Benjamin
Gage
From: The North Carolina GAGE
FAMILY, compiled by Clyde Vantassel Gage, NY; p. 69
THE FAMILY OF BENJAMIN GAGE OF UPSHUR COUNTY, TEXAS AND RELATED FAMILIES
Benjamin Gage came to Texas from Indiana. He traveled through Kentucky, on to Tennessee and from Tennessee to Texas camping along and scouting about. He was one of the old "Trail Blazers", helped build bridges, etc. He camped at the Filips Springs three miles north of Gladwater, Texas but the location did not suit him, so he scouted around a few days and located on Little White Oak Creek about 12 miles northwest of the springs. There he established a gristmill and tan yard.
Upshur County was unorganized at that time. The Governor of Texas appointed Benjamin Gage, Benjamin Fuller and M. M. Robertson commissioners (confirmed by legislature in 1849) to select a site for the county seat of the newly created county. The selected and bought the president site of Gilmet from Matthew Cartwright, famed trader and early Texas Land owner.
When the Gage home was built along White Oak Creek, his nearest neighbors were several miles away. The area rapidly filled with settlers in the first few years after Texas became a State.
Two men were paid $1.00 in gold for each log they had hewed for the Gage home. They were Alec Marsh and Billy Green whose descendants reside in and around Upshur County today (1960).
When the men had finished hewing the logs which were hauled from Jefferson, the neighbors joined in a house raising. They used wooden pegs to fasten the logs together and constructed a two story house 171/2 x 30 feet. It has a large fireplace at one end and one large porch on the front with another on the back.
The house is still standing and in the 115 year old structure are members of the same family, William Alton Gage, a great grandson of the builder, and his daughter Mrs. Judy Holden, the fifth generation to reside in the house. This is probably the oldest house in Upshur County still being used by the same family. Since the house was originally built four more rooms had been added. One of the porches has been rebuilt, electricity and gas has been installed and the house now has an imitation brick siding.
Benjamin, as an heir of James Standifer, a large land owner in this area, inherited 640 acres of Texas land.
Benjamin Gage was born about 1802/04, South Carolina by one record and Kentucky by another record. He died near Gilmer, Texas January 1858. He was married in 1827 or 1828, probably in Alabama to Sarah Elizabeth Harrell. She was born about 1802/04 in Georgia. She appeared in the census of 1860 but did not appear in the census of 1880.
Their children: David Ferdinand Gage, b. c 1827-29, AL; Joshua Gage, b. c 1829-30, AL, never married; Gassaway Gage (called GAD), b. April 12, 1831, AL; Henry Gage, b. c 1834-35, AL; Robert M. Gage, b. c 1836-38; Olivia Gage, b. January 31, 1840, TX according to one record and in Alabama according to another.
