Who Was John Gossett of Ohio (b 1769) from “Redstone”? Food for Thought

Who Was John Gossett of Ohio (b 1769) from “Redstone”?

© 2022 (revised July 6, 2024) by James William Gossett

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Most Gossett family genealogy, including the book The Family of Gossett by Evangeline Gossett Newcomer, shows John Gossett of Ohio (b.1769) as the son of Matthias Gossett Sr. of the Back Creek area of what is now West Virginia and his wife Mary Littler. Recent YDNA testing of several claimed descendants of Matthias, including the author, has very decisively disproved this parentage, and there are other pieces of evidence that indicate that this claimed parentage is doubtful.

The first possible indication that this parental relationship should be examined are the conflicts in the DOB for John Gossett of Ohio and John Gossett the son of Matthias Gossett Sr. John of Ohio’s grave marker indicates he was born in 1769. However, the 1758 Loudon County, Virginia lease indenture to Matthias Gossett Sr. clearly says that Matthias had a son named John in 1758. [See the research of Eric and Judy Talla posted elsewhere on this site for more details.] Clearly if these two dates of birth are both correct, this cannot be the same person. The grave marker in Sander’s Cemetery, New Market, Highland County, Ohio, which gives John’s DOB as 1769, does not appear to be the original marker, so an error could have been made on the marker when it was replaced. It is more likely that the marker is correct. One indication of the probable correctness of the 1769 date is the fact that John and his wife Honor had their first six, well-documented children (of a total of nine) between 1789 and 1798 — a span of just nine years. The fruitfulness of this early marriage indicates that John was more likely 19 years old than 30 years old when they started conceiving children, serving to verify John’s 1769 birth date.

A second piece of evidence is the written description of John Gossett of Ohio’s origins in Daniel Scott’s A History of Highland County, Ohio. Scott, who was born in Highland County in 1830, lived in Hillsboro in 1850, was married in Hillsboro in 1854, and died in Hillsboro in 1912. According to the introduction in the 1890 version, the book was originally published in 1858 — just 35 years after John Gossett’s death and while his son Amariah was still alive and living in Hillsboro. Scott undoubtedly knew Amariah personally for many years and likely obtained much of the very personal information in the book about both Amariah and his father John directly from Amariah. On page 70, it states: “John Gossett was a native of Pennsylvania and emigrated at an early day from Redstone to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he built himself a cabin and settled down.” There is no mention whatsoever of Loudon County or Frederick County or any other part of Virginia. Today, there is a Redstone Township in Fayette County, Pennsylvania — almost due south of Pittsburgh. It is 150 miles west of the East Branch of Conococheague Creek in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania where John Gossett of Cumberland Valley lived on 300 acres of land as documented by his 1735 Blunston’s Warrant. In the late 18^th century, Redstone was used more generically to define a broader area of land along the Monongahela River as it flows north toward its junction with the Allegheny River to form the Ohio River at Pittsburgh. It was called that because of the red sandstone throughout the area, which gave its name to Redstone Old Fort, built in 1759 as part of the colonial defensive effort during the French and Indian War, and to Redstone Creek, a tributary to the Monongahela about 30 miles due south of Pittsburgh.

John Gossett Who Served in the American Revolutionary War

The principal evidence that Matthias was not the father of John Gossett (b. 1769) pertains to a John Gossett who fought in the American Revolutionary War and spent the last decade or so of his life in Washington County, Ohio. This particular John Gossett is never mentioned in Newcomer’s The Family of Gossett. The evidence consists of an entire series of documents, both from the Redstone area of Pennsylvania (the Monongahela Valley) and from Washington County, Ohio, which is located on the Ohio River about 120 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. The evidence from Washington County, Ohio, indicates the arrival and growth of an extended Gossett family in Washington County, Ohio. More directly related to the question of who the father of John Gossett (b. 1769) might be is an application for a pension for service during the American Revolution filed by a John Gossett initially in 1818 and then supplemented in 1820. Prior to 1809, there is no documentation of anyone with the surname Gossett anywhere in Washington County, which was originally settled in 1788 when a small group of veterans of the American Revolutionary War, and the Ohio Company established the town of Marietta at the confluence of the Muskingum River and the Ohio River. Based on the 1818 war service pension application, this John Gossett will be identified as John Gossett (b. 1753).

In 1809, a county tax record indicates that a John Gossett had arrived in the county and had settled in Washington County’s Wooster Township. Similar tax records in 1810 indicate that there were now two separate households in Washington County — one in the name of John Gossett and one in the name of John Gossett Jr. In addition, the 1810 U.S. Census also indicates that there were two different John Gossetts living in Washington, County, Ohio, in 1810 — one apparently the son of the other. The census data shows one listing for a family of 4 and one for a family of 9. The family of 4, under the name John Gossett, has two males shown in column “C” of the five range categories, indicating that both males were between 16 and 25 years of age, and no male older than age 25. Therefore, neither male could be John (b. 1753). John Gossett of Ohio (b. 1769) is well documented to be living in Highland County, Ohio in the decade from 1801-1810, so the John Gossett Jr. in Washington County, Ohio in 1810 cannot possibly be him. The family of 9 (6 of them being female), with the head of household listed as John Gossett Jr., shows the oldest male in column “E”, age 45 and older. This head of household was likely John Gossett (b. 1753). This listing also shows one male age 16 to 25, two females age 16-25, and one female age 25-45 years, and four children under the age of 10. Therefore, it appears to show John (b. 1753), his wife who was slightly younger than he, and one married couple with four young children. Based on this document, John Gossett (b. 1753) was actually the individual referenced in the US Census as John Gossett Jr., which possibly serves as an indication that his own father was also named John Gossett.

A very telling document which is part of the set of evidence related to John Gossett of Washington County, Ohio consists of a Revolutionary War Service Pension application filed by that individual in 1818. Based on this application, on September 15, 1819 John Gossett was placed on the pension roles for service with the “Virginia Continental” with a rank of private. The surviving record of his application, sworn before a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, indicates that his age on the date of application (1818) was 65 years old. It also indicates that he served 6 years and 9 months with his unit and that his regimental commander was Colonel John Gibson, the same individual listed as the regimental commander on all of the muster roles under the name of John Gossett serving at Fort Pitt which will be discussed later. If he was 65 in 1818, he was born in 1753. His age at the date of John Gossett of Ohio’s birth in 1769, would have been 16 — very young, but certainly old enough to father a son.

In 1820, John Gossett dictated an amendment to his original pension application, again witnessed by an officer of the court, which apparently was filed due to a failure to receive any of his already approved pension payments. In this July 28, 1820 amendment, he confirmed the information regarding his military service as stated in the original 1820 application and essentially stated that he was destitute farmer, “… unable to perform any labor in consequence of old age and infirmity.” In the 1820 U.S Census for Washington County, only a single household headed by a John Gossett appears. This household is headed by a male under 45 years old — evidently the same John Gossett who was shown in the 1810 census as being in the 16-25 age category. No records regarding John Gossett, Jr. (b. 1753) appear any time after he placed his mark on the resubmittal of his pension application on July 28, 1820 when he swore that he was suffering from old age and infirmity. It therefore appears that either John Gossett Jr. (b.1753) died sometime between July 28, 1820 and the time that the U.S Census for Washington County was completed in 1820 or he was so infirm that somehow, he was not counted in the census.

What is confirmed by comparison of the 1810 and 1820 census documents and four records of marriage in Washington County between 1812 and 1817 are just how many members of the John Gossett (b. 1753) extended family must have come with him when he suddenly appeared on the Washington County scene in 1809-10. First, the 1810 census shows a total of 13 family members in the two households headed by John Gossett and John Gossett Jr. Second, the 1820 census shows a family of 7 headed by Jacob Gossett, who falls in the age 26 to 45 category. This was undoubtedly one of two individuals who fell in the age 16- to 25-year-old age classification in the household headed by John Gossett in the 1810 census. In addition, records of marriages exist in the Washington County Historical Society for the following individuals between 1812 and 1818: Jacob Gossett, Margaret Gossett, Daniel Gossett, and Sarah Gossett. If all of these individuals surnamed Gossett before their marriages were between the likely marriageable ages of 18 to 25 when they married, Jacob and Margaret (married in 1812 and 1813 respectively) were likely born between 1787 and 1794 — when John (b. 1753) was 34 to 41 years old. This would indicate that these were possibly (likely?) among the younger children of John Gossett. It is even possible that Daniel and Sarah, likely born between about 1792 and 1796 - when John was 39 to 43 years old, could have been among his very youngest children. Given their likely ages when they were married, it appears that all of these children were born before the extended family appeared in Washington County in 1709.

The remaining evidence associated with John Gossett of Washington County, Ohio being the father of John Gossett (b. 1769) is found in documents from “Redstone,” the location from which Daniel Scott indicates that John Gossett (b. 1769) originally came from. The first of these documents consist of muster rolls and other Revolutionary War documents which support the sworn statements made by John Gossett of Washington County, Ohio in his 1818 and 1820 war service pension applications. There is more than a score of these documents — all of them verifying that John Gossett served his entire time in service as a private with the Virginia 13th, 9th, and finally 7th infantry regiment — all commanded by Col. John Gibson. Although many of these documents do not indicate where the regiment was stationed at the time the muster was taken, those that do so indicate that John was stationed at Fort Pitt, which is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers to form the Ohio River. Indeed, an extract from the website www.revolutionarywar.us/continental-army/virginia provides the following pertinent information on the 13th Virginia Regiment: “Organized on February 12, 1777 at Fort Pitt to consist of 9 companies from Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio Counties (comprising the former West Augusta District). Reorganized and redesignated on May 12, 1779 as the 9th Virginia Regiment, to consist of 9 companies. Reorganized on January 1, 1781, as the 7th Virginia Regiment to consist of 2 companies. Disbanded on January 1, 1783 at Fort Pitt Pennsylvania.” Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio Counties were the names of Virginia counties comprising the portion of western today’s state of Pennsylvania and comprising the Monongahela River drainage basin and that portion the Allegheny River basin laying in that area then claimed by the Virginia Colony to be a part of Virginia. During the last portion of the 18th century, that portion of this area was known as “Redstone.” In summary, John Gossett of Washington County, Ohio served over six years in a regiment formed with men already living in an area which included Redstone, remained in the Redstone area for his entire period of service, and was finally discharged from the army as a private back into the Redstone area community at the end of the war. The muster rolls show that John Gossett (b. 1753) was still serving in the army at Fort Pitt in January 1783, when John Gossett (b. 1769) was 13 years old.

Several additional documents and one little known piece of history appear to tie both John Gossett (b. 1753) and John Gossett (b. 1769) to the same broad “Redstone” area. The first document is a 1791 tax roll from the town of Versailles, Allegheny County, showing taxes assessed against John Gossett, indicating that he was a resident of Versailles at that time. Versailles is located on the Youghiogheny River just about two miles upstream of its juncture with the Monongahela River, in the heart of the Redstone area.

The second document is the 1790 U.S. Census for Allegheny County (portion taken from Washington, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania) which shows a family of three, with head of household named John Gossitt (sic), his wife, and a male child under 16. In 1790 John Gossett (b.1769) and his wife Honor had one son, Amariah, age 2, which fits the description of contained in this census. The town of Washington, PA is today, and was in 1788, a part of Washington County, Pennsylvania. However, according to History of Allegheny County, which was published in 1889, in September 1788, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enacted a measure to separate “…all those parts of the counties of Westmoreland and Washington lying within the limits and bounds hereinafter described shall be and hereby are erected into a separate county….to be henceforth known and called by the name of Allegheny County.” Therefore, when the official census of 1790 was conducted, the town of Washington was in Allegheny County. However, as it is today, it was in 1790 still about 20 miles southwest of Pittsburgh and in the region generally known as Redstone. This census was recorded just 6 years before a recorded deed in which John Gossett and his wife Honor sold a parcel of land in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

Additional evidence tying John Gossett to Redstone is a deed dated December 8, 1789 which is still on file in the archives of the Allegheny Department of Real Estate, Volume 12, pages 263-264. Through this deed, William Herren and Anna his wife transferred ownership of 167 acres to “John Gosset and Samuel Morgan trustees of the heirs of John Herren deceased.” The land is described as lying “on the water of Chartiers Creek in Allegheny County.” As described previously in regard to the appearance of John Gossett (b. 1769) in the 1790 census, in 1790 the town of Washington was actually in Allegheny County but is now in Washington County. In addition, Chartiers Creek still exists today and originates near the town of Washington and flows north into the Ohio River just below Pittsburgh, located at the convergence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. This places the location of this land likely near the town of Washington. On the 1790 census sheet which bears the entry for the family of John Gossit, the entry of Samuel Morgan and his small family appears in the same column as that for John Gossit and about 30 names below. This would indicate that they were relatively close neighbors of each other and likely lived near the Chartiers Creek property transferred by the deed and just north of the town of Washington. Although John Gossett (b. 1769) was just 20 years old at the time of this deed naming him a trustee for the orphaned children, he was already married and had a child of his own. It also seems worth of note that his wife was the former Honor Morgan Hull.

The final pieces of evidence indicating that John Gossett (b. 1753) was the father of John Gossett (b. 1769) relate to another individual entirely — a man named John Hull. The first set of evidence consists of numerous American Revolutionary War “muster roles” indicating that for most of the war, John Hull served as a sergeant in the same infantry regiment as did John Gossett (b. 1753) — known progressively as the 13th, 9th, and 7th Virginia — under the command of Col. John Gibson, as noted in the 1818 war service pension application of John Gossett (b. 1753). Many of these muster rolls also indicate that much of his service was at Fort Pitt. They served together in this regiment at Fort Pitt for many years, and undoubtedly knew each other. Perhaps they were army buddies. But why is this important? As previously mentioned, John Gossett (b. 1769) was married to Honor Morgan Hull in about 1788 and shortly thereafter had their first-born son, Amariah. John Hull, who served for years in the same army regiment with John Gossett (b. 1753), was Honor Morgan Hull’s father.

John Hull, army acquaintance and perhaps buddy of John Gossett (b. 1753) died in about 1788, likely just before or just after the marriage of John Gossett (b. 1769) and his daughter Honor. Many of the probate records related to the settlement of his estate in Washington County, Pennsylvania still exist. Among the several papers contained in these probate records the name John Gossett appears numerous times — on three different documents.

The obscure fact of history relates to the founding of Marietta, Ohio (the first town in Washington County, Ohio) in 1788. Just prior to the initial settlement, the small founding group of 48 men initially assembled at a place called Sumrill’s Ferry, on the Youghiogheny River just upstream of its connection with the Monongahela River, to arrange for construction of the boats which took them down river. They remained at Sumrill’s Ferry (now the town of West Newton, Pennsylvania) from February 1788 until very early April 1788 when they departed to travel down the Youghiogheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers to arrive at the site which became Marietta on April 7. (See www.mariettaoh.net/index.php/about-marietta/history-of-marietta). This location was apparently less than 10 miles by road from Versailles, where John Gossett (b. 1753) is documented to have been living in 1791. If John Gossett (b. 1753) was living in Versailles in 1788, he would undoubtedly have been aware of the plans of this group, which included veterans of the American Revolution, to journey downstream to found a new town on the Ohio River. Evidence indicates that he was not a part of this initial group of founding settlers, but it appears that he took his family and made this journey to Washington County, Ohio by 1809/10. He took his family — except for his first-born son and namesake, John Gossett (b. 1769), who had already left home with his own small family to start a journey of his own which eventually ended up in New Market, Ohio — about 150 miles west of Marietta.

Evaluation of the Evidence

It is known that John Gossett, son of Matthias Gossett, was alive in 1758 when Mathias signed the Loudon County, Virginia lease indenture. If this John Gossett was just a year old in 1758 and the only living son of Matthias (as indicated by the lease indenture), Mathias was likely at least 18 years old at the time. That would put Matthias’ date of birth before 1740, which confirms the opinion of Newcomer in her book The Family of Gossett.

If, as demonstrated by YDNA testing, Mathias was not the biological son of John Gosset of Cumberland Valley, and if Mathias was the youngest of the known and/or possible male children of record attributed to John of Cumberland Valley, it is possible that John Gosset of Cumberland Valley’s first two known sons, Peter and John were born of John’s first wife, and that Mathias was the son of an unknown mother who bore Mathias by another man. It is also possible that Matthias was simply an orphaned child adopted by John Gossett and his wife. Life on the Pennsylvania frontier was difficult in the 18^th century. Women frequently died in childbirth, and both men and women risked death on a regular basis in their daily lives. If John of Cumberland Valley lost his wife after the birth of his first two sons, he likely would have been desperate to marry another woman to provide a mother to his two living sons. If the birth mother of Mathias had lost her husband, father of Mathias, either through death or desertion, leaving her with a young son named Mathias, she and John Gossett could have quickly gravitated toward marriage to each other to protect their families. If Mathias was relatively young when this marriage occurred, he would likely have been raised as Mathias Gossett, with John as his stepfather. Such a marriage as this between John Gosset of Cumberland Valley and a second woman with a young son who became Mathias Gossett would account for the conclusion of the YDNA testing that Mathias was not the biological son of John. As previously mentioned, it is also possible that Matthias was simply an orphaned child adopted/taken-in by John Gossett of the Cumberland Valley & wife.

The sworn statement in the Revolutionary War pension application filed by John Gossett (b. 1753) in Washington County, Ohio in 1818 proves conclusively that he was 65 years old at the time it was filed, clearly indicating that he was born in 1753. The same document indicates that he was the same John Gossett who served at Fort Pitt during the American Revolution, as indicated by the many regimental muster roles bearing his name. The many muster roles also confirm that the names of the regiment with which he served at Fort Pitt and the name of his regimental commander are identical to those detailed in the pension application. Muster rolls in the name of John Hull, father of Honor Morgan Hull who became the wife of John Gossett (b. 1769) in about 1788, indicate that John Hull and John Gossett (b. 1753) served in the same army regiment together for many years and undoubtedly knew each other. Probate records for John Hull include the name John Gossett on several documents. Tax records in Washington County prove that he had moved to the Washington County, Ohio area at least by 1809, and subsequent federal census data and marriage records indicate that he brought at least 12 other members of his family with him when he moved to Washington County at the age of about 56.

The evidence that John Gossett (b. 1753) was the father of John Gossett (b. 1769) is very compelling. There is written evidence that both men lived in the Redstone area of what is now Pennsylvania — the Monongahela River Valley, a very small area only about 50 miles long. Given the documented and proven years of birth of each man, if this father/son relationship were not correct, there would have had to be two unrelated John Gossetts living in the very small Redstone area of western Pennsylvania at the same time. Based upon all of the facts outlined in the proceeding discussions, it seems very probable that the father of John Gossett of Ohio was John Gossett, who was born in 1753 and served at Fort Pitt during the American Revolution. However, the date of his birth indicates that John Gossett who served at Fort Pitt during the American Revolution, was likely NOT the son of John Gossett who owned land in the Cumberland Valley in 1735 but rather his grandson.

As best can be determined, there are no known records from the Monongahela Valley area of any Gossett males not named John living in the Redstone area of what is now western Pennsylvania between 1753 and the departure of John Gossett of Ohio (b. 1769) from Redstone in about 1790. However, the marriages of Jacob, Margaret, Daniel, and Sarah Gossett in Washington County, Ohio between 1812 and 1818 indicate that they were likely born in the Redstone area of the Monongahela River Valley and were much younger siblings of John Gossett of Ohio (b. 1769).

Conclusions

The father of John Gossett of Highland County Ohio (b. 1769) was not Mathias Gossett of Virginia Colony, born just before 1740, who signed a lease indenture in Loudon County in 1758 and subsequently owned several different properties in the Back Creek area of what is now West Virginia. It is very likely that his actual father was John Gossett, born in 1753, likely a grandson of the John Gossett who lived in the Cumberland Valley of the Pennsylvania Colony in 1735. His father served in the American Revolution, with all such service occurring in the general area in which he lived — the Redstone area of the Monongahela River Valley, just west of the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania and just south of Fort Pitt. Although John (b. 1753) likely had a wife who was the mother of his children while living in the Redstone area of the Monongahela River Valley, her name and date of birth are unknown. John Gossett (b. 1769) had at least four siblings (Jacob, Margaret, Daniel, and Sarah) and there were likely at least several more with unknown names born after his birth in 1769 and before the birth of the four whose names are known.

Based on the documented fact that two John Gossett’s suddenly appeared in Washington County, Ohio in 1810, for the above conclusion to be true, John Gossett (b. 1753) must have had two sons named John. The first was John Gossett (b. 1769), who would have been born when his father was only 16. He was the first born of John Gossett (b. 1753) and his namesake. From marriage records in 1812-1818 in Washington County, Ohio, we know that John Gossett (b. 1753) had at least four other children -Jacob, Margaret, Daniel, and Sarah. Speculating that these four were no older than 25 when they were married, they likely were born after 1777 at the earliest, and they could have been born much later than that. If Sarah, who was married in 1818, were only 18 when she was married, she would have been born as late as 1800. If John (b. 1753) named a second son John between 1785 and 1795, that second son would have been born between 16 and 26 years after first son John (b. 1769) was born.

Why would a father name two sons John between 16 and 26 years apart? The last record of John (b. 1769) before he left home with his wife and young son was in 1790. He showed up for two years in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1795-1796, and by 1801 he had purchased 200 acres of land in what became Highland County, Ohio. It is highly likely that John (b. 1753) never saw his first-born son and namesake after about 1790 — 21 years after son John (b. 1769) was born. Based on what John (b. 1753) stated regarding his circumstances in life during his later years, his life was a very difficult one. He was a farmer all of his life, and likely a tenant farmer. His children were likely the center of his world during very difficult times, and it was common in the late 18th century for extended family groups to remain in close contact. The fact that his first-born son and his first grandson move away only a few years after the end of his military service during the American Revolution could have had a devastating impact on his life. His namesake had left him and moved out of his life.

What would motivate a first-born son, and name-sake of his father, to leave an apparently clannish family group of farmers. Perhaps a dramatic change in the approach to the naming of children provides a very telling clue. If, as it appears, that the family groups in Washington County, Ohio in 1820 and later are all descendants of John Gossett (b.1753), the names of male members of this family carry traditional male family names going back to 1729 through 1753 in this family – John, Jacob (James), and Daniel. Based on 1820 census data, it also appears that some male members of this extended family appear to have stopped and remained in Jefferson County, Ohio, which is located on the Ohio River upstream from Washington County and much closer to the Redstone area of Pennsylvania. Assuming that these are also descendants of John Gossett (b. 1753) the names William and Matthias can be added to the list of names of John’s male children. According to the 1820 census, both were 45 years old or over in 1820 and therefore both were born before 1776. These two male names are also both traditional Gossett family names. The fact that John (b. 1753) appears as John Jr. in the 1810 Washington County, Ohio Census seems to indicate that his father (about whom there is no documentation) was also named John. None of this holds true in the case of John (b. 1769) from Redlands. The family of John (b. 1769) is very clearly documented — and the names of his children who survived infancy, in order of birth, are as follows: Amariah, John, Moses, Rachel, Lindsey, Abijah, Preston, Lavinah, and Miles. First, he did not name his first-born son after himself. That honor went to Amariah — an Old Testament biblical name. Second, five of the names of his children (Amariah, Moses, Rachel, Abijah, and Lavinah) come straight from the Old Testament.

According to the paper The Rise and Decline of Quakerism in the Monongahela Valley by Levinus Painter, who was himself member of the Society of Friends, the Quakers did not arrive in the Monongahela Valley until after the Proclamation of 1763 ended in 1768. Between that date and 1782, the number of Quakers in the area grew slowly until a regular monthly meeting was finally established, becoming the first organized Friends meeting west of the Allegheny Mountains. John Gossett (b. 1769) was 13 years old in 1782, and John Gossett (b. 1753) was still in the Virginia Continental Army serving at Fort Pitt. As described in the paper, “Other meetings were established in the next few years and in 1785 a Redstone Monthly Meeting was set up, meeting alternately at Westland on the west side of the Monongahela River and at Redstone (South Brownsville) on the east side.” During his impressionable teenage years, John Gossett (b.1769) may have been exposed to the pacifist ideals of the new Quaker movement in the area in which he was growing up while John Gossett (b. 1753) was still in the army. Indeed, the name of his wife, Honor, possibly indicates she was from a Quaker family.

Although strictly hypothetical, it is entirely possible that John (b. 1769), as a teenager, made new friends in the Quaker community around him and even began attending meetings. It is also entirely possible that an older member of the Society of friends, perhaps one named Amariah, took a young and impressionable John (b. 1769) under his wing and served as his mentor as he learned the Quaker approach to life. It is known for a fact that John’s first-born son, Amariah, attended Quaker meetings later in his own life, and the name Amariah Gossett appears in the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy.

There are several details of the last year (1823) of the life of John Gossett (b. 1769) documented in the daily diary of a neighbor of John’s in New Market, Ohio named Oliver Harris; and that diary is preserved in the archives of the Highland County, Ohio Historical Society. Among these details are the fact that John Gossett, despite having given Old Testament names to many of his children, was not baptised until he was 54. The Society of Friends, the Quakers, do not believe in or practice the right of Christian baptism.

Based on the above circumstances, it seems entirely possible that John Gossett (b. 1769) was drawn away from his parents and family during his teenage years by a new strong relationship with the Society of Friends, and that his father John Gossett (b. 1753) may have viewed his son as lost to him. But the timing of John and Honor’s departure from Redstone for Paris, Kentucky between 1790 and 1795 and the historical circumstances in the Redstone area of Pennsylvania during those years indicate that there may be much more to the story of the split between father and son than just the Society of Friends.

By 1791 the newly formed United States was having major economic problems paying off the deep dept incurred during the Revolutionary War. At the request of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, before the end of October 1791 Congress passed an excise tax on domestically made whiskey to help address the federal debt problem. This so-called Whisky Tax created severe adversity for the many poor small farmers in Western Pennsylvania who made whiskey from the grains they raised on their small farms. Many of these small farmers were located in the Redstone area of western Pennsylvania where both John Gossetts, father and son, apparently still lived.

Many of the small farmers on the western frontier impacted by this excise tax viewed the tax as just another unfair policy dictated by the wealthy eastern elite to get money unfairly from those least able to pay it – small subsistence farmers like themselves. Many immediately expressed their displeasure with the new whiskey tax – both by refusing to pay the tax and also by intimidating the local tax collectors, including threatening them and resorting to tarring and feathering some. As this rebellious reaction to the new tax went on, it progressed into open armed rebellion with pitched battles between large gangs of armed rebels on one side and armed militias defending the local governments and the federal law on the other. By spring 1794 the rebellion had become open warfare between the haves and have-nots. Like John Gossett (b. 1753), many of those actively engaged in this Whisky Rebellion had served in the Revolutionary War, been paid in worthless script upon discharge, and were living as subsistence tenant farmers or simply as squatter farmers. As the rebellion grew, nearly 400 rebels burned the home of the chief federal tax collector in the region and threatened to burn the town of Pittsburgh. This open warfare in opposition to the Whiskey Tax grew into active advocation of secession from the new United States and was viewed by the new U.S. government in Philadelphia as a formal rebellion against the new Country. To quell this open rebellion, in October 1794 President George Washington, with Alexander Hamilton serving as his Chief of Staff, personally led a federal militia of 12,950 men from Philadelphia to what is now Washington County, PA just south of Pittsburg – the center of the rebellion – and home to the families of the two John Gossetts. Before Washington and the militia arrived in Washington County, it is estimated that as many as 2000 of the rebels had already fled Washington County to escape arrest, with most fleeing down the Ohio River. The militia apprehended about 150 men and tried them for treason, but due to the inability to obtain witnesses not afraid to testify, only two were convicted. The secessionist rebellion, however, was quelled.

Although only based on conjecture, the Whisky Rebellion may be the reason John Gossett (b. 1769) left his extended family and friends in the Redstone area and began the journey with his wife, Honor, which took them to New Market, Ohio by 1801. The first US census in 1790 shows that John Gossett lived, with his wife and one child, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, which was ground zero for the Whiskey Rebellion. By the time the Whiskey Rebellion reached its climax in 1794, the young couple had had four children under the age of 6, and John was only 25 years old. For most of their short marriage and child rearing, they had been living in the very heart of the incredibly nasty conditions caused by the open warfare of the Whiskey Rebellion. It is not known for certain if John was a Quaker, but certainly his wife Honor had grown up in the Society of Friends. It is probable that they drank little or no whiskey.

Little is known of the life of John Gossett (b.1753) between his 1783 discharge from the army at Fort Pitt after the end of the Revolutionary War and his arrival in Washington County, Ohio sometime before 1809. Based upon the fact that he was illiterate and destitute at the end of his life and that for all his life he had been a subsistence farmer who apparently never owned land, his life after the War apparently had much in common with that of most of the rebels of the Whiskey Rebellion. If he became a participant in the Whiskey Rebellion, this alone could have caused a dramatic falling-out with his first-born son. It is also possible that he could have been one of the rebels who fled down the Ohio to escape arrest by federal troops.

Based on a 1795 deed for property in Paris, Kentucky, John Gossett (b. 1769), his Quaker-raised wife Honor, and their growing family had left the Redstone area of Western Pennsylvania and the Whiskey Rebellion far behind by 1795 at the latest. Although we do not know exactly when John Gossett (b. 1769) and his family left the Monongahela Valley, we do know that sometime in 1794 he was hauling supplies to Anthony Wayne’s army in Ohio. He may have already moved his whole family away from the ongoing Whiskey Rebellion well before its end in October of 1794. The dates of events in his life seem to indicate that the Whiskey Rebellion likely could have had a significant impact on the apparent deterioration of his relationship with his father and his leaving Redstone when he did to begin the journey which took him and his family to New Market, Ohio.

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