Thomas gates family tree
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Thomas Gates (governor)
16th/17th-century Governor of Jamestown, in the English colony of Virginia
Sir Thomas Gates (died 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.
Third Supply and Bermuda
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 flag
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Early Years
Gates was born at Colyford in Colyton Parish, Devonshire, in the southwest of England. Little is known about his early life; his date of birth and the identity of his parents are unknown. As a lieutenant in Captain Christopher Carleill’s company, he sailed with Sir Francis Drake’s so-called American Armada, a twenty-five-ship fleet with 2,300 men. On November 16–17, 1585, Drake destroyed the town of Santiago, in the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa, before proceeding to the West Indies, where on January 1–3, 1586, he sacked the port of Santo Domingo, on the island of Hispaniola. On February 9, Drake attacked Cartagena, on the Spanish Main, and his men burned the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine (in present-day Florida).
On June 8, 1586, Drake visited the fledgling English colony on Roanoke Island in the Carolina Sounds, probably intending to leave supplies, some small vessels, and additional settlers—actually, Spanish prisoners. However, instead of reinforcing the settlement, Drake helped evacuate the hungry colonists after a three-day
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Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gates, Thomas
GATES, Sir THOMAS (fl. 1596–1621), governor of Virginia, was knighted in 1596 while serving in the expedition against Cadiz. He entered Gray's Inn 14 March 1597–8. In July 1604 he was in the Netherlands with Sir Henry Wotton, then proceeding to Vienna as ambassador. Sir Henry wrote in a letter of introduction to Winwood: ‘I entreat you to love him [Gates], and to love me too, and to assure you that you cannot love two honester men.’ Together with his fellow-captain Thomas Dale [see Dale, Sir Thomas], Gates served subsequently in garrison in Oudewater, in South Holland. In April 1608 he obtained from the States-General leave of absence for one year. The special occasion for his absence was a commission from the king of England to proceed to Virginia. The first attempt to colonise Virginia having proved abortive, James I granted a new charter, dated 23 May 1609, with larger powers and privileges. Among the new adventurers were the Earl of Salisbury, Sir Francis Bacon, Captain John Smith, Sir Oliver Cromwell (unc
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