The Goss Family--Early Settlers

     This photo is of Elijah Benson Goss (on the far left) with his second wife, Martha Cox Shed Goss, said to be daughter of George Rufus and Malinda (Findley) Cox.  In the middle is Elijah's daughter, Millicent Lucretia Goss; Elijah's son, William John Goss; and Elijah's son, James Thomas Goss.   The mother to these children was Lucretia Emeline Turner.  There's a complete list of Elijah's children below.

     Elijah B. Goss was born in 1816 in Pickens County, South Carolina.  His parents were Benjamin Goss and Martha "Patsy" Harbin.  Benjamin was born in 1777, probably in North Carolina and Patsy was born in 1783 in Maryland.  They married in 1798 in South Carolina and later migrated to Northern Georgia about 1818.  They moved on to Big Fork, Arkansas in 1851.  Benjamin died in 1857 and Patsy died between 1853 and 1856.  They are buried in a small, obscure cemetery in the edge of the woods  at the end of a lane in Big Fork.

     Elijah's daughter, Malinda Elvira Goss, married John Calvin Bates, son of George V. Bates.  The Goss family owned land on the north side of Butcherknife Creek.

                                       Part of many acres once owned by the Goss family. 

     This is the Goss Cemetery located at the end of Magic Pine Lane south of Highway 8 East in Big Fork.  The headstone shown here is for John Calvin Bates, who married Malinda E. Goss.  All the other grave markers are large rocks.  Calvin and Lindy lived on this land.

    When the Goss family first came to Big Fork, they hid their possessions in two large holes dug in the hillside.   When Lindy got married in 1864, she went to one of these holes and took out her faded calico dress, washed and ironed it, for her wedding.   Sometime after they married they moved a few miles west toward Board Camp.  Later they returned to Big Fork and ran a store.   Whenever they needed supplies, the best place to go was to Little Rock.   About 1869 they made a trip to Little Rock with their two children, Tennie and Benson.  The round would have taken about three weeks but they were held up an extra week making it a month long trip.

Children of Elijah Benson Goss and Lucretia Turner:
 1. Martha Emeline Goss who married (1) Kimsey Posey Standridge   (2) Phillip Abernathy, who was first    married to Margaret Bates, daughter of Stephen and Sarah Bates.
 2. Nathaniel Benson Goss who married (1) Mary Ann Ellison, daughter of Israel Ellison and Sarah Bates;
       (2) Nancy Ann Elizabeth Bowen, daughter of Frances M. Bowen and Temperance M. A. Standridge.
             (note that Nancy A. E. Bowen Goss later married Abram Royal Bates, son of George V. Bates)
 3. Sarah Selina Goss 
 4. Malinda Elvira "Lindy" Goss who married John Calvin Bates, son of George V. Bates
  5. Millicent Lucretia Goss who married (1) John Henry Jeffry  (2) Newton Standridge
 6. Mary Jane Goss who married James Isaac Bates, son of Stephen C. Bates and Sarah E. Corley
  7. Benjamin Berriman Goss who married Louzetta A. Hutchinson
 8. Louvisa Canzada Goss who married Joseph Bates, son of Stephen C. Bates and Sarah E. Corley
 9. William John Goss who married (1) Cordelia Mays  (2) Mary Parasina Abernathy, daughter of James
      Alexander Abernathy and Mary P. Vandevier.
10. James Thomas Goss who died at age seventeen

Children of Elijah Benson Goss and Martha Cox:
1. Elijah Bethel Goss, born 1878 and died 1880