My 4th great grandfather, Moses Gould died at age 40, reportedly while lumbering in the Maine woods. He left a wife, Anne Adams Gould, and 7 young children. My 3rd great grandfather was his youngest son Joseph Gould. Joseph never really knew his father. In fact if the various brag book entries for Joseph and his brother Elisha are any indication, Joseph and his siblings may have been “placed out” by the county authorities and have grown up with little knowledge of their family in general. There are no other family or brag book stories related to Moses aside from the legend of his untimely death. I say legend because I’ve been unable to find any confirmation of the family story. I have not found any newspaper articles and the family is represented by the barest of factual entries in the Lisbon, Maine town records
page 31 “The children of Moses Goold & his wife Anne were born as follows viz:
Thomas Adams Goold was born November the 8th AD 1799
Charlotte Coombes Goold was born January the 4th AD 1802
Sarah Goold was born May the 3rd AD 1803
Moses Goold Junior was born August the 18th AD 1808
Sarah Goold the 2nd was born March the 20th AD 1811
Elisha Doyle Goold was born September the 18th AD 1812
Samuel Adams Goold was born May the 4th AD 1814
Joseph Goold was born November the 8th AD 1815”
page 32
“Deaths in the family of Moses Goold
Sarah Goold Departed this life June the 30th AD 1806
Moses Goold Departed this life March the 26th AD 1816”
Anne Adams Gould may have remarried but her life after her husband’s death is obscure to say the least.
The legend of Moses’ death was handed down in at least two families, that of Joseph and of his older brother Elisha Doyle Gould. Elisha was a couple of years older than Joseph, so perhaps he would have been aware of the circumstances of his father’s death. Joseph and Elisha’s families were separated by thousands of miles when Joseph moved his very young family first to New York, then Pennsylvania, then Iowa and then finally Nebraska. But of course Elisha could be the source of the story that appears in the brag book entry of Joseph’s son Garvin H. Gould.
Whatever the source of the story, his marriage to Anne Adams and his early death are the only things I really know about Moses Gould. So I’ve been trying to roll the shadows aside, at least a bit. I’ve cast a wide net and the results are fascinating. I know much more now about the lives of Maine loggers and farmer in the early 1800’s than I did before I began this effort. And it seems completely possible that Moses Gould could have been killed while involved in some sort of timber activity, even if, as seems likely, he wasn’t a lumberman full time.
Hi Heather,
I think we are third or fourth cousins (I’m a great grandson of Garvin Gould’s daughter, Agnes). I was wondering if you’ve made any progress with the Goulds? My cousin recently found some old documents belonging to Joseph-I think just land deeds and his Civil War “commission” as corporal. Let me know if you’d like any copies, and I’d love to know anything you’ve learned about the Goulds
Take care!
Scott – I have made very little progress directly , however, I’ve connected with a number of Gould cousins via DNA testing at Ancestry and there is strong circumstantial evidence that Moses Gould was the son of Joseph Gould and Mary Coombs and great grandson of Joseph Gould and Hanny Binney and there are a number of DNA matches that seem to bear this out. But I’m still working on documentary confirmation since Ancestry trees can be pretty hit and miss. I would be happy to share what I find with you but at the moment I am focusing pretty heavily on another project so it probably won’t get my attention till mid-2021 (covid willing.) I will also send this to your direct email and we can talk about the documents there.
Regards
Cousin Heather