Gossman, Jacob E. 1860 - 1937
GOSSMAN, SNYDER, RYAN, MCKABE SUTTON, MATINGLY
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 3/15/2015 at 08:19:56
JACOB E. GOSSMAN.
Jacob E. Gossman, who since 1889 has owned and operated the Pine Tree Stock Farm on section 16, Burr Oak township, is a native son of that part of Winneshiek county, born October 7, 1860. His parents, Anthony and Elizabeth (Snyder) Gossman, were born in Ohio, the former in Zanesville and the latter in Buckeye. The maternal great-grandfather of the subject of this review, Nicholas Snyder, was born in Germany and after coming to America served in the Revolutionary war, enlisting at the age of fourteen as a drummer boy and remaining in the army for seven years. On the paternal side also Mr. Gossman is a descendant of Revolutionary stock, his grandfather, Andrew Gossman, having come from his native Germany to America in colonial times. He served in the Continental army, having previously received an excellent military training in the fatherland, and he afterward followed the profession of an architect in Muskingum county, Ohio, to which he went as a pioneer. He had nine children, six sons and three daughters, of whom the father of the subject of this review and his brother Joseph are the only ones surviving. Anthony Gossman was born in Zanesville, Ohio, February 17, 1829, and his marriage occurred in that state about 1856. He and his wife resided in Burr Oak township, this county, until he retired from active life in 1895, when they removed to Canton, Minnesota. They are still residents of that state, making their home at New Richland. He is well known in Winneshiek county and throughout this section of Iowa, as he was one of the first men to secure land from the government in pioneer times. He and his wife became the parents of eight children: Jacob E., of this review; Mary E., who married John Ryan, of Canton, Minnesota; Louis E., a graduate of the law department of the Michigan State University and now municipal judge at Crookston, Minnesota; Leo A., who is a graduate of St. Joseph's College of Dubuque and who spent six years in Rome, Italy, being now a priest in New Richland, Minnesota.; Annie, the wife of Frank McKabe, of this township; Amy, who married William McKabe, of Prosper, Minnesota; John A., a resident of Burr Oak township; and William W., who is residing on the home farm.
Jacob E. Gossman was reared at home amid the almost primitive conditions which existed in Burr Oak township during his childhood. He attended district school and was later a student in the Breckenridge Institute at Decorah, after which he attended St. Joseph's College in Dubuque. After laying aside his books he turned his attention to teaching, spending eight years at this occupation in Winneshiek county and in Fillmore county, Minnesota. He married in 1889 and in that year engaged in farming, buying the property in Burr Oak township upon which he has since resided. The tract comprises two hundred and eighty acres of valuable land lying on sections 16 and 17 and is known as the Pine Tree Stock Farm. Mr. Gossman concentrates his attention largely upon his stock-raising interests, breeding and raising high-grade stock of all kinds. In the course of years he has made substantial improvements upon his property which is now a completely equipped and valuable farm, evidencing in its excellent condition his practical methods and constant labor.
In 1889 Mr. Gossman was united in marriage to Miss Mary Sutton, who was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in March 1864, and who resided there until her marriage. She is a daughter of Joseph and Anastasia (Matingly) Sutton, both of whom passed away in Ohio. Mrs. Gossman died February 4, 1912, leaving four children: Anastasia and Elizabeth, graduates of Winona Seminary; Coletta, who is attending the same institution; and Leo, a graduate of St. Mary's College, at St. Mary's, Kansas. Mrs. Gossman was of English ancestry, all of the members of her family having come to America with Lord Baltimore. Her brother, Dr. H. G. Sutton, is now state health officer of Ohio and has also charge of a large hospital.
Mr. Gossman is a member of the Roman Catholic church and fraternally is connected with the Yeomen. A resident of Winneshiek county since his birth, he is well known here, and he and his family stand high in the esteem of the entire community.
Source: History of Winneshiek County, Iowa Vol. II Chicago the S. J. Clark Publishing Company 1913
St. Agnes Cemetery gravestone
Winneshiek Biographies maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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