William Jefferson Gatewood, born in 1801, was a young boy when his family moved to Franklin County, Illinois. In 1823 he moved to Gallatin County, taught school and studied law. In 1828 he was admitted to the bar, moving from Shawneetown to Equality when Equality became the new county seat. He married Elewisa in 1828 and they had seven children over the years. William was elected from Gallatin County several times, serving in first the Illinois State Assembly and then in the State Senate. Being a lawyer and legislator at that time in Illinois, he knew Abraham Lincoln. He died suddenly, from a heart attack, in Springfield, in either the Supreme Court or the Capitol Building, on 8 January 1842. Four of his children were still alive when he died. He was buried in the Old City Graveyard in Springfield. In 1872, Mr Bowman offered a resolution in the Senate in Springfield which would have reinterred the remains of several former members of the Senate and House “which now repose in the uncared-for cemetery grounds of Springfield, with a view of removing such mortal remains to a more suitable place.” The resolution went to a finance committee and was later tabled. Eventually the remains were moved to the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, where Abraham Lincoln is buried.
The Gatewood family goes back to Virginia in the 1600s when John and Amy Gatewood lived in what is now Essex County. Williamson Gatewood, who married Eliabeth Hubbard, was the great great grandson of John and Amy. Williamson was born about 1775 in Essex County, Virginia. At some time before 1800, when he married Elizabeth Hubbard, he moved to Kentucky and settled in Warren County. Their two sons were both born in Warren County, Kentucky, and both later moved to Illinois. Williamson was on the tax lists of Warren County until 1818. He is in the 1810 census but does not appear on the 1820 census. His wife, Elizabeth, must have followed her sons to Illinois. She died in 1835 in Gallatin County and is buried there in the Westwood Cemetery near Shawneetown. Her entry on Find-a-Grave website notes that her three young daughters are buried in the cemetery also: Ellenor, born 1829, d.1834; Elizabeth, born 1834, died 1835; and Mary, born and died 1836. These three daughters were actually born to William Jefferson and Elewisa Gatewood, not to Elizabeth Hubbard Gatewood, as she would have been in her 50s in 1829 when the first one was born. Elewisa had three daughters who were born and died on those dates. She was married in 1828 and living in Gallatin County at that time. Her son Ephraim H. Gatewood married Elizabeth Ridgeway in 1829 in Gallatin County and they had two sons, William and Theodore. Ephraim died in 1847 in Shawneetown.
After her husband, William Jefferson Gatewood, died in 1842, Elewisa had four children. Her oldest son, William Jefferson, Jr., was only twelve and her youngest, Isaac, was a toddler. In November 1845 Elewisa married again, to Jarvis Pierce Jr., a widower with one daughter still at home, Permelia. Jarvis was listed in the 1850 census as a plasterer and in the 1860 census as a contractor. In 1850 Jarvis was appointed by the court as the guardian of the Gatewood children. In 1850, three of the children were still at home – Ephraim, Nancy and Isaac – but William Jefferson – “Jeff” – was twenty and was in the census in Sacramento that year, listed as a miner. Jarvis’ daughter Permelia was living with the family as was Jarvis and Elewisa’s young daughter, Mary E. Pierce, my great great grandmother.
In 1860, most of the children were gone. Their daughter Mary was twelve. Living with the family in 1860 was Unity Barnes, widow of Daniel Barnes, and her young daughter Louise, age three. Unity was listed as a servant. In November 1860 Unity had another child, Madora, known as Dora. Jarvis was her father. This was probably not a happy household. In 1862, daughter Mary married Zephaniah Phillips and left the household.
In July 1866 Jarvis filed for divorce on grounds of desertion. According to the divorce proceedings, Elewisa treated Jarvis poorly and gave him no peace. While he was ill, she left with several wagonloads of household goods. It was believed she went to St. Louis, Missouri. Elewisa did not appear in court so her version of their marital situation was not recorded. In the divorce papers Jarvis said that Elewisa told him not to come after her or she would have her brothers kill him. She only had one brother; even so, she did not leave happily, nor without good cause. In September 1866, the divorce was final and Jarvis married Unity Barnes.
Elewisa may have gone to St. Louis, but in 1870 she was just in the next county, White County, living with her daughter Nancy Gatewood Addison and family. At the time of the census there were nine children in the family. In the census, Elewisa went by the name Louisa Gatewood. Sometime after 1870 she moved to St. Louis City. She was living at 1828 N. 11th Street, not far from the river, when she died on 21 December 1877. Her age was given as 72 and she was a widow - although she was really divorced and not a widow since Jarvis Pierce, her former husband, did not die until 1880. The undertaker was A. Kron. Listings for undertakers at that time note an August Kron, Livery & Undertaker. The business underwent name changes and addresses and the business ended about 1960 at 2204 Broadway in St. Louis. Online information indicates that the records of the business were destroyed. The death record gives her place of burial as Friedens Cemetery in St. Louis. The Cemetery office has stated that they have no record of her burial. The cemetery was moved at one time, after her death, and perhaps her burial record was lost at that time.