Sarah B. Goss (maiden name: Sarah S. Blake) was born in March 1861 in Parke County, Indiana. Although she knew her second husband, Marion Goss, in her youth in Parke County, the two never developed a personal relationship. Goss soon moved to Kansas where she married her first husband, William Hefferlin, on October 3, 1886. There, she struck up a friendship with fellow Hoosier Marion, in which the two regularly exchanged letters. Hefferlin successfully petitioned for divorce from her on December 12, 1888, in a Montana court. Four months later, she married Marion Goss as his second wife on April 10, 1889, in Alma, Kansas. Together they had a son: Morgan B. Goss, born on November 9, 1890, who went by the name Blake.

Following her husband’s death of Bright’s disease at their home in Rockville, Indiana on December 13, 1908, Goss began receiving a pension of $12 a month. Shortly before her husband’s death, special examiner Charles A. Hughes of the pension office decided to investigate the pension claim. Hughes chose to continue his investigation in spite of Marion’s death, knowing that Sarah intended to apply for a new pension. Bizarrely, Hughes believed that Goss had coached many of the witnesses before his death, despite the fact he could barely write or speak. Unable to substantiate his claim that Goss attempted to defraud the pension office, Hughes concluded his investigation. She received a pension until her death on November 19, 1930, in Parke County, where she is buried with her husband.