The Frederick Goss Family of Rowan County, North Carolina

There was another "Gosse" family line of immigrants who had settled in Rowan County, North Carolina prior to the arrival of the Stephan Goß family. They included families headed by three of the sons and at least one of the daughters of a Frederick Goss, born in Switzerland in 1701. This family line and their descendants were very prominent in Rowan County for many years. Numerous Rowan County records including the U.S. Census records for the years 1790 and 1800 contain references to the various members of this family wherein the family surname is found to be handwritten using the Germanic alphabetic character "ß" that translates into the English equivalent "Gosse". This is the same as we find for the Stephan Goß (Gose) family. However, in this family's case, "Goss" became the official and/or standardized spelling instead of "Gose", "Gosse", "Gosa", etc.

Naturally, our interest in this family is primarily due to the possibility of any connections to our immigrant Stephan Goß including the possibility that they both lived in the same general area of Rowan County, North Carolina.

A great deal of information about this family may be found in an unpublished "book" titled Frederick Goss of Rowan County, North Carolina And His Descendents, which was compiled by Lois Ione Hotchkiss Heuss of Akron, Ohio in 1968. A copy of this compilation may be found in the History & Genealogy Department of the Salisbury, North Carolina public library. Between the information presented by Ms. Heuss and that we have gathered with our own research of Rowan County records, we have compiled a Frederick Goss Family genealogy file covering the period from around 1760 through the early 1800's. A copy of this file in GEDCOM format may be downloaded by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article.

Ms. Heuss states on page one of her document:

"Four children came to Rowan County, but there may have been others who remained in Pennsylvania or settled elsewhere. It would seem from existing records that Frederick (1) Goss joined his children in Rowan County in his later years."

In a 1766 Rowan County court record, the 65 year old Frederick (1) was recommended for exemption from public taxes because of his age and the fact that "he is so very weak and infirm that he is utterly unable to do the least labour for the support of himself and that he is extremely helpless, etc."

Frederick (1)'s four children are identified as: Frederick (who was known as Frederick, Sr. since he also had a son named Frederick), Ephraim, Joseph, and Catherine.

A Frederick Goss (Goß) appears on the earliest tax lists preserved for Rowan County, which are for the years of 1759, 1761, and 1768. Ms. Heuss concludes that this is Frederick (1)'s son, Frederick, Sr. who was at that time establishing his own family and acquiring land holdings which held the future promise of land grant assignments for such.

The first record of land granted to any "Goß" in Rowan County, is a 1763 record of a land grant to Frederick, Sr.

A Rowan County, NC will book record indicates that a "Joseph Goss" died in Rowan County in 1777. The entry lists a wife, Margaret, and four daughters but no sons. There is also a David, George, Frederick Sr., Ephraim Sr., and a Jacob Sr. listed in the census for Rowan County who are of the correct age ranges to possibly be brothers to the above named Joseph. (Frederick Sr. died in 1804 and Ephraim Sr. in 1801.)

According to deed book information I also found, all of these men and their offspring owned land in and around Abbotts Creek, Flat Swamp Creek, or Lick Creek (which all flow generally southwardly into the Yadkin River), or along the Yadkin River near the named tributaries. This is just south of where the Yadkin River North and South branches come together and is in an area of the originally larger Rowan County that became Davidson County, NC after 1822. (West-southwest of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.)

We verified Frederick Sr.'s date of death and names of wife and children using the Rowan County Will Abstracts records. In the will abstract record, the sons and daughters are all listed, presumably, in order of their ages, from oldest to youngest, as is the normal procedure for records of this type. The birth chronology of the children of Frederick and Isabell presented in the family genealogy file is based on that order presented in the will abstract record and is in agreement with the information presented by Ms. Heuss. Date ranges for births of children were assigned based upon correlations between the U.S. Census data for 1800 & 1810 which does not give names of wives or children.

Either Frederick Sr. may have had more than one spouse or Ms. Heuss may have been incorrect in her conclusion that Frederick (1) joined his children in Rowan County later in life: Rowan County Deed Book #14 for 1786-1797 shows that on October 12, 1793, "Frederick Goss and wife Elizabeth sold 96 A on both sides of Lick Creek to Absolom Camaron". Although this could be Frederick Jr. or a nephew of Frederick Sr., there is also a Rowan County marriage record for a Frederick Goss marrying a Sarah Elston on January 1, 1787. We have found no other marriage records for a Frederick Goss in Rowan County.

We spent quite a lot of time searching in the genealogy section of the Salisbury Public Library for documentation that might give us clues as to where the Stephan Goß family may have lived during their time in Rowan County. In all of our research, we have yet to find any possible references to the Stephan Goß family that would help document anything about where they may have lived during those years.

One of the places that would be worthwhile searching, would be in the records archives of the Beck Lutheran Church located in the Abbott's Creek area. This is one of the oldest churches in the area and was founded there as a Lutheran and Calvinist church in the mid-late 1700's. The Frederick Goss family attended this church and, according to Ms. Heuss, many records may be found there in reference to this family line. If the Stephan Goß family lived in this area, they would likely have attended this church as well. Thus we should find record of them in that church's archives as well. If not, then perhaps a search of other Lutheran churches' records in the circa 1775 Rowan County boundaries would yield some information on our ancestors.

At this time, we do not believe that the Frederick Goss family had any connection to the Stephan Goß (Gose) family, but then, one of you out there just may be in possession of a valuable clue! So, as always, time will tell. And if any of you has any further information about the Stephan Goß family's life during those North Carolina days, be sure and let us know!

Click Here To Download A Self-Extracting, Zipped File Containing The Frederick Goss Family Genealogy File In GEDCOM Format è

If you believe any of the above information is incorrect or have additional information to contribute, please contact us!

Return To Family History Page

Return To Main Table Of Contents