Gossom Family Cemetery – Lost and Found
In November 2009, the surveyors were only able to locate this cemetery with the help of a diagram/map made by an earlier surveyor ( 1995) and by guesswork. Casual observers would never see this cemetery, which is located at the top of a long incline, west of a pipeline, and behind two homes. The markers were toppled and covered by brush and a thin layer of dirt. The cemetery is overgrown with brush and briars. Out of the two documented markers, only one was found, Mary Gossom’s ( 1803-1882). The surveyors were also able to find Mary Gossom’s foot stone “M.A.G.”, which had not been recorded in earlier surveys. There are indications of several additional burials marked by field stones.
The surveyors were unable to find the documented marker for the child, Robert Sherman, who died in 1851. It is not known what the relationship was between Mary Gossom and Robert Sherman. In the 1870 census, John H. Gossom ( 59), farmer, and Mary (67) are shown living with two grown sons, Francis (35) and Alexander (24) and a domestic servant Frank Jones (14). Perhaps it is one of these sons who erected Mary’s marker which reads “ In Loving Memory of My Mother.” By the 1880 census, Mary and John are shown living alone.
