Solomon Gorgas

• Solomon Gorgas Find A Grave Memorial# 11641972

JOSEPH7 GORGAS (JACOB6, PSYCHE5 RITTENHOUSE, WILLEMYNTIE4 DEWEES, GERRET HENDRICKS3, HENDRICK ADRIAENSZ2 DE WEES, ADRIAEN HEYNDRICKS1) was born April 07, 1770 in Ephrata, PA, and died 1841 in Louisville, Ohio. He married SOPHIA ATKINSON 1817. She was born May 08, 1778 in Alexandria, Virginia, and died November 23, 1849 in Rochester, Ohio.

Children of JOSEPH GORGAS and SOPHIA ATKINSON are: 106. i. JOSIAH8 GORGAS, b. July 01, 1818, Running Pumps, Dauphin County, PA; d. May 15, 1883, Tuscaloosa, AL. 107. ii. CHRISTIANA GORGAS.

 	iii. 	  	SOLOMON ATKINSON GORGAS.

Joseph and Sophia Atkinson Gorgas, sometimes struggled to provide for their family on his earnings as a clock maker, mechanic, and innkeeper. They often moved from town to town in an effort to improve their economic situation. These relocation's made it difficult for young Josiah to make friends, and he later described his childhood as a lonely one.

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Solomon Gorgas, eldest son of Jacob (2), of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, was born at Ephrata, January 22, 1764. He removed to Cumberland in 1800, and located on a farm near White Hill. Here he followed agricultural pursuits and was a prosperous farmer. He erected a stone barn, which is still standing, being one of the old landmarks of that section and bears upon its gable the inscription, "Solomon Gorgas, 1833." In addition to farming he also conducted a country store. In the politics of the county he took an active part, and represented it in the legislature. He spent his life in this county and died there, September 21, 1838. He married Catherine Fahnestock.

Solomon Gorgas was living , in Canton Ohio area with his family for a short while during the famous" Gold Rush"-They went to Ca.( Solomon and Jonathan Zerbe (-husband of Christianna Gorgas Zerbe ) but they had no luck ,jonathan got really sick and ,at most, they sold supplies to the Gold miners-But it indeed was an adventure !-after that the Gogas Family must have gone back to Pa. --The Zerbes still lived in Ohio -where Jonathan died and Christianna went to live eventually wth a daughter -We are from that line --William R. Gorgas was from "Around Reading,Pa."I believe -I would love to hear more about your family however.---L.D.Rinald

The children of Solomon and Catherine (Fahnestock) Gorgas, the first four born at Ephrata; the last three at Lower Allen Twp., were :

I. Daniel Fahnestock, b. 30 Sept. 1792; d. unrn. 17 Jan. 1848.

II. Christiana, b. 27 July 1794; d. unm. 20 Oct. 1840.

III. Mary, b. 7 July 1797; d. Mechanicsburg) Pa., 17 June 1875; m. Peter Barnhart of Cumberland, Pa. (d. March or April 1868).

IV. Sarah, b. 19 Jan. 1800; d. Mechanicsburg, Pa., 21 Aug. 1818; m. Samuel Bowman (d. May 1848).

V. William Rittenhouse, b. 8 May 1806; d. 7 Dec. 1892; m. Harrisburg, S March 1840, Elizabeth Hummel, d. Mechanicsburg, Pa.) 23 Aug. 1905, daughter of David Hummel and his wife Susan Kunkel. He was Representative in the State Assembly 1836-39, State Senator I842-44. His daughter Kate Fahnestock Gorgas d. Harrisburg, 27 March 1942. aged 99.

VI. Joseph Mack, b. 12 June 1809, drowned 13 May 1852. .
VII. Solomon Perry, b. 31 Aug. 1815; d. Mechanicsburg, Pa., 20 Oct. 1887; m. 8 May 1845, Elizabeth Eberly, b. Hampden Twp, 31 May 1822, dau. of Benjamin Eberly and his wife Barbara Kaufmann.

References: Hist. of Cumberland and Adams Counties, pt. 1, p. 376; Hist. of Cumberland Co. 200; Chester Co. Deeds U3:315; The Wideners, p. 207; Pa. Mag. 23:411; Lancaster Co. Hist. Soc. Publ., Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 142 ff; Cumberland Co. Wills L:41.

FROM: The Fahnestock genealogy : ancestors and descendants of Johann Diedrich Fahnestock Concord, N.H.: Rumford Press, 1945, 461 pgs.