Goff/Gough in Duncormick

Hello Elizabeth,

This is unbelievable.  We are delighted to find your message on here.  Alice and Kate were our cousins too.  My Great Grandmother was Margaret Goff, a sister of  your Thomas. He also had a brother William who died in America in June 1868 aged 20. Have you any information on him?  Thomas had more brothers and sisters so you have hundreds of cousins here.

Kind Regards

Mary

 

 

Hi Mary,

I'm thrilled to get your reply.  I have worked backwards through the usual genealogical records and have never really been able to learn more about Thomas Goff's family.  But with the information you have just provided, maybe I will be able to find more documentation about Thomas & his brother William.  So my great grandfather William could have been named after Thomas' brother William who died.  So interesting!

 

I will do some searching around and if there are other records that include both of them together. Do you have any idea where in the US William died? Perhaps in Philadelphia since I have some idea that Thomas was there when he first arrived in the US.  

Did your great grandmother Margaret remain in Ireland?

Great to hear from you!

Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth,

Hope you are all well.  I had emailed Thomas's  family birth dates to you through here.  I think you may not have got them.  His parents were Thomas Goff/Gough and Anastasia Wickham m.1838.   John b.1839,  Thomas b.18--,  I hav'nt found his birth date yet. Do you have it?  Mary b.1843,  my Margaret b.1844,  James b.1846,  William b.1848,  Esther b.1850,  Denis b.1852,  Edward b.1856, Catherine b.1858. They all lived here except Thomas and William. There may have been another child between Denis and Edward, but I didnt find any birth yet either. I will search again.       

I was talking to a cousin Renee, she has joined here to talk to you.  Kate was her aunt and Alice was her Grand aunt. She has photos that were sent here from US about 1930s.  She always knew there were Goffs/Goughs in Dallas and is overwhelmed about finding you.  Another cousin Jack says that Mike McGrath (Marys son) visited with a Mrs Gray, what relation was she to you and did you know this?

Regards

Mary     

Hello Elizabath

I note that you are looking for information on Alice Goff and Kate Whelan both from the Cull, Duncormack, Co. Wexford.  

Alice was my stepmother and married my father James O'Flaherty approx. 1937 two years after the death of his first wife my mother.  They had no family and James died in December 1955.  Alice operated a small country store/shop in Chapel Gardens with my sister Lil also known as Lily.  Alice died on the 27th July 1982 aged 88 years.  Alice is buried with her husbant James and step son Willie in Kilmore Co. Wexford.  Alice also had sisters and I think they were called Stasia, Maggie, and Ellen.  She also had a brother who I think was named Thomas.  Kate Whelans mother was also a sister of Alice but I cannot remember her name.  

Kate Whelan married Johnny Howlin and they lived in Grange, Kilmore.  Kate died in September 1996 and is also burried in Kilmore with her husband and  they also had no family, Alice's brother who I think was called Thomas lived with Kate in Grange shortly before his death.  

If I think of anyting else or get any further information I will let you know.

Margaret King

Galway

Cantwells Memorials of the Dead (Wexford)

---------

Killag graveyard;

erected by Anastacia Goff (Richfield) for

husband-Thomas; 23/12/1881 (81)

son-William-died USA-June 1868 (20)

son-James; 2/9/1888 (42)

above-Anastacia; 3/2/1891 (77)

Catherine Goff; 10/8/1902 (44)

================

Jack Mc Donald

Hello Mary,

I am sorry if I have missed emails from you! I got an email from this site saying that there were replies to this thread and I am thrilled and surprised to see so many replies, but I don't think I have seen emails from you. I have been emailing a Goff cousin in Ireland named Alice Cogley. Do you know Alice? She is a descendant of Thomas & Anastasia's son Edward. 

I'm so sorry if your email got lost in a spam filter or something. If you would like to send a test email to my work email maybe that will go through. It is elizabeth@riverknitsyarns.com I will be watching for it.  

re: the date of birth of Thomas & Anastasia's son Thomas. I think it had to have been  around 1842. On the 1880 US census Thomas & his wife Annie are listed as living in Dallas, TX and he reports that he is 38 years old at that time.  However, somewhere in my searching I found another person who had listed his birth date as March 18, 1841. I don't know exactly how to go about verifying that. I don't have access to international records through ancestry.com at this time; I am only paying for the lower priced subscription that just covers the US.  Maybe there is a database or local records that would be more easily searchable with that date as a starting point.  

I would love to talk to Renee about the photos sent from the US to Kate and Alice. (Hi Renee, if you're reading this!) I always knew that my grandma, Virginia Goff, wrote to cousins in Ireland when she was a teenager.  She would have been writing to them in the 1930's! That's so wonderful to connect with others who knew the ladies she was writing to.  I will have to see if I can find a picture of her to attach; wouldn't it be surprising if you have a photo of her that she sent all those years ago?  

I'm not sure who Mrs. Gray may have been.  Thomas Goff married twice and had many children with both his first wife (the one who was my great great grandmother) and his 2nd wife, who was much younger.  Both of his wives were named Annie; the first one was Ann Cleary and all census information about her says she was born in Ireland. When she died and he married another Annie, that young woman was an orphan who had been living in the orphanage where Thomas was employed as a carpenter.  She was born in Mississippi. Thomas had many daughters with both his first and 2nd wife. I am tempted to guess that Mrs. Gray might have been the married name of one of Thomas' daughters. I wish we knew Mrs. Gray's first name and maybe we could figure out if she was one of the daughters.  Even though I know many of the daughters' names, I don't know how to work my way forward in researching what became of them because once they were married, their names changed and I didn't know where to look. I might try to see if I can find any of them in a later census under the name of Gray and work at it from that angle.  

Other than knowing that my grandma's father was the son of Irish people from County Wexford, Ireland, I haven't known very much about that branch of my family. Grandma's father didn't live near any of his family and so I don't think a lot of information was handed down over the years. Since his children didn't grow up knowing lots of aunts and uncles they must have forgotten a lot or maybe never learned about it in the first place. The story that I have been told is that Thomas' son William (my great grandfather) worked on the cattle drive, moving cattle to market across great stretches of the country. On one of those trips he met my great grandmother and ended up settling down in Joplin, Missouri and living there the rest of his life. His family wouldn't have been in the area, with many of them staying on in Texas. I know my grandma must have been interested in family history and knowing these things since she wrote to Alice and Kate in Ireland but in the intervening years much of this story has been lost.  It is wonderful to hear from you all and start to put together some of the pieces. 

My own heritage is really from lots of places, but Ireland has always had a special pull and I am so happy to hear from you and learn more.  

I need to get on googlemaps and refresh my mind again about where the places are that you are all in and from.  I have always loved looking at maps of the world and now I have a special reason to do that again.  

I tried to attach a photo of my mother and several of her Goff cousins.  Last summer we went to Joplin (from Indiana where I live) to the funeral of my great Uncle Jimmy Goff, the last of my grandma's siblings.  I'm not sure if the attachment is really going to show up, but if it does, these would all be great great grandchildren of Thpmas & Anastasia Goff, or great grandchildren of Thomas & Annie Goff. (They sure did all have the same names; Thomas & Annie had children named Thomas and Annie as well!)

I will try to look closely in my email for any messages that might come through. I hope not to miss any of you!

Elizabeth 

Dear Margaret, 

It's so wonderful to hear from you about your memories of your stepmother Alice and all of her and your family.  I always knew my grandma wrote to cousins in Ireland when she was a girl but I never really knew much about them or imagined that I would be able to talk to them or their descendants. It seemed so long ago and far away in my mind.  

I can imagine a bit what Alice & your sister's days must have been like working with their customers and running their shop. I have a small yarn shop and probably have some similar experiences myself.  It's so nice to be able to learn more about the people I have only had the vaguest idea of and to imagine them going about their daily lives.  

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your memories of all of these people. I will copy the information you sent and keep it in my family history records. It helps so much to have firsthand memories instead of just lists of birth & death dates. It is the story that really brings it to life. 

Best,

Elizabeth

Hi Jack,

After reading your post about the graveyard information for the Goffs I had to go google "Cantwells Memorials of the Dead."  Very interesting that someone methodically transcribed all the graveyard information from so many cemeteries.  I have gone on quite a few genealogy expeditions to cemeteries big and small in looking for the graves of both my and my husband's ancestors. I kind of like the peacefulness there but I can't imagine putting the work into all those transcriptions. I'm very grateful to Mr. Cantwell for all his work though.

I have seen other people on ancestry.com that have some information about Thomas & Anastasia Goff's birth & death dates, but I never knew if they were accurate or where to go to verify the information.  Now I know. And even better I know where they are buried. Thank you for taking the time to look up the information and for telling me where it is from.  I had some dates but I didn't really know if they were right or just hearsay. Thanks so much for telling me about this. It will help me look up others a lot more easily as well.

Elizabeth

Trying one more time...

My mom is the only woman in this photo, surrounded by her Goff cousins. (There are others; these were just the ones at Uncle Jimmy's funeral.)

My mother is Marsha Blevins, daughter of Virginia Goff, daughter of William Goff, son of Thomas Goff, son of Thomas & Anastasia Goff.  

Ok, I clearly don't know how to post pictures to this group. I'll try to figure it out another time.

 

I am so excited to find this site. My name is Lora Flinn. I am the great, great granddaughter of Thomas Goff 1841-1914 and Annie Cleary. My grandmother was Opal Ruth Goff Ferneau 1901-1994. Her father was William Goff 1876- 1954.

My grandmother Opal Ruth married Jack Andrew Ferneau and moved to LaSalle IL. My mother June Ann Ferneau (Flinn) was born in Illinois and was the third of four children. I have just recently started Ancensty.com and I have so many questions. Elizabeth Goff Ladd has been very helpful and now I have my sister Jennifer Marie Flinn (Burns) involved.

The whole line has stopped for me at

Thomas Goff Birth 1813 in County Wexford, Ireland Death ? in Rathangan, Wexford, Ireland.  Anty Wickham Birth 1815 in County Wexford, Ireland Death 1891 in Rathangan Co Wexford Ireland

I look forward to reading the comments and storys.

Lora Flinn Twin Lakes, Colorado

 

Hi Lora,

It's wonderful to see a message from another long lost cousin on here.I am the great grandaughter of Edward Goff brother of your Thomas.I have been in contact with Elizabeth about our Family and sent her lots of information too.

Thomas was the  father of Thomas and Edward he was born in 1800,I have no dates,he died 23.12.1881. Earlier posts to this site gives the brothers and sisters of Thomas and Edward.

Anastasia was born 1814 no dates either she died 3.2.1891

Thomas (1800), his father was Thomas too and his mother was Maria Goff,I have no dates or information for these. Their names are on the Parish Register for their son Denis born 1805. They had other children too and I am still trying to sort them out.

I look forward to helping you and your sister out all I can.

Your Wexford cousin Alice.

(Exciting isnt it).

Hi Lora,

It's wonderful to see a message from another long lost cousin on here.I am the great grandaughter of Edward Goff brother of your Thomas.I have been in contact with Elizabeth about our Family and sent her lots of information too.

Thomas was the  father of Thomas and Edward he was born in 1800,I have no dates,he died 23.12.1881. Earlier posts to this site gives the brothers and sisters of Thomas and Edward.

Anastasia was born 1814 no dates either she died 3.2.1891

Thomas (1800), his father was Thomas too and his mother was Maria Goff,I have no dates or information for these. Their names are on the Parish Register for their son Denis born 1805. They had other children too and I am still trying to sort them out.

I look forward to helping you and your sister out all I can.

Your Wexford cousin Alice.

(Exciting isnt it).

Thomas John Goff Sr was my 2nd Great-Gradfather.  I just wanted to say hi.  It was so neat to read all of this, and find out about my family.