Cyrus Gates
Cyrus Gates (July 27, 1802 – December 11, 1891) was an abolitionist, cartographer, and owner of the Cyrus Gates Farmstead in Maine, New York. Early life Gates was born on July 27, 1802, in Lisle, New York, near Maine, New York. He was the son of Russell Gates (1766–1839) and Esther (née Briggs) Gates (1761–1850). Under the Boston Purchase of 1786, Cyrus' father and mother had migrated from the East Haddam, Connecticut, area in the early 1790s. His father and uncle Alfred Gates trail blazed the road from Union Center to Nanticoke in order to gain access to their newly purchased property. Cyrus would follow his father by continuing to farm and staying on the land. Career Gates worked as a cartographer and surveyor, mapping 15 counties for the State of New York. For several years, he served as the local Justice of the Peace in the then newly formed Town of Maine. Gates was able to grow several crops of produce, including apples, maple sugar, honey, as well as other standard farm produce. Cyrus would also serve as a deacon in the Maine Baptist church, as he maintained a proactive and sacrificial abolitionist stance. The Underground Railroad Even before