Gosset family history 2

Gosset family history

The Gosset family arrived in Jersey as Huguenot refugees in 1685. There is considerable dispute as to whether it was a member or members of this family who emigrated to the USA and founded the Gosset family there. Please read Gosset family history, which challenges some of the information in this article, the author and date of which are not known to us

The earliest Gossett in America was John Gosset who was settled by 1734 on the frontier in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania, which included present Franklin and Cumberland Counties.

Armorial entry

While Payne's Armorial of Jersey gives only the brief fact that John, the eldest son of John and Susan D'Allain Gosset of Jersey, was born in 1699, there can be little doubt that the lack of further details was due to his removal to America rather than to his death. Had he died in Great Britain, that fact would have been known and recorded. Had he remained in Great Britain, he would have been named his father's heir. Abraham was the heir and was the second son.

John Gosset must have deliberated before he decided to depart from his home in Jersey. It is obvious he had the assistance and advice of his elders. An ambitious, probably restless young man, while visiting at the home of his uncle, Matthew Gosset of Horton in London, John may have been advised by his uncle to embark on the voyage to the new world. John Gosset was educated in London. He was his father's heir in Jersey. Should he sacrifice his birthright? We can be assured that Matthew Gosset of London gave his nephew sound advice and guidance.

Land purchase

In the early days, the purchaser of land in Pennsylvania was required to follow a specified course of procedure. In order to secure a full title to land in Pennsylvania, an applicant was first granted a warrant. This warrant, with the payment of a nominal sum, provided that the second step might be taken, namely, that the land be surveyed. After the survey was reported and the purchase price paid, a patent was granted and recorded.

Legal titles for land had been issued east of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. In the early part of 1700, no warrants or patents had been issued by the Penns for land on the opposite or west side of the Susquehanna River, as the Indian title for that area had not yet been extinguished. But as early as 1720 many settlers had crossed the river and taken up lands and made improvements on what was still Indian land.

Negotiations for the purchase of these lands from the Indians were begun and before this purchase was completed, the Penn family authorised a surveyor, named Samuel Blunston, to survey the lands to be acquired and to issue licenses to those people already settled on the lands. This procedure protected the land titles of the whites until the titles were legally patented, and prevented further injustice to the Indians. The general location of the lands which were allotted by licenses is in present Cumberland and Franklin Counties; also, Adams and York.

The names of settlers who were granted lands under this plan were recorded by Blunston and the full list, compiled from old records, has been printed in Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania's Publications of March 1931.

Excerpts from Blunston's Licenses are as follows:

• A record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle and take up Land on the West Side of the Susquehanna River, By Virtue of a Commission from the Honorable Thomas Penn, Esq.., Bearing Date the 11th Day of January, 1733. To Samuel Blunston of Lancaster Court. Filed in the Land Record Bureau of Internal Affairs at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania., and designated as Blunston's Licenses.
• 1733 John Garner.
• 1734 Morgan Morgan: 200 acres on a spring running into Yellow Breeches Creek about 2 miles above Paxton's manor line.
• John Morgan: a large run, a branch of the Yellow Breeches Creek near the old Potomac Road, etc..
• 1735 John Gosset: 300 acres. 200 acres where he is already settled on the southeast branch of Conegochege.
• 1735 John Gladell: 100 acres where he is already settled near John Gosset.

The location of the land granted to John Gosset on the Conegochege River or Creek is, in all probability, in present Franklin County, which was cut off from Cumberland County. Later on, this fact will be mentioned as proof of family connections.

A copy of the book is in Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh. The original warrantee maps are filed in the Land Office at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Gosset family

John Gosset, from the Island of Jersey, who was settled in Pennsylvania by 1734 was unmarried when he left home, otherwise his marriage would have been noted by Payne in An Armorial of Jersey. He was around 35 years of age when he was granted a license for land in present Franklin County, Pennsylvania. A fair conclusion, based on pioneer conditions, would indicate a mature man settled on a large tract of land and, in all probability, having a wife and young family. No other records for this earliest John have been brought to light. Although no actual trace remains of this first generation as a family group, there are factors which decidedly indicate that a second generation remained in the same neighborhood and that John Gosset had several children.

A search of the records in the Franklin County court house at Chambersburg, in the Cumberland County Courthouse at Carlisle, and in the State Library and Land Office at Harrisburg, revealed the following:

Franklin County was erected from the southwestern part of Cumberland in 1784. The county seat was located at Chambersburg. A great scarcity of early deeds, wills, etc exists in this courthouse, largely because of the burning of the town during the Civil War in July 1864. Also, a destructive fire in the Cumberland County Courthouse at Carlisle burned a great number of the early records, especially wills and deeds. There are some abstracts of the early wills and administrations of the part of Cumberland County in which John Gosset lived available in printed form, but they do not include any mention of John Gosset. The name of his wife can not be determined.

Civil War

The study of the early Gossett family has been difficult largely because few records of that part of Cumberland County where the Gossetts lived survived the burning of Chambersburg during the Civil War. The fire caused irreparable loss, as described by historians:

"In July 1864 General Jubal Early of the Confederate Army ordered General John McCausland to advance on Chambersburg and demand a tribute of $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in greenbacks, to be paid within half an hour. As it was impossible for the citizens to comply with this demand, McCausland gave the order for the destruction of the place which was in ashes in some three hours."

The following excerpt from McCauley's history of the county shows why so little has been preserved in the form of records. McCauley writes concerning the destruction of Chambersburg:

"The county was also a great sufferer. Our beautiful courthouse (built in 1843) was totally destroyed. But the greatest loss our people sustained was the destruction of the large mass of our public records which were burned with the courthouse. Their loss is irreparable. They can never be restored."

The research was continued to close the gap between John Gosset emigrating from Jersey and later Gossett generations in America. Records in the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Philadelphia were checked, and several published lists of early churches in the Cumberland Valley were examined, collateral lines for Bible and other family records were reviewed, etc.

This pioneer investigation produces decisive proof that the second generation did exist in the area where John Gosset lived, and authentic records do prove his children included, namely: Peter, John, Mary, William, and Matthias. These factors are supported by corroborating data and helpful documents.

Origins

The Gossetts were of Norman extraction. Their coat-of-arms reveals that three Gossetts (Gousses), who were powerful knights and chieftains, engaged in the earliest Crusades. The Gossetts were feudal barons, therefore nobles of the ancient regime. They were admitted to an Order called "The Nobility of France", which was formed in 1463 by King Louis XI (King of France 1461-83). The Order was composed only of feudal barons whose ancestors had been knights in the Crusades.

For Centuries the family of Gosset lived in Normandy. Owing to their adoption of the Protestant faith, in 1555, their name was removed from the roll of nobles. Then the Gosset estates were confiscated by the government in 1685, when the Edict of Nantes was revoked.

Jean Gosset, a member of the influential Gosset family who lived near St Sauveur, south of Cherbourg on the Normandy Peninsula, was a Huguenot. In 1685 he took refuge in Jersey. He died in England in 1712.

The French Government offered to restore the Gosset estates, about 1845, to the descendants of Jean Gosset, but Matthew Gosset, Viscount of Jersey, then the head of the family, refused to pursue the claim.

In Jersey, Jean Gosset with his family resided in the Manor House of Bagot, where the Gossets lived for many years. Jean Gosset had three sons: John, Matthew, and Abraham. John was the ancestor of the Gosset branch in Great Britain and in America.

John Gosset married Susan d'Allain in Jersey. Susan d'Allain was a descendant of a noble family who lived for many generations near Cerisy in Normandy. The D'Allain family were Huguernots and moved to Jersey circa 1680. John and Susan D'Allain Gosset had six sons:

• John (1699- ); emigrated to America; settled in Penn
• Abraham, (1701-1785) m Jane White, moved to London. This branch is recorded in Burke's "The Landed Gentry" to the present representative.
• Jacob (1703-1788) moved to London
• Peter (1705-1765) m Catherine du Four. Five children: John, Matthew, Jane, Esther, and Mary. Emigrated to America.
• Gideon (1707-1785) moved to London
• Isaac (1713-1799) m ? Bosquet. Settled in England. He was a famous artist and a modeller of portraits in wax. His works included the Royal Family and many members of the nobility from George II to 1780.

To America

John and Peter Gosset of Jersey sailed for America in the early days when all passengers had to come on English vessels. Before sailing, only those passengers who were not English subjects were required to take the Oath of Allegiance in the presence of the captain of the ship. Captains' lists have shown the names of emigrants from Germany and other European countries. Since John and Peter Gosset took passage as English subjects, their names cannot be found among captains' old records, which would determine the real date of their arrival in America.

Peter Gosset

According to Payne, Peter Gosset, the fourth son of John and Susan Gosset, left Jersey accompanied by his wife Catherine and five children. The approximate date of their removal to America has been given around 1760 by Burke in The Landed Gentry, Including American Families With British Ancestry.

Payne's Armorial also reveals that Peter's daughter Jane was married to Abraham d'Allain in Jersey. That was probably about 1750. Subsequently, the family departed from Jersey and no more records of this family are given by Payne. Somewhere between Jane's marriage and 1765 the family settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

There is a record that Catrin (Catherine) Gosset was warranted land in Chester County in 1765. Catherine may have been a widow in 1764-65. She would not have been listed as a taxpayer or the head of a household if her husband had been living. She may have sold her warrant, as her name does not appear in lists for succeeding years. Catherine may have died about this time.

It is evident that both Peter and his wife were advanced in years when they came to America. It is probable that they had enough capital to support themselves. They may have sold assets in Jersey. No record showing Peter Gosset made an investment in America has been found, and his place of residence in Chester County, Pennsylvania, is unknown.

The children of Peter and Catherine Gosset are mentioned in Payne's Armorial: John, Matthew, Jane, Esther and Mary. No further records for Peter's children have been discovered with the exception of the following records for his son John.

Descendants

Thomas Henry Gossett, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, made the search for the records of his branch about 1900. He secured membership on 15 March 1924 in the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution as a great-great-grandson of John Gossett, son of Peter Gosset.

The lineage of Thomas Henry Gossett was accepted in England for Burke's directory. The lineage reads, as follows:

"Peter Gosset, of Jersey, Channel Islands, who settled in Chester Co, Penn, c 1760 (1705- ) m Catherine du Four, and by her had issue, a son, John Gossett, a private in the Virginia Continental Line in the American Revolution;( -1818) m Martha Groom.

The line of descent of Thomas Henry Gossett is, likewise, published in Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy by Virkus:

"Thomas Henry Gossett (1865- ), son of Pleasant Tollison Gossett, planter and stock financier (1826-1870) and Elizabeth Steen (1833-1869), who were married 1854; Pleasant Gossett, son of John Gossett (1796-1869) and Catherine Kirby (1797-1858), who were married 1816; John Gossett, son of John Gossett (1766-1844), moved from Virginia to Spartanburg District, South Carolina, in 1786, and Anna Le Master Gossett; John Gossett, son of John Gossett ( -1818) and Martha Groom Gossett; John Gossett, son of Peter Gossett (1705- ) and Catherine Du Four Gossett.

In recent volumes of Burke this prominent branch is recorded under the name of Benjamin Brown Gossett, manufacturer and banker of Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a nephew of Thomas Henry Gossett. A picture of Benjamin Brown Gossett and an article concerning his participation in a textile business transaction of thirteen millions appeared in Time magazine of 27 May 1946. Who's Who in America carries a sketch and Burke publishes a biography of this present representative. The account given in the 1939 edition of Burke is quoted:

"Benjamin Brown Gossett, of Charlotte, North Carolina, member of the board of directors of the Piedmont and Northern Railway Company, Charlotte, NC, Turner Halsey Co, New York City, and the Liberty Mutual Insurance Co, of Boston, for the States of North and South Carolina, President and director of Gossett Mills, Anderson, SC, Calhoun Falls, Calhoun Falls, SC, Chadwick-Hoskins Co, Charlotte, NC, and other corporations; served in Great War, Capt. US Army, and as a midshipman 1903-05, US Navy, and Lieut, US Marine Corps 1905-07, Member New York Southern Society, (1884- ); educ Clemson College, South Carolina, and US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland; m (1906) Katharine Coleman, d of Louis Steel Clayton and Emma Hustan Dashiell