by Phillip G. Goff, GGFA Director of Genetic Genealogy
This is the fourth of a ten-part series on early Goffe families in England.
The West Sussex (UK) Record Office (“WSRO”) maintains a database of online historical records. In West Sussex, like elsewhere in the south and east of England, Goffe is the earliest form of the surname. The Goff spelling appears in the WRSO online documents by the 16th century. West Sussex references to Gough appear as early as the mid-16th century, much earlier than in other counties in south and east of England. Below is a partial list of abstracted records of Goffe entries in the WSRO http://185.121.204.173/searchonline/advanced.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog from 1502 to 1682:
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.