The Goff Connection

Our Spence-Nace ancestors are connected to the Goffs. Mary Lucy Goff (daughter of Archibald) married Andrew Frederick Spence on December 19, 1849. Their daughter Sulmana (also spelled Sulminia/Sulmena) Frances Spence married William Robert Nace in 1882. 


Here's the Goff line, starting as far back as I can find documentation:

Willyam Goffe

I

William Goffe (died 1660 in Virginia) & Martha Baxter

I

Thomas Goffe (b. 1656; d. after 1720 in Essex Co, VA) & Margaret
(1st wife Martha; 2nd wife Margaret)

I

John Goff (died 1763 in Amherst Co, Va) & Ann Tinsley (1700-1763)

I

John Goff, Jr. & Mary "Polly" (possibly Tittle?)

(2nd wife Priscilla Standley—married Oct. 31, 1782)

I

Archibald Goff & Mary (Polly) Harrison (married March 29, 1810) 

I

Mary Lucy Goff & Andrew F. Spence (married Dec. 19, 1849)

I

Sulmena* Frances Spence & William Robert Nace
(married Dec. 28, 1882)  

The first Goff in the Amherst/Bedford County, Virginia, area was John, who made a will in 1762. Here's some information about him that I found Bedford County, VA Goffs on the Goff-Gough site:

His son—also named John—was born about 1740 and died in 1831. He was married twice. His first wife, Mary, whom he married about 1760 in Amherst County, was apparently the mother of his two oldest sons: Christopher (who died between 1830 and 1840) and Archibald. Mary was born in 1740 and died before 1782. 

John's second wife, Priscilla Standley (or Stanley), whom he called Prossella in his will, was a Quaker, who was dismissed by the church for marrying outside her faith. The daughter of Pleasant Stanley and Sarah McGhee, Priscilla was born in 1760 in Bedford County and died in 1855.  

Here is a list of  this John's children:

Here this John's will, in which John Jr. mentions his son Archibald:

More info about John's will: 

 Archibald, born about 1780 in Bedford, Virginia, was apparently married to a Sallie (?) before he married Polly Harrison, daughter of Battaile Harrison and Frances Tinsley, on March 29, 1810. Polly's line runs deep into old Virginia:

Although I can't find his death date, Archibald was 70 years old at the time of the 1850 Bedford census. His occupation listed as farmer. It is likely that Polly was the mother of Mary Lucy Goff, since Mary was married to Andrew F. Spence in 1849 and thus would likely have been born several years after 1810. Mary's daughter named her eldest daughter Mary Lucy.

Many of the early Bedford County Goffs lived on Goff Mountain:

After her marriage, Mary would most likely have lived with her husband in nearby Big Island, Virginia, also in Bedford County. In the map below, "A" marks Goff Mountain; Big Island, on the James River, is at the right. (You can see Big Island if you click the picture to enlarge it.) At some point, they moved to Buchanan in Botetourt County.

Mary Lucy Goff Spence's daughter, having married a Nace, would eventually live in Lithia in Botetourt County. As the crow flies, Big Island is only 14 miles from Buchanan (near Lithia). By twisting mountain roads, the distance would be much longer.

Update: Andrew F. Spence and his wife Mary Lucy Goff Spence moved from Bedford County to Buchanan in Botetourt County, VA, when their daughter was fifteen. There Sulmana Frances Spence no doubt met William Robert Nace.

~