Amos Gates

Amos Gates came to Texas the long way. His father's family, originally from North Carolina, went with the Kuykendalls to Arkansas in 1821 and that December on to Austin's colony. In 1822 he rode with his father to the mouth of the Brazos for flour, and in 1824 he voted in a colonial election. In 1829 he served as a spy on an expedition Austin ordered against a Native band. He is said to have been the first settler in Washington County, and at his death the oldest resident, buried here.

What the plaque says

Amos Gates Amos Gates, a member of Austin's first colony. Born January 11, 1799. Died May 26, 1883. His son William C. Gates, who served in the Confederate Army. Born July 15, 1834, died January 30, 1877

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Star of the Republic Museum — 5.4 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 5.6 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Navasota — 9.7 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 15 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.

More markers nearby

• Mercy Seat Baptist Church — 1.3 mi
• Courtney Cemetery — 3.6 mi
• Friedens Church of Washington, UCC — 3.8 mi
• Primus Kelly — 4.1 mi