About

A great deal of the information contained in this writing is taken from Ethel Updike’s out of print book, “Tate And Allied Families Of The South,” published in 1972. Most of the same information is in Gail King Blankenship’s book, “Virginia Families Of Louisa, Hanover And Monroe Counties,” and there is an extensive repository online at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~taitandtate/Lin/roberttatesr.htm, and another at http://www.grundycountyhistory.org/04_Coll/Schild/Tate_Family_RCS.pdf.

However, caution has to be exercised, since “Tate and Allied Families of the South” is known to contain several errors regarding the family, and many casual researchers are publishing information online that they are not taking time to verify.

The information in ANCESTORS also draws on published information from European researchers who have documented the first ten generations of Tate ancestry, which extends the traceable family line back to a time when people often added their occupation to their first name to set themselves apart from others in the community with the same first name. The history of the feudal Tates is recorded back into the 800s.

Sources include List Of Persons Of Quality From England by Hotten, p. 70, 121, excerpts from Estate Files of Aaron Tate, Sr., John Tate, Elizabeth Connelly Tate, and Maben Dock Tate, all late of Dekalb County, Alabama, by Roland Tate, Excerpts From Tate Families Of The Southern States, Volume II, by Laura Mentzel and Ethel Updike, 1984, Virginia Records by W. A. Crozier, National Society of Founders and Patriots of America, Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution, History of Members of Parliament, WikiTree, Geni, Ancestry, and various other Internet resources. This lineage has changed many times over the years as new documentation has been discovered that clarified lineage and relationships.

I conducted none of the research into our European ancestry, but, rather, draw on those who are better positioned to  do that research. I give them much credit for the work they have done, and continue to do, in gathering and verifying information across cultures and ages. By its very nature, genealogy is an imperfect work, as hard as we try, and due to many factors, much of the detailed documentation researchers wish for, to prove and verify our research, is just not available. Beware of online family trees as many contain guesses and false claims of relationship. Caveat lector.

My first research into the Tate lineage was in the very early 1960s when I was dating the young girl, Leona (Lea), who was to become my beloved wife. Her family fascinated me. They were so different than mine, I began to understand that what I had considered a normal upbringing was all a matter of perspective. Their family was bigger than mine, and there were lots of aunts and uncles and cousins nearby, too. Her dad had eight older brothers and sisters in the area. I interviewed, documented, collected, and captured what I could of their family history.

A great deal of clarification was provided by Dennis M. Tate, son of Roy Davis Tate. Dennis spent a great deal of his youth at the Homeplace with his father, and learned much detail about family history from his father. His counsel helped me understand that after 1923 the Homeplace was unoccupied more than it was used. I had always believed that it was occupied full time until 1944 when Roy went to work for the railroad.

It is also apparent that the Tates purchased or rented additional properties in the area of the Homeplace, and had at least two other dwellings, perhaps three. One, a log cabin was located on the property Fred purchased in 1907. Another was located on the same road as the current entrance to the Homeplace, just a quarter mile further down from where we turn off the road today.

There may also have been a third residence, too. I had notes dating back to the 1960s, in which I noted that Roy showed me where there had once been a cabin in the woods near the banks of the South Fabius River. The remains of burned wood and rusty crumpled metal could still be seen to the left of the path as you walked through the woods to the Fabius river from the Homeplace. It was the home of Emma and “Bill” Jennett when it was struck by lightning and burned.

Much of my work is based on imperfect human recollection which fades with time. I have attempted to preserve and document the memories and histories of this hard working, loving, family as a tribute to the high regard and respect which I have for them, and for their memories, which should not be lost to time.

So, with the understanding that this work must certainly contain errors, because it is based on imperfect and faulty recollection, I have endeavored to be as accurate as possible, verifying when I can, and hope that this work might serve family researchers in the future to use as a springboard to improve this collection.

Tate Coats of Arms from England-Scotland-Ireland

The precise origins of heraldry are cloudy at best. What is almost certain is that painting patterns on shields and/or armour has a military origin, born out of the need for a leader to be recognizable on the field of battle or during a joust when faces and bodies were obscured through the wearing of helmets and armour. It is said that the crusaders painted crosses on their shields and the Romans did something similar. In Ireland there are many references to the battle standards of the first millennium Gaelic chieftains whose symbolism later appears on coats of arms, which changed over time to display earned honors, achievements, or location. A king might have a different coat of arms for each of his castles, and a son might modify the design to honor his father after death.

By the 12th century, personal badges were widely used by the nobility, and a century later, arms could be inherited. This meant that they had to be officially recorded and their display controlled. It is due to this painstaking record keeping that we can trace family roots back into these early times of the Britons.

Recommended next page: Ancestors