Levi S. GATES, an enterprising and successful
farmer, of Delaware township, Delaware county,
was born in Mayfield township, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, May 23,
1838, and
is a son of Lewis M. and Olive C. Gates, both of whom were born in Onondaga
county, N. Y., the father on July 20, 1810, and the mother on July
18, 1813.
The parents were reared in their native county, and there also married, moving
to Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in 1834, where they settled in the wilderness,
securing government land on which they opened a farm, and there spent the
remainder of their lives. The father died there May 27,
1882, the mother
February 27, 1875. They always resided on the farm and spent their
lives in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. They were industrious, thrifty
people and accumulated considerable property. The father was a sound business
man and was a recognized leader in the community where he lived. He held many
local offices, the duties of which he discharged with efficiency. He was looked
upon as the people's counselor, and gave much valuable assistance to his
fellow-citizens in the conduct and management of the public business. He took
considerable part in local politics, being in early life a strong whig and later a republican.
The Gates
family came originally from Scotland, the first representatives of the name
settling in New
England in
colonial days. Lewis M. Gates' parents, James and Eunice Gates, were natives of
Connecticut. They moved West,
following the fortunes of their children, and died in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, at advanced ages.
The mother
of Levi S. Gates was a daughter of Elisha and Sabrina
(Crandall) Sabin, the former of whom was a native of Vermont and the latter a native of Connecticut. She was a sister of Nathaniel C. Sabin, of Delaware county, a sketch
of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. In that sketch
will be found the facts relating to our subject's ancestral history on his
mother's side.
Lewis M.
and Olive C. Gates had four children, of whom the subject of this notice is the
eldest. The next two in the order of birth—Charity O. and Annette M., died each
at the age of twenty-nine, unmarried, in Cuyahoga county,
Ohio. Lewis M., the youngest child,
resides now on the old homestead in Cuyahoga county, Ohio. He married Elizabeth Haggerdon, and has a family of three children— Eva J.,
Annette O. and Louis M.
Levi S.
Gates, whose personal history this article is especially designed to perpetuate,
was reared on his father's farm in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and passed his boyhood and youth
much as the average farm boy did in the days when he was growing up. He
received a good common-school training and finished
with an academic course at the institute at Chester, Ohio, which has become known to fame as
the place where President Garfield received his earlier education. Young Gates
remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-two years old, when on May
31, 1860, he married and shortly afterwards started West, came direct to Iowa,
taking up his
residence in the spring of that year
in Delaware township, Delaware
county. He purchased a small
place, where he
settled and at once began farming. He spent his time on his farm during the summer season and
in the winter taught school in the district schools of Delaware county for a number of years. The county superintendent, recognizing his
ability, promoted him to teacher in the graded school at Delaware, and afterwards in the graded school of North Manchester.
His resignation
was accepted with reluctance and he was urged to retain the position. As his means accumulated he made investments
from time to time in land in the vicinity of where he lived and finally, as his
farming interest
increased, came in time to give his whole attention to them and to stock raising. He now owns three hundred and forty
acres of land lying in sections 35 and 36, in Delaware township, and in section 2, in Milo township. He resided on his original purchase in Delaware township, until May, 1889, when he
moved to his present place, just outside the corporate limits of Manchester, in Delaware township, a place which is a model
of beauty, comfort and conveniences and one that excites the admiration of all who
see it. Mr. Gates is a thoroughgoing
farmer, a man of sound sense and discriminating judgment, one who has had good
opportunities for observation and
has profited well by them. He
is more than a mere tiller of
the soil; he reads and thinks, studies the needs and capabilities of his soil, the
adaptability of crops to climate, the
public demands for the produce of the farm, the relation between producer and
consumer, the rights, privileges and
responsibilities of his calling,
being well read in its history and fully alive to its future needs and
possibilities. He has taken an active interest in everything relating to the
agricultural and livestock history of Delaware county
since he has been a resident of the county, besides having been a leader in
politics and having filled a number of local offices of an official and
semi-official nature. He has held all
the offices in his township and has exercised a most wholesome influence in behalf
of order, sobriety and good government in his community. The school interest of his township has
been an especial object of his fostering care.
In 1885 Mr.
Gates was elected to the state legislature from Delaware county and
served during the twenty-first session of the general assembly. His conduct
while representing the people of his county in a legislative capacity met with general
approval, and he quit his office, at the expiration of his term, bearing with
him the gratitude and good-will of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Gates has been president
of the Iowa State Dairymen's Association one year, and he is now secretary of
the Delaware County Farmers' and Dairymen's Association. He has been president
of the Delaware County Agricultural Society, and he was commissioned by the
governor of Iowa as a member of the National Farmers' Congress to
represent the third congressional district of Iowa in the convention held at Montgomery, Ala., in 1889, and also the one held at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in August, 1890. Besides this, Mr.
Gates is now president of the Delaware County Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance
Company. He is secretary and manager of Spring Branch Creamery in Delaware township,
an association which has done much to foster the dairy interest of this
township, and one that owes a large part of its success to its present manager.
Mr. Gates
married, as we have noted, just prior to coming to Delaware county. The lady of his choice was
Miss Mary L. Jones, then of Mayfield, Ohio, she having been born m that place January
22,1836. She is a daughter of J. J. Jones, who was born March
11, 1806,
in Canandaigua, Ontario county, N.
Y. The mother, Sallie, (Sorter) Jones, was born Dec. 25, 1813, in Seneca
county, N. Y. Mrs. Gates' parents moved to Ohio about 1830, where the mother
died January 1, 1885, aged seventy-two, and where the father still resides,
having reached his eighty-fourth year. Mrs. Gates js
one of eleven children born to her parents, she being the second in order of
birth. Her eldest sister, Laura A., is the wife of Leonard Straight, a farmer,
residing in Cuyahoga county, Ohio. The next, Ann M., died in infancy;
Sarah C. is the wife of Alfred Southwick, a farmer, residing in Isabella
county, Mich.; Alexander C. is a farmer, residing in Allegan county, Mich.;
Martha L. is the wife of Constantine Eddy, a farmer, residing in Chester,
Geauga county, Ohio; Zebulon M. is a farmer, residing in Allegan county, Mich.;
Melissa is the wife of William Gebaur, a lumber
dealer, of Helena, Mon.; Cordelia M. resides with her
aged father, in Mayfield, Cuyahoga county, Ohio; Bradford J. is a farmer, residing
on the old home-place, in Cuyahoga county, Ohio; Emma F. became the wife of
Dr. Charles Goodrich, of Mayfield, Ohio, but is now deceased. She was the youngest
child.
Mr. and
Mrs. Gates have had only one child, a son, Lewis J., born December 10, 1861,
married Louisa Roberts, of Delaware county, Iowa, by whom he has two children—James
R. and Levi S.; and comfortably located on one of his father's farms, and is
considered one of Delaware county's promising young farmers.
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