STEPHEN YANCY GOSE
The following article is taken from information provided in 1987 by Ms. Myrna McDonald of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Stephen Yancy Gose was born October 11, 1826, in Russell County, Virginia. He was the son of Stephen Gose and Boedicia (Dicey) Jessee, the grandson of John Stephen Gose and Maria Barbara Kettenring, and the great-grandson of immigrant Stephan (Goß) Gose.
In 1831, when Stephen Yancy was five years old, the family moved to Boone County, Indiana. His father died prior to 1840, leaving his mother, two boys (Stephen and a brother John J.) and a daughter.
Stephen Yancy passed his young life on a farm in the Boone County area of Indiana. In the year 1849, at the age of 23 and ambitious to make himself a home and a name in the then distant West, Stephen moved to Iowa. He settled first in the Fort Des Moines area of Polk County, and then in 1854 he moved to Marion County where he became a merchant in the town of Wheeling.
During the winter of 1863 and 1864, Stephen Yancy was selected to represent Marion County in the lower house of the Iowa State Legislature. The duties of his office were performed to the grateful satisfaction of his constituents and with credit to himself. Besides having been a representative, he was a member, and for some time the chairman, of the Board of Supervisors of Marion County.
With the exception of a short sojourn in the state of Texas, Stephen Yancy lived in the Marion County area until his death on Friday, September 7, 1917, at the age of 90 years, 10 months, and 26 days.
Stephen Yancy Gose is buried in the Pleasantville Cemetery, Pleasantville, Iowa, along with his two wives, Martha and Margaret, and his daughter Sarah Eleanor. Stephen was married first to Martha Miller who died in 1874, almost 25 years after they were married. Stephen and Martha had seven children of which Sarah Eleanor was the first. Stephen married Margaret A.Cart in late 1875 and they had three sons.
One of Stephen Yancy’s grandsons, Charles Gose, moved to Hollywood to "make his fortune". He changed his name to Scot McKay and starred in a movie with Anne Baxter entitled "Guest In The House". He was married for a short while to Anne Sheridan.
* * End of article from Ms. Myrna McDonald of Calgary, Alberta, Canada * *
In 1914, when Stephen Yancy Gose was 87 years old, he documented his recollections of his Gose Family History in the form of a typewritten letter. The text of that letter follows - reproduced from a photocopy of the letter - just as it was typed. A comment on his family history recollections has been inserted into [brackets] where it may help clarify the actual family history.
From Stephen Yancy Gose’s typewritten letter (including typos):
Written by Stephen Y. Gose September 8, 1914.
The writer hereof was born on the 11th day of October, 1826 and will be 88 years old on the 11th day of next October. My fathers name was Stephen Gose, so was his father’s name Stephen Gose. My name is Stephen Yancy Gose.
My grandfather in company with three brothers came to this country fro, Germany a little before or after the Revolutionary war. [Remember, Stephen Yancy Gose’s grandfather is actually the son of the immigrant Stephan Gose, so he is a little confused about this.] My grandfather and two of the brothers finally settled in western Virginia, two of them including my father in Russell County, and one in either Taswell or Withe County. [his spellings]
My father married Dicey Jessee in Russell County Virginia where all of their children but one, Robert, were born. There were 8 of us, four boys and four girls. George W, Stephen Y., John J.. and Robert (who died when small), Matilda (who married John Hudson and after his death married Caleb Osborn), Francis (who married Henry Clements), Elizabeth (who married William A. Brown), Martha (who married William H. Williamson). These children all married and raised families except Robert (who died when small). All my brothers and sisters are now departed, and all joined church before death( except my little brother Robert).
My father had one brother, George, who had four boys and several girls. John, Aaron, George Cowan and Charles. All raised families. John moved to Pike County Illinois about 75 years ago. He is now dead but had a family some being boys. Some of this family still live in Pike County Illinois. Uncle George’s other boys lived in Russell County Virginia. All may be dead. I have seen all of them in Virginia in 1847-48. I shall not say as to his girls, there were several.
My father had several cousins who went to Missouri about 75 years ago from Virginia. One,William stopped in Indiana, Boone County wher we lived for a while, later he went to Sullivan County Missouri. Others were scattered. William had sons some of whom I knew; Stephen, John Martin, and Christopher. Stephen and Christopher went ot Texas about 4 years ago. John Martin went to Walla Walla, Wash. Ihave had letters from one C. C. Gose a lawyer in Walla Walla, who informed me that his fatherJohn Martin remembered me very well. All these in Washington are prosperous. C. C. and brother are successful lawyers.
My fathers other cousins who went to Missouri were Stuffley and John. I have heard of other persons of our name and I feel sure they can be traced to the four brothers who came from Germany. I have heard when a boy that grandfather had a brother named Phillip who settled in Kentucky from whom sme kindred have come. Have heard of a Gose who lived in Green Castle Ind.
There is a John T. Gose at Shelbina, Mo., a lawyer, descended from a family originally from Wythe County also his uncle George Gose now living at LaPlata Mo.
Signed [
Stephen Yancy Gose ]The letter (perhaps dictated) by Stephen Y. Gose thus only actually names his grandfather, (John) Stephen Gose and Phillip, who were sons of the 1752 immigrant, Johann Stephan (Gosse) Gose.
When Stephan first arrived in this country, he settled in the German community of Linn in Lynn Township, Pennsylvania. There are some historical annals, published many years ago, that speak of the "immigrant Stephan Goos and four brothers who came to this country a little after the American Revolution". This has lead to some additional misunderstandings about "the four original Gose brothers" regarding when and where they came from. It is true, that Stephan and "three or four" of his sons (who were brothers) emmigrated from Pennsylvania to Virginia ("this country" if you are a writer from Virginia), "a little before or after the Revolutionary War". In fact, they arrived in Virginia around 1778.
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