Settlers

Generation 13

This generation comes from issue of William Tate and Elizabeth Hudson:

• 13-i. Joseph F Tate, b. 1777, Russell County, VA; died Apr 26, 1841/1842.
• 13-ii. William (Jr.) Tate, b. 1779, Russell County, VA; d. Unknown; m. Mary; d. Unknown.
• 13-iii. Isaac Tate, b. 1781, Russell County, VA; d. Unknown; m. Margaret; d. Unknown.
• 13-iv. Margaret (Peggy) Tate, b. 1783, Russell County, VA; d. Unknown.
• 13-v. Robert Tate, b. 1785, Russell County, VA; d. Unknown; m. Cynthia; d. Unknown.

Hampshire County is a county in West Virginia. The county seat is Romney, West Virginia’s oldest town (1762). The county was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1754, from parts of Frederick and Augusta Counties (Virginia) and is the state’s oldest county.

JOSEPH FREDERICK TATE (13-i)

Joseph Frederick Tate was born in 1777 and died on 26 April 1841 in Hampshire County, West Virginia. His wife, Margaret Horn, was born 1796  in Winchester, Virginia, and, according to his War of 1812 Pensioner’s Card, died 03 Apr 1883 in Palmyra, Marion County, Missouri

Issue of Joseph Frederick Tate and Margaret Horn

• 14-i. Elisha Tate born 14 Apr 1801, Big Moccasin Creek, Russell Co VA
• 14- ii. Elizabeth Ann Tate (1814–1872) born 13 Dec 1814, Hampshire County, VA
• 14- iii. Catherine Tate(1816–) born Oct 1816, Hampshire, VA
• 14- iv. James Amiel Tate (1818–1889) born 27 Nov 1818, Hampshire, Russell County VA
• 14- v. Henry Tate (1821–1825) born 1821, Hampshire County, VA
• 14- vi. George A. Tate (1824–1909) born 22 Feb 1824, Hampshire County VA
• 14- vii. Samuel F. Tate (1827–) born Dec 1827, VA
• 14- viii. John William Tate (1833–) born 1833, Hampshire County, VA
• 14- ix. Martha Rebecca Tate (1834–1932) born 24 Mar 1834, Hampshire, VA
• 14- x. Benjamin Wellington Tate (1837–1909) born 07 Jan 1837, Hampshire,VA
• 14- xi. Keziah Tate (1840–1899) born 25 Aug 1840 • Hampshire County, VA

Notes for the Traveling Tates

Of interest to many family members, is how our Tate line got into Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Missouri and Iowa. It all started with the “Traveling Tates,” those generations of pioneers who were willing to pick up and relocate to virgin lands, often purchasing land grants for wilderness acreage given for military service.

cRobert Tate was one of those pioneers who left behind established communities where land was scarce and expensive and relocated his family, including at least three sons, into Big Moccasin Creek as soon as the new frontier was opened.

Some of the family of that generation apparently continued on into the Carolinas and, perhaps, Georgia. As new lands opened up for settlement, it appears the Tates were among the first to enter, often moving whole large groups of their family and friends.

ROBERT HOOD (III) TATE was born 1780 on Moccasin Creek in what became Russell County, VA, and died in 1867.  He married (1) Suzannah Woodlee. She died date and place unknown after 1816. He married (2) Cynthia Scinthy.  She was born 1805 in GA, and died date and place unknown. Robert was, no doubt, a minor when his father executed his will on July 29, 1796.  However, no mention was made in the will regarding the children’s ages.

Robert and his wife had been living in Warren County, TN before 1806, since he signed, with his other brother, a petition requesting that there be a new County formed.  He and his wife, Susannah Woodlee named in the deed on October 14, 1816, when the heirs of Robert Tate, deceased, sold the home plantation.

They settled in Warren County, TN near his brother Major James Tate on Taylor’s Creek out of McMinnville, Warren County, TN.  A descendant stated he was the most active of all the brothers in Civil affairs and had four land grants totaling some 5,190 acres of land.  On January 12, 1819, Robert H. Tate sold 150 acres adj. Aaron Tate, where he then lived, to John Gross, no wife signed dower.

The Federal Census of 1820, Warren County, TN lists this family with 3 sons and 5 daughters.  In 1830 there was still 3 sons, however, one under 10 years of age. They had a large family and only those showing on the 1850 Census are known.  He married Cynthia, born 1805, in Georgia. She was living with her son Aaron in 1880.

,Robert Hood Tate died testate in 1864.  His will was dated April 8, 1864, in Grundy County, TN.  Do not have the probate date. Wife Cynthia, son Aaron V. Tate, and granddaughter Harriet Webb, her small son, Aaron Woodlee Webb.  Exor. Sedon Brown. Witness: Enoch Woodlee.

Robert had a very large family.  No delineation has been located yet to determine which children were of his first wife (Suzannah), or second (Cynthia).  Therefore, all children (except the last) are listed under Suzannah.

Issue of Robert Tate And Suzannah

• i. Elizabeth Tate, b. Warren or Grundy County, TN; d. Unknown; m. Andrew Mitchell; d. Unknown.
• ii. Jennie Tate, b. Warren or Grundy County, TN; d. Unknown; m.  Woodlee; d. Unknown.
• iii. Jessie Tate, b. Warren or Grundy County, TN; d. Unknown; m. John Keel; d. Unknown.
• iv. Mary Tate, b. Warren or Grundy County, TN; d. Unknown; m. Henry King; d. Unknown.
• v. Porter Tate, b. Warren or Grundy County, TN; d. Unknown.
• vi. Susie Tate, b. Warren or Grundy County, TN; d. Unknown; m. Quincry Love; d. Unknown.
• vii. Hood Tate, b. 1805, Warren or Grundy County, TN; d. Unknown.
• Issue of Robert Tate and Cynthia Scinthy – viii. Aaron Tate, b. 1812, Warren or Grundy County, TN; d. Unknown.

Issue of William (jr.) Tate And Mary

• i Isaac Tate
• ii. Joseph Tate

Generation 14

GEORGE A TATE (14- vi)

This is the generation I have not been able to definitively locate through documents for the fifty years I have been doing on again – off again Tate research. May Pauline Leffert Tate, my mother-in-law, told me many times over the years that the families tended to be large, and there were too many Josephs, Freds, Roberts, and James’ to get the Tate genealogy straight. And, researchers seem to agree, as their lineages vary greatly. So, I have chosen to follow the most generally accepted lineage(s).

Since Pauline’s husband, Roy Davis Tate, was the youngest member of a large family, by the time he was interested in his heritage, his siblings no longer could relate much detail and had nothing like family bibles that had survived years of pioneering strife. Her own father, John Leffert, lost his Leffert-Farley family bible and photos to a house fire soon after moving to Missouri while she was still a child.

Tate Researchers

In the late 1960s Vernie May Bruner, a distant relative of the Tates visited Hannibal, Missouri, from the East Coast, to gather family group sheets from all family members in the area. She said she was close to publishing a book about the Tates and related families and just needed the group sheets to complete her research. I was fascinated as she talked for hours about her research into the European connections to the Tates of the British Isles.

I took as many notes as I could to document her stories, and gave her $30 to purchase an advance copy of her book when she got it finished. We never heard from her again, and her research has never been published, as far as we know. This is the missing Tate generation; the connection she was trying to make to tie both ends of the line together.

When Ethel Updike published “Tate And Allied Families Of The South,” in 1972, I immediately snatched up a copy, hoping to finally find that missing link, but did not, and in fact, found that there were several errors, particularly in the several James’ lines.

One of the best instances of high-quality research that does some meticulous combing through these webs and sorting the various lines is Descendants of Robert Tate Sr. of Russell County, VA 1724 – 1794

It appeared from my own research, that several James’ and Roberts’ families were intertwined and have been confused.  When “Excerpts from Tate Families of the Southern States, Volume II, by Laura Mentzel and Ethel Updike, 1984” came out, I again bought an early copy, hoping for that magic connection, but, was again disappointed, as family lines had been switched from one likely ancestor to a brother’s or cousin’s lines.

George Calvin Tate’s death announcement

So, over the years, I have quit visiting libraries and courthouses, recorders of deeds, county clerks, and graveyards, and relied on the sharing of information on the Internet to find those missing connections. And, though there is much misinformation available, I have not been able to locate and prove this final connection. So, what you see here is my current best efforts at ferreting out the information to put forth a tentative best estimate.

What I can state with some degree of certainty, based on recollection my mother-in-law told me, is that her husband, Roy Davis Tate’s father was Joseph Frederick Tate. He went by “Fred.” Fred’s father, George, moved to Missouri from Virginia as a young man, with his mother and siblings. They apparently rented and later bought the Homeplace property and built a home on the hill above the freshwater spring, across the valley from the current two-room cabin.

His immediate family, including his mother, may have lived with him there for a time, but eventually, she and his siblings moved to a house on the Tate Plantation owned by George’s brother, James Amiel Tate. Their father, Joseph Frederick Tate, had passed on in Virginia. George and his brothers and sisters’ descendants were scattered around the Palmyra-Taylor-Quincy areas.

The best insight into this generation came from the obituary of George Calvin Tate, born 1882, son of George and Emma Rogers. He died Saturday, August 8, 1959, at the home of a daughter, near Loraine, Illinois.

Details state that he was born 02 Apr 1882 in Marion County, Missouri, was married to Estella Jane Pittman and had two surviving daughters whose given names were not listed, two sons, Frank Tate and Paul Tate of Quincy, Illinois, and a sister, Bertha Forden of Quincy. He was preceded in death by three brothers; Herbert, David, and Fred,  and three sisters; Anna, Maggie, and Mattie.

The Fred listed above in George Calvin Tate’s death announcement is Joseph Frederick Tate, who died 9 Aug 1949 in nearby Hannibal, Missouri. Joseph Frederick Tate was the father of Roy Davis Tate, born 1911, and was one of two grandfathers living with Roy’s family in Hannibal, Missouri when they passed away within six months of each other in late 1949 and early 1950

Notes for George A Tate (14- vi )

George A. Tate was born on 22 Feb 1824, in Hampshire County VA, and died on 2 Dec 1909  in Fabius Township, Marion County, Missouri, and is believed buried in Sunrise Cemetery, in the nearby Hester, Missouri area.

That cemetery was once adjacent to the Hester Christian Church, and is the location of many Tate burials. The church, and all of its records, burned to the ground in the late 1950s. The cemetery has changed names a couple of times, and is, as of this writing, named Providence Cemetery.

Census Records

George A. Tate is often shown in family trees as George A. O. Tate, since one document appears to have an “O” for his middle initial, which could have just been a badly formed cursive “A”.  We use the middle initial A, as it is shown on the General Deed documenting the purchase of the Tate Home Place property that still remains in the family

George married Emma Frances Rogers after 1860 in Rock Island, Illinois. Emma was born 1842-43 in Vermont, nineteen years George’s junior.

Mail Order Brides

Family tradition is that Emma was a “mail order bride” and George had arranged to meet her train in Rock Island on the appointed day. During the settlement of the Midwestern part of America, it was mainly single men who entered these wild territories where resources were plentiful, spaces were wide and open, and there was a lot more freedom than back east.

However, the many single men who went west soon found themselves to be lonely.  Only a small number of men brought wives and/or families with them and the number of single women was negligible. It wasn’t long before men started to think of creative ways to get wives without having to travel away from their land and risk it being claimed or taken over by someone else while they were gone.

Some men wrote home asking friends and family for recommendations for single women they knew who would make good wives, and the courtship was by correspondence, until the couple decided to marry, when the woman would go west for the ceremony and to start her new life. However, a much more common scenario was the mail-order bride.

Men in the west advertised in eastern newspapers for wives. In the ads, they would tell a bit about themselves and what they were looking for in a wife. Interested women who met the qualifications of a particular advertiser would write back. From there, the process from the first letter to marriage was much the same as for men who got wives through their social networks back home.

Once in a while, a woman would advertise in a western newspaper looking for a husband, usually, if she wasn’t finding anyone who was interested in her (or vice versa) at home, and the courtship process was the same as if she was answering an ad rather than writing one.

Women who answered the ads for wives in the west were those who weren’t finding men, or men of quality, at home or those who wanted to get away from home for some reason. Reasons included having overly strict parents, being the subject of a scandal that was ruining their reputation, or simply wanting adventure and/or a new start after something bad happening at home.

These women needed to find husbands elsewhere, in places far away from where they lived. Surprisingly, there was no shortage of women who answered these mail-order bride ads. Many marriages on the new frontiers were made this way, and it was not at all uncommon to see marriages between people of greatly different ages, often with the wife being 15-20 years older than the husband

Land Purchase in Section 20, Fabius Township

The 1870 U.S. Census (June 30) indicates that Margaret (Horn), age 75, (George’s mother) was living with George in Fabius Township, Marion County, Missouri, likely at the Homeplace. The 1900 Federal census lists George A., age 76, father of the head of household, (Joseph F. Tate, age 25), and Emma F, mother, age 57, with no listed occupation.

Also in the home at the time of that census were Amanda, wife of Joseph F, age 23, their daughters, Rosa Lee, age 5, and Maggie M., age 1, and Raymond Tate, a nephew, age 10, born Illinois, parents born in Missouri. Months and years of birth are listed as, Joseph F, December 1875; Amanda, May 1877; Rosa Lee, February 1895; Maggie, August 1898; Raymond, June 1890; George, Feb 1824; Emma Apr 1885.

Generation 15

Children of George and Emma Tate

• 15-i.  Herbert “Harvey” Tate (1864–1898) was born in Laclede, Illinois, and died in Marion County, Missouri. He married Virginia __, (1864-1895). Both are buried in Sunrise Cemetery,Marion, Missouri..
• 15-ii. 14-2. Margaret Ellen Tate (23 Oct 1868–1958)
  Laclede IL. She married (1) Edward Lee Shinn, 28-JAN-1890, (2) Ed Hawkins, 19-FEB-1919. Maggie and Ed had three children.
• 15-iii. Joseph Frederick Tate (1873–1949) b 03 Dec 1873, Taylor, Marion, MO
• 15- iv. Roberta “Bertha” Tate (1879–) b 28 Mar 1879, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 15- v. George Calvin “Buck” Tate (1882–1959) b 1882, Laclede IL
• 15- vi. Anna, b, Palmyra, Marion, Missouri
• 15- vii. Magdaline (Mattie)
• 15- viii. David, b, Palmyra, Marion, Missouri

JOSEPH FREDERICK TATE (15-iii)

Joseph Frederick Tate was born at the Homeplace, near Taylor, Missouri, on December 3, 1873. His father, George, was 47 and his mother, Emma, was 30. Fred, as he liked to be called, was the first member of the Tate family to be born at the Homeplace, according to his son, Roy Davis Tate, who was, himself, the last Tate born there.

This Joseph Tate went by the nickname, Fred. In 1893 he married his first cousin, Amanda Elizabeth Leffert, daughter of Charles Leffert (1843-1930) and Sarah Ann Lewis (1847-) formerly of Broad Ripple, Marion County, Indiana. They were married in the home of Amanda’s father, Charles Leffert, at Palmyra, Missouri.

The Leffert In-Laws

In 1850, Charles, 7, and James, 6, were living at home with their parents, Malon Leffert, 32, and Martha, 34, in Washington Township, Marion County, Indiana. Also in the home were brothers and sisters, Willis, 9, Rachel, 4, John, 3, and Simon, age 1. Their father, Mahlon, was a farmer, and a descendant of the Lefferts of Pennsylvania/New York lineage.

In the 1870 census, James, 25, was head of his own household, and listed as a daily laborer in Etna Green, Kosciusko County, in North Central Indiana, near the town of Wabash. Charles, 27, was listed as a daily laborer, and Sarah A., 22, was keeping house.

The 1880 census shows that Charles and his family were farming in Lewis Twp, Union County, Mo. The census lists Charles Leffert, 37, farmer, born Indiana (father born Pennsylvania, mother born Pennsylvania), A. Sarah, 38, wife, housekeeper, W. John Lefferts, 8, son, E. Manda Lefferts, 3, daughter, James Lefferts, 34, brother of Charles, farmhand.

Generation 16

Joseph Frederick “Fred” Tate

When Joseph Frederick Tate was born at the Homeplace on December 3, 1873, his father, George, was 47 and his mother, Emma, was 30. His brother, Henry, was nine years older than him, and his sister, Margaret Ellen, was four years older. They were both born at Laclede, Illinois.

Fred, as he liked to be called, was a farm laborer, working dawn until dusk on neighboring farms, often living on rental houses located on the farm where he was employed, and returning to the Homeplace to cut wood for the winter, hunt or fish, and tend to other matters on weekends.

A search of Illinois census records did not turn up any information on Fred’s family having taken up residence there, and no birth certificates have surfaced for the children at this writing. Fred, as he liked to be called, was the first member of the Tate family to be born at the Homeplace, according to his son, Roy Davis Tate, who was the last Tate born there.

Other Tate children, also born at the Homeplace, were William Earl, 1901–1966, Charles Frederick, 1903–1962, Amanda Elizabeth, 1906–1972, Emma Ann, 1908–1970, and an Unnamed female, 1910

Issue of Joseph F Tate and Amanda Elizabeth Leffert

• 16-i. Rosa Lee Tate (1895–1972) b 21 FEB 1895, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- ii. Frank Tate (1897–1899) b 1897, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- iii. Francis Tate (1897–1899) b 1897, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- iv. Margaret Miller Tate (1898–1953) b 23 AUG 1898, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- v. William Earl Tate (1901–1966) b 26 September 1901, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- vi. Charles Frederick Tate (1903–1962) b 23 JUN 1903, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- vii. Amanda Elizabeth Tate (1906–) b abt 1906, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- viii. Emma Ann Tate (1908–1970) b 25 NOV 1908, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- ix. Unnamed female Tate (1910–1910) b 6 mar 1910, Taylor, Marion, Missouri, d. 9 Mar 1910, Taylor, Marion, Missouri
• 16- x. Roy Davis Tate (1911–1976) b 24 April 1911, Taylor, Marion, Missouri, d. 4 November 1976, Hannibal, Marion, Missouri.

Amanda Elizabeth Leffert

Amanda Elizabeth Leffert, born on May 16, 1877, in Marion County, Missouri. Her father, Charles, was 34, and her mother, Sarah, was 29. She married Joseph Frederick Tate at the age of sixteen on December 31, 1893, in Palmyra, Missouri. They were married in her parents’ home. Fred and Amanda had ten children in 16 years. She died on February 23, 1938, in Palmyra, Missouri, at the age of 60, and was buried in Sunrise Cemetery, on Route A, south of Maywood, Missouri.

Lefferts Genealogy

From North American Family Histories, 1500-2000

Genealogy of the Lefferts Family 1650-1878

Mahlon’s children were Willis (1840-), Charles (1843-1930), James (1844-1930),
Rachel (1846-), John (1847-), Simon (1849-), and Jemima J (1853-1928).

Amanda Elizabeth Leffert, and her father, Charles Leffert of Marion County, Indiana, were descended from Leffert Lefferts and Margaret “Antie” Vanderbilt of New York, parents of Abraham Lefferts, who married Margaret Van Aersdalen, and migrated to Bucks County, Pennsylvania where they helped establish the Dutch Reformed Church.

Fred, like his father and older brother, worked as a laborer on neighboring farms, while maintaining a modest homestead on the three acre homestead plot his father George had purchased in 1891, and probably had bought, sold, or rented for many years prior.

According to descendant, Dennis Tate, George had bought and sold or rented the Homeplace a number of times, often when they took up residence as laborers on a farm in the area, and didn’t need the Homeplace as a residence. Fred and his family lived on the Homeplace until after his parents passed from this life. He relocated his family to the Palmer Farm in Liberty township in about 1923.

1900 U.S. Census

The 1900 Federal census lists George A., age 76, father of the Head of Household, (Joseph F. Tate, age 25), and Emma F, mother, age 57, as having no listed occupation. Also in the home that year was Amanda, wife of Joseph F, age 23, daughters, Rosa Lee, age 5, and Maggie M., age 1, and Rexford Tate, a nephew, age 10, born in Illinois, of parents who were born in Missouri. These may be of the Tate families located around Laclede, Illinois, where Fred and his young family had first lived.

The 1900 census also shows John Leffert, M, W, single, b Dec 1872, age 27, born in Illinois to parents born in Indiana, working as a farm laborer, and living in the next closest residence to the Homeplace.

The closest residence on the opposite side of the Homeplace was occupied by Ben (?) H. Harsell, M,W, b Oct 1862, age 37, born in Missouri to parents born in Virginia, and his wife, Elizabeth, F, W, age 31, b Sep 1868, born in Illinois to parents born in Germany, married 13 years.

Also, the census lists a boarder, A. J. Ottsman(?), a farm laborer, and a lodger, Raymond Tate, M,W, b Aug 1888, age 11, born in Missouri to parents born in Missouri, listed as attending school.

In this photo, circa 1900, his oldest children, Rosa Lee, born 1895, and Margaret Miller, born 1898, are shown. Twins Frank and Francis, born 1897, died 1899, perhaps of smallpox, which struck a large area ranging from St. Louis to Springfield, Illinois. The  burial site of the children is unknown, but may be at the Homeplace.

1907 Land Purchase

In April of 1907, Fred purchased a lot in Section 21, Fabius Township, from Fred Mason and his wife Bertie Lee Mason.

The lot is believed to have had a log cabin on it, and had enough room to erect a hog pen, chicken coop, or set up a vegetable garden. This was one of at least three properties the Tates occupied in this area. By 1934, according to the Plat Map from that year, that property belonged to R. Hibbert.

It was about 1923 that Fred moved his family from Fabius Township to an all-tin rental house on Bay Island when he went to work full time for George Palmer. It is probable that he sold the house and lot in Section 21, but kept the Homeplace property.

In the illustration above you can see the location of the Home Place in Section 20, and the location of the property Fred bought in 1907 in Section 21. The Homeplace is 438 feet by 222 feet, while the 1907 property was smaller, 252 feet by 102 feet; perhaps for a family garden, or another house and lot.

Warranty Deed from Fred Mason and Bertie Lee Mason, his wife, 22 April 1907, grant to Fred Tate, for the sum of $150, (land) beginning at the Northwest corner of the Northwest quarter of Section 21 in Township 59, Range 6 West, thence South 102 feet, thence running East 252 feet, thence West 252 feet, thence North 102 feet to the point of beginning.

1910 Census Data

In 1910 Federal census shows that Roy’s parents, “Fred. J. Tate,” age 36, and Amanda, age 32, who had been married for 16 years, resided in Fabius Township, with daughter  Rosa, age 15, Margaret (whom they listed as Maggie), age 12, Amanda Elizabeth, (whom they listed as Lizzy), age 4, and Emma, age 1, and brothers, Earl William, age 8, and Charley, age 6.

The photo above is of Amanda feeding the chickens in the yard of her log cabin home. Notice the rag mop hanging on the wall, and the wood steps leading to the front door. Location unknown, but comes from the May Pauline Leffert Tate collection.

This residence may have been any one of the homes around the Home Place that the family owned or rented. It is not possible to tell which property they were on when the census was taken since they were in close proximity, and all within Fabius Township.

It could be that one location was better for raising hogs, or had a bigger garden, easy access to firewood, or any of a number of factors to be considered in those days. This location appears to be adjacent to a large cleared field, rather than a garden plot.

It is known, however, that the Tate family had another log cabin house in nearby Section 21,  on the parcel Fred bought in 1907, and this may have been their home for a time. It, too, was in Fabius Township.

The log cabin where Amanda is feeding chickens appears to be in good repair, and likely provided more insulation against the cold winters than the Homeplace cabin would have. No known photos of the earliest Homeplace residence, which burned before Roy Davis Tate’s birth, have been located.

Rural Mail

Roy’s father went by “Fred,” and this was likely the reason his name in census records varied from Joseph F Tate to Fred J Tate, and other variations. According to Fred’s World War I Draft Registration, September 12, 1918, he was working as a farm laborer on the Samuel K Weibell farm and listed his home address as R.F.D. 1, Taylor, Marion County, MO. A post office called Taylor has been in operation since 1873. The community was named after Captain John Taylor, the proprietor of a local mill.

Roy Tate, Fred’s youngest son, said that he was the last Tate born at the Home Place, and that he thinks the family moved to the Palmer Farm when he was about twelve years old, establishing the date at around 1923, but, we didn’t think to ask if they had lived anywhere else before moving from the Homeplace previously. The Draft Registration Card was the first clue that they might have moved away during World War One days, 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918, when there was a shortage of able-bodied laborers. World War I Registration

Fred was of medium height and build, had blue eyes and brown hair. He gave his middle name as “Frederick,” although he always was known as simply “Fred.”

Joseph Frederick Tate, age 44, born December 3, 1873 was working as a farm laborer for Samuel K Weibel. He listed his permanent residence as Taylor, Marion County, and his nearest relative was Amanda Elizabeth Tate.

It is unlikely that this is actually his signature, as the cards were usually completed by the registrars.

1920 Census

1920 Federal census shows “Fred J Tate,” age 46, living in Fabius Township, with wife Amanda, age 42, Earl W, age 18, Charley, age 16, Amanda E, age 14, and Emma, age 11, and Roy, age 9. Fred, and his father, George, had worked on the farms of all three neighbors, Earl Dearing, Charles Johnson, and Frank Harsell.

Bay Island Home

Sometime around 1923, Fred moved his family to a rented house on Bay Island, in Liberty Township, North of Hannibal, where he and Roy worked as farm laborers for George W Palmer,  for many years. Palmer’s house is shown above in an old photo from the May Pauline Leffert Tate collection.

Many grain and vegetable farms were located in the rich Mississippi River bottoms soil, which was often flooded by the river, which flowed at the island’s eastern border. At various times Roy, and often, his brother-in-law, Charlie Leffert, would work for various farmers in the Bay bottoms.

1930 Census

The 1930 census was taken April 1930, and shows Fred, age 56, Amanda E, age 52, and Roy D, age 18, living on Bay Island in Liberty Township. Neighbors included George W Palmer, farmer, and George W Otten, a grain farmer. Other surnames in the Bay Island area included Wagner, Spires, Culpin, and Curtiss. It also shows that Fred was 20 when he first married, and Amanda was 17. Fred, Amanda and Roy all indicated that they could read and write.  

The 1930 census also shows that John W Leffert, 67, Charles W Leffert, 13, and James J Leffert, 11 were living in Fabius Township, possibly in that cabin on the gravel road near the Homeplace.

1940 Census

The 1940 census shows Joseph F, age 66, widowed, living with Roy D, age 28, and Pauline Leffert, age 16, living in Liberty Township, and that they had lived there for at least five years. Neighbors included George W Palmer, Henry Wagner, William M Schenck (spelled Shanks on census), his wife Rosalie (sic), and sons Albert and Orbert. Another neighbor, William E Schenck, (spelled Shanks on census), his wife Rosabelle E, and son William R were nearby.   

Children

Fred and Amanda had the following children:

Rosa Lee Tate 1895–1972, Frank Tate 1897–1899, Francis Tate 1897–1899, Margaret Miller Tate 1898–1953, William Earl Tate 1901–1966, Charles Frederick Tate 1903– 1962, Amanda Elizabeth Tate 1905–1972, Emma Ann Tate 1908–1970, unnamed female Tate 1910–1910, and Roy Davis Tate 1911–1976.                      

Death Certificate for an unnamed infant girl, born to Fred and Amanda Tate, March 6, 1910, in Fabius Township. Fred listed his mailing address as Taylor, an unincorporated community in northeastern Marion County on the Fabius River near the northern junction of U.S. Routes 24 and 61, about five miles west of Quincy, Illinois and eight miles north of Palmyra. A post office called Taylor has been in operation since 1873.

The infant lived only one day and received no medical attention. It may have been a “blue baby,” as recalled by Fred’s daughter-in-law, Pauline Leffert Tate. The certificate states that the burial was at the Hester Christian Church Cemetery. No grave marker exists.

The death certificate verifies that Joseph Frederick Tate was the son of George Tate and Emma Rogers and that his spouse was Amanda. Information was given by their daughter, Rosa Lee, who was living in Hannibal. He was in the hospital, or institutionalized, at 116 Center Street, Hannibal, at the time of his death. He was 75 at the time of death. He had gone into a coma due to kidney failure.

The cause of death was tetanus resulting from gangrene necrosis of her left leg,. Pauline said Amanda died of lockjaw caused by tomato vine poisoning. Tomatoes are nightshade fruits, and the vines have a protective toxin that is a common allergen.

Marker at Sunrise Cemetery

During the Great Depression, Tom Reddick’s family lived at the Homeplace while Tom worked on a road construction crew for WPA in Fabius Township, and Fred’s family was laboring near Hannibal.

In the late 1930s Fred and his family lived in a tin house on the George Palmer farm in Liberty Township on Bay Island, north of Hannibal, in Marion County, on the western banks of the Mississippi River. Amanda died 23 February 1938 on Bay Island, of gangrene poisoning resulting from a rash caused by tomato plants.

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