Gates, Sumner and Margaret I.

GATES, MCCONKEY, READ, GRAHAM, MUNN, BEATTY, RANDOLPH, BUCHANAN, MCQUISLON

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/23/2009 at 15:24:08

Gates, Sumner and Margaret I.

The lady whose name introduces this sketch is the widow of Sumner E. Gates, and lives upon her farm, which is located on sections 23, 25 and 26, in Newton Township. It is a fine old home, about one-half mile east of the city limits of Newton, comprising four hundred and fifty acres of land.

Margaret I. Gates is a native of Jasper County, Iowa, having been born November 13, 1856, in Newton Township, the daughter of Cobane and Sarah J. (Read) McConkey. Her father was born in Hopedale, Harrison County, Ohio, and the mother in Guernsey County, Ohio. The family came west and settled in Scott County, Iowa, in 1853, where Mr. McConkey engaged in farming for a couple of years. At the expiration of that time he came to Jasper County, and purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Newton Township. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1896, at the age of seventy-four years, he was retired and living in Newton. Mrs. McConkey, who is now seventy-five years of age, lives with her daughter, the subject of this sketch. The fathers of both Mrs. Gates' parents, Samuel M. McConkey and John Read, served in the war of 1812. She is one of eight children, of whom she is the eldest, the others being as follows: Jane, wife of Frank Graham, died in Jasper County; Alice, wife of John Munn, a farmer, living in Newton Township; Edward died at the age of seventeen; Mary died at the age of nineteen; Lillie, who became the wife of Bert Beatty, lives on a farm in Newton Township; Charles is a carpenter in Newton; William died at the age of twenty-nine.

On December 22, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Margaret McConkey and Sumner E. Gates, the son of E. N. and Sarah (Cunningham) Gates, natives of Vermont. E. N. Gates was provost marshal at Newton during the Civil War, and was a lawyer of renown. He began his practice at Ashland, Ohio, but later removed to Genesee, Illinois, where he continued the practice of law until 1854, at which time he came to Newton. He was one of Newton's most prominent lawyers until his death, which occurred December 12, 1882, at the age of sixty-six. At that time he was the owner of the place where Mrs. Gates now lives, and after his death Sumner Gates purchased the interest of the other heirs, and when his death occurred it passed into the hands of his widow, the subject of this sketch.

There were six children born to Judge Gates and his wife, three of whom grew to maturity: Sumner E.; Alvin C., a prominent manufacturer of Newton; and Loren, formerly in the shoe business in Newton, but now in Kansas City, Missouri.

Sumner E. Gates was born May 20, 1848, in Ashland County, Ohio, and died in Newton, Jasper County, Iowa, on August 4, 1900. He came to Iowa with his parents in 1854. At the time of his marriage he owned three hundred and twenty acres of land in Kellogg Township, and at the time of his death he had increased his holdings of real estate until he owned eighteen hundred acres of land in Kellogg Township, which was sold in 1909. He was a man of great force of character, of good judgment and possessed of a fine public spirit. He was broad-minded and had a host of friends. He was engaged extensively in stock raising, and was one of the progressive farmers and up-to-date citizens of his community. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church at Newton.

To Mr. and Mrs. Gates were born five children, namely: Simon, born March 3, 1877, married Georgia Randolph, lives in Newton, engaged in the ice business; Edith, born February 17, 1879, is the wife of Thomas Buchanan, and lives on a farm in Newton Township; Golda died at the age of two years; Estes, born June 6, 1889, married Bessie McQuislon and lives at home with his mother; Glen, born December 31, 1890, lives at home; she is a graduate of the Newton high school and is also an accomplished musician. Both of the sons are prominent members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having attained the highest honors of the order. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 848.