John Gass, Troy Township

John Gass was born in Brooke County, Virginia, on the 12th of June 1778. In the year 1800, his father, William Gass, moved with his family into the then Northwest Territory and settled in what is now Fairfield County, three miles east of New Lancaster. In 1806, he moved into Knox County, in this State, and remained there until 1812, when he removed to Richland County and settled what is now called Troy Township. But war being waged by our government against Great Britain the ensuing Summer, and in consequence of the Indians killing the most of the Seymour and some of the Copus families the following autumn, it was deemed expedient to measurably vacate the county. Mansfield and a few other places were being held, upon which were erected block houses as a means of defence against the savages. The Gass family and some others from Knox County returned there for safety, and remained there till they thought it was safe to return to their possessions in this county. The subject of this memoir was married on March 22d 1821 to Ann McCluer third daughter of of Samuel McCluer, esq, who was one of the early pioneers of this county by whom he had six sons and three daughters, five of the former and two of the latter still surviving. He and his wife were members of the United Presbyterian Church of Lexington, Ohio. The sons alive in 1880 were William R. Gass(moved to Illinois; Samuel A.Gass (Troy Township); Perry P. (moved to Plattsmouth, Nebraska); Octavius Decatur Gass (who moved to Arizona, afterwards Nevada territory). One son, William R. Gass was appointed to a federal Clerkship job in the nation's capitol where he later died. A daugter, Mrs Mary Wilcox was living in Troy Township in 1880. Another daughter, a Rhoda A. "Dr." Mrs. McKinnley was living in Kansas in 1880. One son, Egbert A. Gass, born about 1830 had been robbed and murdered near Fort Scott Kansas in 1872 after visiting his cousin David Granville McCluer. The deceased who passed on 23 March 1859 athis home in Troy Township and in his 61st year. John Gass' wife, Elizabeth McCluer Gass, born February 14, 1798 in Rockbridge County, Virginia, died 16 October 1877 in Richland County, Ohio. John Gass was a citizen much esteemed by his neighbors and associates for his integrity, philanthrophy and uprightness in his dealings with this fellow men. John Gass and his wife Elizabeth are buried together in Troy Township near the Clear Fork Recreation Lake Reservoir. Also located near the graves of their parents are two children who died as infants, James and Octavia Gass.

Another son of John Gass and Elizabeth McCluer, Octavius Decatur Gass, had the dubious honor to be one of the pioneer settlers on the land which now holds the casino city of Las Vegas Nevada. From the following excerpt, his time there is explained:

In 1862, the fort and farming land became the property of Octavius Decatur Gass. He developed the Las Vegas Rancho, used the adobe structures as headquarters, and farmed 800 acres. He and his wife, Mary Virginia Simpson Gass, revived the services offered the occasional traveler. The property exchanged hands in 1882 when it was sold to Archibald and Helen J. Stewart, who expanded the ranch to 1800 acres. After Mr. Stewart's death, Mrs. Stewart, with her children, continued to operate the ranch. For twenty-one years Helen J. Stewart was known as a gracious, intelligent hostess to those who traveled the southwest.

1. An Enduring Legacy: Volume Ten; Early Pioneer Forts; Fort Las Vegas;Journal of Arizona History;Arizoniana,1965;
2. History of Richland County, Ohio;1880, A. A. Graham & Company, Mansfield, OH.p. 903
3. Unknown Mansfield Newspaper, Obituary John Gass, March 1859.
4. Marriage, Volume 1, Page 81, Richland County Courthouse, Clerk's office.