GOSSETT, John, of Henry and Patrick Counties VA

John Gossett was born, say, in the 1750s in Virginia. He died after 1821 in Washington Co OH.[1]

John married Elizabeth Mayze possibly about 1775, possibly in Augusta Co VA. Based on the births of her children, Elizabeth Mayze was born ca 1755, daughter of Henry and Phebey (–?–) Mayze.[2]

John is known from land records in Henry and later Patrick Co VA, from the 1770s through 1817. He was probably the John who had Revolutionary War Service in 1777 in Henry County.

Two Gossett books give different origins of this family. Chronicles of the Gossett Family by Grace M Jerkins is more likely correct, and Evangeline Gossett Newcomer’s The Gossett Family full of myths. It seems that Gossett researchers, possibly at the beginning of the 20^th century, saturated the family with stories of French origin, so that it is impossible now to get any accurate family traditions. See Josie Gossett, “The Gossett Family” in the Register of the KY Historical Society, pp 139-152.

Grace Jerkins did not usually trace the family back into the regions of myth, but stayed with proven families, probably as close as first or second cousins of our branch. There were probably 15 or twenty Gossett men, most named John, James, or William, with a few Daniels, Elijahs and Abrahams, who lived in Virginia and points south before the end of the 1700s.

Current researchers usually accept that the ancestor of most colonial Gossetts in America was John Gossett, who died in Dec 1730 in New Castle County, Delaware. His will left his property on Blackbird Creek in Delaware to his three sons, William, John and James. According to Jeff Gossett, in the notes published here, John and Jane (Williamson) Gossett “had three sons: John who is almost certainly the John in Cumberland Co PA; James, who is the ancestor of the Virginia Gossetts who came to South Carolina; and, William, who is most likely the ancestor of the Gossett branch found in Randolph/Guilford Co NC.”

Recent studies DNA studies show that this John was most likely not a member of that family. See Kit Numbers 173852 and 97829. Our ancestor may have been a Livingston or Liebenstein, with a name change somewhere before our John.

Thomas G Gossett wrote that the most probable indicator of this John’s origin is the location of Henry Mayze, since John and Elizabeth Mayze moved to the Henry Co VA region when their children were already in their teens. Abraham, likely the eldest, was married in 1798. Did they move to Henry Co from the North (Frederick or Augusta County) or from the East (Prince George County)? And, weren’t there a lot of Gossetts in Franklin Co VA?

Lee Adams at the Bassett Public Library, Bassett VA, wrote in 1976 that this John Gossett and Thomas Hollandsworth both married daughters of Henry Mayze and that the origin of the men was unclear. John Gossett obtained a land grant 29 Jun 1784, adjoining Thomas Hollandsworth’s land on Blackberry Creek (Grant Bk K, p 192, in Archives, Virginia State Library, Richmond).

John Gossett served in the American Revolution from Henry Co VA.[3] One John Gossett appears in the muster rolls of Capt Uriah Springer’s Company of Light Infantry, 7^th and 9^th Regiments of Virginia, 1779-1782. This was, according to his pension affidavit at Fold3.com, the John Gossett who moved to Washington Co OH.[4]

Shared DNA indicates at least two or three of this John’s children moved to Washington County, Ohio.

The tax list of 1787 for Henry Co VA included John Gossett, Hollandsworth (or Holingsworth), Solomon, Bassett, John Cavin, Joseph Gooding, and others.[5] Tom Gossett had studied thee families and believed that Hollandsworth and Cavin were brothers-in-law of John Gossett.

Five assumed children of John and Elizabeth (Mayze) Gossett were married in Patrick Co VA; Cavin was married in Henry Co VA, but on the same day his probable sister Elizabeth Gossett married Samuel Oakley. Is this fact evidence for the relationship or against it?

John Gossett’s family was in a 1787 tax list, a “substitute census,” 1787, Henry Co VA: John Gossett, List B, self, 00025 (cattle only, no other adult males).

Assuming Cavin was a son of this John and Elizabeth (Mayze) Gossett, the younger generation of Gossetts from Henry and Patrick Counties are the following. I have not been able to trace any of them after the marriage dates, with the possibly exception of Jane and William King and our Cavin.

1. John GOSSETT. On 5 Dec 1805, he married Nancy DILLON in Patrick Co VA.

2. Abraham GOSSETT. On 16 Apr 1798 Abraham married Betsy ADAMS in Patrick Co VA.

4. Jane GOSSETT. Jane died in Pine Log, Bartow Co GA. On 6 Nov 1797 Jane married William KING in Patrick Co VA.

5. Phebe GOSSETT. In Mar 1804 Phebe married Henry DILLON in Patrick Co VA.

6. Elizabeth GOSSETT. On 3 Aug 1813 Elizabeth married Samuel OAKLEY in Patrick Co VA.

7. Cavin GOSSETT. Born in 1791 in Henry Co VA. Cavin died in Barren Co KY, in May 1845; he was buried in Coral Hill Cemetery between Glasgow & Hiseville, Barren Co KY. On 3 Aug 1813 Cavin married Mary PHIFER, daughter of Joseph PHIFER & Judith MEREDITH, in Henry Co VA. Mary died in Barren Co KY, in 1845/1853. Born ca 1793. They had the following children:

i.            Jane (1817-1900)

ii.            Henry (1818-1912)

iii.            James Thomas (1822-)

iv.            Martha (1821-1880)

v.            Peter (1827-1913)

© 2009, Kathy Alvis Patterson

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[1] Based on DNA matches, I now agree with the identification of this John Gossett with the Revolutionary War veteran in Washington Co OH. John Gossett Jr and Sr were in Ohio in the 1810 census. Our John was still in Patrick Co VA when his daughter and son were married there in 1813 and in a land transaction in 1817.

[2] Henry Mayze mentions her in his will, 1786 Henry Co VA as Elizabeth Gossett. There are families named Mays and Cavin living next door to each other in 1850, Green Co KY.

[3] It has been stated John Gossett joined the Continental army from Henry County, but I have not been able to locate this record. Is this another case of saying John of Henry County joined the army, and our John was in Henry County, therefore, John joined from Henry County?

[4] http://www.fold3.com/image/22086455/John%20gossett/#22086456.

[5] Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Henry County, Virginia, 1987, passim.