Gates, Alvin C.

GATES, CUNNINGHAM, BENNETT, HARVIN, WILSON

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/23/2009 at 15:21:09

Gates, Alvin C.

Alvin C. Gates, who was born in Ashland, Ohio. October 14, 1855, is the son of E. N. and Sarah (Cunningham) Gates, the father being a native of Vermont and the mother of Ohio. It was in the year 1840 that the father came to Ashland, Ohio, and engaged in the practice of law. Here he met and married his wife and here he resided until 1857, when he came to Geneseo, Illinois, again engaging in the law business. Mr. Gates' reason for stopping at this point was that he might wait until the railroad should have been built farther west.

Before leaving Ohio, the father had, in 1854, journeyed to Jasper County, Iowa, and entered something over four thousand acres of land from the government, paying the regulation government price of one dollar and a half per acre for it. It was situated in different parts of the county. It was this wise and far-seeing move on the part of the father, which laid the foundation of the Gates fortune, which is considerable.

In June 1860, the father finally came to Jasper County, settling in Newton. A year later he moved out on one of his big farms a mile and a half northeast of Newton. After this, although he still practiced law to some extent, he practically gave up his profession, giving his attention to his vast farming interests.

E. N. Gates was one of the able lawyers of his time. He was also a brilliant and forceful orator and a man of fine public spirit. During the war he was commander of the board of enrollment for the sixth congressional district of Iowa, acting as attorney and settling all legal questions. On account of this position he was ever afterwards called "Judge" Gates. He was very prominent in the state Grange of his time. He died in Newton in December 1882, at the age of sixty-eight years.

Alvin C. Gates, the subject of this sketch, is one of six children, all boys, of whom but two are living. Three died in infancy; Sumner E., who died in Jasper County in 1900, was born in Ohio and at his death was a farmer of considerable means; Lorin A., who was born in Illinois, in 1858, resides in Newton, was formerly engaged in the mercantile business, but is now engaged in oil operations in Kansas.

Alvin Gates attended law school at Iowa City .in 1876-77 and graduated from that school, afterwards opening a law office in Newton, where he engaged in the general practice of law for four years. Disliking the work, he purchased a livery stable in Newton, which he conducted for three years. He was then appointed deputy sheriff under I. L. Patten, which office he filled for three years. Next he was elected city clerk and superintendent of the Newton light and water plant, which position he held seventeen years. During the latter part of that time Mr. Gates and George Parsons organized the G. W. Parsons Company, of which Mr. Gates is secretary and treasurer. This company manufactured heavy excavating machinery, selling their products all over the United States and in foreign countries. He is also vice-president of the One Minute Manufacturing Company, known all over the United States. Mr. Gates also has other interests of importance, owning some valuable lands. He is a member of Newton Lodge No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, also Gebal Chapter No. 12, Royal Arch Masons, and Oriental Commandery No. 22, Knights Templar, also Za-Ga-Zig Temple, Ancient Arabian Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Gates is also a member of Des Moines Lodge No. 98, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On December 5, 1877 Mr. Gates was married to Jennie, daughter of Ephraim and Martha (Harvin) Bennett, both natives of Iowa. Mrs. Gates is one of three children, two of whom are dead, Adam and David. Mrs. Gates was born January 23, 1860, and is a woman of rare culture and refinement. She is also prominent socially, being a member of the local chapter of the P. E. 0. She is also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. To this couple have been born four children, one only surviving at this writing: Grace and Glen, twins, born 1879; Grace died in 1880 and Glen in 1889; Earl, born in Newton in 1889, resides in Newton. He is shipping clerk for the Parsons Company. He was recently united in marriage with Catherine Wilson, of Newton; Harry Dale, born in 1893, died in Newton in 1894. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 508.