Return to Homepage 
Previous Page Next: List of Resources & Exhibits 
Matthias Gossett, Sr.
Part IV
Marriages Officiated, Bourbon Co., KY
Books 1 and 2 and Related Information
(Revised September 2015)General Hypothesis: Matthias Gossett Sr., (1736 - 1812?) of Berkeley Co, VA, is not the same person performing marriages in Bourbon Co, KY before 1811, as purported in Evangeline Newcomer’s Family of Gossett and as generally accepted today. The Gossett performing marriages in Bourbon County, KY in the 1800s was the Rev. Matthias Gossett (1798-1874), son of Jacob Gossett and grandson of Matthias Gossett Sr (1736-1812?).
The review of marriage records included Books 1 and 2 of Marriage Records of Bourbon County, KY, a total of 266 pages, of which it appeared that 13 pages of early records may be absent. Each page represented about 35 marriages performed.
Book 1 included the years 1786 to 1797. No weddings were performed in which any Gossett was an officiate.
Book 2 included the years 1797 to 1855. No marriages were performed by any Gossett clergy until 1832. This is significant because for the first 46 years of Bourbon County records, there wasn’t any legal record of any Gossett officiating at any marriage, until 1832.
Over 70 years of marriage records were reviewed; with emphasis on the officiating clergy.
The following information is a list of 13 marriages performed by Matthias Gossett between Sep 1832 and Dec 1853. All information is from Book 2. The records are listed alphabetically, then by date, by the groom’s last name. For purposes of this report the list is recorded by date, followed by the assigned “number” for the record, the page number where it is found in Book 2.
Eric & Judy Gossett Talla have copies of all pages from Books 1 & 2 listed in this study.
Date Number & Page Groom & Bride 1832 Sep 4 # 321, p. 141 George Frazier & Phebe Arnold 1835 Mar 19 # 460, p. 141 John H. Finch & Jemima Hickman 1835 Oct 8 # 527, p. 93 William Arnold & Malinda Young 1838 Jan 3 # 600, p. 119 Thomas Cockman & T. Thomas 1838 Mar 21 # 600, p. 241 Richard Thomas & Elizabeth Smalley 1838 Apr 11 # 600, p. 119 Robert H. Champ & Margaret Congleton 1838 May 17 # 600, p. 107 Thomas Boaze & Sarah Darnall 1839 May 15 # 683, p. 119 Milton Caldwell & America Congleton 1843 Oct 16 # 800, p. 219 James T. Robinson & Mary Dwelly 1845 Jul 14 # 851, p. 142 Jonathan W. Fagg & Lucy Simpson 1845 Oct 12 # 859, p. 225 Steven Smalley & America Jan Hampten 1845 Nov 11 # 859, p. 168 Alexander Judy & Nancy Smalley 1853 Dec 17 # 403, p. 267 A. Young & Nancy Ann Arnold Several conclusions have been drawn from the above data.
1. The underlined names are probably siblings representing 4 families; 3 Arnold family members; 2 Congleton; 2 Smalley; and 2 Thomas.
2. Out of the 13 marriages, 9 marriages represented “repeat family,” probably from the small Rockbridge Church Rev. Matthias Gossett was serving in 1832 near North Middleton, Bourbon County, KY. Bath, Montgomery, Clark and Bourbon Counties, KY, are all in close proximity to one another.3. Matthias Gossett Sr., (1736 - 1812?) of Berkeley Co, VA, would have died prior to the first marriages recorded in Bourbon Co, KY for Matthias Gossett. A case was built by Newcomer’s Family of Gossett, that Matthias Gossett Sr. was an active clergyman in VA. This was done to support his alleged presence in Bourbon Co. KY, even though he would have been 117 years old when he performed the last wedding, according to the research!!!
4. There isn't any reasonable proof that Matthias Gossett Sr. (1736-1812?) ever moved to Kentucky, much less was a clergyman serving pastoral charges. The presence of Matthias Gossett Jr. living with his father Matthias Gossett Sr, from birth until he was about 45 years old, gives even more credence to Matthias Sr. remaining at his home on Back Creek, Berkeley Co, VA until he died.
Rev. Matthias (1798-1874) lived much of his life in Clark County, KY, involved with the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, “always more a member of the Fayette-Bourbon group than Clark County. From the earliest recorded part of her history, she belonged to the Licking Association of Particular Baptists.” (LAOPB). The membership decreased to 25 members in 1824 when M. Gossett joined as a messenger [Note: term possibly meaning lay minister]. Gossett would be licensed to preach by the association (LAOPB) in 1828. The Licking Association of Particular Baptists (LAOPB) changed in 1865 to the Licking Association of Old Baptists (LAOOB), and again, in 1909 to the Licking Association of Primitive Baptists (LAOPB). [Note: information from Land of Our Fathers, History of Clark County, Kentucky by A. Goff Bedford of Mt. Sterling, KY, copyright 1958.]
Four years after being licensed to preach, Rev. Matthias Gossett was serving the Rockbridge Baptist Church (LAOPB) in 1832 in Bourbon County, KY. In a history of Baptists in Kentucky [material from various sources compiled on the web by James Duvall (http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/)], a reference is made to the previous fact, and to a Circular in which the Rev. Matthias Gossett wrote, “By experimental religion we mean a work of Grace wrought in the heart, by which the individual is brought from death to life; from darkness to light…”
The Rockbridge Baptist Church was not far from Clark County, KY where he was living. The current address where the church and graveyard were located is 1139 Levy Road, North Middleton, KY 40361.
As a farmer and minister in an area of Clark County, Rev. Matthias served two small churches which required only his presence for worship and a monthly meeting, which allowed him to continue living at his farm. It was a short distance to the Rockbridge Baptist Church in Bourbon County, near North Middleton, which explains why the first 12 marriages by Rev. Matthias Gossett are recorded in Bourbon County. The move to Bath County, KY before 1850, explains why only 1 marriage is later recorded in Bourbon County, 1853. It was probably a special request by the Arnold family where he returned to his former parish for a 3rd marriage of an Arnold family member.
The image of a record can be viewed here, pertaining to the Licking Association of Particular Baptists (LAOPB), giving information of the member Baptist Churches in 1843, messengers serving them and other data.
Rev. Matthias (1798-1874) was living in Bath County, KY in the 1850 and 1860 US Census. In 1860 the Census states he was an “ORLTB Minister” -- although we are not sure of the 4th letter. We can’t find any direct reference here. Our best guess is Old Regular _____ _____ Baptists.
The next reference to his credentials was as the officiating minister at the marriage of his grandson, John Matthias Gossett, and Elizabeth Eleanor Hazelrigg, great grandparents of Richard Larry and Judith Elaine Gossett. His signature on the 11th day of May 1867 was Matthias Gossett, Minister of Baptist Church. We believe that by 1850 he wasn’t serving any regular congregation, but had kept his affiliation with a Primitive or Hardshell Baptist organization.Matthias Gossett (1798-1874), also known as Rev. Matthias Gossett or Elder Matthias Gossett, was the son of Jacob Gossett, and grandson of Matthias Gossett Sr., (1736-1812?). Having first lived in Clark, Bath, and Montgomery Counties, he was buried in the Gossett Hill Cemetery, Bath, KY with his first wife, Rebecca Judy, with his father, Jacob Gossett, and various family members.
Rev. Matthias was primarily a well-to-do farmer most of his life. He lived in Clark Co from 1798 until he appeared on the 1850 US Census in Bath Co (age 52). After his wife Rebecca Judy Gossett died in 1862, he married the older sister of his son-in-law, a widow, (very confusing) after 1862 in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery, KY, and appeared on the 1870 US Census in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery, KY, until his death in 1874.
Matthias Gossett (1798-1874) was one of two directors of the Exchange Bank of Kentucky, Mt. Sterling, Montgomery, KY in 1865, the bank having roots as the Farmers Bank, formed in 1856. [Note: From A History of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, 1792-1918 by Carl B. Boyd, Jr. and Hazel Manson Boyd, copyright 1984, p. 225].
Rev. Matthias and his 2nd wife, the former Frances “Fannie” Holt, nee Tyler, appeared on the 1870 US Census in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery, KY with his grandson (and her nephew) Matthias Simon Tyler, the latter an attorney. In the household were an additional 5 persons, possibly some of his former slaves, 2 female cooks, 1 male laborer and 2 small children.
* * * * * *
The marriage records of Bath, Montgomery and Clark Counties of Kentucky were not researched in the same manner as Bourbon County, because it was the intent of this research to give proof that Matthias Gossett Sr. (1736-1812?) hadn’t presided at any marriages in Bourbon County, KY.
Return to Homepage