John Gosse Freeze (November 4, 1825 – July 8, 1913) was an American lawyer and writer.

He was also the register and recorder of Columbia County from 1863 to 1869 and was on the staff of Pennsylvania governor William Bigler.

Freeze's ancestors originally resided in Germany or the Low Countries, but moved to the United States well before the American Revolutionary War.

[1] Freeze was born in the community of Montoursville at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania on November 4, 1825.

Beers described Freeze as having "the best educational facilities this region afforded in his day" in his 1915 book Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania.

[1][4] Freeze served in this capacity for more than sixty years before retiring only shortly before his death.

Although all three were convicted and hanged, Freeze remained convinced that only Hester was guilty of the murder.

Beers' 1915 book Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania described Freeze as "skillful[ly] handling difficult situations" in the courtroom.

[1][5] Freeze was a lieutenant colonel on the staff of Pennsylvania governor William Bigler.

He also wrote several poetry books, with his largest work, A Royal Pastoral and other Poems, being over 300 pages in length.

Beers described the latter book as being "undoubtedly the best written and considered the standard authority and an exhaustive work of reference on the subject".

[1] Freeze may have written an anonymous 34-part series called "The Columbia County Invasion", which appeared in the Columbian and Democrat in 1869.

[5] On February 28, 1865, Freeze sent a letter to the President of the United States, requesting that he pardon six prisoners who were held in Fort Mifflin for their supposed involvement in the Fishing Creek Confederacy.

[8] The 1890 book Local and National Poets of America described Freeze as being 5 ft 9 in tall and weighing approximately 130 pounds (59 kg).