From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 300-301.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


WILLIAM S. GOSHORN

William S. Goshorn, a venerable and prominent citizen of Wheeling, 
was born in Belmont county, Ohio, January 19, 1814.  He is the son of 
John Goshorn, born near the mouth of the Juniata river, November 28, 
1790, who came to Belmont county in 1810, and farmed there until 
1815, upon a quarter section of land he had purchased, and at the end 
of that period removed to Wheeling.  In that city he engaged at once 
on a modest scale in general merchandise, and increasing his business 
from year to year, embarked in 1830 in an exclusively wholesale 
business, in dry goods, boots, shoes, hats, caps, etc.  He pursued 
this business successfully until 1844, when he retired from trade, 
and making his home upon a farm four miles from the city, lived a 
life of quiet and ease until the time of his death, June 13, 1869.  
He was a member of the city council, was a director of the old 
Northwestern bank of Virginia, and again of the Manufacturers' & 
Farmers' bank, of Wheeling, also in Fire & Marine Insurance Co., and 
was a prominent Mason.  The partner of his domestic life was Mary 
Farrier, who was born in Pennsylvania in August, 1790, and died in 
Wheeling, July 16, 1854.  Three children were born to them: Jane, who 
died at the age of seven years; William S.; Isabella, who married B. 
F. Kelly, a general in the late war, and died April 23, 1860.  Mrs. 
Goshorn's mother was a Scott, one of the family distinguished in the 
early history of Wheeling for their heroic conduct during the time, 
of Indian warfare.  Mollie Scott was one of the inmates of Col. 
Zane's block-house during the memorable siege of Fort Henry in 1782.  
Subject's great-grandfather, Joseph Scott, came here from 
Pennsylvania.  He and son served through the Revolutionary war.  His 
sons, John and Joseph, were killed by Indians on Scott's fork of 
Will's creek, near where Cambridge Ohio, now stands.  After peace was 
declared an Indian and his squaw came to Marietta, Ohio, where 
Alexander Scott, a brother of the two deceased, was living, and under 
the influence of fire-water, and not knowing of Scott's presence, 
boasted of having killed the two Scott brothers.  That night 
Alexander Scott got the Indian out of the village and cut his throat, 
subsequently throwing the body in the river.  William S. Goshorn, 
above-named, has made his home at Wheeling since he was brought here 
at the age of one year, by his father.  He entered the business of 
his father, the style being first, John Goshorn & Co., then Goshorn & 
Kelley, and afterward Goshorn & Co., William being a member of the 
latter firm.  Since 1844 he has been virtually retired from regular 
business.  He has served as a member of the council several times, 
was once a director of the Merchants' & Mechanics' bank, and of the 
Fire & Marine Insurance company.  Mr. Goshorn was married in January, 
1838, to Priscilla Jane Zinn, of Martinsburg, W. Va., who died in 
1878, after forty years of married life, leaving six children: Mary, 
wife of James C. Hervey, of Ohio county; Isabella, widow of Joseph S. 
Irwin; John, farmer of Ohio county; Amanda Virginia, widow of Joseph 
S. Hamilton; Adelia A., wife of Richard P. Staub, of Baltimore; Laura 
E., wife of Alfred Caldwell, Esq., attorney-general. 


(Linda Fluharty)