Re: John M. SHERMAN B. 1714 NC D. 1784 NC
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In reply to:
Re: John M. SHERMAN B. 1714 NC D. 1784 NC
10/10/98
I have never been convinced that Thomas Goss married a Frances Shearmon/Shearman.Thomas married a Frances "Fanny" ____?____, and she died in 1824, but I'm pretty certain that she was Thomas's 2nd wife, or least not his first wife nor the mother of his oldest children; and she was not a Shearmon.In his will of March 1784, John Shearmon did not name the daughter who married Thomas Goss.In fact, he did not mention anyone named Goss or even a married daughter with the last name of Goss.However, his codicil of April 1784 was written so that Thomas Goss, a son-in-law, would receive 5 shillings.Apparently he had overlooked Thomas before.This alone leads me to believe that John Shearmon's daughter who married Thomas Goss was deceased by 1784.But there's more to consider—
The 1800 Granville County, NC census record for Thomas Goss shows the oldest female in the household to be 26 - 45 years of age.Presumably this is Thomas's wife and presumably it is Fanny.In 1810 his wife (presumably) is over 45 years of age. This leads me to believe his wife in those very early 1800s was born about 1760, give or take five years.Thomas Goss had at least five children who were born by 1760.One of them was my ancestor Shearmon Goss.He is mentioned in several Revolutionary War papers.I guess the census could be wrong, but that's a pretty big assumption.Anyway, a woman born in the late 1750s could not be the mother of Shearmon Goss.
Lastly, Thomas Goss's 16 children were born over a 35 year span, or thereabouts.I've not actually verified this myself, but I have seen it written that the youngest children were born in the late 1780s.I find it extremely difficult to believe that one wife who started bearing children around 1750 would still be bearing children up to 1788 or so.This information coupled with the abovementioned makes it very compelling to me that Thomas had more than one wife and this is one more piece of information that points to Frances Goss, died 1824, not being a Shearmon.
By the way, John Shearmon was said to have been born about 1725 on some websites. If Frances (or whatever her first name was) Goss was actually Frances, nee Shearmon, and a daughter of John Shearmon died 1784, and was born early enough to be the mother of Thomas Goss's oldest children, and in particular Shearmon Goss, then she would have had to have been born by the early to mid 1730s.There is no doubt that John had a daughter who married Thomas Goss, who was born by 1735, or thereabouts, and who was the mother of Shearmon Goss.The implication of this is that John Shearmon must have been born before 1715.As I have stated above, I don't think Shearmon Goss's mother was named Frances, at least not the Frances who died in 1824.I suppose it is possible John married two women named Frances, but I have seen no evidence of this.
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Re: John M. SHERMAN B. 1714 NC D. 1784 NC
Clayton Mann 1/09/05