On the trail of a unique family name in Lewes history

Sometimes I look at the African American cemetery on Pilottown Road in Lewes. Old gravestones spread beneath the branches of one of Delaware’s largest hackberry trees. I have been told that veterans of the Civil War, African American men who fought on the side of the Union, are buried there. So too are relatives, probably descendants, of Cato Lewis, who, I’ve come to know through the years, was an African American shipbuilder who plied his trade in the vicinity of today’s Canalfront Park. Lewis was one of a handful of African American shipbuilders along the East Coast.

There’s so much history. We barely even scratch the surface. Seven lifetimes could be spent tracing the history of the African Americans in Sussex County and then another seven trying to bring into focus the thousands of years of history of Native Americans who lived here and died here. Even then we would know relatively little.

All of this arises as a result of condemnation notices placed recently on the front doors of two dwellings on Chestnut Street in Lewes. I never knew much about the two humble houses, but, as it is with knowledge acquired largely through osmosis, I was aware that they were occupied for decades by members of the Gooch family.

I knew Nancy, the friendly and outgoing mother of several Gooch children, including Nancy, who is married to Bill Collick; Ronald, who many of us know as Beau, former police chief in Lewes; Wayne and Linda Jo; Mark, who I’ve always known as Froggie; and Eric. I’m still working on getting family history, so there may be more children. In the meantime, I apologize if I’ve missed any.

Nancy worked for many years at Beebe Healthcare when it was known simply as Beebe Hospital. The connections to Beebe don’t end there. Nancy’s father, Ernest, worked for Drs. James and Richard Beebe back in the 1920s and probably earlier. Lewes historian Hazel Brittingham recalls that Ernest worked for the father of the brothers Beebe, also named Richard. Ernest helped haul sand for the blocks that Richard manufactured near Blockhouse Pond for his sons’ first hospital. Then, when construction was complete, he went to work for the Beebe doctors and drove the hospital’s first ambulance.

Before that though, I know nothing of the Gooch history and how the family came to reside in Lewes.

In Virginia, west of Richmond, lies Goochland County.

According to an article on the Wikipedia site, Sir William Gooch named the county in his own honor. Gooch served as Royal Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, for the English king, from 1727 to 1749. Is Goochland County the ancestral American home for the Gooches of Lewes?

My search continues. I’ll let you know what I learn.