When Polley Gatewood was born about 1762, in Anson, North Carolina, United States, her father, Robert Gatewood, was 40 and her mother, Mary Haltom, was 37.
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Thomas Jefferson's American Declaration of Independence endorsed by Congress. Colonies declare independence.
North Carolina is the 12th state.
"""At the end of the Second Continental Congress the 13 colonies came together to petition independence from King George III. With no opposing votes, the Declaration of Independence was drafted and ready for all delegates to sign on the Fourth of July 1776. While many think the Declaration was to tell the King that they were becoming independent, its true purpose was to be a formal explanation of why the Congress voted together to declare their independence from Britain. The Declaration also is home to one of the best-known sentences in the English language, stating, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."""""""
English: variant of Gatward, derived from either an occupational name for a goatherd (Middle English gate-werde, Old English gātweard), or from an occupational name for a gate keeper (Middle English gateward, Old English ʒeatweard, dialect gātward). This surname is now rare in Britain.
History: The Gatewood family has been established in Essex County, VA, and Spotsylvania since the 17th century.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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