Amos Gates

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Amos Gates, out in Washington County. Now, some stories stretch wide across decades, and this one's got two men carrying the weight of it. Let's set the scene.

The year is 1799, January the eleventh, and Amos Gates comes into this world. He would grow up to become something rare and consequential in Texas history, a member of Austin's first colony. That's the original, the foundational gathering of settlers that staked a claim on this land before most anyone else dared to try.

Amos was there. And when you're talking about the roots of Texas, you don't get much deeper than Austin's first colony. Amos Gates lived a long life, the kind that spans whole chapters of a changing world, right up until May the twenty-sixth, 1883, when he finally put down that long journey.

But the story doesn't end with Amos, because good stories rarely do. He had a son, William C. Gates, born July the fifteenth, 1834.

William came into manhood just as the country itself was tearing apart at the seams, and he made his choice. He served in the Confederate Army. He carried that weight, whatever it meant, whatever it cost.

William C. Gates died January the thirtieth, 1877. Two men.

A father and a son. One who helped plant the earliest seeds of Texas, and one who lived through the fire of a nation divided. Washington County holds their names, and now you know them too.

What the marker says

Amos Gates, a member of Austin's first colony. Born January 11, 1799. Died May 26, 1883. His son William C. Gates, who served in the Confederate Army. Born July 15, 1834, died January 30, 1877