Losh, Sebastian

Sebastian Losh (sometimes “Losch” or “Lush”) was born around 1740 to Daniel and Elizabeth Losh and had six siblings, including sisters Mary and Mary Ann. Daniel built a house at 19 N King Street in Leesburg around 1785, which is today called the Daniel Losh House. In 1786, Sebastian and James Julian served as witnesses to the sale of a deed by Adrien Tellier of Spotsylvania County for two hundred acres to John Joseph Combs of Fairfax County for £225. Sometime after 1790, Sebastian married Jane “Jenn[e]y” Perfect McIntyre, the widow of Alexander McIntyre, a tavern keeper who had lived near Daniel Losh in Leesburg and died in 1789. Jane and Alexander had five children—Alexander, Catherine Bentley, Elizabeth Triplett, Patrick, and William. In 1793, Jane and Sebastian Losh had a daughter, also named Jane, who later married William Moxley.

In 1794, Sebastian Losh sued in chancery Aaron Royce, who had loaned Losh £34 in 1791. Losh contended that although he had paid Royce back in part in 1792, Royce had successfully obtained a court judgement for Losh to return the full amount of the loan. That judgement forced Losh to make “Extraordinary” payment, for which he now sought compensation. Although the outcome of the case is unclear, the episode reveals that Losh frequented John Drish’s tavern, where he had an account. Sebastian died in Loudoun in about 1808. Jane, twice widowed, died in 1836 in Leesburg, Ohio, where her daughter Catherine had settled with her family.

By Adam Nubbe