Jacob Gates

Jacob Gates
First Seven Presidents of the Seventy
April 6, 1860 (1860-04-06) – April 14, 1892 (1892-04-14)
Personal details
Born	(1811-05-09)May 9, 1811 St. Johnsbury, Vermont, United States
Died	April 14, 1892(1892-04-14) (aged 80) Provo, Utah Territory, United States

Jacob Gates (May 9, 1811 – April 14, 1892) was an early Mormon leader and member of the First Seven Presidents of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From his own journal he writes . . { Jacob Gates the son of Thomas Gates, who was the son of Isaac Gates, who was the son of Amos Gates, was born in the year of our Lord 1811 in the town of St. Johnsbury, County of Caledonia, and State of Vermont. Jacob Gates, the son of Thomas Gates and Patty Gates his wife, was born in the year of our Lord 1811, the 9th day, of the 3rd month, which is called March. Having been born of goodly parents, yet was not instructed and brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. After I had grown to be a lad of 7 or 8 years old (1819), my parents professed religion, which was after the order of the Methodist, which order was very numerous at that day. Nothing of interest took place with myself until the fall of 1827 when a Methodist revival broke out involving me in its course. I soon however broke the spell by leaving them to feast upon their own folly. My mind however still remained unsatisfied, for I believed that there was something of importance in relation to the salvation of man, which I had not got, neither did I understand it, notwithstanding all my reflection and sorrow because of my situation. Being in my youth I mingled with the world, and oft times forgot my situation, until I was suddenly awakened by a cry from the west, "Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." I listened with attention to the plain and simple tale which the heralds of the Gospel Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson declared. It was new and strange, but it was forced upon the mind with a conviction that it was true. I did not however embrace it at that time.

    In the spring of 1833, the 16th day of March, (at age 22) I took a wife by the name of Mary Snow. On the 18th day of June 1833 following, my wife and I, both in company with 4 others, embraced the Gospel and I was baptized by Orson Pratt. Our numbers soon increased to about 30 in number who met together oft rejoicing in the lord, until the spring of 1834, when the word of the Lord came for the strength of the Lord’s flocks to gather up for Zion. I immediately prepared myself for the journey, and on the 11th of April, 1834 my wife and I bid adieu to our friends and home, in company with 4 others, like Abraham of old left our homes for the west not knowing whither we went. 
    After traveling a distance of about 8 hundred miles, we joined a company of saints numbering between 1 and 2 hundred led by the Prophet Joseph Smith bound to the western part of Missouri. While on our journey westward our numbers increased to 2 hundred. After traveling about 1,600 miles, being threatened with death and destruction on every hand, we arrived in Clay County Missouri on the 21st of June 1834, where we experienced the fulfillment of prophesy delivered by Joseph Smith in Ohio at the commencement of his journey, which was as follows; "Inasmuch as you have chosen me to be your leader you must obey my words. And inasmuch as ye do this, you shall prosper. But if otherwise, behold the Lord has a scourge in store which he will pour out upon you." 

This we found to be true, for after traveling for several weeks, the people having disobeyed his words in many instances, he plainly declared in my hearing, “that the dye was cast, the scourge must come, and that his skirts were clean from their blood, for he had faithfully warned, them but they had not obeyed”.

    On our arriving at the place of our destination the ‘Camp’ (for thus they were called) was attacked by cholera which spread death and sorrow throughout our ranks until 14 or 15 of our beloved brethren were taken to the world of spirits, and most of those who remained suffered more or less from its effects. After remaining in this condition for a short time, the Camp broke up and dispersed. Some returned to the Eastern States, while others remained with their brethren who were in that country. Much excitement prevailed amongst our enemies during this time, but for fear of the contagious disease they did not fall upon us. 

After a short time the cholera passed away and peace was partially restored. And we waited in patience for the authority of the State to do something in our favor by way of restoring our brethren to their rights, which they had been robbed of the year before. But we all waited in vain, for the people had corrupted their ways and the fear of the Lord was not before their eyes.

    I located myself in the western party of the county called Clay (7 miles from Liberty, Missouri) on a piece of land that I purchased of one of the brethren.} In October 1844, he was made president of the fourth quorum of Seventy.

In 1849, Gates met with Oliver Cowdery shortly before Cowdery died. During their conversation, Cowdery said,

"Jacob, I want you to remember what I say to you. I am a dying man, and what would it profit me to tell you a lie? I know,' said he, 'that this Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God. My eyes saw, my ears heard, and my understanding was touched, and I know that whereof I testified is true. It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind-it was real".

    While in Liverpool, England, on a mission in 1859, Brigham Young wrote Gates to inform him he'd been called to the Presidency of the Seventy. He was ordained in 1862, though he was sustained by the church on April 6, 1860.
    Gates served in the Utah Territorial Legislature, representing Washington and Kane counties, from 1864 to 1867. Gates practiced plural marriage and fathered 11 children. He died in Provo, Utah Territory.