Seth M. Gates

Seth Merrill Gates (* October 10, 1800 in Winfield, Herkimer County, New York; † August 24, 1877 in Warsaw, New York ) was an American politician. Between 1839 and 1843 he represented the State of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

In 1806, Seth Gates moved with his parents to Sheldon in Wyoming County, where he attended the public schools. After he graduated from the Middleburg Academy in the city of Wyoming. Around the year 1825, he was Board of Education of the public schools in Le Roy. He was also deputy sheriff. After studying law and his 1827 was admitted to the bar he began in Le Roy to work in this profession. In 1830, he was there also mayor (Supervisor); In 1832 he sat in the New York State Assembly. In 1838 he published the newspaper Le Roy Gazette. Politically, he joined, founded in the 1830s Whig party. He was known as a staunch opponent of slavery.

In the congressional elections of 1838, Gates was the 29th electoral district of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Harvey Putnam on March 4, 1839. After a re-election he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1843 two legislative sessions. The time from 1841 was marked by the tensions between President John Tyler and the Whigs. It was also at that time already been discussed about a possible annexation of the independent Republic of Texas since 1836 by Mexico.

In 1842, Gates was not re-elected. After his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, he practiced as a lawyer in Warsaw. He was also active in various industry sectors such as the timber trade and the hardware store. In the 1840s he joined the Free Soil Party and applied for this in 1848 unsuccessfully for the office of Lieutenant Governor of New York. Between 1851 and 1865 he was secretary of the insurance company Wyoming County Insurance Co. In addition, he served from 1861 to 1870 as a post holder in Warsaw. Eventually, he became in 1872 vice president of the Genesee County Pioneer Association. Seth Gates died on 24 August 1877 in Warsaw, where he was also buried.