Eliza FISHER

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Seth Amis Fisher and Sarah
• Census: 1850, Living with husband in Lyndon, Caledonia Co., Vermont

Notes:

Name:
Eliza's registration at Lyndon Center Cemetery is based on two books at the Lyndon Town Clerk vault: 1. Index of Cemetery Lots, and 2. Record of Interments for Lyndon Center Cemetery. From page 25, entry #567 of the latter book: Eliza Gates died August 7, 1854, age 37 years of dysentery. Neither book has a reference page number to a third book, the Lot Diagram Book for Lyndon Center Cemetery, so the burial location is unknown.

Eliza Fisher married first Charles H. White (1825-1880) who left her, married again in NH, and went to Arkansas ("The Filgate Families in America," by Everette J. Filgate, p. 240 & 699 in 2008 edition).

The Filgate genealogy book also indicates that Eliza married John Gates of Lyndon (second marriage for both), and that after Eliza died, John married a third time. The Memorial Manager for Eliza had independently reached the same conclusion about John subsequent to publication of the book. As this had been approached based on Gates family records instead of White family records, the original description for Eliza from the Find a Grave website has been retained below. The three marriages are important for correctly interpreting the available historical records pertaining to John Gates and family in part because each of John's three wives had similar first names.

The combination of newspaper index records (North Star & North Union, Northeast Kingdom Genealogy, 1854), newspaper records (The Caledonian, Aug. 19, 1854, p. 3), together with Census records (especially 1850, Lyndon, VT) indicates Eliza (maiden name not known) [subsequently determined as Fisher - see above] was married to John Gates (1800-1880) of New Hampshire. This is supported by the contents of an April 20, 1869 letter from Jacob Gates to his brother John Gates (FHL Film 15508). The letter acknowledges that John's (first) two wives had died years earlier. That Eliza was married to John Gates is also supported by the Lyndon Center Cemetery records for their son John Albert Gates, and for John Gates' grandson George J Gates. Although no record of the marriage itself has been found, it is estimated from other records that Eliza and John Gates married in the late 1840s or in early 1850.

The genealogy book "Stephen Gates of Hingham.." by Charles Otis Gates (1898) only lists two of John Gates' wives. They are described here as Betsey (Ayer) Gates and Elizabeth A (Williams) Gates. Since Eliza was not the same person as either of these two people, it indicates another marriage. John married first Betsey, then Eliza and last Elizabeth. The genealogy book gives the name of John Gates' first wife as Betsey Ayre (should be Ayer) and his last wife as Abigail Currier (surname from a prior marriage to John Currier of Island Pond, VT).

Bruce D. Filgate communicated further details about the genealogy research on the White family. A key step was the matching of family photos between the Arkansas and Vermont White families who were in contact in the mid 1900s. Bruce credits Everette Filgate (1927-2011) and especially Leon White (1915-2001). In addition, Bruce overlaid one of his tin-type Civil War photos of Charles H. White Jr. (1842-1923) with that of a scanned photo from the Arkansas Whites and found that they matched in every detail, including a defect, except that they were mirror images.

The photo in the Memorial is of Eliza (Fisher) White with her first husband Charles H. White (related copy also on p. 699 of Filgate genealogy book). Based in part on Bruce's conversations with Leon White (Eliza and Charles ggs), it seems that Leon had the photo and loaned it to Bruce's father (Everette) for copying. Everette had it professionally copied by the Jenks Studio in St. Johnsbury, VT in the 1980s.

Posted on Find A Grave created by Julius

Family/Spouse: Charles H. WHITE. Charles was born in 1825; died in 1880. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Charles H. WHITE was born about 1833.

Family/Spouse: John GATES. John (son of Thomas GATES, Sr. and Patty PLUMLY) was born on 16 Dec 1800 in Acworth, Sullivan Co., New Hampshire; died on 10 Sep 1880 in Marlborough, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire; was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Keene, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. John Albert GATES was born in 1851 in Lyndon, Caledonia Co., Vermont; died on 2 Aug 1854 in Lyndon, Caledonia Co., Vermont; was buried in Lyndon Center Cemetery, Lyndon, Caledonia Co., Vermont.