We were filing some past correspondence and came upon a wonderful handwritten letter received in 2006 from Lance Gose of Toledo, Ohio. The letter came in response to our call for material at that time on any veteran who had connections with Magoffin County.

Although Lance and his family left Magoffin County at a young age, he recalled the place of his birth with fondness as you will see from his recollections.

Lance wrote: "I am an avid reader of your column in the Salyersville Independent since I was born on Coal Branch on the right hand fork of Middle Fork in Magoffin County.

"My dad was Reuben Gose, the son of Steve Gose who lived in Dixie until he passed away in 1955.

"My mother was Cloia Adams Gose; her father was George (G. W.) Adams and they lived on Cow Creek below Johnson Fork until they moved to Mt. Sterling, KY.

"My dad was a school teacher from 1920 to 1938; mostly at the Gose School on Middle Fork and in Harlan, KY. He attended school for many years at the Salyersville High School to renew his teaching certificate. We also did farming.

"The Adams, Reeds, Arnetts, Holbrooks, and Patricks are all some of my relations. H. B. Arnett is a distant cousin; also Price Holbrook, Jr. who was an insurance agent in his office by the old court house for many years. He and I grew up together until I moved to Ohio in 1939.

"You (Todd) talk about squirrel hunting, my dad and I used to squirrel hunt quite often when we lived on Coal Branch and Gose Branch over on Middle Fork. Your former postmaster, Elmer Arnett and his brother Raymond Arnett were close neighbors.

"I see you visit old cemeteries and write about them. Most of my relatives on my father’s side are buried on the Risner-Gose Cemetery over on Middle Fork. It used to be known as the J. K. and Hayden Arnett Cemetery."

The writer of the above letter, Lance Gose was a 20 year veteran of the Army. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge as well as many other battles in the European Theatre and retired as a 1^st Sergeant. Lance was a member of our historical society for several years. We lost him on the 29^th of September 2012 at the age of 87. He is buried in the Maple Grove Cemetery in New Haven, OH.

This letter prompted us to do some research on the Gose family. We were fortunate in having information sent to us several years ago from Michael Jones of The Woodlands, TX to guide us in our search.

The oldest ancestor of the Gose family as found by Michael was one Stephen Gose whose name is known from the death record of his son John Gose found in the Morgan County, KY vital statistics. John Gose, son of Stephen Gose, (spelled "Goce" in that record) died 5 Sep 1852 of flux. His place of birth was given as Virginia.

John Gose married in Wythe Co. VA on 20 Feb 1800 to Caty Henry. They lived in Wythe Co. VA until sometime after 1830 then they appear in the Morgan County, KY census of 1840. The 1850 Morgan census lists John Gose as age 75. Also in the household were Elizabeth age 55 and John age 15.

Michael Jones lists the following as children of John Gose and Catherine "Caty" Henry: (1) Elizabeth Gose b. 1801 m. 1820 Floyd Co. KY to Enoch Gilmore – lived with dau Margaret and husband William C. Prater in 1870 Morgan Co. KY; (2) Susan Gose b. 1803. A Susan "Gore" (Gose) m. John Cassity in 1826 Morgan Co. KY, (3) James Gose b. 1805 m. 1824 Morgan Co. KY to Jane Barker; (4) Rebecca Gose b. 1807 d. 1895 buried Elk Co. KS m. George Washington Perkins b. 1810 d. 1865, (5) Henry Gose b. 1810 m. Elizabeth Barker (found in Menifee Co. KY), and (6) Mason Gose b. 1815 d. 27 Aug 1852 Morgan Co. KY (a few days before his father). There were many deaths around this time in Morgan Co. KY with the cause of death listed as flux. Mason was married to Gilly Ann Blair.

John Gose’s wife Caty died around the time period of 1815.

John Gose married secondly on 5 Sep 1816 in Floyd Co. KY to Elizabeth Gilmore b. about 1795 in VA. Their children were: (7) Mary "Polly" Gose b. 1816 m. Mason Gullett, (8) daughter born between 1817 and 1819; (9) Anna Gose b. 1821 m. Andrew Gullett, (10) Phillip Gose b. 1825 m. 1^st Polly Ann Arnett and m. 2^nd Sarah Ann Risner; (11) John Gose b. 1835 and (12) daughter b. between 1835 and 1840.

John and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Gose have many descendants in our area through their son Phillip Gose. Phillip first married Polly, a dau of Reuben Arnett. Their children were (1) Susannah Gose m. Cambridge Culbertson Salyer, (2) Phoebe Gose m. William W. Salyer, (3) Queen Victoria Gose m. Daniel Boone Green (ancestors of noted journalist, naturalist and artist Ora E. Anderson), (4) Polly Ann Gose b. 1858, (5) Sarah Gose m. Franklin Arnett, (6) Letty Gose m. John C. Patrick, (7) Reuben Gose m. Laura Belle Risner, and (8) Stephen Gose b. 1870 d. 1956 m. in Magoffin County on 23 May 1889 to Mary Belle Patrick (Lance Gose’s grandparents).

The children of Phillip Gose and his second wife Sarah Ann Risner, dau of William Risner and Abigail Salyer were: (9) Harrison Gose m. Elizabeth Risner, (10) Easter Gose m. Nathan Hale Dykes (lived in Oklahoma), and (11) William "Bill" Gose did not marry and lived in Sayre, OK.

The Patrick book printed by the Magoffin County Historical Society in 1982 names the children of Stephen Gose and wife Mary Belle, dau of Lewis Patrick. They were (1) Dora Gose b. 1890 d. 1893, (2) Claude Gose b. 1891 d. 1919 m. Rosie Patrick, dau of Berry South Patrick, (3) Maude Gose b. 1893 d. 1913, (4) May Verne Gose b. 1895 m. Floyd Morris, (5) Myrtle Gose b. 1897 d. 1931 unmarried, (6) Lou M. Gose b. 1900 d. 1930 m. Greenville Williams, (7) Reubin Gose b. 1902 d. 1975 m. Cloia Adams (see above) and (8) Hobart Gose b. 1905 d. 1910 of scarlet fever.

We have enjoyed our look back in time and remembrance of our friend Lance Gose.

Anyone wishing to add info on the Gose family genealogy may do so by writing Magoffin County Historical Society, PO Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected])