Jonathan Gostelowe was born in the old township of Passyunk, now a part of Philadelphia.
His father, George Gostelowe, is said to have emigrated from Sweden about 1729.
His mother, Lydia, according to her tombstone in Christ Church Graveyard, Philadelphia, was a native of Northamptonshire, England.
Jonathan learned his trade as a joiner in his native city, where there were several prominent furniture makers in the middle of the eighteenth century, but it is not known who was his master.
Gostelowe's advertisements in the newspapers show that he worked in mahogany and in walnut, and made bureaus, dining and Pembroke tables, bedsteads, card tables, and chairs.
His work as a cabinetmaker displays considerable originality at a time when many Americans were following the designs of English leaders in the craft. All of Gostelowe’s surviving pieces depend for their merit more upon graceful but substantial lines than upon elaboration or ornament.
During the Revolution, he was first a major in an artillery corps and then commissary of military stores in Philadelphia under Robert Towers, chief commissary general of military stores for the Committee of Safety.
After the Revolution, Gostelowe retained his interest in military matters, became captain of a company in the 3rd Battalion, Pennsylvania Militia, in 1783-84, and subsequently, 1787, a lieutenant in an artillery battalion in the same force.
He was elected chairman of the Gentlemen Cabinet and Chair Makers in Philadelphia in 1788 and headed their contingent in the historic Federal Procession held in that city on July 4, 1788. He retired from business in 1793 and died in 1795. He was buried in Christ Church Graveyard.
On June 16, 1768, Gostelowe married Mary, the daughter Edward Duffield. His first wife had died two years after their marriage, and on April 19, 1789, he married Elizabeth Towers.
