William Gough (1781–1863), farmer, was a native of Virginia. He worked as an overseer at Poplar Forest, 1821–23. In December 1822 Billy, one of TJ’s enslaved laborers, was convicted of stabbing Gough with the intent to maim and kill. Two others were tried and acquitted. Gough survived and served as one of three appraisers of TJ’s Campbell County estate late in 1826. He owned twenty-one slaves in Campbell County in 1830 and thirty-four in 1860, when his real estate and personal property were valued at $12,000 and $60,000, respectively (Joel Yancey to TJ, 22 Dec. 1821; MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:1386, 1394; Elizabeth Trist to Nicholas P. Trist, 28 Nov., 23 Dec. 1822 [both in DLC: NPT]; Bedford Co. Order Book, 18:318–9; TJ to Gough, 21 Apr. 1823; Albemarle Co. Will Book, 9:1–2; DNA: RG 29, CS, Campbell Co., 1830–60, 1860 slave schedules; Campbell Co. Will Book, 13:139–41, 145–6; gravestone inscription in Gough family cemetery, Campbell Co.).