JOHN GASS
was born in County Down, Ireland, on March 25, 1758; names of parents unknown. He came to America with three or four
brothers and settled in Orange County, North Carolina. He was in the Revolutionary War and participated in the
Battle of King’s Mountain. He removed to Greene County, (then North Carolina, now Tennessee) by 1783.
By 1789 he had established a mill and a distillery in addition to farming operations. The maiden name of his
first wife, Margaret, is unknown; they had ten children--William, Alice Rankin, George, Jane, Mary Young,
Margaret, Nancy Anne, Martha A., John, Jr., and Hezekiah Balch Goss. He was married (2nd) on August 26, 1830
to Elizabeth Rankin, daughter of David and Anne (Campbell) Rankin; no children by second marriage. Member of
Greene County Court, 1790; several times justice of the peace; commissioner of Greeneville, 1794, 1809. He served
in the House, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Tennessee General Assemblies, 1796-1801; representing Greene county;
he then served in the Senate, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th, 13th, and 16th Tennessee General Assemblies; 1801-07,
1815-17, 1819-21, 1825-27; representing Greene County in all
assemblies except the 16th in which he represented Greene and Jefferson counties; no party affiliation shown. Said to have
been “staunchly calvinistic;” member Masonic Order; helped establish Lodge #3 in Greenville. Appointed a
charter trustee of East Tennessee College, 1807. Died in Greene County on June 14, 1840; buried in the churchyard of
Gass Meeting House in Greene County. Grandfather of William T. Gass, sometime member Tennessee General Assembly.
Bibliography
Sources: University of Tennessee Record, I, 242; information supplied by Mrs. C. P. Kelley, Chattanooga.
