Joseph Gurganus was a resident of Hyde County, North Carolina. In 1756 he was tasked with bringing Daniel, an enslaved man charged with murder, to the county sheriff's custody. Daniel had been accused of poisoning Elizabeth Eborne. Gurganus likely had a close relationship with the Eborne family, as he later served as a witness to Elizaebth's husband Littleton's will in 1760. Gurganus may been the same Joseph Gurganus that had an estate inventory filed for him in Hyde in 1784.