ca 1918
HISTORY OF ALFRED AARON GOFF
Compiled and Written by Judyth A. Goff Cook, Granddaughter
May 2000
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| Alfred Aaron Goff ca 1918 |
Alfred Aaron Goff was born the fifth son of James Edward Goff and Margaret Ellen Clayton on 17 October 1884 in Minersville, Beaver, Utah. His father, James, moved from Provo, Utah in his youth with his brother Elijah to farm in Minersville, and that is why Alfred came to be born in this area of Utah. Alfred's siblings were Edward, James Edward, Joseph, Wilford George, Isabelle, Earnest Richard, and Lorin Elisha. Alfred eventually met and married Susannah Jones, of Paragonah, Utah, on 13 April 1908. They lived in Minersville and Milford and had four children, DeWayne, Juanetta, Alfred Clayton, and Darwin Robb. When Darwin was only about a year old, Susannah died of cancer, leaving Alfred with four children to raise alone. The childrens' grandparents of both sides helped Alfred with the children at this time of trial. Alfred acquired the skill of machinist and worked in a machine shop in Milford, Utah; it is here he met Margaret Ann Bullock. Margaret was teaching school in Milford, Utah at the time. In her own recorded history Margaret tells that they were both living at the same hotel and used to eat their meals together, and Alfred would sit down and they would talk a lot. Margaret records that Alfred was so handsome she fell for him, four children or not--and they fell in love.
Margaret and Alfred were married 24 December 1920, on Christmas Eve. (Alfred had a full head of very dark hair and brown eyes. At the time of his death, his hair was still relatively dark and still had a full head of hair.) Alfred and Margaret lived in Milford for awhile, and on 1 January 1922, their son, Kimball Bullock Goff, was born. They really liked Milford, but the machine shop that Alfred was working at closed down and moved to Escalante, Utah. Margaret didn't want to move that far away from her folks who were in Provo, Utah, so they made the decision to go up north to Bingham Canyon, Utah where there was work for Alfred as a machinist in the shops for Utah Copper Company (now Kennecott Copper Corporation). He worked for this company until he became too sick with his heart and died just before his retirement. Margaret stayed with her mother and dad (James Alonzo Bullock and Jeanie Grier) in Provo until Alfred located them a home in Bingham Canyon.
It is in Provo, Utah that a second son, James Eugene Goff, was born on 20 March 1923. After Alfred had located them a home in Freeman Gulch in Bingham Canyon, Margaret packed up her young family and went on a bus. Margaret records how it seemed like it was a thousand miles away, and how hard it was for her to walk up the hill to her home. When she got there, she started to cry and cried all night. All she saw was nothing but rocks, no trees, no nothing, just rocks. They soon settled in and although life was hard in Bingham, Alfred was working hard for the family, and they made many friends. Margaret had been injured in a barbed wire fence when she was four years old and contracted blood poisoning and left her one leg 2 inches shorter than the other. As a result, it became difficult at times for her to walk and in her later years was again in a brace. Alfred cared for her and wanted to make life as easy for her as he could in this rough mining town existence. They had lost of friends and played cards for entertainment.
Alfred and Margaret had a third son, Ralph Myln Goff, born 24 January 1926 in Bingham Canyon. When Ralph was 8 years of age he was out playing with other children. They were playing "Run Sheep Run," and he ran up against a guide wire and cut his lip badly. Ralph didn't want to go to the doctor and looked in the mirror and said, "If I go to the doctor's, I'll die." He needed stitches badly, and so Alfred took him to Dr. Russel G. Frazier's office in Bingham Canyon. Ralph had just eaten his dinner, and the doctor was told this but he went ahead and gave him ether anyway. As a result, Ralph died of choking in the doctor's office on 16 February 1934. Imagine the devastation Alfred felt when he want home to Margaret with an empty blanket. The whole family mourned Ralph's loss for a very long time. Ralph is buried in the Provo City Cemetary.
Alfred sustained much tragedy and loss during the next four years. His son, DuWayne Goff, died in an industrial accident on 3 October 1937. He was working in Los Angeles on a dock and a crane was loading poles, or pipe, and the chain broke, and the load came down on top of him and crushed him. DuWayne is buried in the San Luis Obisbo area of California. (DuWayne married "Dolly" and had a child Shirley. Dolly remarried Charles Latimer and remained in the LA area.) Alfred Clayton Goff died 2 July 1937. He was serving in the Navy and a gun blew up close to him. It affected his ear and an abcess broke and went to the brain and took his life. In some accounts it states it as cancer. Juanetta Goff died on 21 December 1938 with cancer. It is reported that she was a very beautiful girl, and the whole family was very saddened that she had cancer. She died in a short time after her illness. Juanetta had been married to LeVerne Roby.
Alfred had lost four children in four years. It was a sad and trying time for him. Through all this time the depression was also challenging him. Margaret and Alfred grew to love Bingham Canyon. Everybody was the same. Nobody had any more than anyone else. It was hard times for them and no money to buy anything. Margaret used to sew and make things stretch as far as she could. Alfred was such a good man and was very good with his hands and had many skills. During the depression he always had a bunch of kids in the neighborhood that he cut their hair. He had cobbler's tools and would mend shoes for people who were really bad off. He did this for no pay, just to help people out. As time went on the copper company was buying out the homes in Bingham Canyon for mining expansion. Their sons, Kim and Gene, had already moved to Midvale, Utah about 1949. In 1950 Alfred and Margaret moved to a little white home on 145 South Grant Street in Midvale, Utah. Margaret loved this home. Her knee had gotten much worse by then, and she couldn't walk very well, and the home was just right for her. It didn't have stairs or a basement. They were very happy in Midvale. Alfred lived there for only five years when he passed away in St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah of a heart attack on 28 May 1955. He had had a stroke and been ill with his heart for some time. Margaret continued to live alone there until her death. She died on 2 April 1981 in the Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, Utah. She initially went to the hospital to be treated for pneumonia. They were helping that condition and it was clearing up, but Margaret just decided it was her time to die. She closed her eyes and more or less refused anything, and in three weeks passed away. The family knew she was just tired of living and being unable to get around, and besides she had so many loved ones that had gone on before. She wanted to be with them again, which she firmly believed she would. Alfred and Margaret are buried side by side in the Larkin Sunset Gardens in Sandy, Utah.
Alfred and Margaret's son, Kimball Bullock Goff, died on 27 April 1963, while vacationing in Las Vegas, Nevada very suddenly of natural causes (as is reported in the obituary). He did have only one kidney and had adema at the time of his death. Kim married Ruth Fennell 18 April 1942 in Ruper, Idaho. Kim is buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetary in Salt Lake City, Utah. Darwin Robb Goff died of a brain tumor on 13 October 1984 at home in Santa Rosa, California. Darwin married Maybelle Syvia Conner on 16 September 1940 in Los Angeles, CA. James Eugene Goff died of multiple myeloma and complications of encephalitis on 20 February 2000 at his home in Midvale, Utah. He fought a courageous battle of this disease for seven years. James (Gene) married Shirley Chesnut on 12 November 1942 in Salt Lake City, Utah. James Eugene Goff is buried in the Larkin Sunset Gardens in Sandy, Utah.
Judy Goff Cook has just learned that Alfred and Susannah had another daughter, Zella, who was born and died in 1919 the year before Susannah's death in Feb 1920.
Text prepared for website by:
Gwen Goff Hobbs
15 Jun 2000