BENJAMIN DAVID GATES— SALINE COUNTY 

 Knows the ins and outs of his neighborhood. 



B. D. GATES, LADY LEE AND FRIEND 

 Dan Patch was her great-grandpappy. 



With Our Farm Bureau 

 Presidents 



Shake Hands with B. D. Gates of 

 Saline County 



HISTORY 



To farm ably is a job within itself. 

 To write ably is another. Being a his- 

 torian with a flair for the dramatic is 

 yet another. To farm ably and turn 

 out a well written history is unique. Not 

 on many are such gifts bestowed. Yet, 

 to an Illinois farmer, Benjamin David 

 Gates, whose history of Southern Illinois 

 has just turned up on booksellers' 

 shelves, the jump from able hog raiser 

 to able historian has been no trick at 

 all. Said he to newshawks who visited 

 him at his Sal'ne county. Cottage town- 

 ship farm of 235 acres, "I've always 

 been interested in history ever since I 

 was a boy. In fact I taught history in 

 our township school before I took up 

 farming. I'm glad folks like my history 

 of this section. What I'm out to do now 

 is to raise some blooded horses and 

 win the Derby." Obediently newshawks 

 scribbled — "Triple play promised. — Hogs 

 to history to horses." 



So in the future might TIME or 

 NEWS-WEEK or another news-maga- 

 zine report the doings of B. D. Gates, 

 Saline County Farm Bureau president 

 if he ever gets time off from his job 

 of farming and leading to sit down and 

 write history as interestingly as he tells 

 it. He's been president for the last three 

 years. Before that, a total of four to 

 five years off and on. That may seem 

 like a lot of years to be president but 

 you've got to remember that Gates is a 

 charter member of the Saline County 



Farm Bureau and has been on the board 

 most of that time. 



B. D. Gates was born in White county 

 in 1879. He came to Saline county in 

 1892 and settled on a farm three miles 

 east of Harrisburg. His parents came 

 from Posey county, Indiana, and his two 

 grandfathers came to this country from 

 Germany. Gates attended the country 

 schools as far as they went in those 

 days. Then he went to school in Harris- 

 burg. He was one of 13 children and 

 that meant that he had to pitch in at 

 an early age to help feed the brood. He 

 taught district school and had 110 

 pupils. Another school in the same dis- 

 trict had 180 pupils. It is interesting to 

 note that the schools in the same dis- 

 trict today have a total of only 22 pupils. 

 Gates continued his interest in school 

 work and was county superintendent of 

 schools for some 30 years. 



While going to school. Gates says, 

 "There were a lot of us and there was 

 a scramble among us to each have a 

 girl to take to picnics and to go to 

 school parties with." A girl, named 

 Olivia, who lived on the farm next to 

 that owned by Gates' father picked him 

 out, Gates says. There may be an argu- 

 ment about it now between Olivia, who 

 is now Mrs. Gates, but the net of it is 

 that whoever did the picking, the mar- 

 riage took place August 12, 1902. There 

 are three children. Alvin, 31 years old, 

 who is married, lives in Ch'cago and 

 works for the International Harvester 

 Company. Franklin, 25, is out West as 

 a salesman, and Mrs. Opal Bramlet, who 



was married 12 years ago and now lives 

 with her husband and daughter Betty 

 Jane, 8, three miles West of Edwards- 

 ville. 



The farm is planted with 80 acres in 

 corn, 20 in beans, 20 in oats, 40 in wheat, 

 five in alfalfa, 52 in lespedeza, and the 

 rest of the 235 acres in pasture, woodlots 

 and building lots. This fall, between 20 

 and 30 acres will be limed. There are 

 35 head of Shorthorn cattle, 10 head of 



OLIVIA AND B. D. GATES — HAVE KNOWN 

 each other quit* • spall. 



horses and two mules. The 35 head of 

 Chester White hogs are kept cholera 

 free with Farm Bureau Serum and 

 marketed thru the Producers. Mrs. 

 Gates takes good care of 200 White 

 Rock chickens. Both horses and a trac- 

 tor are used for the farm work. Only 

 Service Company products are used. The 

 house was painted with Soyoil Paint in 

 1931. Gates used two coats and plans 

 to put on a couple more coats this fall. 

 Besides being Farm Bureau president. 

 Gates is a member of the Soil Conserva- 

 tion Committee and on the County 

 Planning Program Committee. About 

 the new Soil Conservation Plan. Gates 

 says. "This new plan is the most sane 

 program ever offered. It's better than 

 the AAA by far." 



Just why Gates joined the Farm Bu- 



JULV, 1936 



