Surnames: GATES HEWETT EYERLY MEADE PETERSON MACDONALD MACBRIDE

----Source: CLARK COUNTY REPUBLICAN & PRESS (Neillsville, Wis.) 08/31/1911

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        James "Jim" Lester Gates (1850 - 1911)

                 Buried in Neillsville, Clark Co., WI

Gates, James L. (22 Dec 1850 - 25 Augl 1911)

On Friday, Aug. 25, 1911, the active, energetic life of James L. Gates closed at his home in Milwaukee, the cause of his death being heart disease. Although he had been ailing some time, he had been down to his office on Wednesday, and having passed through several severe attacks, his condition was not considered immediately dangerous.

Deceased came to Neillsville, Clark County with his parents when a small boy, grew to manhood here, became one of the moving spirits of this community, and after his removal to Milwaukee, continue to exercise increased influence on the destinies of Clark County and all of Northern Wisconsin. The following sketch of his life was written some years ago by a personal friend and was found among his papers:

"By sheer force of individual capacity and aggressive consistency of purpose, Mr. James L. Gates of Milwaukee has place his name in that roll of honor which comprises the self-made men of this country. His career proves that opportunities for advancement are open to anyone who has the sagacity and the industry to avail himself of them.

                   James Leslie Gates as a young man

Starting in life as a poor boy, with schooling limited to a period of but three months, Mr. Gates is today credited with being the largest individual holder of pine lands in the United States, his interests lying in the states of Wisconsin and Florida. He was born in the pine forests of the Adirondack Mountains, N.Y., Dec. 22, 1850. His father was a timber inspector, and as a child he followed him through the pine woods, thus instinctively acquiring a knowledge of the giant trees which were to be the basis of his subsequent prosperity.

Daniel Gates, the father, died in 1885; his mother, formerly Miss Jane Hewett, is still living. In 1856 when James was six years of age, his parents removed to Neillsville, Clark County, Wis., where the father continue to work as a lumberman and the son to follow in his footsteps. Naturally pushing and ambitious, he possessed the happy faculty of acquiring the very information which he needed at the time. When only sixteen years of age he had advanced to the position of foreman in a logging camp on the Black River. Although it was unusual that one son young should be a "boss", he not only remained the foreman, but proved himself among the most competent ones in that region. He believed that a railroad from Merrillan to Neillsville would be of great advantage, and when told that the route was impractical, surveyed the line himself, being also instrumental in the construction work. He was virtually unacquainted with banking, but in 1879 he founded the Neillsville Bank, now a most flourishing institution, and operated it successfully for three years. Whenever he took hold of anything it seemed to move right along to success.

For many years Mr. Gates was the chief promoter of the material prosperity of Neillsville. He founded the firm of Gates, Stannard & Co., which operated the largest mercantile business in that city. He erected a number of most substantial buildings, including two of its finest brick blocks, and introduced the telegraph and telephone, and caused the U.S. Signal Service to be installed. The rich natural resources and broad possibilities of the Lake Superior region early claimed his attention, and he made a large investment in its timber and mineral lands. He was one of the main movers in the enterprise which secured the franchise and built the Sault Saint Marie railroad, being a director in the company organized for that purpose.

He has carried on an extensive logging business. His logging operations have represented an amount exceed by but few operators in the Northwest, being accomplished by six hundred men, under his immediate direction, without the assistance of either clerk or bookkeeper. He now owns in the neighborhood of 800,00 acres of pine lands in Wisconsin and Florida.

In 1886, Mr. Gates removed his family to Milwaukee, and has since resided there, being one of its leading and prosperous citizens. One of his fortunate strokes of business while living there was the purchase from the government of the old Post Office building. He bought it for $256,000 and resold it to Daniel Wells, Jr., for $281,000, making $25,000 by the transaction. Another claim to distinction which he has acquired since becoming a Milwaukee resident, is that he has gradually increased the insurance upon his life, until he has now the greatest risk of any man in Wisconsin. In round numbers the amount is $500,000, and it is said he has already paid to the various insurance companies about $100,000 in premiums.

Self-made and self-educated, Mr. Gates is, nevertheless, a finished and forcible writer. He is positive in word, and in action, and yet is popular because of his evident honesty. On the question of the free coinage of silver and against the appreciation of gold, on the varied phases of the tariff question, he has written much and instructively. He is a member of the Republican Party, but is too outspoken to be a successful politician and has never striven for official position. Mr. Gates is a Congregationalist, and since living in Milwaukee has been a member of the Plymouth Church. He thoroughly believes in both practical and theoretical Christianity, and especially in the policy of helping others to help themselves, placing manhood and womanhood at the highest possible premium. Although not an active Mason, he has long affiliated with the order.

Mr. Gates has been twice married (3 times + Teuscher, Anna Marie, 24 Jan 1909). His first wife was Lydie Eyerly of Neillsville, by whom he had two children, Robert and Edith. In Jul 1885, he was married to Miss Katherine Meade of New Hampshire. They have two children, Harrison Meade and Helen, the son being born the day Benjamin Harrison was nominated to the Presidents."

At his death Mr. Gates left his wife and four children mentioned above, the two sons being connected with James L. Gates Land Co., and both daughters married; one being Mrs. (Dr.) H. A. Peterson of Soldiers Grove and the other, Mrs. R. B. MacDonald of Ladysmith. He leaves also his aged mother, two brothers, Ed H. and Charles, and one sister, Mrs. R.J. MacBride, all of this city.

Funeral services were held Sunday at the Manuel Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, the pastor Rev. Dr. Jenkins officiating. The remains were brought to Neillsville for burial, brief services being held Monday afternoon at the MacBride home, conducted by Dr. Jenkins and Rev. W.T. Hendren of Greenwood.

Neillsville, Wisconsin City Cemetery

Gates Family Monument

Photo by Natalie Erpenbach

Children of James Leslie Gates and Katherine G. Mead

Harrison Meade Gates
Birth: 28 Jun 1888
Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Death:14 September 1974

Wisconsin Births and Christenings, 1826-1926

Heleln 21 Augl 1890

Children of James Leslie Gates and Lydia A. Eyerly

Robert Leslie Gates; 1874–1924
Edith Temperance Gates; 1877–1929
Horace Hayes Gates; 1879–1879
Beatrice M. Gates; 1881–1883

BioM: Gates, Helen (12 Jul 1909)

Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925

Groom: Robt. B. Macdonald, 21 (1888, Wis.) year old male
Marriage Date: 12 Jul 1909
Location: Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan
Groom's Father: R. A. Macdonald
Groom's Mother: Mary Bell
Brides's Name: Helen Gates, 18 year old female
Brides's Birth Date: 1891
Brides's Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wis.
Brides's Father's Name: J. L. Gates
Spouse's Mother's Name: Katherine Mead

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"Gates" County was created from territory that had been part of Chippewa County, on 15 May 1901 and named in honor of James Lester Gates,  On 19 Jun 1905 Gates County was renamed "Rusk County" in memory of Jeremiah M. Rusk, farmer, soldier, and politician who commanded the 25th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War and served as Wisconsin's 15th governor.

----THE TRIBUNE, MINERAL POINT, WI, THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1901.

Side Note:

----Source: Wauwatosa news. [volume], April 14, 1900

Wagon Hill, at Ladysmith takes its name from the peculiar formation of a clump of trees on the top, which so closely resembles a wagon at a little distance as to deceive anybody but an expert. The hill extends for about a mile in length, and is about 500 feet high.

----Source: 1881 History of Clark Co., Wis.

The great incentive for the promotion of Columbia was the wish to dispose of cutover lands. Active in this endeavor was James L. Gates, who was the man behind on of the various land companies operating in the Columbia area. One local surmise is that of Jim Gates, as he was usually called, was the first and perhaps the most glamorous, of those to push the Columbia area. He was the grandson of Daniel Gates, a pioneer and he had the necessary imagination to carry on projects of limitless possibilities. Evidence of his active mind many still be found at that Neillsville city cemetery, where two of his wives are buried.

Mr. Graves did not stop with the usual trite words upon the tombstones of his wives, but rather gave plat to a poetic genius.

Local tradition is that Mr. Gates married a third time, but that experience did not inspire his muse. She was said to have been a good businesswoman and possibly would have had some relation to the financial vicissitudes of Mr. Gates, who really had his ups and downs.

Whatever his experience in his third marriage, his memory deserves well of the ladies, for he originated the name "Ladysmith" and attached it to the city to the north, county seat of Rusk County. Mr. Gates had a high estimate of a good woman and is said to have had great and proper regard for one of the many women bearing the name of Smith. Hence is the name, Ladysmith (alternative history).

The county, of which Ladysmith is the seat, was once known as Gates County, named for this same James L. Gates. His name was to be attached to the county for all time, the condition being that he was to build the court house at his own costs. But when the courthouse was to have been built, Jim Gates was in one of his cyclical depressions and lacked the money. Hence the name was changed to "Rusk" and the memory of Jim Gates was left to such memorials as this story and to the eroding letters engraved upon a tombstone.

Now it might seem at first glance as though this is a long way around to point to James L. Gates as probably the originator of the great promotion of Columbia, but the trip around the verbal side road demonstrated that at least he had the necessary ambition and imagination. Also, if Jim Gates and his associates or competitors had what it took, their prospects also had what it took, plenty of nothing. There were the victims of the great Depression of the 1890s, mostly persons of the Chicago area who had lost their jobs and were grasping at straws. Some of them had a little capital upon the line without even seeing the Columbia country.

Even the name of the great city-to-be had its power of promotion, a name of patriotic grandeur. Where did it come from? Local history does not say. A look back at the times and the circumstances May tell. The days of the great promotion were the days of great Columbian celebrations, 400 years from the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. It was then that Chicago launched the Columbian exposition. What more logical than that promoters should hitch their wagons to this popular star? Certainly Columbia, Clark County, Wisconsin, had a come-hitcher sound, with its promise of soil and oil and gold and jobs in the factories of dreamland, another discovery in the land of Columbia.

----Source: Wood County reporter, 17 Dec 1896

James L. Gates buys Washburn Co. Land for ten cents per acre.

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----Source: Vernon County Censor, 13 Jul 1898

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----Source: Iowa County democrat, August 18, 1904

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----Source: Stanley Republic, 28 Oct 1921
Robert L. Gates Court Settlement

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----Source: The National Magazine - Volume 13 - Page 404

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Bio: Gates, Mrs. James L.

----Source: Barton County Democrat, Great Bend, KS; November 28, 1895

Mrs. James L. Gates (former Katherine Meade from New Hampshire) of Milwaukee, owns a Bible that was brought over in the Mayflower in 1620.

This belief has been thoroughly researched by 

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BioM: Teuscher, Anna Marie (24 Jan 1909)

Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007

Groom: James L Gates, white male
Marriage Registration: St. Joseph, Indiana, United States
Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Number of Total Marriages: 2; resolved by death (1905)
Birth Date: 22 Dec 1850, New York
Marriage License Date: 24 Jan 1909
Father's Name: Daniel Gates
Mother's Name: Jane Hewitt
Bride: Anna Teuscher, white female

Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Birth Date: 16 Feb 1867, Germany

Father's Name: Nicholas Post
Mother's Name: Sukunda Horbet

Obit: Teuscher, Anna Marie Post/Kundert/Gates (30 Apr 1886-17 Mar 1962)

Mrs Anna Marie Teuscher, female, 76 years old
Death Date: 18 Mar 1962, Rockford, Illinois
Death Date: 17 Mar 1962
Greenwood Cemetery
Monroe, Green County, Wisconsin, USA

Husbands

Jacob Teuscher; 1884 - 1933

James Leslie Gates; 22 Dec 1850 - 25 Augl 1911

Children of Anna Marie Kundert Teuscher & Jacob Teuscher
Lydia Anne Teuscher Gehrt 1908-2004
Edna E. Teuscher Schuetz 1909-2006
Jacob A. Teuscher 1912-2001
Ralph E. Teuscher 1914-1985

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Bio: Gates, Robert Leslie 1874 - 1924

Birthplace: Neillsville Wisconsin (1874)
Father: James L. Gates

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