Thomas Gates, of Jamestown

• Not the same as Sir Thomas Gates, Colonial Governor of Virginia
• Not the same as Thomas Gate

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Arrived in Jamestown on the Swan in 1609, Elizabeth who became his wife arrived on the Warwick in 1620. Thomas Gates was Burgess for Mulberry Island in 1629. Parents unknown, no known children.

Records

From the 1624 muster at Jamestown: search

• Name Muster Status Location Corporation Age Ship Date of Arrival Muster Date Notes
• Thomas Gates Gates Thomas head Paces Paines James Citty Swan 1609 4 February 1624/5
• Elizabeth Gates Gates Thomas his wife Paces Paines James Citty Warwick 1620 4 February 1624/5

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• page 49 of Colonial Surry By John Bennett Boddie. "Burgess for Mulberry Island, 1629. Owing to destruction of James City records his fate is not known ...."
• page 289 of Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia: A History of the County ...By John Bennett Boddie
• page 198 of Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5: Families G-P edited by John Frederick Dorman. Gave 50 acres to Thomas Gray and Jane Gray, the children of Thomas Gray (d 1658), Ancient Planter, and Margaret.

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comments

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gates-188

On 12 Dec 2013 ... "I contacted the Jamestown Society about Thomas and Elizabeth Gates and why they are not listed on their website as heads of Families. They replied back that they have never gotten any proof that Thomas and Elizabeth Gates had any children. They have found no record of any children. The only record of a John Gates in the area is an indentured servant who arrived in 1628. But that is the only mention of him I could find."

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From http://www.coltechpub.com/hartgen/htm/gates.htm

"The information given by Charles Otis Gates in his 1898 publication "Stephen Gates of Hingham and Lancaster, Massachusetts and his Descendants" regarding the parentage of Stephen Gates the immigrant is apparent erroneous. He claimed that Stephen's father was a Thomas GATES and that his paternal Grandparents were Peter Gates of London and Mary Gates . According to the Harlein Society publication "The Visitation of Suffolk, 1561, 1577 and 1612", London 1981, this Peter Gates was age 29 in 1612, thus could not have been a grandfather of our Stephen Gates (who we know was born about 1599). Also, Peter Gates and Mary Josselyn apparently had one son, Jocelyn, bapt. Feb 1606/07 at St. Mary Woolchurch Haugh, London and perhaps two daughters. Also, the NEHGS Vol. 137, Apr 1983, pg 146 has an article about further errors made by C.O. Gates regarding the ancestry of Stephen Gates."

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Sir Thomas Gates (fl.?–1622), was the governor of Jamestown, in the English colony of Virginia (now the Commonwealth of Virginia, part of the United States of America). His predecessor, George Percy, through inept leadership, was responsible for the lives lost during the period called the Starving Time. The English-born Gates arrived to find a few surviving starving colonists commanded by Percy, and assumed command. Gates ruled with deputy governor Sir Thomas Dale. Their controlled, strict methods helped the early colonies survive. Sir Thomas was knighted in 1596 by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex for gallantry at the Capture of Cadiz.[1] His knighthood was later royally confirmed by Queen Elizabeth I.

Gates was appointed by the Virginia Company of London, which had established the Jamestown settlement under a Royal Charter for the colonisation of Virginia. He had sailed for Jamestown in 1609, aboard the Sea Venture, the new flagship of the Virginia Company. The Sea Venture was part of the Third Supply, a fleet of seven ships, towing two pinnaces, which was intended to deliver new settlers and desperately needed supplies.

At sea, the ships of the Third Supply were separated by a three-day storm now thought to have been a large hurricane. The Admiral of the Virginia Company, Sir George Somers, had taken the helm to fight the storm, and deliberately drove the ship onto rocks to prevent its foundering. The rocks proved to be the reef line to the east of the uninhabited archipelago now known as Bermuda. The other ships went on to Jamestown, not knowing the fate of the Sea Venture.

The 150 survivors spent the next ten months in Bermuda building two new ships on which to complete the journey to Jamestown. Two factions developed, however, due to a dispute between Gates and Somers over who was now the superior. As an appointed officer for Jamestown, Gates felt he was in authority, now that they were ashore. Somers felt that he retained authority until the settlers, including Gates, were landed at Jamestown. The two new ships, the Deliverance and the Patience were completed and sailed for Virginia in 1610. They left two men (a third would be left when the Patience returned from Jamestown) to maintain their claim of Bermuda for England. The Charter of the Virginia Company would officially be extended to include Bermuda in 1612.

Ever since, Bermuda has also been known officially as The Somers Isles. Sir Thomas Gates left his own name on a part of the colony, Gates' Bay, where the survivors of the Sea Venture landed. The oldest surviving fort in Bermuda, built between 1612 and 1615, is known as Gates' Fort. Many scholars believe Gates' accounts inspired William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.[2]