Not only did Henry Gates’ father serve in the Revolutionary War, Henry is the only one of our veterans whose father, Luther, was a War of 1812 soldier himself – a drum major at the age of 51!
A native of Preston, Connecticut, Luther married Ann Brown in Rensselaer County, New York. In 1777, as a lad of 14, he enlisted as a drummer boy to serve three years with Captain Abler Bacon’s Company. He witnessed the dramatic escape on horseback of General Israel Putnam down a flight of stone steps at Horseneck in Greenwich, Connecticut. Luther continued his service by joining the 4th Connecticut Regiment for the remainder the war. Both he and his widow were granted pensions and are buried at Pomfret Pioneer Cemetery in Chautauqua County, New York.
Son Henry served as a private with Captain Ezra Adams Company in in Lieutenant Colonel Commandant Elijah H. Metcalf’s Regiment of the New York Detached Militia Artillery. His dates of service are recorded from 14 Sep 1813 to 24 Oct 1813 at Sacketts Harbor, New York. He married Samantha (maiden name unknown) and the couple became parents of four daughters. Henry is enumerated in the 1825 New York State census. By 1845, the extended Gates family migrated to Monroe, Ashtabula County, Ohio, where Henry and Samantha join them. Along with their daughter Sally, wife of Samuel Hill, they are enumerated on the 1860 Federal Census in Monroe. Despite the fact that Sally’s obituary records say she came west with her husband to Hesper, Winneshiek County, Iowa, in 1855 I cannot confirm the family in local census until matriarch Samantha Gates is recorded on the 1865 Minnesota State Census in Newburg Township.
Perhaps the earlier journey was a preliminary scouting mission prior to Permanent migration being that they are counted in the 1860 Ohio census, the Gates property in section 31 of Newburg Township was still listed in Henry’s name as of the 1878 township map even though both he and Samantha are deceased by that date. The government-issued marble gravestone for Henry at Hesper Cemetery shares the family lot with a joint granite monument for the couple inscribed with the same year of death – 1863 – for both. If census records are correct, however, Samantha was still living in 1865. Henry died 15 Jan 1863.
The couple’s grandchildren through the Hill line maintained Fillmore County roots by matrimony. Sally’s daughter Helen married Thomas Seelye; son Henry married Ellen Miner; and granddaughter Nellie married Zarah Warner.
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