Dewitt Clinton Gage
Dewitt Clinton Gage was born on August 28, 1820, in Bellona, New York, to Martin and Abigail Gage. His father was a farmer who managed a general store. Growing up, one early biographer noted, Gage worked in his father’s store and devoted the winters to “acquiring an education in the district school.” He “supplemented the instruction there…by a year’s study in the academy at Lima.” His father died in 1841, and Gage spent the next few years caring for his mother and siblings.
 
He married Catherine Glover around 1844, and they had at least three children: William, born on April 11, 1847; Henry, born on December 25, 1852; and James, born on March 22, 1856. They lived in Italy Hill, New York, and Gage worked as a farmer. They moved to Gorham, New York, in the 1840s, and he earned a living as a merchant there. According to his biographer, “neither the life of a farmer nor that of a merchant was congenial to his nature,” and he began working as a lawyer in the early 1850s.
 
He travelled through Iowa and Illinois before moving to Saginaw, Michigan, around 1855. He became a prominent lawyer there, and he served as private secretary for Republican governor Kinsley Bingham. By 1860, he owned $2,000 of real estate and $250 of personal property, and he employed at least one Irish servant. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him postmaster of East Saginaw in March 1861. Gage supported the Republican Party, and he was reportedly a “prominent and powerful leader of his party. He was noted as an organizer and campaigner of unusual ability.” 
 
In February 1864, he reported happily that the "north seems to be getting more and more in earnest--and settling down to fight it out--to conquor a lasting peace." By 1870, his wealth had grown to $60,000 of real estate and $6,000 of personal property. In 1880, Governor Charles Crosswell appointed him judge of the Saginaw Circuit Court. His wife died in 1882, and he passed away of a “serious bilious attack” in Saginaw on July 31, 1887.
 
Image: Dewitt Clinton Gage (George Irving Reed, Bench and Bar of Michigan)
2615
DATABASE CONTENT
(2615)Gage, DeWitt Clinton1820-08-281887-07-31
  • Conflict Side: Union
  • Role: Civilian
  • Rank in:
  • Rank out:
  • Rank highest:
  • Gender: Male
  • Race: White

Documents - Records: 30

  • (7444) [writer] ~ Henry T. Gage and DeWitt C. Gage to William G. Gage, 18 December 1862
  • (7448) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 21 October 1863
  • (7456) [recipient] ~ Daniel H. Darling to DeWitt C. Gage, 6 November 1863
  • (7467) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 28 September 1863
  • (7468) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage et al., 28 September 1862
  • (7473) [recipient] ~ Bradley M. Thompson to DeWitt C. Gage, 7 September 1863
  • (7474) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 4 September 1863
  • (7476) [recipient] ~ Daniel T. Everts to DeWitt C. Gage, 25 May 1863
  • (7493) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 8 August 1863
  • (7494) [recipient] ~ Daniel H. Darling to DeWitt C. Gage, 7 July 1863
  • (7495) [recipient] ~ Daniel H. Darling to DeWitt C. Gage, 6 July 1863
  • (7498) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 14 May 1863
  • (7501) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 15 February 1863
  • (7733) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage and Catharine A. Gage, 15 November 1863
  • (7734) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 18 November 1863
  • (7735) [recipient] ~ Bradley M. Thompson to DeWitt C. Gage, 27 November 1863
  • (15326) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 9 December 1863
  • (15327) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 17 December 1863
  • (15328) [recipient] ~ William D. Mann to DeWitt C. Gage, 26 December 1863
  • (15329) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 29 December 1863
  • (15332) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage and Catharine A. Gage, 26 January 1864
  • (15333) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 30 January 1864
  • (15334) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage and Catharine A. Gage, 11 February 1864
  • (15336) [writer] ~ DeWitt C. Gage to William G. Gage, 14 February 1864
  • (15337) [recipient] ~ John F. Driggs to DeWitt C. Gage, 31 March 1864
  • (15339) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 13 August 1868
  • (15342) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 29 January 186X
  • (15343) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 6 April 186X
  • (15346) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, 15 October 186X
  • (15348) [recipient] ~ William G. Gage to DeWitt C. Gage, undated

People - Records: 7

  • (2615) Gage, DeWitt Clinton is the [parent of] (2613) Gage, William Glover
  • (2615) Gage, DeWitt Clinton is the [parent of] (2614) Gage, Henry Tifft
  • (2618) Gage, Catharine A. is the [wife of] (2615) Gage, DeWitt Clinton
  • (2638) Gage, James D. is the [child of] (2615) Gage, DeWitt Clinton
  • (2640) Thompson, Bradley Martin is the [friend of] (2615) Gage, DeWitt Clinton
  • (2648) Gage, Erasmus Darwin is the [sibling of] (2615) Gage, DeWitt Clinton
  • (2649) Gage, Abigail is the [parent of] (2615) Gage, DeWitt Clinton

Places - Records: 2

  • (1966) [birth] ~ Bellona, Yates County, New York
  • (1905) [death] ~ Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan

Show in Map

Groups - Records: 1

  • (3) [member/supporter] ~ Republican Party
SOURCES

1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971, available from Ancestry.com; George Irving Reed, Bench and Bar of Michigan (Chicago, IL: The Century Publishing and Engraving Company, 1897); DeWitt C. Gage to William G. Gage, 14 February 1864, DL1334.046, Nau Collection