Merle, I have to take some exception to your description of the Gates family as a "minor" family. First, the name was Götz. Second, Michael Götz and two of his brothers married three of the Grove/Graff sisters from the New River, NC, Brethren congregation in Wilkes/Ashe County. (Henry Shutt married the fourth Grove/Graff sister.) Third, the patriarch of the Grove family in Wilkes County, Jacob Grove/Graff, was Brethren all the way back to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Fourth, his father is thought to have been the Jacob Graff (1699-1776) of the Ephrata Cloister. Fifth, and finally, Elizabeth "Gates" was just as much a Graff as she was a Götz, but most important she was my gggrandmother. Hard for me to think of one of my ancestors as "minor." :) Dwayne -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Merle C Rummel Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 7:13 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BRE] "Somewhere between 1820 and 1826 there was cut off about 1, 500 Brethren and sisters in Kentucky" I did not trace Elder Isham Gibson as one of the 75 families, although he did marry into one of the "minor" families, which went from York Co PA to Rowan Co NC to Muhlenberg Co KY to Sangamon Co IL - Elizabeth, daughter of Michael Gates. Merle C Rummel

> I have to take some exception to your description of the Gates family as a > "minor" family. First, the name was Götz. Second, Michael Götz and two of > his brothers married three of the Grove/Graff sisters from the New River, > NC, Brethren congregation in Wilkes/Ashe County. (Henry Shutt married the > fourth Grove/Graff sister.) Third, the patriarch of the Grove family in > Wilkes County, Jacob Grove/Graff, was Brethren all the way back to Lancaster > County, Pennsylvania. Fourth, his father is thought to have been the Jacob > Graff (1699-1776) of the Ephrata Cloister. Fifth, and finally, Elizabeth > "Gates" was just as much a Graff as she was a Götz, but most important she > was my gggrandmother. > > Hard for me to think of one of my ancestors as "minor." :) > Sorry Dwayne I was afraid I was going to get a reaction - when I said it that way. The Gates family was one that I gathered minimal information on, basically because it did not connect up to other families that i was researching. I was aware that if Isham Gibson married into it, that it was a solid Brethren family. It would have been so much easier working on this material - if I had had all the information you have, and Gale Honeyman has, and so many others of you - that did give me information, but that I didn't even know the right questions to ask you. This family was just that it was a minor family in my research.. Merle