Sir John Pate, baron of Leicestershire, England, had a son, Major Thomas Pate, who emigrated to America in 1672, and settled in Gloucester County, Virginia. His son, Matthew, and wife, Anne Reade, were parents of Jacob, born in 1710, and who married Zilla Broach. Their son was Jacob, Jr., born in 1747. He was the father of John, born in New Bern, N. C., or Gloucester County, Virginia, about 1760, and who married Nancy Cowart in 1794. Redding Hamilton Pate, their son, born in 1796, in 1829 married Elizabeth Miller, born in 1809. They lived in Washington County, Georgia.
Redding Pate is buried near Tennille, Georgia. Elizabeth and her three boys, John Haynes, Redding H., and Anthony C. Pate, moved to Dooly County, where John Haynes married Zilphia Ann Boatright in 1848, and later moved to Hawkinsville, Pulaski County, Georgia. Zilphia Boatright was the daughter of Rolly Boatright. She was a fine character, generous to a fault, and charitable to all. The outstanding thing in her life was her devotion to her religion and church. She was a stanch Methodist.
Major John Haynes Pate was born in November 1830, and was outstanding in the business affairs of Hawkinsville in its infancy, conducting a large mercantile business. He also had large farming interests. When Milledgeville was the capital, he represented Pulaski County in the legislature several terms. He enlisted in the War Between the States on March 4, 1862, as second lieutenant, and was promoted to first lieutenant on March 22, 1862. He was promoted to captain in June 1862, and was elected major in July, 1863.
Major Pate and his splendid wife, Zilphia Ann, reared a large family, and their hospitable home was open to all their friends. He was killed in a railroad wreck near Blackshear, Ga., on March 17, 1888.
Robert Oscar Pate, son of Major John Pate and Zilphia Ann Pate, was born in Irvinton, in December, 1849, and married Minnie Estelle Brown in May, 1875. Minnie Brown was the daughter of John Green Brown and Smitha Tooke Brown, and granddaughter of Joseph Tooke, of Houston County.
Bob Pate, as he was called by his friends, attended business college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. When a young man he was associated in a large mercantile business with his father and brother, and also had large farming and lumber interests. Being a man of ability and great energy, he was prominent in the life of his community. For several years he was county commissioner. The outstanding interest of his old age was the growing of pecans, he having a large grove.
Their children are: John, Eugenia, Robert 0., Jr., Glenmore, Minnie Estelle, Edward, and Charles.
Eugenia Moreland Pate was born in January, 1878, and married Marion Turner in December, 1901. Marion Turner was the son of DeLamar Turner and Martha Claudia Turner, of Sparta, Georgia.
The following children were born to Marion and Eugenia Turner Marian Louise, born in December, 1902, educated at Wesleyan College, and married Dr. H. W. Minton of Tacoma, Wash. Their children are: Julia Ann, and Eugenia Pate Minton.
Minnie Estelle was born in September, 1904, and graduated from the Hawkinsville school and Georgia State College for Women. She married A. C. McPhail, of New York, in July 1933.
Martha Claudia was born in April 1907, and graduated from the Hawkinsville school with honor, and attended Agnes Scott College. She married Gerald Erambert, of Florida and North Carolina, in 1927. Their children are: Flora, Gerald, Jr., and Marion Turner.
Robert Pate was born in January 1910, and graduated from the Hawkinsville school and Citadel Military College, South Carolina.
Thomas Hudson was born in March, 1910, and graduated from the Hawkinsville school with citizenships honor, and attended Puget Sound College, Tacoma, Wash.
Eugenia Pate, born in January 1918, was educated in Hawkinsville schools and the Georgia State College for Women.
Robert Oscar Pate, Jr., was born in Hawkinsville, Ga., in May 1880. He attended the Hawkinsville schools and Georgia School of Technology. He was married November 11, 1911, to Julia Coney, daughter of Frank Coney and Lee Wimberly Coney. Their children are: Frank Coney Pate, born in September, 1915, and graduated from the Hawkinsville schools with distinction, and also graduated at Georgia School of Technology; Julia ‘ Coney, born in December, 1921; Mary Ann, born in August, 1924; and Caryn Estelle, born in October 1927.
Glenmore Brown Pate was born in March 1882, and married Nena McDuffie in May, 1910. She was the daughter of James B. McDuffie and Annie Warren McDuffie. Their children are: Ermine Mumford, born in April 1911; Glenmore Brown, born in October, 1912; and Norman McDuffie, born in November, 1913.
Minnie Estelle Pate was born in April 1884, and graduated from the Hawkinsville schools with honor and attended Wesleyan College. In 1902 she was married to Dr. John Dennard of East Point, Ga., and after his death in 1904 she attended a school of designing in New York. She taught for several years in a school of designing. She married Dr. E. G. Cary in November, 1917, and after his death in Albany, N. Y., she returned to New York City to live.
Edward Tooke Pate was born in September 1887. On December 13, 1913, he married Jennie Belle Taylor, daughter of John F. Taylor and Lucy Vaughn Taylor. Their children are: Edward Tooke Pate, Jr., born in October, 1914, and educated in the Hawkinsville schools and Citadel S. C. Virginia Taylor Pate was born in February, 1919, and attended school in Hawkinsville and Cleveland, Ohio.
Eugenia S. Pate was born in 1852, and married James D. Stetson in May, 1872. Jimmie John Pate, Charles Lathrop, Edith, Eugene W., and James D. are the children of James D. Stetson and Eugenia Pate Stetson.
McClendon Pate, known to his friends as Mack, was born in Dooly County, Georgia, February 3, 1854. In 1860 his family moved to Hawkinsville where he attended public school and later attended a school conducted by Governor W. J. Northern at Mt. Zion, Hancock County, Georgia. He went to Baltimore, Maryland, for a business course, and upon the completion of this course he entered the mercantile business with his father, J. H. Pate, and his brother, Bob. This firm also operated farms and sawmills in Pulaski County and at Mobile, Ala. A few years later he entered the mercantile business with his brother-in-law, Julien Willis, and organized Pate & Willis Company, extending this interest to other towns. He organized the Hawkinsville Cotton Mills and became its first manager and superintendent. Later he returned to the sawmill business and owned and operated large sawmills at Quitman and Argile, Ga., where he was associated with his brother, Joe, and his sons, Oscar and Jesse.
Mack Pate married Mattie Clara Willis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse S. Willis, of Hawkinsville. She was born July 9, 1860, and was outstanding for her beauty and culture, possessing unusual talent for music and drawing. Mrs. Pate received her education in the Hawkinsville public schools and at Winston-Salem College, finishing at Monroe Female College, at Forsyth, Ga., now Bessie Tift College. It was she who proposed that the name of the school be changed to Bessie Tift, in honor of her college friend and roommate, Bessie Willingham Tift. At Monroe Female College Mrs. Pate received a medal for her excellent accomplishment in music. Mr. and Mrs. Pate were married December 10, 1878. Both were members of the Hawkinsville Baptist Church and were outstanding in their leadership, Mr. Pate having served as superintendent and teacher in the Sunday school, and as deacon of the church for many years. Mrs. Pate was also teacher of Sunday school, a leader of the choir, president of the Woman’s Missionary Union, and president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and was active in any other work she was called upon to do for her church and community. Both were ideal citizens and were always interested in anything which pertained to the moral and business welfare of Hawkinsville. Too much cannot be said of such splendid citizens. Mr. Pate died September 15, 1915, and Mrs. Pate died July 9, 1917.