by Phillip G. Goff, GGFA Director of Genetic Genealogy
This is the eighth of a ten-part series on early Goffe families in England.
The Essex Record Office (ERO) maintains a growing database of online historical records. In Essex, like elsewhere in the south and east of England, Goffe is the earliest form of the surname. The Goff spelling appears in the ERO online documents in the latter part of the 17th century. Essex references to Gough come even later. The below is a partial list of abstracted records of Goffe entries in the ERO https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk from 1569 to 1663:
Each post in this 10-part series on early Goffe families in England will be published on a two-week schedule.
Phillip Goff is the co-author, along with Roy L. Lockhart, of The Four Goff Brothers of Western Virginia. Since 2004, he has run the Goff/Gough Surname DNA Study, which today has about 400 participants.