| Isaac F Posegate |   | Born: 1802 | Died: 1873 |
| Father: Charles Hill Postgate | Mother: Rachel (Ferguson) Postgate Crispin | ||
| Children: Almeria "Allie" (Posegate) Nils , Winfield Scott Posegate , Charles Posegate , John H Posegate | |||
| Siblings: Mary Posegate, Charles Hill Posegate Jr, Thomas Posegate | |||
| Spouse: Elizabeth Kean | |||
Isaac F. POSEGATE, Gunsmith (1802-1873)
By Stephen E. Williams
Thanks are due to Dixie Painter for her excellent library research
Dedicated to Stephen A. Williams (1913-2000) Isaac F. Posegate’s
great-great-grandson.
When Isaac F. Posegate learned the gunsmith trade in Ohio, around 1825, a gunsmith made a gun lock, stock and barrel from iron, wood, and brass. Even screws were typically handmade. From the date and location of his marriage to Elizabeth Kain in 1825 we can guess that he may have been apprentice to James Clark, a highly respected master gunsmith of Lebanon, Ohio. Isaac would have been a master gunsmith in Indiana from 1825 through 1840 and in Missouri and Iowa from 1840 to 1872 when he retired leaving the business to his son. In 1860 Isaac’s gun shop was at Francis between Main and Second in St. Joseph. After the War in 1867 his son Winfield Scott Posegate is listed as a gunsmith at the same location. Isaac’s guns may have been spread west from St. Joseph by the Oregon and California trails and by the cattle trails. Despite his long life, existing examples of his work are not known.
Isaac also had two sons who were gunsmiths, John H. Posegate (1826-c.1854) of Ft. Des Moines, Iowa and Winfield Scott POSEGATE (1842-1894) of St. Joseph. The St. Joseph Morning Herold’s obituary for Isaac describes the passing of a man that had “accumulated a handsome competence”, a master craftsman. The U.S. Census shows Isaac moved to Liberty, Missouri in 1840 and ultimately to St. Joseph in 1850.
His gun shop doubtless would have served the many trailheads at St. Joseph and been open to the various participants in the Missouri-Kansas Border War. His “attending carefully and diligently to his own affairs, and never meddling with the concerns of others” probably helped him survive the later crisis and remain in business throughout the Civil War while his more outspoken son Francis found it necessary to leave the city.
Obituary
From the St. Joseph Morning Harold, October 5, 1873.
One by one the older citizens of St. Joseph a.re passing away. This Morning we are called upon to chronicle the demise of Isaac F. Posegate, at the ripe age of seventy-one years. He was born near Winchester, Va., and came to Missouri in 1842 [really 1840]. He resided for a number of years in Liberty and Boonville, [and Ft. Des Moines, IA] and moved to this city in 1850 where he has resided ever since. He was of a remarkably quiet and unobtrusive disposition, always attending carefully and diligently to his own affairs, and never meddling with the concerns of others. By his industry he accumulated a handsome competence and was highly respected by all who knew him. Of the most rigid integrity and scrupulously exact in all dealings with others, he is gone, leaving not an enemy on earth. Some two months ago he was stricken with paralysis and had partially recovered, but yesterday the swift messenger came and bore him away to the summer land. His funeral will take place on Monday morning at 10 o’clock, from the residence of his son, F. M. Posegate, corner of Francis and Twentieth streets. Carriages will be waiting in front of the Steam Printing Co.’s building at nine o’clock, to convey the friends of the diseased to the residence of his
son where the funeral services will be held.
Commentary
Isaac F. Posegate’s Quaker upbringing may also be reflected in his “quiet and unobtrusive disposition”. The spelling of his name and that of his two brothers changed from Postgate to Posegate in Highland County, Ohio sometime around 1810. Perhaps his mother Rachel taught her three children to spell their name “POSEGATE” even as the Quaker scribes continued to spell it POSTGATE”. It appears that all families named Posegate descend from Isaac or one of his older brothers Thomas or Charles.
The obituary, which was very likely written by Isaac’s son, Francis M. POSEGATE, a printer and postmaster at that time, may catch the spirit of Isaac’s life but it leaves out many details. Isaac was born as Isaac F. POSTGATE in Fredrick County, Virginia, near Winchester where his grandfather Francis POSTGATE and great grandfather, Thomas POSTGATE had owned land since the 1730s. It is likely that Isaac’s father, Charles Hill POSTGATE, a Quaker, migrated to what is now Fairfield Township in Highland County, Ohio with his father-in-law, Charles FERGUSON’s family. Quaker records record much of this but an unhappy event leaving a rather ugly court record gives the most detail.
Real estate records show that Isaac is still in Highland Co. Ohio in 1820. In 1825 he Married Elizabeth KAIN in Lebanon, Ohio, in the Methodist Church on 5/14/1825 and was disowned by the Quakers for doing so. The spelling of Elizabeth’s surname was not yet fixed since her Father signed “John H. KEAN” giving permission to marry since she was not yet eighteen. It is probable that this marriage coincided with the completion of Isaac’s apprenticeship and perhaps work as a journeyman gunsmith in Lebanon, Ohio.
The 1830 census shows Isaac F. POSEGATE in Jefferson County, Indiana, on the Ohio River, as a gunsmith living with a woman 20-30 (Elizabeth), a male 10-15 (probably an apprentice) and two males under 5, probably John (b. 1926) and a child who died in infancy. He continued to reside in Indiana but moved to LaFayette, Indiana by 1837. During this period John and Elizabeth had two more sons Charles (b. 1835) and Francis Marion (b. 1837).
In 1840, the Isaac F. POSEGATE family moved to Liberty, Missouri where Winfield Scott POSEGATE was born. Shortly after this in 1853 the family moved down river to Boonville for five years where their only daughter Almeria was born. In 1858 they moved to Ft. Des Moines, Iowa where John POSEGATE married Harriet KELLOG in 1850 and established a gunsmith shop. At this point, though there is no record of divorce, the family separates. Elizabeth and Almeria remained with John in Des Moines. Charles, Francis, and Winfield moved to Weston in Platte Co. for a few months where the 1850 census shows them. Charles returned to Des Moines as an apprentice printer while the other two sons continued to St. Joseph where Isaac established his gunsmith shop, Winfield served with his father as apprentice and Francis was an apprentice printer to William Ridenbaugh of the St. Joseph Adventure.
Children
John POSEGATE died young (c. 1854), leaving Harriet a widow with two young daughters, Mary and Paulthea. Harriet then married Samuel NOEL. Paulthiea would ultimately move to St. Joseph to join her Uncle Francis’ household. Elizabeth, Charles and Almeria moved to Leavenworth, Kansas where Charles worked as a printer until he joined the First Kansas at the outbreak of the Civil War. There is no record of Elizabeth after the 1860 census.
At an unknown date Isaac married his second wife Ann (b. 1800) who survived him by two years (d. 4/30/1875). Isaac was not a rich man. The inventory of his estate shows that after settling his debts there remained $330.00 for Ann and $118.10 for each of his four surviving children and his son John’s daughter, Pauthiea DARROCK.
Isaac’s son, Winfield Scott POSEGATE (1842-1894) followed in his footsteps and was a St. Joseph gunsmith for much of the rest of his life. He married Miranda ROSS but they were divorced with no children. His ~on Charles (1835-1909) moved to St. Joseph after the Civil War. Though he was a journeyman printer, Charles had lost the use of his hand while serving with the First Kansas. The disabled veteran lived quiet life before retiring to a Topeka, Kansas Old Soldiers Home. Charles had two marriages, one to Milessa F. OLDS (6/26/1896) and one to Lucy PIERSON (6/4/1888) with whom he had a son Charles POSEGATE, Jr. (b. 12/10/1888) who is also recorded in the 1910 St. Joseph census. Both Charles, who served in the First Kansas and Winfield Scott POSEGATE who served with the 8th Kansas and the Ordnance Corps at Leavenworth Kansas, are buried in the Leavenworth National Cemetery.
Isaac’s Daughter, Almeria POSEGATE NELSON (1844-1918) apparently moved to the St. Joseph home of her brother, F. M. POSEGATE after the death of her mother. She married Nelson (Nils) 0. NELSON (1844-1922) in St. Joseph. Mr. NELSON, of the Buchanan Co. NELSON family, would go on to become a wealthy industrialist first in St. Louis, then in LaClare, Illinois. Isaac’s remaining son was printer and politician Francis Marion POSEGATE (1835-1917) who is covered in a separate biography in this volume.