Nevada Genealogy Trails Lyon County Byron Gates Biography

BYRON GATES, who is serving as county commissioner of Lyon county, came to Nevada in the spring of 1876. He is a native of Carroll. Maine, born on the 4th of October, 1848, and is a representative of an old English family that was established in New England during the early period of the colonization in America. His grandfather, Alden Gates, and his father, Galen Gates, were both natives of the Pine Tree state. The latter wedded Miss Esther Chase. They became farming people, living in the east until 1849, when he, attracted by the discovery of gold in California, made his way to the Pacific coast. There he engaged in placer mining with good success, taking home with him several thousand dollars. His remaining days were spent on his farm in his native state amid comfortable surroundings. He was a citizen of worth and held the office of selectman in his town, was also treasurer there, and for twenty years filled the office of postmaster, discharging every official duty with promptness and fidelity. To him and his wife were born six children, including two pairs of twins, and three of the children are yet living. The parents were Universalists in religious faith, and both attained to advanced ages, the father passing away at the age of seventy-four, while the mother reached the Psalmist's span of three score years and ten. Byron Gates is the only representative of the family in Nevada. The public schools of his native town afforded him his educational privileges, and early in his business career he conducted a shingle mill, being engaged in the manufacture of shingles in Carroll, Maine, until his emigration to the west in 1876. The city of Dayton, Nevada, was the place of his destination, and after his arrival here he was employed in the lumber yard of Mr. Crocket for a time. Subsequently he secured a position with the Lyon Mill & Mining Company and later entered upon an independent venture, becoming interested in the bee and poultry business, in which he has gained good profit. He now has seven hundred fowls of high grades, and owns a fine apiary, containing two hundred and forty stands of bees. He has made a study of both departments of his business and has all the best equipments and accessories for producing the best results in his work. Upon the market his honey, eggs and poultry bring the highest prices, and his annual sales reach a large figure, returning to him a very gratifying income. Everything about his place is neat and thrifty in appearance, and his business capability is marked.

In 1884 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gates and Miss Charlotte A. Ahl, a native daughter of California. They now have three children: Hazel E., Mary Belle and Lottie C, all of whom are yet at home with their parents. Mr. Gates owns a good residence in Dayton, and he and his family enjoy the respect of their neighbors and many friends. Mr. Gates belongs to the Masonic fraternity and is a worthy exemplar of the teachings of the craft. He was made a Master Mason in Horeb Lodge No. 125, F. & A. M. in Maine, filled all of the offices in the lodge and is now one of its past masters. On his removal to the west he dimitted from the lodge in Carroll and is now affiliated with Valley Lodge No. 9, F. & A. M., of Dayton.

In politics he has always been a life-long Democrat, and during the controversy on the money question he took a firm stand on the silver side, believing in both gold and silver as standard money. In 1898 he was elected to his present office of county commissioner of Lyon county, and after four years of faithful service the public gave evidence of its trust in him and its recognition of his fidelity to duty by re-electing him, so that he is now serving for the second term of two years. He puts forth every effort to advance the best interests of the county, and his labors have been effective, beneficial and far-reaching. During more than a quarter of a century's residence in this portion of the state he has so lived as to win the warm friendship and favor of his fellow men and is justly accounted a valued citizen here.