Gates & Larkie Via
of Albemarle, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland

Thomas Gates VIA, the son of Mathew Thomas VIA and Mary Anna POWELL, was born on 30 May 1888 in Doylesville, Albemarle County, Virginia. He died in Baltimore City, Maryland on 3 January 1947 and was buried at Meadowridge Memorial Park, 7250 Washington Boulevard, Elkridge, Maryland 21075 in block 3, lot 256, site number 1.

Gates Via, as my grandfather was always known, worked as a gardener in his younger years and later in life as an antique dealer. He may have met my grandmother while employed at Mirador Plantation, the home of Colonel Chillie Langhorne at Greenwood in Albemarle County. About 1912 he and Larkie were living at Red Hill, Virginia. In 1919 when my mother was born, he was working as a gardener at the Miller School. The 1920 census records them living on a farm in Albemarle County and Gates engaged in gardening and selling. Like many other rural southerners, during the economic boom of the 1920s they headed for the big city. They arrived in Baltimore about 1922, but within a few years the family crashed into the Great Depression, Larkie and Gates separated and the children grew up much deprived. The death certificate of Thomas Gates Via states that he died of coronary thrombosis from an illness of five weeks duration and records his residence as 1502 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, Maryland. His grave marker has inscribed a death date of 29 December but his death certificate records 3 January. Gates' only marriage was to Larkie and they were still married when he died.

His niece, Jean (Weade) Parker, remembered him from her early childhood, while she was living with her Grandparents Via, as a jolly, "jokey" fellow, kind to children, who traversed the Albemarle countryside selling antiques.

Gates married my grandmother, Larkie Bell HACKETT, the daughter of John Wickleff HACKETT and Sallie Betty BRANCH, on 30 January 1914 in Washington, DC. Larkie was born on 19 June 1898 in Buckingham County, Virginia and she died on 22 September 1977 in Baltimore City, Maryland. Her name was always pronounced as "Lockie" or "LAH-key". She was buried at Crestlawn Gardens Cemetery Howard County, Maryland in the Saint Matthew's Section, next to her only daughter. The cemetery is just beyond Ellicott City, Maryland on Route 70 towards Sykesville, Maryland.

Larkie was born in rural Buckingham County during the period when vital records were not uniformly required in Virginia, so there has not been found a recording of her birth. She believed that she was born in 1898 but when the 1900 census became available it showed "Locket B. Hackett", age 3, recorded on 7 June, with a birth date of June 1896. Her family moved to Albemarle County and her father procured employment at the Mirador plantation in Greenwood where she passed the remainder of her childhood growing up with the Langhorne children and grandchildren. Her parents had great admiration for Chillie Langhorne's family, naming their younger daughters after the Langhorne sisters, whom they said were the most beautiful belles in all of Virginia. Grandma had many fond remembrances of her days there. One of the famous five sisters married artist, Charles Dana Gibson, and became his model for "The Gibson Girl". My grandmother recalled collecting Gibson's discarded drawings and playing with them. She knew the daughter Nancy, who later became Lady Astor, the first woman member of the British Parliament. Larkie was a very tiny person, only 4' 10" tall. She was a hardworking woman and always very generous to all, even though she never had an abundance of the necessities of life. Her children were all very close to each other and attached to their mother, probably because she had tried her best, with her limited employment skills, to keep them together. Her formal schooling went to only the third grade and she spoke a very old style of English, which I describe as Elizabethan. When she was about sixteen and eloped with Gates to Washington, it broke her father's heart, according to granddaughter, Barbara. She had been her father's pet, or favorite, and he did not speak to her for some years after, Barbara was told.

Gates and Larkie Via had a very difficult life after they moved north to Baltimore, but their six children all grew to adulthood and they eventually became the grandparents of eleven, all of whom were born in Baltimore.

Gates and Larkie had six children:

		Male	1	Frederick Thomas VIA [scrapbook] was born on 14 July 1914 in Afton, Nelson County, Virginia. He died on 29 December 1988 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was buried on 2 January 1989 in Maryland. Freddie worked as a roofer. I remember that my Uncle Freddie was drafted towards the end of the World War II and transported overseas to Europe, even though he had a wife and five young children at home. He and his family lived for many years in Baltimore at 1659 Thomas Avenue.
				Frederick married Gertrude Virginia SCHRECK in 1933 in Maryland. Gertie was born on 1 July 1916 in Baltimore County, Maryland. Fred and Gertie Via had six children.
		Male	2	Buford Ancel VIA [scrapbook] was born on 27 March 1917 in Greenwood, Albemarle County, Virginia. He died on 13 January 1995 in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. He was buried on 19 January 1995 in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles County, California. Buford was born at Mirador Plantation, the home of the Langhornes, and had good memories of living there. He said they played in the big house and even the bedroom of Nanaire Langhorne. He knew Bobby Shaw, Nancy Astor's oldest son, and years later he visited Lady Astor at her estate in England. Early in his adult life he removed to Hollywood, California where he worked for the railroad. He was an avid collector of antiques and shared a lovely home with Mr. Donald Barnwell. Buford was a great lover of all animals, caring for many through the years. He never married. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills.
		Female	3	Lillian Louise VIA [scrapbook] was born on 10 June 1919 at Miller School, Albemarle County, Virginia. She died on 17 March 1975 in Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She was buried at the Crestlawn Gardens Cemetery, Howard County, Maryland in the Saint Matthew's section, next to her mother. My mother, always known by her family and friends as "Sister", was named "Louise Via" on her birth certificate. Her father was working at The Miller School of Albemarle when she was born. She always said that her name was "Lillian Louise", and the name Lillian was probably for her father's sister. Because of great family hardships, she lived for a time in childhood with her Aunt Gabie and Gabie's daughter Madolene, in Woodlawn, Maryland. She also lived with her cousin Ottolene Becraft. She was a freckle-faced redhead and she often told of the time she was merely walking through Baltimore's Druid Hill Park, when someone suddenly swept her up and proclaimed her "the winner". She had unwittingly rambled onto a freckle-judging contest and the prize was a doll with three faces - one crying, one sleeping and one smiling. She had many favorite sayings that she ofttimes recited and one, about her name, was "my name is Lillian Louise, and I do as I please" and indeed she did.
				Lillian married (1) Edward Arthur James RICHARDSON [scrapbook] "Ted" son of Arthur James RICHARDSON and Martha SMITH on 7 August 1939 in Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland. Edward was born on 19 April 1901 in Forest Hill, Lewisham, London, England. He died on 29 December 1986 in Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland. His burial was on 31 December 1986 in Meadowridge Memorial Park, Dorsey, Howard County, Maryland. Ted worked as a brickmason and musician. He and his wife, whom he referred to as "Lill", had four children before their marriage ended in divorce.
				Lillian married (2) Samuel Mayor WILLIAMSON on 9 August 1971 in Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland.
		Male	4	Hamilton Gates VIA was born on 11 November 1920 in Miller School, Albemarle County, Virginia. He died on 18 October 1960 in Baltimore City, Maryland. "Hamp", as he was always known, was badly burned as a child, requiring skin grafts to be taken from his thighs. My mother said she was washing dishes and he ran into the kitchen all aflame. She said she instinctively tossed the dishwater on him and was later told that was the worst thing she could have done.
				Hamilton married Lillian Mozelle HALL.
		Male	5	Randolph White VIA [scrapbook] was born on 12 October 1921 in Greenwood, Albemarle County, Virginia. He died on 26 August 1995 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was interred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
				Randolph married (1) Marie HANNA and they had one son before their marriage ended in divorce.
				Randolph married (2) Margaret ARMSTRONG.
		Male	6	Algie Norwood VIA was born on 24 April 1924 in Baltimore City, Maryland. He died on 9 October 1995 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was interred (cremated) at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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