Notes by Hugh Thomas Hoskins (b.1936)-

My great-great-grandfather, Josiah Hoskinson, was born in 1759 in Virginia. He served in the US.Revolutionary War in a company known as George Washington's Bodyguards.

He is NOT to be confused with others of the same name who variously died in Ohio and/or were paupers or in an asylum of any sort.

"Our" Josiah married Isabell Evans in 1795 in what is now Monongalia, West Virginia. They had 6 children, and migrated to central Kentucky. She died in Floyd Co., Ky in 1814.

There is a very small town named Hoskinston in eastern Ky. near the No.Carolina border. NO connection has ever been made with it.

Josiah was again married in 1815 in Washington Co., Ky., to Alcy Brent, the widow of Jacob Cutsinger (with whom she had had 3 children); Josiah and Alcy had 6 children -- the second of whom was my great-grandfather, Hugh Abel Hoskinson.

They moved in the Washington, Nelson, Hardin Counties area of Ky. and eventually settled in the Edinburgh, Indiana, area where Josiah died in 1836. He was buried in a small private cemetery on the J.A.Amos farm; in the last half of the 1900s the gravestones were moved about 30 feet to the south to build a house. Some are readable; some have been vandalized; Josiah's is not obvious, but it was noted in an earlier published reading of the stones.

Hugh Abel Hoskinson, was born in 1824 in Ky. In time he shortened his name to Hoskins. As far as we know, none of his siblings did the same. He died in the area of Edinburg, Indiana, and is buried in what at this time is the St.George Luthern Churchyard east of Edinburg.

Hugh Abel Hoskins and his wife Elizabeth Snepp had 12 children; the family name was carried by blood only thru his sons John (known very affectionately to my dad as "Uncle John") and David Julius Hoskins, my grandfather. Another son, Josiah (known as Joe) adopted a boy who he named William or Billy, who was last seen by the family to have passed thru Columbus, In., in the 1980s.

There is a Bible which belonged to John's son Grover which was passed to his son James and thence to his daughter Sharon. Have not yet seen or confirmed the contents; it may have belonged to John; not sure yet.

The general consensus is that the name Hoskins originated as Roger, which morphed to Rodge, Hodge, and on to Hodgkins, and Hoskins, and Hoskinson (with the Haskins and Huskins somewhat related, too) -- likely mostly in England (or the British Isles, anyway) -- before coming to the Western Hemisphere where is was again shortened to Hoskins. There are still a swarm of them in Floyd, Washington, Nelson, and Hardin Counties area of KY; some of which are likely more closely related than others, but we have NO firm connection.

Establishing a trail on Josiah - - - -

.- Family lore has it that my ancestry is as ..
Josiah Hoskinson b.1759
Hugh Abel Hoskins(on)
David Julius Hoskins
Hugh Adam Hoskins
Hugh Thomas Hoskins (me)

.* Handwitten memo of David Julius Hoskins
notes that his grandfather Josiah Hoskinson was born in
Maryland in 1759 and died in Indiana in 1836.

.* Letter from Josiah "Joe" Hoskins (b.1867) enclosing documents
for Vera Elizabeth Hoskins (b.1922 d.1989) for admission to the DAR.
It notes that Josiah Hoskinson b.1759 serves in the Revolutionary War
in the company known as George Washington's Bodyguard.

.* Montgomery County, Maryland, Revolutionary Patriots Listings, Page 169
lists two Josiahs with near birth years 1756/1759 & same death year of 1836.

.* Roster of Soldiers and Patriots of the American Revolution buried in Indiana.
places Josiah's grave on the Amos farm pg.197 (or 374) 1759-1836

.- The DAR burial records of Soldiers of the Revolution buried in Indiana
show that Josiah Hoskinson is buried in an abandoned cemetery on the
J.A.Amos Farm

.- Besides "MY" Josiah b.1759-Maryland, d.1836-Indiana
there are other notes at ...
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kykinfolk/web/johnhodgk/pafg04.htm
There is another Josiah (who seems to disappear) --
44 M vi Josiah HOSKINSON was "born about 1764" in
Prince Georges County, Maryland.
and still another noted --
48 M ii Josiah HOSKINSON was born in 1756.
He died on 12 Feb 1836 in , Scioto County, Ohio.

.* From Wash.Co.,Ky Court records Josiah m.Alcy (Brent/Brunt) Cutsinger 1/1/1815.

.- The Revolutionary War was 1775-1783; if Josiah was
born in then ages were
1756 19 27
1759 16 24
1764 11 19

Alan Drury Hoskinson - Elizabethtown, Ky did ...
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/o/s/Alan-d-Hoskinson-KY/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-Index.html
which has erroneously morphed "MY" Josiah with the one buried in Scioto Ohio.

David Hoskinson - Houston, Tx; [dhoskins@ev1.net ] he's the kinfolk guy who did ...
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kykinfolk/web/johnhodgk/pafg04.htm
which lists a Josiah b.abt.1764 with NO details other that his siblings and ancestors;
many of his siblings have names matching "MY" Josiah's kids, as was the custom in those times..
if the dob were in error then this could be "MINE".
That register extract looks like ..
1 John Hodgkinson
3 John Jr
14 Thomas Hoskinson
19 Charles
39-46 John Elisha George Hugh Charles Josiah Ruth Mary
44 Josiah b.1764 maybe --- or 1759 to be mine
mine has kids named (*=same as his siblings; #=4)
Thomas Charles* John* James Katherine Enos
Josiah-Jr Hugh* Isabella Sarah Elisha* Elizabeth
21 John
48 Josiah b.1756 eventually to Scioto
this does make 44 & 48 1st cousins with the same name, but that's OK.
Whereas- this "fit" is also re-inforced by having had no one else "claim" him as theirs,
Therefore- on the grave of and in the name of my great-great-grandfather Josiah,
I do hereby proclaim and claim that #44 above is and of a similarity right ought to be the
ancestor known to have been the father of Hugh Abel Hoskins
and his 11 siblings.