MY RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS
SCRAPBOOK PART VII
By Jonathan K.T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995

(Page 29)

GATES (Lot 269)

LOT 269, GATES

south to north:

CALLIE P. GATES, 1855-1958

ANN M. GATES, 1821-1911

W. W. GATES, 1812-1891

l.
U.S. Census, Aug. 22, l85o, Jackson, page 452:
W. W. Gates, 38, Virgjnia Printer
Ann Gates, 29, Tenn.
Thomas M. Gates, 11, Tenn.
John W. Gates, 9, Tenn.
James C. Gates, 4, Tenn.
William W. Gates, 1, Tenn.

2.
U.S. Census, June 2, 1860, Jackson, page 173:
W. W. Gates, 48, Virginia Publisher
Ann Gates, 39, Tenn.
John W. Gates, 19, Tenn.
Jame_ C. Gates, 14, Tenn.
William W. Gates, 11, Tenn.
Eugenia Gates, 9, Tenn.
Callie Gates, 7, Tenn.
Fannie Gates, 2, Tenn.

3.
From THE FORKED DEER BLADE, Jackson, January 7, 1888, about W. W. Gates:

One mile north of Jackson, in a beautiful suburban house, recently given him by his son, surrounded by children and grand-children, soothed by a loving wife, and sustained by an unfaltering trust in God, the old veteran enjoys a placid old age, an honor to himself and to his generation.

 

4.
Curiously, the census-taker made a major mistake when he visited the household of Mrs. Ann (Annie) M. Gates in June 1900. W. W. Gates had died in 1891, but the census-taker recorded his name as if he were living and had his birthdate incorrect; his wife, Ann was not given at all and their daughter, callie's birth-year was incorrectly given as well. The census data: W. W. Gates, born Feb. 1821; widowed; Callie Gates, dau., born Feb. 1859. Pattie Nance, dau., born Dec. 1861, widowed, with a child, Walter Nance, born Oct. 1883. (Enumerator's Dist. 107, sheet 10) Pattie should be Fannie Nance (with wrong birthdate).

5.
1891-1892 City Directory, Jackson, page 124:
GATES BROS, grocers 217 e Main
GATES B H, Gates Bros. r 421 e Main
GATES C M, Gates Bros. r 421 e Main
   "    H. B., compositor Tribune & Sun, bds 116 w Baltimore
GATES HARRY B, mngr W U Tel Co. bds Arlington Hotel
   "    Jno. W, mayor, r 357 n Royal
   "    I. B., clk T M Ry, r 357 n Royal
GATES T M, cotton buyer 207 n Shannon, r 421 e Main
GATES COTTON CO 207 n Shannon
   "    W. W., clk 105-7 s Market, r 541 e Main
   "    Hattie, c r 138 w Orleans
   "    Mrs A M, wid, r 464 e Baltimore
   "    Miss Callie, teacher city schools, r 464 e Baltimore

S

6.
1896 City Directory, Jackson, page 80:
Gates Annie M, (wid Wm W), bds 204 s Royal.
Gates Miss Caroline P, tchr College St school, bds 204 s Royal.
Gates Charles M, clk Sullivan & McCall, bds 421 e Main.
Gates Emma, (wid Hunter), bds 227 w Main.
Gates Miss Georgia, bds 430 e Baltimore.
Gates Harry B, mngr W U Tel Co, bds Grand av cor Long.
Gates John N, Life and Accident Insurance and sec Board of Trade 110 e Baltimore, res 430 same, tel 24. (See popp back paster).
Gates J Will, trav agt, res 338 n Church.
Gates Robert M, reporter Jackson Daily Sun, bds 495 n Royal.
Gates Thomas E, bds 421 e Main.
Gates Thomas M, cotton buyer, res 421 e Main.
Gates Wm W, elk W P Robertson & Sons, res 544 e Lafayette.

7.
Robert H. Cartmell "Diary", 29, Jan.-Dec. 19l1; Jan.-May 1912, page 27. April 5, 1911. . . . heard this evening that Mrs. W. W. Gates died today, the oldest person living in Jackson. had been living in Jackson since 1842. W. W. Gates published a paper (W. T. Whig) 1842 to 62, when the Yankey visited Jackson and created a disturbance. She was a sister of Mrs. J. M. Parker (Callie McCutchen), also Tom McCutchen, now living in Jackson. The mother of John Gates deceased and of Tom Gates & Will Gates now living.

7-1.
Griffin Funeral Home Burial Register, 1954-1959, page 470:
Miss Callie Parker Gates, July 3, 1854-May 12, 1959. Parents: William Ward Gates and Annie McCutchen.

7-2.
Griffin Funeral Home Burial Register, 1939-1944, page 270:
Mrs. Fannie M. Nance, Nov. 29, 1859-Aug. 2, 1941. Father, W. W. Gates. Mother, Anne McCutchen. Buried Riverside Cemetery.

 

(Page 30)

8.
1900-1901 City Directory, Jackson, page 106:
Gates, Annie, (wid William W), h 204 s Royal.
Gates B F, died July 28, 1899.
Gates Callie Miss, teacher College St School, h 204 s Royal.
Gates Charles M, clk 203 e Lafayette, h 413 e Main.
Gates Emma, (wid Hunter), h 225 w Main.
Gates Harry B, mngr Western Union Telegraph Co.
Gates Hewitt P, h 542 e Lafayette.
Gates John W, l & a ins, 110 e Baltimore, h 316 e Chester.
Gates Thomas E, clk 112 n Liberty, h 413 e Main.

9.
From GOODSPEED'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE (Madison County), 1887, page 815.
Regarding newspapers of old-time Jackson, Tennessee:

. . . The Jacksonian was published by Rogers & Acton, in 1844. W. F. Doherty began the publication of a small Democratic paper in 1845-46, but it was soon after suspended. In 1855 J. H. Young started the Jeffersonian, but it, too, suspended in 1856. The paper, and it might be said, its editor, passed into the hands of Col. W. W. Gates. The next effort at a Whig paper was by ______ Mitchell, in 1841-42, but this suspended in a short time. The West Tennessee Whig was established by Col. W. W. Gates, who continued its publication until the office was closed and destroyed by the war. After the war Col. Gates with Don Cameron revived his paper, and continued its publication until 1870, when it was consolidated with the Tribune, which had been started by the Milligan Bros., but edited by Col. D. M. Wisdom. This partnership continued until 1872, when Col. Gates retired.         The Jackson Sun was first published in September, 1873, by Conner & Harald, and in 1877 by Gates & Enloe. In 1878 the Tribune and Sun were consolidated under the name of Tribune and Sun, under which name it is still published. It is published by the Tribune and Sun Publishing Company. John W. Gates retired from the firm in 1884. The Tribune and Sun is a widely circulated paper, and is edited with very marked ability.        In 1877 Col. W. W. Gates again started in the newspaper business. He again took the name of his old paper, West Tennessee Whig, which he edited about one year, when he sold it to William H. Brutin, L. J. Brooks, W. A. Ward and D. L. Balch. In September of that year Mr. Balch retired, and in July, 1883, L. J. Brooks and W. A. Ward became proprietors, Since January, 1885, the paper has been issued as a semi-weekly. It is now the only semi-weekly paper in West Tennessee. It is a twenty-eight column four-page paper, and is owned and managed by L. J. Brooks. The Whig is a Democratic paper.

 

	From the first issue of the WEST TENNESSEE WHIG, October 7, 1842
	The first issue of the rejuvenated WEST TENNESSEE WHIG was dated Oct. 7, 1865
	The office of the "West Tennessee Whig" is in the building known as the "old Lafayette Inn," on the first street north of the Public Square, and opposite Mr. Barney Mitchell's store.

 

In the WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, May 20, 1876, W. W. Gates dated his first visit to Jackson as December 1, 1833. IBID., Sept. 5, 1874, notice that he vas establishing a newspaper, the ADVOCATE in Henderson, Tenn. beginning Oct. 1, 1874.

WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, Feb. 11, 1872. Death of James C. Gates, aged 59, at Olinda, Chesterfield Co., Va on Dec 6, 1871. Invalid. Baptist.

 

(Page 31)

11.
A transcribed article from THE JACKSON DISPATCH, circa 1888, glued into the "Thomas M. Gates scrapbook", circa 1888, pages 143-144. Courtesy of its present custodian, the Tennessee Room, Jackson-Madison Co. Library. The same or similar articles appeared about Colonel Gates in the Memphis APPEAL-AVALANCHE and the Nashville DAILY AMERICAN about the same time, according to another article about Colonel Gates on page 144 of this scrapbook.

William Ward Gates was born in Chesterfield County, Virginia on the 23d day of May, 1812. Left and /sic/ orphan at an early age he emigrated to West Tennessee about the year 1827 and was bound out by an older brother to James R. Johnston and Felix K. Zollicoffer to learn the printing business at Paris, then the leading town in the "Western District" as the western division of our state was then termed. Both of these men afterwards attained pre-eminence, the latter commanding a brigade of Tennesseans at Fishing Creek, where he fell.         In 1829 Johnston and Zollicoffer abandoned their newspaper and it fell into the hands of the apprentice boy, who, in January, 1830, commenced the publication of a small sheet called the West Tennessean. It was printed on an old ramage wooden press that had been purchased at Knoxville and was doubtless the first printing press ever brought into the state. Several years ago an elegantly mounted cane was made from the old press and presented to Col. Gates by the following citizens of Paris, to wit: John Dunlap J. R. Randle, B. C. Brown, E. J. Mcfarland, C. Peden, S. B. Aden and J. C. Porter. All of these have since died except J. C. Porter, who is the only living contemporary of the boy editor.         At the mast-head of the West Tennessean was run up the names of Henry Clay for president and Wm. C. Preston for vice-president. It was the first paper in the state to hoist the colors of Henry Clay, and that, too, in a town where the young printer had but the sacred number of seven men who thought as he thought and felt as he felt about the immortal commoner. Among the cardinal principles advocated and expounded, were the following: "one presidential term," "honesty and capacity the test for office," "a united state bank," "a protective tariff," "internal improvements by the general government," "no proscription for opinion's sake."         No proscription, for opinion's sake, was the rallying cry of the boy editor. It has ever since been his guiding star, and, amid all the fierce conflicts through which he has passed, he never for a moment lost sight of this polestar of his life. A veteran Democratic (old school) editor recently summed up Col. Gates' character in this way, 'though not a brilliant writer, no editor in the state knew better how to manage a political campaign. His rallying cry reached every nook and corner in his district. Just before an election the thousands of readers of the old West Tennessee Whig were encouraged and animated by such expressions as, "once more to the breach, dear friends, once more!" "Now, by St. Paul, the work goes bravely on." Col. Gates never stooped to personal abuse. At the threshold of his career, he seemed to have learned that in order to have one's opinions respected, a proper respect should be shown to those of others. If he did not always know what was best to put in his paper, he certainly knew what was best to keep out of it. In this way he always managed to publish a good paper. As a political writer he was beloved by his party and respected by his opponents."         In 1835 he married Ann, eldest daughter of Col. Wm. McCutchen, who has for nearly half a century been indeed a help-mate to him. She still lives a blessing to her children and an honor to her sex. Broken up at Paris by having a large security debt to pay, Col. Gates moved to Huntingdon in 1839 where he published a paper until called by the Whigs of Jackson to establish an office at that place. This he did in 1842, from which year dates the publication of the West Tennessee Whig. At that time Jackson was head quarters for the Democratic party in West Tennessee. Two Whig papers had failed there the previous year. Col. Gates made his paper the political organ for nine counties. He traveled horseback through these counties soliciting legal advertisements and subscribers, leaving the paper in charge of his partner, the late John M. Parker, whose courteous manners and fine business talents did much towards its success.

 

(Page 32)

While at Paris Col. Gates was identified with the anti-Jackson party, known as National Republicans. C. H. Williams, of West Tennessee, and Thomas D. Arnold, of East Tennessee, were elected to Congress by that party. Early in January, 1836, the great split took place in the Jackson-Van Buren party, and the Whig party, by name, was revived, after a lapse of forty years. Its organization in all the states was rapid. A conference meeting was held at Nashville, in the old city hotel, for the purpose of organizing the movement in Tennessee. There were present at that famous meeting John Bell, Hugh L. White, Ephriam H. Foster, Dr. Boyd McNairy, Allen A. Hall, Dr. John Shelby, Thos. A. R. Nelson, and, from West Tennessee, G. H. Williams and W. W. Gates. Thus the subject of our sketch was present at the baptismal vows of the Whig party in 1836. All who took part in that meeting, save him, have gone the way of all the earth. All the editors connected with the Tennessee press at that time have passed away. He is the only connecting link between the past and present generation of Tennessee editors.         In 1839 Gates supported John W. Crockett (son of the immortal Davy Crockett) for Congress. During that stirring campaign it will be remembered by the old men of Tennessee that Newton Cannon was the Whig candidate for Govenor/sic/! And James K. Polk the Democratic candidate. Cannon had been elected two years before by 8,000 majority. Col. Gates still had the name of Henry Clay flying at the mast-head of his paper. The memorable presidential campaign of 1840 was just ahead. Crockett was the only candidate for congress in the state that declared himself for Clay. Cannon and all the other Whig candidates and editors dodged the issue by saying they were in favor of the party nominee whoever it might be. Mr. Polk took advantage of his luke warmness and assailed Clay all over the state with no one to defend him save Crockett and Gates. What was the result? Polk wiped out Cannon's previous majority of 8,000 and beat him over 1,000 votes. The Whigs lost in every district of the state, except in Crockett's district, where Clay was defended. Col. Gates contends that if Polk had been met all over the state in his assaults against Clay, the Whig candidates would have been elected and given such an endorsement of Clay, he would have been nominated for president in 1840, instead of Harrison.         In 1840 Gen. Geo. W. Gibbs (Whig) and Hon. A. W. O. Totten (Democrat) were elected by their respective parties. They had an appointment to speak at McLemoresville. The news reached Huntingdon that on account of sickness Gen. Gibbs would not be able to speak. In this emergency Col. Gates was called on. Being no speaker himself, he had discovered that talent remarkably developed in a young lad living in the county by the name of Roach. On the day of the speaking Col. Gates sent his boy to mill, with instructions to ride up to where the speaking was to take place and sit there on his horse until Totten got through speaking. Totten was dignified and scholarly, but all the starch was taken out of him when, at a given signal, the Carroll county mill boy slid down from his sack, mounted the stand, and blazed away at him and the Democratic party generally. Roach, in after years, was elected to the state senate and attained considerable prominence in his party.         In those times men were influenced to a considerable extent by outward demonstrations. No amount of reasoning could change a man's politics. An old old cabin on wheels, old zip coon, a flock of geese painted with polk berries, a campaign song -- all these were more potent than the highest flights of oratory. The writer well remembers how Col. Gates effectually spiked Aaron V. Brown's great speech in 1847. Brown had made one of the most eloquent speeches that ever fell from the lips of men. He described the glory and grandeur of the whole country. Starting out from the green hills of Maine and Vermont he towered over the Alleghanies, then skimming across the great Mississippi basin, he dashed through the boundless prairies of the far west and made a graceful landing on the golden shores of California. All this lovely land, with its benign institutions, was the work of the Democratic party. Col. Gates had a wood cut made representing a mountain. On the top of this mountain he had a good likeness of Aaron V., standing erect, with his big head and large chest, short legs and arms. Above the cut, in bold letters were Aaron's visions from Mount Pisgah. At the base of the mountain an army of coons, with prominent rings on their tails were making their way up the ascent. Then followed the eloquent extract above alluded to, the whole set off with this comment, "and Aaron saw greater sights than even John saw from the isle of Patmos." After this, "Old Mount Pisgah" became a proverb.

 

(Page 33)

As a rule, that class of men known as "old line Whigs" were wedded to the union. "The union, the constitution and the enforcement of the laws" was their creed. W. W. Gates was no exception to this rule. When the war cloud darkened the heavens in 1861, Col. Gates condemned, through the columns of the "West Tennessee Whig" the secession movement madness, and, week after week, wrote editorials predicting the result. In the light of what has come to pass, the annunciations from his pen, at that time, read as though they were inspired. So earnest and persistent was he in advocacy of the union, a committee, composed of what is now known as original secessionists, waited on him and threatened to demolish his office if he longer held out. In no way deterred by these threats, like thousands of union men all over the south, when the question ceased to be union or disunion, but was practically put, "will you go with the north or will you go with the south," he sorrowfully went with his people. Since the war, like many others of his school, he has had no party with which he could cordially affiliate. When told that the Whig party is dead, the old man will fire up and say, "Yes, yes, I know the body is dead, but the spirit can never die. The body will be resurrected (as it was in 1836) and be reunited with the spirit, and in 1888 sweep the country as it did in 1840." In 1862, the federal troops entered Jackson, took possession of his fine printing office, used up a large amount of stationery and took away with them the entire office. And to this day this old Whig editor, who has fought so many battles for the union, has never been paid one cent for his property, while thousands of others, among the number one who threatened to demolish his office (as above recounted), have been paid for losses sustained. But this is only one among many other hard trials that the war brought upon the country.         The veteran is now living in retirement at Jackson in the enjoyment of good health and an intellect undiminished by the arduous labors of a well-spent life.

 

WILLIAM WARD GATES
1812-1891

 

(Page 34)

12.
THE JACKSON SUN, May 13, 1958:

Miss Callie Gates Dies at 102 Years, Funeral Today         Miss Callie Gates, for many years a teacher in Jackson city schools, died Monday afternoon at 2:45 o'clock at her home. 204 South Royal St. alter an illness of several years. She was 102 years of age.         She was born here July 3, 1855, the daughter of William Ward Gates and Ann McCutchen Gates, was educated at the Memphis Conference Female Institute, spent practically all her life in Jackson, was connected with the College Street School for 41 years, first as teacher, then as principal.         She was the oldest member of the First Methodist Church, was a member of the Parkview Parent-Teacher Association and even in her extreme old age was interested in the progress of her native city. On April 30, 1957, Lambuth College conferred upon her the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities with the following citation:         "In recognition of your modest, unassuming character, your colorful personality, thoughtful appraisal of people and events, your wholesome influence through these many years, your life which has exemplified the role of the teacher in the community, Lambuth College confers upon you the degree of Doctor of Humanities."         Miss Gates was the oldest living alumna of this Institution, having been graduated with honors from the MCFI in the class of 1873. She was a dynamic force as teacher, an organizer of the Mother's Congress, later the Parent-Teacher Association with which she continued her affiliation throughout life. She taught Sunday School in the First Methodist Church for many years, was a worker in civic causes, composer of poems, teller of tales drawn from experiences of the civil war and Reconstruction Era.         Miss Gates shared her home with two nieces, Misses Mary and Ann Butler, who survive her. Other survivors include Jack Gates of Memphis, Mrs. Frances Gaines of Jackson, Mrs. D. E. Moore of Dallas, Texas and Frank Butler of Anniston, Ala. and a large number of great nieces and nephews.         Services were held at the chapel of the First Methodist Church this afternoon at 4 o'clock, conducted by the pastor Dr Adolphus Gilliam. Burial was in Riverside Cemetery.         Pallbearers were Ewing Griffin, Jr., Jack Butler, Merritt Wise, Jack Holland, James Chester, D. E. Ray.         Griffin Funeral Home in charge.

 

13.
WHO'S WHO IN TENNESSEE (Paul & Douglass Pub. Co.), 1911, page 188:

GATES, Robert, journalist; born Henry Co. Tenn., May 5, 1840; son of B. F. and Elizabeth Jackson (Roper) Gates; Irish-English descent; paternal grandparents William Ward and Polly (Cheatham) Gates, maternal grandparents Robert and Elizabeth (Lewis) Roper; educated West Tenn. College, Jackson (Tenn.) and Andrew College, Trenton (Tenn.); soldier 1861-65; railroad contractor 1865-70; journalist 1870-1884; engaged in advocating truck and fruit farming in West Tenn. 1883-4-5; in 1882-85 Assistant Commissioner Agriculture and Immigration under administration Gov. Bate; conducted several excursions of Northern prospectors to Tennessee, organized and held a series of interstate industrial and agricultural conventions at Jackson, represented the State in the New Orleans World Exposition, had charge of Shelby Co. Pyramid Exhibit in the Tennessee Centennial; Industrial Commissioner for the L. & N. R. R. for Tennessee from 1897 to present; was instrumental in establishing the system of Farmers' Institutes, which is doing so much to develop the agricultural interests of the state, incidentally looking after the railroad interests in the legislatures, and in a general sense promoting good will between the people and the railroads in Tennessee; is at present Lecturer on Literary, Economic and Political subjects, also farming on large scale in West Tenn.; married Caledonia Jane Jester Oct. 39, 1867; Democrat; member Episcopal church.

 

It is assumed, as a point of reference, that Robert Gates' (1840-1915) father, Benjamin Franklin Gates (1817-1899), was a brother of William Ward Gates who died in 1891. This biographical sketch would then suggest that the parents of Benj. F. Gates and Wm. W. Gates (d. 1891) were Wm. Ward Gates and Polly (Cheatham) Gates. Robert Gates (b. 1840) was a well- known journalist. The town of Gates, Tennessee is named in his honor. see, GATES, TENNESSEE Now & Then, by Bettie B. Davis, lg86, page 6 for more about Robert Gates.

Benj. F. Gates' death year given on the tombstone in Riverside is frequently interpreted as 1889, but a closer look reveals it is 1899, as the JACKSON CITY DIRECTORY, 1900-1901, page 106 reveals: B. F Gates died July 28, 1899.

 

14.
An interesting obituary appeared in the WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, August 12, 1871 of James R. Gates, of Virginia, evidently a close kinsman of William Ward Gates (d. 1891) and Benjamin F. Gates, being the reason it was published in the local newspaper. It reads:

At his residence in Chesterfield county, Virginia, on the 28th ult. /July 28/, James R. Gates, Esq., aged 83 years. The deceased was born in the county in which he lived and died; he was the youngest of seven children and the last link connecting the past and present generations of his family. He engaged in farming in early life and became one of the best planters in the state. By unfaltering energy and untiring industry he acquired a large estate. For more than forty years he was a consistent member of the Baptist church. . . . He leaves a widow and two sons, and a large number of grandchildren.

 

15.
CHESTERFIELD, AN OLD VIRGINIA COUNTY, by Francis E. Lutz (Richmond, 1954), page 193. "James R. Gates, who was born in 1789 on the ancestral Skinquarter plantation, owned and operated another mill at nearby Genito."

16.
William W. Gates served two terms as Register of Deeds, Madison Co., March 4, 1848-March 3, 1856. (See Madison Co. Court Minute Book 5, page 661; IBID., 6, page 480; IBID., 7, page 530.)

 

(Page 35)

17.
THE NASHVILLE BANNER, Tenn., March 2, 1891:

WILLIAN WARDE GATES. Death of the Veteran Journalist at His Home in Jackson. He Was Widely Known and Familiarly Called the Nestor of the State Press.         A telegram from Jackson announces the death of Col. W. W. Gate yesterday morning. Col Gates was 78 years old. He was widely known throughout the state and was familiarly called the Nestor of the Tennessee press.         The Memphis Commercial of yesterday contained the following sketch of Gates:         In connection with Fellix K. Zollicoffer, who was killed at Fishing Creek, Ky., in the early part of the late war, and Amos R. Johnson, who became distinguished in the State of Mississippi before the war as a lawyer and politician, Col. Gates published the first Whig paper in the State at Paris, Tenn. Later on Col. Gates bought out his partners, Mr. Zollicoffer going to Nashville and Mr. Johnson to Mississippi. Col. Gates had the honor of being the first editor in the State to hoist the name of Henry Clay at the masthead of his paper when the great Whig leader made his first race for President of the United States. This was a memorable campaign and Col. Gates, through his paper, made a gallant fight for the giant statesmen of the South, who met defeat by only a small vote.         From Paris. Col. Gatee removed his paper to Huntingdon, where he remained only a short time. In 1842 he established the West Tennessee Whig at Jackson, Tenn. This paper became the organ of the Whig party in West Tennessee and a power with that party throughout the entire state. Associated with him in its publication were J. M. Parker, who has a number of relatives now living in Memphis; the Hon. Milton Brown, a Whig member of Congress in the early history of the state, and who was the author of the measure under which Texas was admitted into the Union, and Henry Brown, a brilliant member of the Jackson bar. At another time associated with him in that paper was Dr. R. N. Dashiel, who was postmaster at Jackson under Cleveland.         When the war between the states came on Col. Gates pleaded for the Union to the last moment and never gave up the fight till Lincoln's first call for soldiers to suppress the rebellion in the South. Then his great, conservative heart, like John Bell's broke, and he sided with the South, taking his boys with him. During the war his type and press were confiscated by Union soldiers. So after the struggle was over he returned to Jackson without money, his slaves freed, his newspaper, out of which he bad builded his fortune gone, and began on his small real estate, which alone was left, to rebuild his fortune. In this effort he was partially successful. He re-established his paper with the same men who went down with him and the Whig in 1861--Parker and Brown. From 1867 to 1873 he made it a great success. It went all over West Tennessee and the honor to be the first paper in the South to name Horace Greeley for the Presidency of the United States.         The Whig ran on with varying success until 1875 or 76when it was consolidated with the Tribune, and Col. Gates was on the wing. He afterward published a paper at Henderson, Tenn., and the Monitor at LaGrange, later on going to Iuka, Miss., then to Humboldt, Tenn. In 1883 or 84 he returned to his old home in Jackson and published the Whig Banner. The policy of this paper was to steer between both the Democratic and Republican parties, endeavoring all along to bring back to life the old Whig party. It was the dream of the old man's declining years to revive the party which had once held such sway in the South. The Whig Banner went down by a combination of Independence against Democrats in a struggle for the local offices of Madison County. Since that time Col. Gates has not taken an active part in any paper and practically retired in 1883.         Col. Gates was a blood relation of the Virginia Gates family, among them to Gen. Horatio Gates, or revolutionary fame, and to Sir Thomas Gates, who during the reign of Queen Elizabeth succeeded Sir William Raleigh as Governor of the Virginia colony. His mother was a niece of Zach Cheatham, of, Lynchburg, who served many terms in the Virginia House of Commons. She was also a cousin of Frank Cheatham of Tennessee.

 

THE DAILY AMERICAN, Nashville, Tenn., March 3, 1891:

The death of Col. W. W. Gates, which sad event occurred at his home in Jackson Sunday morning, removes from the active walks of men a conspicuous landmark, not only in Tennessee journalism but in the civil and political history of the State. Away back in the '40s, when Whigs and Democrats buckled on their armor to fight the desperate political battles of those days, there were few whose voice was heard farther or whose sword gleamed brighter or fell with more effective blows on the front of his patriotic partisans than that of Col. Gates. For many long years he wielded an effective pen on the old Whig, at Jackson, and when the war obliterated his party he joined hands with his people and affiliated with the Democratic party as the one nearest representing his ideas of good government; but some years ago he retired from journalism and spent the remainder of his days in private life, quietly awaiting the summons to the life beyond the grave. Tennessee in the development of her resources has accomplished little that Iis not the fulfillment of the prophecies long ago made by the deceased. A man himself of push and enterprise, he foresaw the coming of an industrial era as the result of the changed conditions brought about by the war, and his pen was among the first to foreshadow the dawn of a new day. He lived to see the new sun rise, and full of years and honors, closed his eyes in that sleep that knows no earthly waking.

 

THE MEMPHIS APPEAL-AVALANCHE, March 2, 1891:

COL. W. W. GATES. Death of An Old Time Whig Leader. Tennessee's Oldest Editor. Special Dispatch to The Appeal-Avalanche         JACKSON, Tenn., March 1. — Col. W. W. Gates, Tenneese's Nestor editor, who has been a citizen of this city for the past fifty yaers, died at his home at 8 o'clock this morning, in the 79th year of age. It would take volumes to show the great service he has rendered West Tennessee, and especially Jackson, in the interest of which he spent the best days of his life. Col. Gates lived and died a genuine old line Whig.

 

THE MEMPHIS APPEAL-AVALANCHE, March 3, 1891:

At Rest at Riverside. Special Dispatch to The Appeal-Avalanche         JACKSON, Tenn., March 2. — The remains of Col W. W. gates were followed to the grave today by a large consourse of sorrowing relatives and friends, and laid to rest in Riverside cemetery, the editors of the city acting as pall-bearers.

 

The Jackson, Tennessee newspapers for this date are not extant.

In Robt. H. Cartmell's 1891 Diary, March 2, "Attended the burial, of Col. W. W. Gates. an old citizen who moved to Jackson in 1842. . . . He was a union man but a true Southern man when the final issue came."

The Memphis COMMERCIAL, mentioned in THE NASHVILLE BANNER, March 2, 1891, as containing a sketch about W. W. Gates is also not extant.

 

18.
THE WHIG AHD TRIBUNE, JACKSON, May 8, 1875. Article about W. W. Gates. "He was born in Chesterfield County, Virginia on the 23rd day of May, 1812. His grandfather and six brothers came from England in 1755 and settled near Petersburg, Virginia. All of them enlisted and three were killed in the Revolutionary War. His father participated in the War of 1812 and was present at the memorable burning of the Richmond Theatre" /1811/.

 

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