New Evidence from Conventional Genealogical Research
2. Evidence From Jersey Isle That Jean and Pierre Were Not American Immigrants (continued)
Pierre Gosset (grandson of Jean the Huguenot)
We believe that Pierre (b. 1705, 4th son of Jean II and Susanne D'Allain) died sometime before 1748, and cannot be the Peter in Chester Co., PA, in ca. 1760.
Unfortunately, we have not discovered a certain burial record for Pierre. The transcriptions of burial records from the Jersey Archives, St. Helier, do contain this tantalizing entry:
Gosset
13.5.1743 pierre,canonnier 294
The number, "294," refers to an entry or page number in the original register. The entry tells us that a Pierre Gosset was buried in St. Helier on May 13, 1743. This could very well be our Pierre. It identifies him only as "canonnier," -- one who manned the cannon (St. Helier was a harbor town), and also referred to one in charge of the armory, whether in fact or title only. No familial relationships accompany this entry (e.g., specification of father or wife); therefore we must consider this record only as possibly referring to Pierre, the husband of Catherine du Four.
However, Robert Arthur Gosset has discovered a burial record in the Jersey Archives for Pierre's wife, Catherine du Four.
Jersey Archive Reference: G/C/03/A4/1
Subjects: burial registers 30/09/1751 - 31/12/1783
Place: St Helier
Name: Town Church
Mse. Catherine Du Four veuve de Mr. Pierre Gosset fut enterrée le deuxième jour de Novembre mille Sept Cent septante sept
English: Mle. Catherine Du Four widow of M. Pierre Gosset was buried the second day of November one thousand seven hundred seventy-seven. [Note: prior to the French Revolution, it was common to refer to a laywoman as "Mademoiselle," even if married or widowed; the designation "Madame" was reserved for the high aristocracy.]
We believe Pierre is also mentioned (but as "Peter") in the June, 1748 will of his aunt, Jane Esther le Touzay Gosset (wife of Mathieu Gosset, brother of Jean II).
National Archives, UK.
Description : Will of Jane Esther Gosset, Widow of Saint James, Middlesex
Date: 01 June 1748
Catalogue reference: PROB 11/762
Dept: Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Series: Prerogative Court of Canterbury and related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers
Piece: Name of Register: Strahan Quire Numbers: 145 – 189
"...Item I give and bequeath to the three Children of Peter Gosset deceased the sum of ffour hundred pounds as they are now at the Exchequer bearing three per Cent Interest which Interest of the said four hundred pounds shall be paid to the Widow of the said Peter Gosset for her use and the use of her three Children as long as they are under age but when of age or Married shall receive each one third of the half of the principal and the Mother shall Enjoy the Interest of the one half during the time she shall be a Widow and no longer."
[For image of complete will, click here. For verbatim transcription, click here.]
From what we have been able to deduce from baptismal and burial records, plus Pierre's Bible (discussed below), we believe that there were three surviving children of Pierre and Catherine in 1748 when Jane Esther wrote her will: Jeanne (b. 1730; d. 1755); Esther (b. 1737); and Marie (b. 1739/40). [Click here for details.] Therefore, the statements in Jane Esther's will certainly fit the facts as we know them. The will suggests that Pierre (b. 1705, husband of Catherine du Four) died sometime before 1748 -- in agreement with his possible burial record in St. Helier which lists a Pierre Gosset's burial in 1743 -- and therefore Pierre cannot be the Peter of Chester County, PA in ca. 1760.
Pierre Gosset kept a Bible in which family data – births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, etc. – were recorded. The Bible passed to his daughter, Marie, in 1777 (the same year as the burial of Catherine du Four discussed above). We have not seen images of the original handwritten entries, but only a transcription that appeared in the Proceedings of the London Huguenot Society, Vol III in a chapter titled, "A Family of Modellers in Wax," by Mary H. Gosset, pp. 540-568 (1892). Here are the first two passages in this Bible (exactly as they are transcribed, in old French, in Proceedings):
Ausjourdhay le 30 daoust 1725 il a 47 ans que cette bible est faite elle apartien a moy Pierre Gosset.
En l'année 1777 cette Bible apartien a moy Marie Gosset etans venu de mes venerables ancetres père et mere.
Translation:
"Today the 30th of August 1725, 47 years after this bible was printed, it passed to me, Pierre Gosset.""In the year 1777, this Bible passed to me, Marie Gosset, having come from my venerable ancestors, father and mother."
While it is possible that Pierre abandoned his wife (Catherine du Four) and family to emigrate to America, this seems unlikely. We believe that the possible burial record of Pierre (1743) in St. Helier; the burial record of Catherine du Four (1777) in St. Helier; the will of Jane Esther Gosset in 1748 in which Pierre (Peter) is identified as deceased with widow and three surviving children; and the possession of Pierre Gosset's Bible by his daughter, Marie, in 1777 -- together provide powerful (albeit circumstantial) evidence that Pierre (grandson of John the Huguenot) did not emigrate from Jersey to America. Certainly his family and Bible did not.
In summary, we have a large body of evidence that suggests neither Jean nor Pierre emigrated from Jersey to America. Both, it appears, were buried on Jersey Isle (1720/1 and 1743, respectively).
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