1891 Biography - Fred L. Gates

JUDGE FRED. L. GATES, NEW IBERIA. – Judge Gates is a native of Syracuse, New York, born in 1827. He is the son of Alfred and Amoret (Kossith) Gates, both natives of New York.

Alfred Gates came to Louisiana, locating at Baton Rouge, when F. L. was a boy. He operated the first saw-mill erected on the Teche, at Franklin. When a young man, before leaving New York. he was the first captain of the first passenger boat on the Erie Canal. His father served under Gen. Gates, of whom he was a kinsman, during the revolutionary war.

Amoret Kossith Gates, our subject's mother, was of French descent. Her grandfather was the first man in Syracuse who manufactured salt by the evaporation process. He owned the land near Syracuse that has since become so valuable.

Judge F. L. Gates was reared at Baton Rouge, where he received his education. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in New Orleans, having graduated from the law department of the State University in 1851. He was the classmate of J. B. Eustis, ex-Senator Jonas and ex-Gov. John McEnery, and was subsequently a colleague of these gentlemen in the State Legislature during the extra session of 1865, called by ex-Gov. J. Madison Wells. Judge Gates, at the beginning of the civil strife, was in Texas, where he had removed in 1859.

When Texas seceded he entered the Sixteenth Texas Cavalry, went to Little Rock, joined Van Dorn, and operated in the line of Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas. He was in the engagements to repel Banks from Louisiana.

After the war Judge Gates located in New Iberia, and was immediately afterward elected a member of the Legislature. He was shortly afterward appointed judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District, comprising the parishes of St. Mary, St. Martin, Lafourche and Terrebonne. He served until he was deprived of the office by the reconstructionists. During the time he served as judge he resided in Franklin. In 1878 he removed to New Iberia, erected and began the operation of a cotton seed oil mill, one of the largest and most successful of the kind in this section. Mention of the mill is made in the history of New Iberia. In 1884 he was elected judge of the district composed of the parishes of Iberia and St. Martin, and served two years and resigned.

Judge Gates is one of the leading citizens of New Iberia. He is president of the Building and Loan Association, which has a capital of $300,000. He is also president of the Electric Light Company, and was one of the leaders in the establishing The People's National Bank, at this place. The judge is united in marriage with Miss M. L. Mosely, of Virginia. They are the parents of four sons and two daughters.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, edited by William Henry Perrin, published in 1891, Biographical Section, pages 110-111.