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Please be advised that I do not have photographs for most of the people shown here. Most of the sketches are based on my imagination and are not represented as being exact likenesses for the people named.
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*<UNVERIFIED CONNECTION> William W. Gooch & Keziah Ann Hart. Married about 1746 in VA. Parents of James Gooch. I believe he was born in Virginia but I am not sure of it. A prosperous tobacco planter, he fought as a soldier in the American Army during the Revolutionary War. Late in his life, he was interviewed about his family history by a related Methodist Minister, which was recorded in a journal. The main point he wanted to make is that he was not a Scot. He said he spoke with a heavy brogue but was of English descent. The Scots were not popular in that part of the country during that period because many of them had sided with the British Army. Keziah died young and William married again, to a lady named Francis Rice. He had two sets of children. Our Line comes from the first marriage. When he died, he willed several Negro slaves to family members - along with livestock and ducks. Click here to read more about the Gooch families.
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*<UNVERIFIED CONNECTION> James Gooch & Elisabeth Kelly. Married August 3, 1785 in Caswell Co., NC. Parents of William Gooch. James was the wandering kind. While most of his siblings settled down to be farmers or merchants after growing up, James was constantly on the move, traveling to South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. The Kelly's were well established and owned plantations in Georgia and South Carolina. James marched to the beat of a different drummer - that is for sure.
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Gabriel Phillips (the elder) &
wife ????. Married about
1785 in SC. Parents of Gabriel Phillips (the younger). Gabriel Phillips
was among the first from this line to arrive in America. He migrated
here from Ireland. Family legend holds that the family was pressed out
of Wales in the the early 1700's because of their religious beliefs -
moving to Ireland. Some of them were being persecuted in Ireland by the
middle 1700's and they made the
move on to America.
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James Hembree & Asanath Gentry. Married about 1790, probably in
SC. James was a clergyman., a Methodist Minister.
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Jesse Kuykendall & Jeannie Hall. Married about 1801 in TN. They
were the parents of Mary Kuykendall. The
Kuykendall line had earlier roots in the state of New York. They were
among the earliest settlers there, migrating from Holland in the 1600's. They migrated
to Tennessee when it opened up for settlement after 1750. From what I
read about them, they were of the old aristocratic class in Tennessee.
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James Callahan & Mary Foley. Married in 1804 in Wilkes Co., GA.. Parents of James Hughes Callahan. I believe his father's name was Edward and he was probably born in America. His grandfather may have been named John and he probably migrated to America from Ireland, arriving in Pennsylvania between 1730 and 1740. I believe James started the family's wagon making enterprise. |
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James Clinton Neill & Margaret Harriett Ferguson. Married 1807, Probably in TN. Parents of Samuel Clinton Neill. A professional soldier, he was wounded at the Battle of Horse Shoe Bend in Tennessee in 1814. He served as a LT COL in the Texian Army under General Sam Houston. He was in command of the Alamo in early 1836 and took a leave of absence a few weeks before the Mexican invaders arrived. His reason used for taking leave was to attend to a seriously ill relative. He turned it over to LT COL William Travis. It is noted that his wife died in February of 1836. The Alamo was under siege from February 23 - March, 6 of 1836, when it finally fell. He ran the artillery at the Battle of San Jacinto. He was wounded in the hip there by shrapnel fragments from an exploding cannon burst. Afterwards, some branded him as a coward for shirking his duty at the Alamo but he was held in high esteem by Sam Houston until his death in 1845. |
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Johnson Day & Sarah Hembree. Married about 1814, probably in SC. Parents of Sarah Medissa Day. They came to Texas in 1836. Johnson died not long after they settled in Sequin, Texas and I do not have much information about him. In some documents, he is referred to as "Judge Day". Sarah was deeply religious. She was the daughter of a Methodist minister. She operated a boarding house in Sequin for many years after her husband died. The boarding house was right down the street from the Old Ranger Station. |
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Gabriel Phillips (the younger) & Abbey Rainmaker. Married about 1825 in Spartenburg District, SC. Parents of Calvin Phillips. I believe he was a Christian Missionary who had great admiration for the Cherokees. I had thought Abbey Rainmaker was a Cherokee but that cannot be proven. After their marriage, they chose to live with the Cherokees and raised their sons there - in the ways of the Cherokee. |
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*<UNVERIFIED CONNECTION> William Gooch & Sarah ??? Married about 1815 in SC. Unproven parents of William Martin Gooch. I know little about William Gooch and his wife. I believe he was a son of James and Elisabeth (Kelly) Gooch but that is not proven. He appears in records for South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi. He is a weak link in my Gooch family line because I cannot say with certainty who his parents were. He was listed as a farmer in census records and sometimes worked as a blacksmith and wagon maker. He died of consumption in 1859 in Mississippi. His farm was located near the farm of William Martin Gooch in the 1850 records and I believe they were father and son. In the 1840 census, another farm nearby was owned by Tillman Gooch. I believe William and Tillman were brothers. There also seems to be a link between him and Billy Gosling Gooch in Lancaster County, South Carolina. I have not been able to make a direct tie between them that can be verified but they were in communication with each other. He also had communications with members of the Thomas Gooch line, who lived in McNairy Co., Tennessee, just across the state line from Mississippi. Billy Gosling Gooch was a cruel slave holder who was written about in the "The Narratives of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery". Thomas Gooch was a Baptist Minister. |
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Shadrach Reddick & Nellie Smith. Married September 6, 1821 in Sangamon Co., IL. Parents of Rachael Reddick. Shadrach spent h several years as a soldier and Indian Fighter. He served under General Andrew Jackson and fought in campaigns against Indians in Florida, Tennessee and the Mississippi Territory. It seems that he settled down to being a blacksmith and farmer after he married Nellie. Nellie died and he ended up in northwest Arkansas, living near his grown children in the late 1840's. Around 1850, he decided to go to Oregon. Shadrach and his sons built three wagons especially for the trip and they set out on the old Oregon Trail. His adventurous spirit had been awakened, even though he was already an old man, by the standards of that time. He died in Oregon before 1860. |
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Elijah "Lige" Oliver & Mary Kuykendall. Married about
1830 in TN. Parents of Elizabeth Jane Oliver. Elijah was a prosperous
merchant and community leader in northeast Mississippi. He came from
poor roots in Rockingham Co., North Carolina. He was very friendly and treated all people fairly. He had a
reputation for being honest. Mary had aristocratic roots
and sometimes looked down on the common folks and the Chickasaws. She
was a haughty and aloof lady and bragged about being kin to Daniel
Boone, although I see no proof of that. The Oliver family plot is in the
Old Baldwyn Cemetery near the town of Baldwyn, Mississippi. The graves
are located on high ground. Many of the old grave markers are now
toppled and broken up but they were once splendid monuments.
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Samuel Clinton Neill & Lourahama Berry. Married June 13, 1841 in TX. Parents of Sarah Elizabeth Neill. I know very little about Samuel. I believe Lourahama was an Indian - possibly Osage. She had a connection to the Francis Berry family but I am not sure how they were related. At first, I thought she was his daughter but that does not seem to be the case. Francis Berry arrived in Texas in the 1820's. He was already an old man. He was an adventurous man who lived his life on the edge of civilization. He lived in Missouri before coming to Texas. It is written that he was friends with Daniel Boone. With his lifestyle, Lourahama may have been a gift that was presented to Francis by one of the Indian Chiefs. Several cousins believe Lourahama was a natural daughter of Francis Berry and was not an Indian. I have doubts about it. We will probably never know. |
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James Hughes Callahan & Sarah Medissa Day. Married
March 26, 1843 in Gonzeles Co., TX. Parents of James Sanford Callahan.
James came to Texas in late 1835 as part of the Georgia volunteer. He
fought in the Texian Revolution and later served as a Captain over
frontier Texas Rangers. He was killed in a gunfight with a neighbor in
April of 1856. You can read more about James Hughes Callahan by clicking here. Sarah died about five months after her husband was killed in April of 1856. It is believed that she died from grief and sorrow. Their children - 3 sons and 2 daughters - were left in the charge of a guardian. |
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William Martin Gooch & Elizabeth Jane Oliver. Married June 5, 1849 in Tishomingo Co., MS. Parents of William Elijah "Lige" Gooch. William was a farmer and blacksmith. In the early days of the Civil War, while serving as a Confederate militiaman, he suffered gunpowder burns to his face and eyes when a cannon backfired. He was brought home blind and in great pain. A female Negro slave gathered herbs and secret ingredients to cook up a special salve. When it was applied to the burns, it seemed to work wonders. At first Elizabeth scoffed at the "Voodoo medicine" but later credited it with saving his eyesight - possibly even his life. He may have been impacted by the war experience for the rest of his life. Family business was always done by Elizabeth and her signature appears on everything. It makes me wonder if he was handicapped by poor eyesight or other issues. We know that she was a very strong willed and controlling person so it could be that is just the way they did things. We will probably never know.
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Calvin Phillips & Rachael Reddick. Married December 20, 1849 in Benton Co., AR. Parents of John Wesley Phillips. I believe Calvin was raised among the Cherokees, in their way, and spent time with them whenever he could as an adult. If I remember right, my father said Rachael was a school teacher in her younger days. Calvin took his family to Texas in the 1870's. They appear in the 1880 Cooke Co., Texas census records. Several members of the family moved into the Chickasaw Nation of the Indian Territory before 1890. I believe Calvin and Rachael moved with them. I have not found any documentation showing that they were in the Indian Territory. I am curious about what drew so many white people to the Indian Territory in the 1880's and 1890's. History shows that it was a wild and lawless place to live in those times and it was a safe haven for outlaws. I know there was strip mining for coal going on in the area of the Chickasaw Nation, where my Phillips family settled. My father's stories about his boyhood while living near Wapanuka, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, indicate Calvin was still alive in 1905. It seems that he lived near them. |
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James Sanford Callahan & Sarah Elizabeth Neill. Married January 24, 1866 in Caldwell Co., TX. Parents of Willie Katherine Callahan. James was a laborer and jack-of-all-trades. He rode as a cavalryman for the Confederacy during the Civil War, spending most of his time patrolling the frontier, trying to keep the Indians in check. He served as a frontier Texas Ranger for short term assignments from time to time during the 1870's. He seemed to prefer working with horses. Sarah was a small energetic woman. She was outspoken about not liking Indians, although she admitted that she had Indian blood. She said, "If I knew which of my veins carry the Indian blood, I would rip them out." She served as a midwife to help pregnant women in distress in the sparsely populated Chickasaw Nation, which had few doctors. She died around 1900, from complications after being bit by a poisonous snake. James lived until after November of 1917. I lose track of him then. I could not find a record of his death or burial. I believe he was living in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma near a small town named America, Oklahoma, when he died. He may have lived in the home of a daughter, Carrie. |
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William Elijah "Lige" Gooch & Sarah Elizabeth Jane
Davis. Married October 30, 1872 in Lee Co., MS. Parents of Jesse Gooch.
An interesting man - I am of the opinion that he was an "unrepentant
rebel" and never got over the humiliation the southerners suffered after
losing the Civil War. He ran away at age twelve to join the Confederate
Army. Legend holds that he was a drummer boy but I found no proof of it.
There is also a story about him being captured by the Yankees and
serving time in a prisoner of war camp in Illinois or Indiana, not
making it back to his home in Mississippi until 1867. I could not verify
that. He had a falling out with his son, Jess - my grandfather - in the
early 1900's. They parted ways and as far as I know there was no contact
between them after that. My mother, Mava, corresponded with him by mail
while she was a girl. Her father found out about it and put a stop to
it. Sarah died before 1910, probably in Paris, Lamar Co., Texas. William
died in 1929 in Fort Worth, Tarrant Co., Texas. Jesse apparently adored
his mother, Sarah. In the stories my mother told, Jess
left home when he was 16, shortly after his mother died. He blamed his
father, Lige, for her early death, saying that he was more concerned
about making money than he was with taking care of his sick wife. I now know she did not
die when he was 16 because she was alive in 1900 and shows up in the
census records for Paris, Lamar Co., Texas. That is part of the mystery
that still needs to be resolved. Lige Gooch may not have been the
villain that I thought he was because there are two sides to every
story.
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John Wesley Phillips & Willie Katherine "Kate" Callahan.
Married in 1889 in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory. Parents of
Walter Lee Phillips. They were both common salt of the earth people with
no frills. John was laid back and Kate was high energy. John considered
himself to be the manager of the family. It was a matter of pride. At
harvest time, the wife and children would do the heavy work of picking
cotton while John stayed on the wagon, which was parked in the shade.
When the wagon was full, he hauled it to the cotton gin in town. I
believe this trait was passed down to him by his father, Calvin, who was
raised as a Cherokee. Indian men were hunters and warriors and they did
not get involved with child rearing or domestic chores. John died in
1939. Kate died in 1950. They are buried side by side in the White Point
Cemetery near Comanche, Texas. A severely retarded daughter named Lizzie
is buried with them.
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Jesse James Gooch & Bessie Fannen. Married December 26,
1901 in Paris, Lamar Co., TX. Parents of Mava Opal Gooch. He is the main
reason I started this research project back in 1995. He died many years
before I was born. My mother passed on many stories about him. He talked about growing up somewhere in the old south.
She often said "Carolina", as I remember it. I have found nothing to
indicate Jess ever lived in either of the Carolinas, although there are
family links there. His father was
named Lige and he described him as a mean spirited and cruel man who
hated the Negroes. The years between about 1880 and 1915 in his life
were pretty much a mystery. I set to work on unraveling the mystery
around old Jess. I was able to untangle some of it, but there are still
many questions that need to be answered. My mother never knew her
natural mother, Bessie. Jesse and Bessie were together in 1910, living
in Ada, Oklahoma - as proven by census records. They parted under
mysterious circumstances shortly after that. My mother remembered living
with a family in Snyder, Oklahoma as a small child. Her father picked
her up and brought her to the little town of Mullin, Texas around 1915,
when she was 6 years old. It seems like he was hiding and wanted to stay off the beaten
path. He apparently had good reasons for it. Within a few years he married a widow lady with 3 young daughters
still at home. It was a marriage of convenience - he needed a caregiver
for his little daughter and she needed help with providing for herself
and the three girls. He died January 31, 1935 in Brownwood, Brown
Co., Texas. He is buried in the White Point Cemetery near Comanche,
Texas. You can read more about Jess and others in my Gooch family line by clicking here. |
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Walter Lee Phillips & Ethyl Beaty. Married in 1916 in
TX. Parents of four daughters. Parted by divorce about 1931. My father never talked much about this marriage. It was a chapter of his life that he had closed many years ago. I know they had four daughters. The only one I ever met was Jewel ("Judy"), who was born in 1917. The other girls were younger, born 2 or 3 years apart. . After their divorce, Ethyl married an Army officer. It was the days of the great depression. Dad gave up his parental rights because it was the best thing to do - for the girls sake. |
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Eustice Houston Price & Mava Opal Gooch. Married 1925 in Coleman, Coleman Co., TX. Parents of Loretta June Price. They were parted by the the unexpected death of Eustice in 1928. He was the love of my mother's life. Losing him at that early age was a tragedy in her life. |
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Merle Reid & Mava Opal Gooch. Married about 1930 in
Brownwood, Brown Co., TX. Parted by annulment in 1931. They married too
fast and were simply not compatible. Merle was not prepared for taking
over the father role for a young child that was not his. My mother was
still deeply in love with Eustice and remained so for the rest of her
life. Mother would later admit that none of the men in her life could ever replace Eustice in her
heart.
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Walter Lee Phillips & Mava Opal Gooch. Married in 1933
in TX. Parents of Dalton Ray Phillips and four other sons. Parted by
divorce in 1956 in Rotan, Fisher Co., TX. He is buried in the White
Point Cemetery near Comanche, Texas
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Joe Stanley Howard & Mava Opal Gooch. Married in 1962 in
Rotan, Fisher Co., TX. Parted by the death of Joe Stanley on April 25,
1970.
Joe is buried in the Dow Community Cemetery near Rotan, Texas. Mava
lived until December 23, 1976, when she died in Sweetwater, Texas. She is
buried in the White Point Cemetery near Comanche, Texas - next to her
father.
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Dalton Ray Phillips & Dorothy Katherine (Kathy) Herring. Married April 26,
1994 in Jacksonville, Duval Co., FL. Parted by the death of Kathy on March 20, 2015 in Temple, Bell Co., TX.
Kathy was my wife and my best friend. We moved from Florida back to our
native Texas in 2004. We shared many good times and some bad times
together. Losing Kathy was very painful for me.
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Dalton Ray Phillips & Linda Diane May. Married March 24, 2016 in
Sweetwater, Nolan Co., TX. We had a short romance back in the middle
1970's, when we were both single and unattached. I was 29 and she was
18. It did not work out for us. Fate brought us back together again in January
of 2016, when I was 69 and she was 58. I had lost my first wife, Kathy,
and Linda had been divorced for several years. Within a few months, we
were married. We now live together in marital bliss in New Haven,
Indiana. She is the sunshine in my life - my Lovely Linda. She also does
all of the driving, since failing eyesight makes it impossible for me to
have a driver's license.
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* Records marked as <UNVERIFIED CONNECTION> should not be accepted as facts without further research. I believe the family links are there, as described, but it has not been possible for me to prove it. Especially in the Gooch lines, everything gets muddled and it all runs together because so many of them had the same first names with similar birthdates.
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Send E-mail to drphill@mailcity.com
