Have you watched the Documentary on Public Broadcast TV "The Lewis and Clark Expedition" The Patrick Gass mentioned on here is from BROOKE COUNTY, WV....Here is a bit of information on him: (From Brooke County Historical Society records)

PATRICK GASS...In 1790, according to Patrick Gass (whose life and history was so well written by the late John G. Jacob ) the bottom land above Buffalo Creek was a narrow ridge along the river and back of it, next to the hill, was a morass overgrown with wild plum trees and bushes. The very ground described them by the late Mr. Gass, now naturally embraces Wellsburg, and the very opine, takes in our Main Street. On this narrow ridge, or Main Street, even in the recollection of the writer hereof, Indian bodies and relics have been frequently dug up and it appears to have been a place of some ancient day of very general Indian resort.

The historian says there were very few signs of occupation beyond that as a trading post, at that date on the site where now is located Wellsburg.

Patrick Gass in 1790 was a young man of about 19, and was perfectly able to have a vivid recollection of occurrences. His diary which he had taken pride in keeping, contained much information and from which, together with personal interviews, Mr. Jacob was able to glean many facts. The book entitled "The Life and Times of Patrick Gass" was issued in 1952, but in these antecedent days it seems that our early history was not appreciated or looked after as it is at this late day. Some of these books are still in existence and command a high price, but they are very scarce; those so fortunate as to have a copy are reluctant to part with it.

Although Mr. Gass, it would seem, was a man of limited education, no doubt due to the lack of opportunities afforded, he certainly had varied and extraordinary acquirements, and judging from his life, as it is written, his forecast was wonderful to say the least.

He died in the year 1869, and his remains were interred in a field on Pierce's Run, about a mile from Waugh's tunnel, the ground now belongs to Mr. Louis Bauer, who recently purchased the farm from L. Shrimplin. His last resting spot was not even distinguished by a stone or mark of any description.

Patrick Gass cast his last presidential vote for U.S. Grant in 1868, and at the time of his death he had reached almost the five score mark.

The history of the pension laws of the United States is one of interest, and not withstanding the fact that all has not been done that gratitude perhaps demanded, she has been more liberal in this respect, than any other country in the world. It has been the rule in all countries to grant pensions in some shape for meritorious services, to acknowledge or stimulate merit, and to raise those who have served their country faithfully above the caprices of fortune. In England the king has been regarded as the sole judge of desert, and following out the theory of sovereignty, in America, the people have exercised the grateful prerogative. As the gratitude of the country toward the veterans of the revolution was great, so their liberality in the early history of the republic was generous beyond precedent, the more especially as the public lands furnished an apparently inexhaustible magazine of largess whence to draw. Pension acts were passed during the war of the Revolution, providing adequate support to those who might be disabled in the discharge of duty. Subsequently, these laws were enlarged and experienced. In 1818, those "who served in the war of the Revolution until the end thereof or for the term of nine months, or longer, at any period of the war on the continental establishment and by reason of reduced circumstances in life" were in need "of assistance from the country for support" were provided for....In 1828 pensions were given, without any qualification as to property, to all officers and soldiers who served in the continental line of the army to the close of the war. Finally in 1832 the terms were enlarged, and pensions were granted to all who served in a military capacity, during the war of the Revolution, for a period not less than six months. First, those disabled in the military and naval service received pensions; then the indigent and necessitious; and lastly all were embraced. The act of 1832, was very comprehensive in its provisions, yet in some respects it was unjust - for instance: The rate of pension was graduated by the length of service and the grade or rank in which it was rendered. Two years service entitles the party to the full pay of his rank in the line, not to exceed however the pay of a captain. For shorter periods the pension was proportionally less; but no pension was provided for merely being in a battle, or for any length of service in a battle, or for any length of service less than six months. This of course cut off a large class of soldiers equally meritorious but whose service perhaps only extended to s single campaign or to a single battle, although that campaign of six weeks or single battle may have been equally arduous and dangerous to the individual, as in other cases might have been the fall period of the war to other individuals. Many persons were called suddenly into active service during the war of 1812 as at New Orleans and other places, and actually engaged in active battle, perhaps been wounded and disabled, yet those men, under the provision of the act of 1832, were entitled only to a pittance proportioned to the excess of service over six months. This was manifestly unjust and to remedy the injustice and in some manner equalize the public bounty was the object of the old soldiers meeting on the 8th of January 1855, in which Mr. Gass with many others, figured at Washington City, as hereafter narrated

In the spring of 1829 he commenced boarding with John Hamilton, better known among our younger readers as the Judge whose bowed frame will be well remembered as he sat about the stores and street corners a wreck of a powerful and once influential man. At this time Hamilton lived on a piece of land, and had to cheer him a pretty daughter whom he called Maria. She was just blooming into womanhood and thrown into the constant society of our hero, a mutual feeling sprang up between the two, and gradually June melted into December. Of the process of their courtship we have no date other than what probability suggests. He doubtless wooed her with the "tales of hair breath scrapes, and of perils by sea and land." and as she listened, she doubtless breathed the wish as maidens often do, "that heaven had made her such a man." Whether she did or not, they made each other understood by some subtle alchemy to lovers known; and not to theorize too far on so delicate a subject, they were married in 1831. Patrick immediately rented a house from a certain crickett who resided on the Crawford farm in the vicinity of Wellsburg and commenced house-keeping-Maria made him a good and loyal wife and in testimony thereof, presented him with seven children, during the fifteen years of their married life, from 1831 to 1846, when she died. It was customary to joke the old soldier on his rapid increase of family. Such pokes were always good natured and he would characteristically remark that as all his life long he had striven to do his duty, he would not neglect it now, but by industry make amends for his delay. In his married life he was kind and affectionate- a good husband and father. Five of his children are still living.(1859), one having died in infancy and another, a well grown lad dying in London county Va. of the small pox in 1855. After various changes and removes, he finally purchased a piece of hill-side land on Pierce's Run in Brooke county and sat down with his increasing family to cultivate the soil. This happy retirement was interrupted in 1846. At this time the measles appeared in his family-all of the children were prostrated, and in the February succeeding, came the severest blow he had ever experienced. At this time his wife having taken with the measles died and he was left with a large family of young children dependant upon for support in his old age. In consideration of his services he received from the Government, in addition to his pay as a soldier, 160 acres of land in 1816, and a pension of $96.00 per year to date from that period. The land he suffered to lie until eaten up and forfeited from non payment of taxes, and the pittance of $96.00 per year is all that he has actually received from the Government in exchange for the services of the best years of his life, from 1804 to 1815 over and above his pay and rations as a soldier.