About the Collection
The Gooch Family Papers, 1754-1947, collection contains loose papers written by or belonging to members of the Gooch family. John Gooch (1780-1840), a plantation owner of Chester District, S.C., was the father of Henry H. Gooch (1811-1883) of Lancaster District, S.C., who married Martha Trusdel Gooch (1812-1892) in 1832. Their son, Henry H. Gooch, Jr. (b. 1842) married Mary J. McIlwain in 1869. Mary Lula Gooch (b. 1872), (daughter of Henry H. Gooch, Jr.?), married Halcott J. Beckham, who was the son of Lewis A. Beckham and Charlotte Massey.
The collection consists of documents outlining the “conditions” that must be “complied” upon hiring an enslaved person, a list of enslaved persons hired by the Gooch family, papers concerning freed persons, various payments for the purchase of enslaved persons, and a mortgage for five enslaved persons.
