John Gorsuch of Fostoria, Ohio

I have been doing genealogical research on our family for over 50 years. I still do not know the origins of my great-great-grand father, John Gorsuch. I have no idea who his father was.

John Gorsuch had arrived in Ohio by 1804 as land records show that he, and his brother-in-law, Elisha Chilcote, purchased land together in Amanda Township of Fairfield County. John's wife was Margaret Chilcote who was one of the children of John Chilcote and Prudence Ensor. Margaret was born in Western Run, Maryland about 1784. (John Chilcote was one of five sons of John and Margaret Chilcote...Prudence Ensor was the daughter of George and Elizabeth (Reeves) Ensor. This John Chilcote branch of the Chilcote family moved from Maryland to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania circa 1886. The family sold their land in Huntingdon and Bedford Counties circa 1802 and most of family members moved on to Fairfield County, Ohio.

John Gorsuch appeared to be traveling with the Chilcote family from the records and married Margaret circa 1802. This may have been the second marriage for John as the records seem to indicate that he was older and may have been born in Maryland as early as 1760. Their children were Mycajah Gorsuch, (1805), Lemuel L.Gorsuch, (1807), Mary Gorsuch, (1809), Nelson Gorsuch (?) and Silas Gorsuch(1816). In 1817, this family moved to Jackson and Mohican Townships in the then Wayne County. John was a land speculator buying and selling land for a living. In 1830, he moved to and purchased land in Seneca, Hancock and Wood Counties in NW Ohio. He was one of the founders of Fostoria, Ohio.
I have pored over the articles of J.H. Pleasant in the Virginia Historical Magazine, examined court house records in various Ohio county seats, retrieved land grants from the Ohio Historical Society,and spent much time at the DAR Library in Washinton, DC, the Maryland Hall of Records and the Baltimore Historical Society. I still have not identified the father of our John Gorsuch or separated out the immediate parents of John Gorsuch from the myriad of Gorsuches in Maryland who descended from Charles Gorsuch of Whetstone Point, in what is now Baltimore, Maryland.

Maryland

John Chilcote=
Prudence (Reeves) Ensor
|
John Gorsuch = Margaret Chilcote
b. circa 1760 -------b.1784 Western Run,
(2nd marriage) Baltimore County

------------Married circa 1802....In Ohio by 1803-------

Ohio

Micajah-Lemuel-Mary-Nelson-Silas

Lemuel Gorsuch, MD, b.1807
|
R.B. Gorsuch, b.1840
|
G.A. Gorsuch, MD, b.1873
|
G.E. Gorsuch, MD, FACP, b.1929
|

Geoffrey- Gregory----Gretchen------Emily

Katie & Calvin ... Alex & Eric Voorhees

John Gorsuch died in January of 1839 in Wood County. He left a good name.

All of John Gorsuch's progeny also had children but only those of Mycajah, Lemuel and Mary survived beyond 1860 as far as I know. Lemuel's only son of many children, was Russell B. Gorsuch who (with Hattie Champion) had a large family including my father, George A. Gorsuch, M.D., My father's two children were my sister, Patricia Elizabeth Borton, and myself. (George E.Gorsuch, M.D./ Rear Admiral MC USN, retired) Patty and I both have children and grandchildren.

Fostoria1 April 12, 1979 Fostoria2 February 9,1984 Fostoria3 November 29,1979 Risdon March 26,1987 Fostoria4 June 7,1979 Fostoria5 June 17,1982 Links Genealogy Personal Home Pages SurnameWeb DistantCousin.com General Genealogy Resources