Gates Lane
From Worcester Activist wiki
Simon Gates, a Worcester farmer, was never away from home more than two or three nights during his lifetime.
He was bucking the stubborn Spring earth with a plough on the 19 th day of April, 1775, when word came that the war had begun.
The news spread like cider from a cracked hogshead. Simon Gates marched into the house; took his musket, powder horn – and probably a sandwich provided by Mrs. Gates. Then he mounted his horse and galloped down to Worcester Common.
The Worcester Minute Men and the Militia were rapidly gathering. There was the wild peal of a bell; the boom of guns.
Simon gates slipped into Capt. Ben Flagg’s company, taking his place beside Gershom Holmes and Isaac Knight.
Capt. Timothy Bigelow, the tallest man in his company, called the roll. Capt. Flagg read his. The names of Worcester Farmers were loud in the air.
“Eleazer Holbrook! Isaac Gleason! Gershom Holmes! Simon Gates!”
“Here!” called Simon.
Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty opened the Book and read a benediction. The captains nodded. Eli Putnam beat a tattoo on his drum; John Hair and Joseph Pierce nodded chins to catch the tune, then brought their fifes up to pursed lips.
To the smash of the drum and the squealing fifes, Worcester’s fighting men, cheered by the citizens, marched toward Cambridge and the War of the Revolution.
And so it went that Simon Gates got to stay away from home longer than he ever dreamed. On April 21, 1775, he was sworn into service for three months and 14 days. But it was August 29, 1777, before he was discharged.
Meanwhile, he served under Captain Hubbards’ Company in the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was in Captain Stone’s Company in the battle of Bennington, Campaign of 1777 and in Captain Cushing’s Company.
Simon Gates came back home to become a Revolutionary pensioner; ran a saw mill at the north corner of Mill St.
He died at 1849 at 93 – in the same room of the same house in which he was born.
His great-grandson was Loring Coes, inventor of the monkey wrench.
Gates lane, connecting Main street northeast to Mill street, first appears in a city directory in 1851, but is probably much older. Simon lived at the head of the lane.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
