Almira "Mae" Elizabeth Gossett

Birth: She was born around 1874 in Kansas.  

Family Information: She had married Frank Gossett in 1900 at Nebraska.

She was the mother of Edith "May" Gossett plus several other children (Frank, Jay, Juanita, Olive and Harold) who never lived in the colony.  

Description:  

Pre-Colony History: In 1900 she and Frank were living in Nebraska where he worked as a farmer. In 1910 the couple and four of their children lived in Oregon where he worked as a laborer in a hop yard.

In 1920 and 1930 they lived in Montana with some of their children and he worked again as a farmer.  

Home in Colony: In December 1932 those living at the Isle of Cuba Plantation (near Thibodeaux, LA) included: Sam Hall, Harry Morgan, Henry and Bennie Frahm, Beldon Lewis, F. Gossett, John Horney, Roy McLean, Mrs. Swilley and Mr. and Mrs. Perkins with their four children.

By the end of the month, the group had added Mrs. Gossett, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Shipman, Albert Wicks, Dolly McCullough, Jim Nash, Earl Swenson and Ranny Wells.

According to the 1940 census she was living in Crowley, Louisiana in 1935, although her husband was shown to be living in the colony at the time and later that same year, both she and her husband were present in the colony according to newspaper accounts. In 1937 the Gossett family occupied an apartment in the so-called "old tourist camp."  

Job in Colony: In 1932 she was living at the Isle of Cuba where she, Mrs. Swilley and Bessie Shipman would be doing the cooking and housework.

In 1933 she was working in the kitchen, "removing the jackets from the spuds." In 1934 she was working in the cannery, alongside Mrs. Baldwin, Mrs. Peecher and Mrs. Wichman, canning corn, peas and pears.

In 1937 she was working in the laundry, bundling clean clothes.  

Other Info: In 1932 Walter Groth drove a group of colonists including Ann and Lenin Tabb, Mrs. Gossett and her daughter to the Rice Ranch; they returned by way of Alexandria.

In September 1935, Mr. Gossett was reported to be "looking pale but smiling and happy, getting around now pretty lively." Mrs. G-- also reported to be rapidly on the mend and able to turn her hand to doing her own housework.  

Post-Colony History: In 1940 she and Frank were living in a home in the unincorporated New Llano, Louisiana (site of the old colony).

Death: She died in Vernon Parish and was buried at O'Banion Cemetery in New Llano.  

Sources: US Census: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; Nebraska Marriage Records; "Llano Colonist": July 9, 1932, December 10, 1932, December 24, 1932, August 19, 1933, September 8, 1934, September 7, 1935, February 13, 1937; FindAGrave.com