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THE FAMILY OF WILLIAM MARTIN GOOCH

William Martin Gooch married Elizabeth Jane Oliver in Tishomingo County in 1849. They had twelve children between 1850 and about 1872, all of them born in northeastern Mississippi. Their children were William Elijah (1850), Thomas (about 1852), Sarah (about 1856), Mary Pauline (1858), Oliver B. (1860), Margaret L. (1862), Luther Martin (twin, 1865), Other (twin, 1865), George Hamilton (1867), Cynthia ( 1868), A.E. (1870), and Aleck (1872).

As far as we can tell, William Martin Gooch came to northeastern Mississippi before 1840, while he was still a boy living with his parents, William and Sarah Gooch. His father probably homesteaded land that was made available for white settlement when the Chickasaw Indians were moved to the Indian territory, west of the Mississippi River, by a treaty enacted in 1832.

The 1840's and 1850's were "boom times" for Mississippi, and the people there were very prosperous.

William Martin Gooch owned a farm near the town of Baldwyn. That part of Mississippi was ravaged during the Civil War. William Martin Gooch may have served as a soldier in the Confederate Army in the early years of the war. We know the Battle of Shiloh was fought nearby in April of 1862, just across the state line in Hardin County, Tennessee. For all practical purposes, the area was under Union occupation from late May of 1862 until the war ended. Confederate forces operated there throughout the war, often using nearby Tupelo as their base camp. The Battle of Brice's Crossroads was fought nearby in 1964. It was a decisive victory for the Confederates under General Nathan Bedford Forrest.  But in general terms, the Union forces were in control and the people suffered. Both sides victimized the people who lived on the farms there. Foraging parties from both armies frequented their farms, taking foodstuff, wagons and other equipment, and livestock. Before the war started, Mississippi had been the Pride of Dixie. By the time the war ended in 1865, the state was in shambles. Widespread poverty prevailed there into the twentieth century, and it is still rated as one of the poorest states in the United States of America.

There is a family story that William Martin Gooch served in the Confederate Army early in the Civil War. He was brought home, badly wounded with gunpowder burns on his face. He was blinded from the injuries because his eyelids were swollen shut. A female Negro slave put together some kind of concoction that was applied as a salve. This remedy worked and he was able to open his eyes and see again. (I have not been able to find proof of his service in the Confederate Army.)

Other family stories were passed down about what it was like there after the Civil War ended in 1865. One story described how the women and older girls pooled together to keep camp fires going beside the road that ran by the family farm. There was a constant flow of ex-Confederate soldiers on that road, most of them walking - trying to make their way back to their homes. Many of them were crippled from wounds or sickness. The women and girls kept these camp fires going around the clock and the defeated soldiers used these little camps as rest stops. They had big pots of boiling water set up so the men could wash their lice infested clothes and their bodies with home made lye soap. They also tried to provide some food to the soldiers, but there was little food that could be shared. They did what they could to comfort and help these pitiful soldiers as they made their way back tp their homes.

A family story described a visit by a Yankee foraging party. There was a woman and three young daughters on the farm when the Yankees came. The girls ages were about 10, 6 and 2. The Yankee party was led by an old sergeant and there were several young troopers.  Upon arriving, the sergeant told the lady they were there to gather supplies for their Army nearby. He asked if she could fix them something to eat. He said they had not eaten in two days. The woman was very frightened but as an act of defiance she made cornbread using dirty dishwater. The soldiers loaded their booty on a wagon and also took some livestock. A young trooper was going to take their only milk cow but the old sergeant made him put it back in the barn. After they were loaded up, they came inside and ate whatever the lady was able to put together - including the cornbread. None of them complained about the food. When the young ones would start to be disrespectful, the old sergeant would call them down. He told them "Boys, we are here to wage war on men ... not women and children". 

William Martin and Elizabeth Jane (Oliver) Gooch stayed in Mississippi until 1889, when they moved to Hunt County, Texas. In Mississippi, records on the family can be found in both Tishomingo and Itawamba counties prior to about 1870, and in Prentiss and Lee counties afterwards. Mississippi was reorganized after the Civil War, and many of the old counties were sub-divided and given new names. Before the reorganization, the family lived on land that bordered the old Tishomingo and Itawamba counties. After the reorganization, the family lived on land that bordered the new Prentiss and Lee counties. 

William Martin went by the nickname of Willy.

Elizabeth Jane Oliver was a daughter of Elijah Oliver and Mary (Polly) Kuykendall. There is a family story that the Kuykendall's were a wealthy family in that region when Elijah Oliver came into the picture in the 1820's. He was then a poor young man and had little to offer Mary Kuykendall when he proposed marriage. He stated that someday he would be a very rich man. He made good on his promise and achieved great wealth through land speculation and operating several mercantile businesses.

Elizabeth Jane (Oliver) Gooch died in 1914 in Hunt County, Texas. William Martin Gooch died in 1919 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. They are both buried in the Hogeye-Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Hunt County, Texas.

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