Dear Cousins

January 1998 -December 1998

February 1998
Dear Cousins

      Just want to let everyone know how much I appreciate this Melungeon Forum.  It is unique in its scope.  Let us never be sidetracked.  At the risk of "preaching," may I say what is be­ing done here is historic.  We are not about the business of cre­ating history, but of discovering it.  Kathleen Dotson Mazil, 9105 NE 74th St, Vancouver, WA, 98662, jmazil@ix.netcom.com

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

      I am winding down the job of editing four books for Daughters of the American Revolution.  As of this date, I have finished nine books since summer.  When I get these last four done, I will have some free time [hopefully] and can resume working on Foundation material in the new year.  June A. Smith, 5307 Hwy. 303 NE, #22, Bremerton, WA, 98311, BoJu2325@ix.netcom.com.

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

      I have found the Newsletter most interesting and more in­formative than I would have ever imagined.  It contains so much information on so many early ancestors with the name of "Goins."  It has shed more light on the Goins family and those who have this name.  Keep the good work!  Elsie T. Goins, 112 Olde Springs Rd, Columbia, SC, 29223-6022, taygoin­res@aol.com

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

      I am anxious to become acquainted with the Foundation's online services.  I do not have a computer, but my daughter, Martha Heinrichs [ichs@earthlink.net] of San Jose, California does.  I would like to designate her to send and receive E-mail messages online so that we can continue our research on Nathaniel Gowin.  Jessie Madge Howard [age 91], 717 4th Ave. North, Great Falls, MT, 59401.

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

            I finally got connected on the Internet over here in Eng­land, and it is a pleasure now to be in touch again with the Foundation and the friends I met in Nashville at the Research Conference.  Sam Kretzschmar, Col. USAF, PSC41, Box 3398, APO AEO9464-3398, sam@squige.astra.co.uk

March 1998
==Dear Cousins==
From: gbonner@cbt.net
Query from Washington State

Michael J. Goyne of George, WA saw my posting in the
"Evertons' Genealogical Helper" some time back. He sent me
scant information, then recently sent more.

Does anyone know anything of this family?

James Eldridge Goyne b 26 Sep 1861, d 29 July 1923 [places
unknown]. Married Allie Ida Jones 02 Nov 1882 in Bosque Co,.
TX. Had 11 children:

1] Aruther [sic] Hinten Goyne b 14 Oct 1883 d 03 Feb 1965
m Mamie Elizibeth [sic] Philley no date nor place. They
had 4 children:
1. Michael's grandfather Robert James Goyne b 09 Aug
1921 in Throckmorton County, TX.
2. Punny Arther b 18 Nov 1924
3. Sydney Towers Goyne b 28 Mar 1926;
4. Minnie Mary Goyne b 06 Jan 1933.

2] Oscar Britton Goyne b 21 Apr 1885 d 19 Apr 1964
3] Lillie Pearl Goyne b 01 Jan 1887
4] James Lee Goyne b 21 Dec 1889 d 27 Oct 1958
5] Grace Ethel Goyne b 06 Aug 1891
6] Henry Ozro Goyne b 11 June 1893 d 14 Jun 1977
7] Mary Francis Goyne b 26 Nov 1895
8] Bertha Ina Goyne b 20 Mar 1898
9] Bell Essie Goyne b 22 May 1900
10] Birdie Alice Goyne b 29 Dec 1903
11] Ruby Fae Goyne b 07 Mar 1907

Am not certain of Michael J. Goyne's age, but his gf was
born 1921, and assuming 20-year generations, Michael might
be in his 30's. His letters to me are hand-printed, not
hand-written, but he signs his name in cursive script.
Michael's grandmother is his source of information--the
wife of Robert James Goyne.

Any help is appreciated. Michael is not online.

Thanks--
Ann Harper Bonner
403 Hickory St.
Springhill, LA 71075-2635 gbonner@cbt.net


Reply from the Foundaton:

Ann,

My parents were married in Throckmorton County and were
friends of the Goyne family that you are researching. I
interviewed several members of this family back in the
1950s and have ransacked a few courthouses where their
records are preserved. I am inserting below a report I
wrote on this branch of the family for the Foundation
Manuscript. You are welcome to forward this information
to Michael Goyne in Washington. Perhaps he would like to
affiliate with the Foundation and join in the effort to
draw back the curtain of antiquity on our ancestors.

If you are open to some speculation, there was a James
A.[ldridge/Aldrich?] Gowin who was enumerated in the 1870
household of Rev. Charles Albert Gowin in Crawford
County, AR. He was shown as an "orphan, age 10."

Rev. Charles Albert Gowin, son of Nathan Gowin and Louisa
Gowin, was born in 1844 in Tennessee. He served as a
Confederate infantryman during the Civil War. He was
married to Serena I. Evatt about 1870, and they removed
to Crawford County, Arkansas prior to 1872. Serena
died March 22, 1874, perhaps in childbirth, and the Rev.
Gowin was remarried about 1876, wife's name Li Adeline.
She was a widow with two children whom Rev. Gowin adopted.

Good huntin'
Arlee

June 1998
Dear Cousins

      It is with great sorrow that I advise you my mother, Anna S. Butler Gowan of Phoenix, died May 20 as the result of in­juries sustained in an automobile accident.  She was a charter member and staunch supporter of the Foundation.  She was the widow of Frank Maxwell Gowan who worked with you for many years in the research of the Gowan/Gowen family of Davidson and Rutherford County, TN.  Mary Jo Gowan Bray, 5719 E. Aster Drive, Scottsdale, AZ, 85254.

                                             ==O==

      Christine Gowenlock [1757-1829] is my third g-grand­mother who lived in Dumfrieshire, Scotland.  Are any of the Foundation members in pursuit of this line who would corre­spond with me.  Capt. Paul R. Peak, 6251 Old Dominion Drive, #306, McLean, VA, 22101-0340, paulpeak@aol.com.

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

      I really enjoyed Anna Going Friedman's fascinating ac­count of the GA/KY branch of the family.  Her research is ex­ceptional!

      You will recall that I am not a Goins descendant, but an in­dependent scholar [Ph.D, Duke U] with an abiding interest in multi-racial communities.  I have been working on a project for two years now trying to trace descendants from a handful of NC/VA border counties [Mecklenburg, Halifax and Greensville in VA; Northampton, Warren and Granville in NC] to find out where they went and how they experienced America as non-whites.

      Mainly this research has been genealogical, with the hope of locating illuminating court cases, such as the Melungeon li­bel suit from Tennessee in the 1850s.  I've been lucky; the people who left NC during the 1820s-40s to resettle in Indi­ana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan left a rich harvest of material in their attempts to achieve some kind of recognition and jus­tice.  Now you can see why Anna Friedman's article interested me so!

      The Rockingham County, NC branch of the Goings family was and is located in a compact tightly-knit community known as "Goinstown."  It existed as early as 1810 [when Zephaniah Going, Johnson Going and Jesse Going were enumerated there] along with the Gibson and Moore families.  Goinstown was known to sociologists in the 1930s and 1940s. 

      Robert K. Thomas of the BIA, Washington visited there in early 1976.  Since the 1950's Goinstown people have legally been "white."  They are not much open to historians  It is a sensitive subject in a very rural county.  In 1937, Louise Nunn wrote a dissertation on Goinstown for a Columbia University M.A. thesis.  It was considered so negative and condescending in both Goinstown and High Plains [modern-day "Person County Indians] that neither group has been willing to work with outside researchers since.  I, myself found it painful to read, despite the wealth of primary source material.

      I would like to contact descendants of the Goinstown area now in other areas in the hope that they would be more open to inquiries.  G. C. Waldrep III, Box 687, Yanceyville, NC, 27379.

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

      All Goins descendants are invited to attend the annual Goins Family Reunion Saturday, August 22 in the City Park in Rogersville, TN.  The event will be held in the park's large pavilion from 10 a.m. until ????  Potluck dinner will be served.  For details, contact Johnnie Rhea, Rt. 2, Sneedville, TN, 37864, 423/733-4362.  Twanda Buckreis, 1256 Devonport, Lexington, KY, 40504

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

            My g-g-grandparents, Micajah Going and Martha Jayne Kelly Going were married January 19, 1836 in Amherst County, VA.  Their children were George, Ann Elizabeth, Eveline, and Lucie Henry.  Perhaps there was another wife for Micajah and more children.  If you have any information on this family, please contact me. Dorothy Sykes, 229 Conven­tion Dr, Virginia Beach, VA, 23462.

July 1998
Dear Cousins

I am enclosing for the shelves of the Foundation library a
copy of 'Memoirs of James M. Gowin, First Atomic Veteran.' In
addition to this 214-page book, I am sending a cassette tape re-
cording which provides additional information about my life and
my philosophy. I would like the Foundation to have these and to
preserve them forever.
I greatly appreciate receiving the Newsletter and applaud all
the efforts being made to preserve our heritage. I am certain
when we go back far enough the Gowins, Gowens, Goins etc.
all have some common ancestors. My great-grandfather,
Shadrack Gowin was born April 17, 1791 in Virginia, and my
grandfather, Drury Gowin, was born May 26, 1819 in Wilson
County, Tennessee. My father, James Madison Gowin was
born May 11, 1841 in Crawford County, Illinois. My cousin,
Donna Gowin Johnston of Casper, Wyoming has done an out-
standing job in writing the history of our family.

I was born August 25, 1915 in Rutherford County, Ten-
nessee when my father was 74. My father was a Civil War veteran,
having served in the Thirty-third Indiana Infantry Regiment. I
served in the 442nd Infantry in World War II and did occupation
duty in Japan.
We arrived there immediately after the second atomic bomb
was dropped, and five of us requisitioned a truck and drove the
30 miles to Hiroshima. We were appalled at this devastated
city. We could not drive through, so we parked the truck and
walked through. We were the first Americans to arrive there
and had received no warning about radiation sickness. There
were some mighty dirty, sick-looking people there digging
around in the rubble. They paid us no mind nor we them. We
were about four hours walking across Hiroshima and about four
hours coming back through. We were amazed at the power of
this bomb. It had severed 3-foot reinforced columns just as
smooth as a knife cuts cheese. We ate there twice, laying our
food on the tops of these severed columns.
On December 1, 1945 I was hospitalized with an "unknown
sickness" and on March 31, 1946 I was evacuated on a hospital
ship for home. During the next 44 years I have fought a con-
stant [losing] battle for my health. I hope that America will
never forget the horror and suffering that has been unleashed.
James M. Gowin, 7347 Charlotte Place, Nashville, TN, 37209.


Cornwall Advocated as the Ancestral Home
of the Goyens, Gowens, Goins Etc.

By Robert J. Goyen
523 Sutton Street, Sebastopol 3357, Victoria, Australia

Taking into account that the only areas of Britain that were
not conquered by the Romans and later the Vikings were Scot-
land, Wales and Cornwall. There they continued to use the
Gaelic language, and so Gowens would be found in only those
three countries.
This being so, then we were always Cornish. In 1936, my
mother asked a genealogist of the time to find for her the origin
of the name "Goyen." His story was that in 1066 among the
followers of William the Conqueror was a Norman nobleman,
Sir Hugh de Goy. His followers were known as
Goyens/Goynes. Goy, Goyen and Goyne are place names de-
riving from a place on the River Seine in Lower Normandy
which is now spelt "Guyon." Sir Hugh de Goy was granted
land in Cornwall. There the Goyen name was pronounced
Gowen as the old Cornish language did not use the letter "Y."
I am enclosing [below] a copy of a newspaper account of a
collision at sea involving my g-g-grandmother and her children
while they were coming out in 1859 to join my g-g-grandfather
already here. Robert J. Goyen, 523 Sutton St, Sebastopol
3357, Victoria, Australia.

"Collision at Sea--Loss of the Elizabeth Walker

The White Star ship Red Jacket arrived at Port Phillip Heads at sundown on
Saturday and reached Hobson's Bay late yesterday evening. Her passage to the
Equator occupied 28 days; thence to the Cape light and baffling winds. Capt.
Kirby reports the loss of the Elizabeth Walker from collision with the Red Jacket.
The following particulars were extracted from the log:

June 13, lat. 30.40 S, lon. 36.40 W at 1 a.m, clear moonlight, ship's
course SE 1/2 S, rate of sailing 9 knots, all plain sail set and the port
foretopmast studding-sail, the man on the look-out reported a ship on the port
bow. Orders were given by Mr. Robertson, officer of the watch, to show the port
light. On ascertaining the tack and position of the ship the officer of the
watch gave orders for the helm to be put to port, as the strange vessel was
nearly on a parallel on the opposite tack to ourselves. The strange vessel
then showed a flaming torchlight. At the same time, it was discovered that
she had put her helm to starboard, and was keeping off the same as ourselves.
The officer of the watch seeing, by the two vessels continuing on the same
course, that a collision would be inevitable, ordered the helm of the Red Star
to be put to starboard, with the view of passing under the stern of the
strange vessel, and almost simultaneously, the helm on board of the strange
vessel was put to port, which luffed her across our bows, and a collision
took place.

Orders were immediately given to throw all aback. To describe the confusion
among the passengers at the first shock is unnecessary; suffice it to say that
the Red Jacket had cut into the main-hatch combings of the other vessel, carry-
ing away her mainmast, mizen topmast, yards, etc, the Red Jacket losing fore
topmast-studsail-boom, and some of the head gear being carried away. On looking
over the bows of our own vessel, I immediately saw the dangerous position of
the other one, as she was evidently filling very rapidly with water, and called
out to them on board to leave her at once. With much difficulty the crew got on
board the Red Jacket, and in less that eight minutes from the first shock the
strange vessel went down under the bottom of the Red Jacket. At the earliest
opportunity the crew of the strange vessel was mustered. They were all on board,
and with the exception of the man that was at the wheel, they were all uninjured.
The ship proved to be the Elizabeth Walker, of Glasgow, from Buenos Ayres, with
a general cargo. When repair was completed, sail was made with the intention to
proceed on the voyage and to put the crew on board the first ship we found home-
ward bound."

                I have finally entered the 21st Century.  We're getting E-mail a little late here in Mexico, but my new address is shown below.  I opened the largest furniture and interior design busi­ness in Chapala-Ajijic on July 1.  It is called The Southern Touch.  I have enjoyed Cleve Weathers' Newsletter articles.  I believe that my John Goin came from the same South Carolina roots.  Sandra M. Loridans, Apartado Postal 844, 45900 Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico, SoTouch@Laguna.com.mx

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

                I am trying to trace my Goins line back to the time of the Confederate States and earlier.  My g-g-f was Thomas Joshua Goins, b1869 in TX, d1917 in Dallas, TX.  He was married to Eugenia Atkinson, b1877 in LA, d1916 in Manning, TX.  I believe they were in Bell County, TX in 1900.  Their children:

Clyde, Barney, Thomas J. Gertrude, Lois and Admiral Dewey Goins, my gf.

                I believe the parents of Thomas Joshua Goins were Thomas J. Goins and Rachel Matilda Cox Goins.  According to cs1910, she was born in 1847 in AR.  Thomas J. Goins was born in TN or AR.  Any information on this line would be greatly appreci­ated.  Raymond Ryan, Rt. 2, Box 139, Diboll, TX, 75941, ckennethryan@juno.com.

                                      ==Dear Cousins==

 Who was Craddock Goins living in Jackson, Mississippi around 1942?  James Street of Jones County, Mississippi, au­thor of the 1951 historical novel "Tap Roots" lists him as an assistant researcher.  "Taps Roots" is based on the author's historical views of one dominant family and the social and po­litical views of events surrounding slavery in Jones County, just prior to and during the civil war--connecting to the State of Lebanon.  The forward, written in 1942, credits Mr. Goins' work.  Are any of his descendants out there somewhere?

                Also, Street refers to black Moors who came to the Gulf area.  In his book he has a fictitious character of Moorish and Cajan mix heritage.  Several years ago a researcher from Mis­sissippi told me of a group of people who, at one time were sometimes described like Melungeons and Black Dutch who were living across the western Alabama state line not far from her.  Separate from whites and blacks, they were called Cajan [not Cajun]. 

                The author states in the forward, "This book, as was its predecessor, "Oh, Promised Land," is based on a bit of American history that possibly is not generally known." Putting the romance and family dramas aside, I believe the author and his helper Craddock Goins knew more about hu­man nature and historical events than we have been led to be­lieve by some established authorities.  In any event, let's add Craddock Goins name to the Gowens list.  Perhaps I have shared another possible clue to the mystery of nationalities of early peoples in America not previously recognized.  Evelyn McKinley Orr, 8310 Emmet St, Omaha, NE, 68134-4940, jorre@juno.com.

December 1998
Dear Cousins 

                Wonderful News!  The November Newsletter brought my sister Roxanne Francesconi, Shelbyville, TN and Charles B. Gowen, Tullahoma, TN, our cousin, together.