One-Name Study: GOHEEN

Our search begins with Norman Ray GOHEEN of Mesa, Arizona. He was born 20 Nov 1922 and died 7 Feb 2002 in Mesa. He married Phillis Loraine PEARSON.

We see little Norman in the 1930 census:

1930 federal census
Ridgeway, Orleans County, New York
Enumeration District 28, sheet 2A
GOHEEN, Ray head, 38, born in Michigan, father from Michigan, mother from Michigan, farmer
GOHEEN, Eva A. wife, 36, Michigan Michigan Michigan
GOHEEN, Ellen M. dau, 12, MI
GOHEEN, Norman R. son, 7, NY

Now that we know his father’s name, we check the 1920 census and find:

1920 federal census
Clinton, Lenawee Co., MI (Norcross Road)
ED 65, sheet 14B
GOHEEN, Raymond head, 28, MI MI MI, farmer
GOHEEN, Eva A. wife, 25, MI Ireland MI
GOHEEN, Margaret E. dau, 2y1m (as of 26 Jan), MI
GOHEEN, Fred M. father, 60, widowed, MI NY NY, farm laborer

Now we know the name of Raymond’s father, so we look back to 1910.

1910 federal census
Clinton, Lenawee Co., MI
ED 58, sheet 15B
GOHEEN, Fred M. head, 50, md 22 yrs, MI NY NY, farmer
GOHEEN, Mary wife, 46, md 22 yrs, mother of 3 with 2 living, MI Ire MI
GOHEEN, Dale E. son, 21, single, MI
GOHEEN, Ray son, 18, single, MI
(next family)
GOHEEN, John V. head, 50, md 27 yrs, NY PA PA, farmer
GOHEEN, Esther wife, 51, md 27 yrs, Ire Ire Ire, to US in 1880

Barbara Cissone has contributed a database to Ancestry.com that shows that Fred GOHEEN was born in July 1859 and was the son of Edward W. GOHEEN (1822-1903) and Charlotte T. NIBLACK (1826-1894). C. NIBLACK was the daughter of John NIBLACK and Hannah HARRISON. See more information at http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/pedigree.aspx?tid=4691844&pg=0#pedigree=-1563941522.

That database also tells that Edward W. GOHEEN was born 16 Nov 1822 in Groveland, Livingston Co., NY and died 16 Nov 1903 in Macon, Lenawee, MI.

An entry in GenForum (http://genforum.genealogy.com/goheen/messages/122.html) by Thomas Lannon Cobb says the following:

“Charles Edward Goheen (1833-1865) m. Mary Cullum. They had a son, "Vance", more than likely "John Vance" named after his uncle of same name. "Little Vance" was lost touch with. Charles died in the Civil War having served with the 13th Michigan Infantry. He was the son of John Goheen (1796-1866) and Elizabeth Headly (1797-1882) who are buried in Brookside Cemetery, Tecumpseh. He was also the brother of my great, great grandfather Edward Wells Goheen (1822-1903) who m. Charlotte T. Niblack (1826-1894). My mother, Mary Evelyn Goheen Cobb was also born on the family homestead in Tecumpseh.”

This explains the relationship between Fred and John in the 1910 census record, above, and how they could live side-by-side, be of the same age, and have parents from different states. It also tells us the name of Edward’s father: John GOHEEN (1796-1866).

The biography of John V. GOHEEN appears in full via GoogleBooks (http://books.google.com/books?id=xXaEwGmbkKUC&pg=PA615&lpg=PA615&dq=Lenawee+Goheen&source=bl&ots=USGSTAWrxJ&sig=gPGvyEwPCA94Cx3AkdvLjcKm_0I&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA614,M1) as an image from the book “Memoirs of Lenawee County, Michigan” by Richard Illenden Bonner, printed in 1909. Among other items, it tells that his father bought 160 acres in Clinton Township, Lenawee County, several years before Michigan joined the union in 1837. According to the article, John Vance GOHEEN was the son of John GOHEEN, born 13 Jan 1796 in Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth HEADLEY, born also in Pennsylvania, on 14 Sep 1797. They moved to Michigan in 1831. The article is a definite must-see. Search for GOHEEN and LENAWEE and follow the results to the GoogleBooks images.

A message recorded at Rootsweb (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NIBLACK/2006-08/1154514697) tells the following:

From: "Cindy Brown"
Subject: Re: [NIBLACK] The PA connection for Niblack!
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 06:31:37 -0400
References: <009f01c6b5ff$8e741ce0$2de90740@bates02>

Sue,
I sure wish I can tie in my Niblacks with your Niblacks. They seemed to
follow from PA to OH to MI, but mine went to Hillsdale County not Lenawee
County. I know they have to be related, why else would they follow the same
route? Unfortunately I haven't nor taken the time to work on my research.

Cindy Brown

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sue & Bobby Bates"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 2:47 AM
Subject: [NIBLACK] The PA connection for Niblack!


From "Portrait and Biographical Album of Lenawee County Michigan",
published 1888: "E. W. Goheen is of Welsh descent, and is the eldest son
of John Goheen, whose father, Edward Goheen, was a native of Wales, but
came with his parents to America when he was a young child, about the time
of the American Revolution. They located in Pennsylvania or New York,
where Edward grew to manhood, and married Christiana Roup, who was of
German descent, and some of whose ancestors were early settlers in New
York State. They spent the first few years of their married life in
Northumberland County, PA, where Mr. Goheen followed the trade of hand
weaver. They afterward removed to Groveland Township, Livingston Co., NY
where he continued his occupation of a weaver until his death at the age
of thirty-six. His widow survived him many years, and lived to come to
Michigan with her son, and died here in 1845."
"E. W. Goheen, of this sketch, was born in Groveland, Livingston Co.,
NY, Nov. 16, 1822. He was reared in his native State, and being an
intelligent lad, eagerly took advantage of his chances for attending
school. When we was nineteen years old, he spent one winter in school,
where he made rapid progress in his studies and was fitted for teaching,
which vocation he pursued for awhile before his marriage. That important
event in his life occurred in Saline, Washtenaw County, on the 13th of
March 1859, whe ne was united to Miss Charlotte, daughter of John and
Hannah (Harrison) Niblack, natives of Pennsylvania.

John and Hannah had both been in NJ and NY prior to PA but this verifies
that they came from PA to MI.
Best,
SueB”

This gives us the next generation, Edward GOHEEN, born in Wales and moved as a child to America with his parents, and his wife Christian ROUP.

So far we have Norman Ray GOHEEN, son of
Raymond (abt 1892), son of
Fred M. (1859, MI), son of
Edward W. (1822, NY), son of
John (1796, PA)
Edward (abt 1760, Wales or PA)

Let’s see if we can learn the names of the Welsh parents. An entry in Ancestry.com’s One World Tree says Edward was born in 1776 and that he was from Bucks County, PA, but it doesn’t name his parents. Other entries in the Public Member Trees of that site says that Edward was Edward Francis GOHEEN. They suggest that he was indeed born in Pennsylvania, and that his parents were Richard GOHEEN and Catherine BESSONET. There are four entries with this identical information, so it may be that they are copied from each other. None provide sources. Another entry in the Ancestry World Tree provides sources that show that Richard GOHEEN was born in 1723 in PA or Wales and married Catherine de BESSONET in the Old Swedes Church in Philadelphia on 29 May 1755. His father, according to that record, was John GOHEEN, born about 1690 in Wales. His mother was Anna, last name unknown. From this couple came 6 children, including four married sons who spread the GOHEEN name throughout America.

The source was Joshua Blotzer, JTCFrogger1985@aol.com and it was contributed on 13 JUL 2007..

So, adding to the table above, we have:

Richard (1723)
John (1690, Wales)

That’s seven generations back from Norman and takes us across the ocean. That’ll do!