"Sir Thomas Gates was probably the first of this name to come to America. He was a major investor in the Virginia Company, and he made his first of several trips to that colony in 1608. He served as Governor of the small Virginia settlement at Jamestown until 1614 when he returned to England where he died in 1621. His children did not settle in America."

"Robert L. Magruder mentions two very early permanent settlers in Virginia, Matthew Gates and Jonathan Gates "of whom the first settled in Charles River County in 1639 and the second was living in Virginia as early as 1643, if not before." Another who came early to Virginia was Thomas Gates who was born about 1659 and married Rosamond ("Rose") Stake in Middlesex County. They had children, but little is known of them or their families. There were many early Gates families in or near Chesterfield and Henrico Counties, Virginia who were descendants of two early residents, James Gates and William Gates. Charles Gates was early in Henry County, Virginia, and some of his descendants migrated to Georgia after the American Revolution."

"Robert Gates who settled in St Mary's County, Maryland left a will, signed February 5, 1694, that names his wife, Dorothy and children with birth dates: John, 1681; Robert, 1686; Catherine, 1687; Susanna, 1688, Joseph, 1689; and Ann, 1690. The numerous Gates families of Charles County, Maryland were probably descendants of James Gates who mentioned his wife, Margaret, and five sons in his will signed October 24, 1749."

"Among the earliest Gates families in South Carolina are those mentioned in the Bible and baptism records of the St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, Cameron, Calhoun County (formerly Orangeburg County). Christian Gates and Conrad Gates, whose families are identified in these records, were of German origin."

From "Records of the Gates Families of America from the Colonial Period to 1860" "Third Edition" (2000) Volume I, by Robert Cady Gates