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Part II: The Gossetts In America
John and Peter Gosset of Jersey Island, England, 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.
John was born in 1699 and Peter was born in 1705 in Jersey Island, England. They were sons of John and Susan D'Allain Gosset. They were grandsons of Jean Gosset, the Huguenot. (Consult "Pedigree of Gosset," reproduced in this volume from J. B. Payne, An Armorial of Jersey, Its Chief Native Families, pub. 1862.)
These brothers did not come to America at the same time and there are no indications that they were associated with each other in America. John preceded Peter several years, according to family records in Great Britain and to land transactions in Pennsylvania. These men are the only two original Americans of the Gossett family of whom we have certain knowledge. Information of Peter will be presented in the following pages, then the data pertaining to John will be analyzed.
Peter Gosset of Chester County, Pennsylvania
According to Payne, An Armorial of Jersey, Peter Gosset, the fourth son of John and Susan D'Allain Gosset, left his native land of 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 (published periodically in London).
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. (Ref., Penn. Archives, Series 3, Vol. II, p. 97.) 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. Also, 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 Du Four Gosset are mentioned in Payne's Armorial, namely, 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 of Peter Gosset
Thomas Henry Gossett of Spartanburg, South Carolina, made the search for the records of his branch about 1900. He secured membership, March 15, 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. It is published in Burke, The Landed Gentry, Including American Families with British Ancestry. The lineage reads, as follows:
Peter Gosset, of Jersey, Channel Islands, who settled in Chester Co., Penn., ca. 1760 b. 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; m. Martha Groom, and d. 1818.
The line of descent of Thomas Henry Gossett is, likewise, published in Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy by Virkus, II, 123-4, which follows:
Thomas Henry Gossett, b. May 5, 1865. Thomas Henry Gossett, son of Pleasant Tollison Gossett, planter and stock financier (1826-1870) and Elizabeth Steen (1833-1869), who were married 1854; Pleasant T. 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 (d. 1818) and Martha Groom Gossett; John Gossett, son of Peter Gossett (b. 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 May 27, 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, N. C., 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, S. C., Calhoun Falls, Calhoun Falls, S. C., Chadwick-Hoskins Co., Charlotte, N. C., and other corporations; served in Great War, Capt. U. S. Army, and as a midshipman 1903-05, U. S. Navy, and Lieut., U. S. Marine Corps 1905-07, Member New York Southern Society, b. 18 Aug. 1884; educ. Clemson College, South Carolina, and U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland; m. 19 Dec. 1906, Katharine Coleman, dau. of Louis Steel Clayton, by his wife, Emma Hustan Dashiell, and has issue,
- James Pleasant (Charlotte, N. C.), b. 12 June, 1909.
- Philip Clayton (Charlotte, N. C.), b. 15 Feb. 1914; m. 12 June, 1936, Rose Johnston, dau. of R. W. Stokes, of Charlotte, N. C. and has issue,
- a son, Philip Clayton, b. 1 Feb. 1938.
- Katharine Clayton (Charlotte, N. C.), b. 28 Sept. 1910; m. 7 Nov. 1931, Stephen Franklin Jones, of Greenwood, Miss., and has issue,
- Benjamin Gossett, b. 5 Aug. 1932
- Katharine Clayton, b. 18 Aug. 1937, Residence. - 923 Granville Road, Myers Park, Charlotte, N. C. Clubs. - Charlotte County; Biltmore Forest Country; Army and Navy (Washington, D.C.); Merchants (New York City), and Bankers (New York City).
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