My Genealogy Hound

FRANK H. N. GATES, overseer in the knitting department of the Otis Mill at Ware, Mass., was born where he now resides on July 26, 1858, son of Daniel and Sarah (Bullen) Gates, the former of whom was born in Barnard, Vt., in 1828.

Foster S. Gates, a descendant of an old New England family, and the grandfather of the subject of this biography, was also a native of Barnard, Vt., where his birth occurred in 1800. He followed the calling of an agriculturist, in which he met with a fair degree of success.

He married Miss Betsey McCormack, who was of Scottish ancestry; and they reared a family of two sons and three daughters, but all have since passed away. He died in 1884, twelve years after his wife’s death, which occurred when she was seventy-six years of age.

Daniel Gates, whose early years were spent on his father’s farm in Barnard, Vt., removed in early manhood to Ware, Mass., where he secured employment in the Otis Mills. He rose rapidly to the position of overseer of the finishing department of the cloth mill; and, shortly after the hosiery department was started, he was made overseer in the knitting-room, and was employed there for twenty-three years, making in all forty-six years with the Otis Company. He was a member of the Masonic Council, and a communicant of the Methodist Episcopal church. His connection with the latter lasted many years, and during a portion of that time he held the offices of Steward and Trustee. He died in 1889, sixty-one years of age. His wife, who was born in Waldo, Me., is a daughter of Samuel and Margaret (West) Bullen, both of whom were natives of Maine, his birth occurring in Farmington and hers in Belfast. They reared two sons and three daughters. Two are now living; namely, Mrs. Gates and her sister, Mrs. Margaret G. Marsh, residing in Maiden, Mass. Mrs. Gates bore her husband five children, as follows: a daughter Bessie, who died in infancy; Ida Belle, who lived to be seventeen years of age; Foster S. Gates, an engineer on the Connecticut River Railroad, who is married and has one son; Edith L., the wife of A. D. Talbert, of Boston; and Frank H. N. Gates.

Frank H. N. Gates received a good common-school education. When sixteen years of age he left the high school and went into the mill with his father. He afterward succeeded his father as overseer in the knitting department, a position that has been held by father and son for nearly the entire time since the hosiery business started. He was married when twenty-two years of age, on May 22, 1880, to Miss Grace Esther Lamson, a daughter of Irving T. and Augusta (Kinney) Lamson, both of whom were born in Randolph, Vt. Her mother died in 1874, leaving four sons and four daughters, all of whom are still living, except a son that died in infancy. Her father, who is a successful agriculturist, is living with his second wife in West Randolph, Vt.

Mr. Gates and his wife are attendants at the Episcopal church. He is a member of Eden Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Ware; King Solomon Chapter of Royal Arch Masons; Warren and Northampton Commandery, Northampton, Mass.; Ware Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and Ware Rod and Gun Club. They reside at 34 Park Street, which has been his home since his birth.