Gates County NCGenWeb

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Welcome to the Gates County NCGenWeb Page!

Gates was formed in 1779 from Chowan, Hertford, and Perquimans counties. It was named in honor of General Horatio Gates, who commanded American Army at the Battle of Saratoga. It is in the northeastern section of the State and is bounded by Camden, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowan and Hertford counties, and the state of Virginia. Gatesville is the county seat.

Gates County was a part of an area originally called "Albemarle", named for George, Duke of Albemarle. Most of the land within the present boundaries was considered to be Nansemond County, VA, until 1728, when William Byrd had surveyed the "dividing line" between Virginia and North Carolina. In 1779 the area between the Chowan River to the West and Southwest, South of the county of Nansemond, Va., West of the Dismal Swamp and North of Catherine Creek and Warwick Creek was separated into a county all it's own. The physical land barriers of swamps or rivers made it difficult for residents of this area to travel to government seats in bad weather, and it was for this reason, among others that Gates County became an entity of it's own. In 1780 a courthouse, prison and stocks were built in Gatesville, at that time known as Gates Court House.

General William P. Roberts, who at age 20 was the Confederate's youngest Brigadier General, was born in Gates County July 11, 1841. He commanded the N.C Cavalry, 12th NC Battalion, Georgia Battalion, Gen W.H.F. Lee's Division, and Hampton's Cavalry Corps Army of Northern Virginia. In 1875 he represented Gates County at the constitutional convention, and the following year he was elected to the state legislature. In 1880, he became a state auditor and served in that capacity until 1888. Roberts died in Norfolk, Virginia, on March 28, 1910, and was buried in the Gatesville Cemetery.

Gates County includes communities (historic and otherwise) with such names as Acorn Hill, Ballard Crossroads, Beckford Junction, Buckland, Carter, Corapeake, Dort, Drum Hill, Eason Crossroads, Eleanors Crossroads, Eure, Flat Branch, Folly Fork, Gates Court House, Gatesville, Greens Fork, Hazelton, Hobbsville, Hoflers Fork, Holly Grove, Joppa, Kellogs Fork, Keys Crossroads, Mintonsville, Mitchells Fork, Muddy Cross, Old Chapel Crossroads, Parkers Fork, Pipkin Place, Powell Crossroads, Rays Beach, Riddick Crossroads, Sarem, Selwin, Storys, Sunbury, Topsy, Walton Crossroads, and Wyanoke

Read the entire Gates County History document at the NC State Extension site.

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This page was last updated on: Tuesday, 19-January-2010 18:05 EST .

Links were last updated on: Saturday, 26-September-2009 20:08 EST .

© 1996 - 2010 by individual contributors as shown. No portion of this site is to be considered public domain and is not to be reproduced for any purpose without express written consent of the owner of the material. County Coordinator for Gates County is Diane Siniard