As a land scout for Stephen F. Austin’s colony, Amos Gates became the first American settler to cross the Brazos River. As such, he had an infinite number of rural properties and acreage on which to establish his homestead. What he selected was a rolling ridge of land, high above the river, looking out for miles across the Brazos River Valley. When he passed away in 1884, he was buried on his ranch, at the heart of Gates Crossing, in the heart of a community whose moniker honors his role in Texas history.
Today, Gates’ Texas estate has been restored to its natural beauty. The pastures have been nourished and replanted with fertile grasses. The ponds are once again clear and full. More than 1,000 new trees have been planted.
Settled in 1836 by Amos Gates. Gates Crossing at Washington on the Brazos is an 1836 Acre portion of the original Gates Perry Ranch. We have set aside 600 Acres of private Reserve for our ranch owners to enjoy the property and outdoors just like it was when it was settled all that time ago. The remainder of Gates Crossing is divided into 14-160 acre private ranches. If you are interested in our community please contact us below to schedule a time to tour Gate Crossing.
William Gates was born around 1759 and served as a soldier from North Carolina during the Revolutionary War. After the war, he and his wife, Catherine Hardin, moved to Tennessee, where they had two children, Sarah, and Samuel. By 1780, the family was in Lincoln, Kentucky, along the Cumberland River, where more children were born: Hannah, Charles, Amos, Ransom, Jane, and William II.
In 1810, William and Catherine left Kentucky, traveling down the Ohio River and onto the Mississippi River, accompanied by the Hardins and Kuykendalls. By 1812, they settled south of Cadron Creek, which was then part of the Missouri Territory, near Abner and Amos Kuykendall, who married Sarah and Elizabeth Gates, respectively.
William's son, Samuel, married Catherine Pyeatt in 1813 and served as an ensign in the 2nd Battalion, Seventh Regiment of Arkansas County, Missouri Territory, during the War of 1812. Stephen F. Austin was also in the Missouri Territory and participated in the battle. Afterward, Samuel joined his father, who had moved to Miller County, Arkansas, not far from Pecan Point, a Texas settlement across the Red River.
It’s speculated that Austin may have encountered William Gates, a horse trader, while traveling down the Pecan Point Trail. Regardless, the Gates and Kuykendall families met with Austin in 1821 at Nacogdoches. With Amos as a scout, they reached the Brazos River in December of that year, and the Gates family reportedly became the first to cross into the new historic settlement of Washington-on-the-Brazos, earning their designation as one of the “Old Three Hundred Colonist” families.
On July 16, 1824, Gates received title to two sitios, or approximately 8,676 acres of land, where we are gathered today. His wife, Catherine, died in 1826 and was the first to be buried in the Gates-Perry Cemetery. William Gates passed away two years later, on August 20, 1828.
The Gates-Perry cemetery contains the graves of William, his wife, some of their children, their spouses, and grandchildren—thirteen graves in total, with the last death occurring in 1877.
The settlers who received their titles under Stephen F. Austin's first contract, known today as the Old Three Hundred, made up the first organized, approved group of Anglo-American immigrants from the United States to Texas. The new land titles were located in an area where no Spanish or Mexican settlements had existed. It covered land between the Brazos and the Colorado rivers, from the Gulf Coast to the San Antonio Road.