825 (12), and was evidently living with her parents in Random/Brighton in 1830 and 1840 (22, 23). She married in Derby in 1845 (11) and gave birth to a child in Derby that year (24). She was living in Wenlock/Brighton in 1850 (25) and gave birth again in Brighton in 1851 (14, 15). There is no evidence that Elizabeth and Horace ever lived in the same household in Census records or in any other record. The 1850 Census records are the most significant of these since Horace was only 8 years old at the time. Elizabeth is found as Elizabeth A. Currier in Wenlock, VT along with her son from an earlier marriage (25). Horace was not listed there. Instead, Horace lived with John and Eliza Gates in Lyndon, VT in 1850 (26). The age of Eliza Gates in the 1850 Census does not match that calculated for Elizabeth either, but instead is consistent with that of Eliza (Fisher) Gates, John?s second wife (6 and sources cited therein). Elizabeth?s Probate Record (as Elizabeth A. Colby) in Cheshire County, NH (27) does not include anything about Horace even though it contains the signatures of her sons, Oscar and Henry Gates (Horace?s half-brothers), along with her two Currier sons from her prior marriage. This is a significant omission since Horace lived only a few miles away from her in the adjacent town of Keene, NH (28-30), while his two half-brothers lived in Brooklyn, New York (31-34) near the time of Elizabeth?s death in Marlborough, NH (13). The photos of the gravestone for Horace (this Memorial) and for his wife, Estella (as Estella R. Martin Beliveau) (35), are so similar as to suggest that they share the same gravestone, or at least are located near each other and with their children in the same Gates family plot. This would be another indicator that more than one Gates household was buried in this plot. Unfortunately, the plot number for Estella is not listed in her Memorial. No known historical record lists Elizabeth as Betsey. Similarly, no known historical record describes John?s first wife, Betsey, as Elizabeth. The error in indicating that Elizabeth was widely known as Betsey (referred to as Elizabeth ?Betsey?) is ironic because Elizabeth had evidently tried to distance herself from the names of John?s first two wives, Betsey (Ayer) and Eliza (Fisher). Her contemporary Gates relatives knew her as Abigail (1). She probably did not like the idea of her third husband referring to her by the same name as an earlier wife. Posted on Find A Grave created by DebL [1]
  Birth	5 May 1842	Saint Johnsbury, Caledonia Co., Vermont   [2, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Census	1850	Living with father and step-mother in Lyndon, Caledonia Co., Vermont   [2]
  Census	1880	Living in Keene, Cheshere Co., New Hampshire   [5]
  Census	1900	Living in Keene, Cheshere Co., New Hampshire   [4]
  Death	20 Sep 1903	Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire   [6, 7]
  	Cause: pneumonia
  Burial	Greenlawn Cemetery, Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire   [6]
  Person ID	I97036	Main Tree
  Last Modified	13 Jan 2020

  
  

  Father	John GATES,   b. 16 Dec 1800, Acworth, Sullivan Co., New Hampshire d. 10 Sep 1880, Marlborough, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire (Age 79 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Betsey AYER,   b. 9 Jun 1807, Saint Johnsbury, Caledonia Co., Vermont d. 24 Jun 1844, Lyndon, Caledonia Co., Vermont (Age 37 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Marriage	13 Feb 1826	St. Johnsbury, Vermont
  Family ID	F37701	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Estella Rosaltha MARTIN,   b. 31 Mar 1856, Vermont d. 23 Sep 1918 (Age 62 years)
  Marriage	17 Dec 1874	Newark, Caledonia Co., Vermont   [3, 8]
  Children	1. LeRoy Y. GATES,   b. 30 Jun 1880, Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire d. young  [Birth]   2. Perley Ball GATES,   b. 21 Feb 1884, Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire d. 10 Mar 1960, Brattleboro, Windham Co., Vermont (Age 76 years)  [Birth]   3. Annie Estella GATES,   b. 28 Jan 1886, Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire d. 18 Dec 1889, Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire (Age 3 years)  [Birth]   4. Carlton GATES,   b. 29 Jul 1892, Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire d. 29 Jul 1892, Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire (Age 0 years)  [Birth]   5. Maynard H. GATES,   b. 16 Feb 1894, New Hampshire  [Birth]
  Family ID	F38261	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	13 Mar 2020

  
  

• Event Map

  Death - Cause: pneumonia - 20 Sep 1903 - Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S11069] Find A Grave: Bio of Horace Goss Gates. [S11068] 1850 Census Lyndon, Caledonia County, Vermont. [S03384] Charles Otis Gates, Stephen Gates of Hingham and Lancaster, Massachusetts, and His Descendants, (Name: Name: New York: Willis McDonald & Co;;). [S11075] 1900 Census Keene, Cheshire County, New Hampshire . [S11086] 1880 Census Keene, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. [S02329] Find A Grave Website. [S11080] Death Record for Horace G. Gates. [S5988] Ancestry.com: Vermont, U.S., Vital Records, 1720-1908.