index of persons
index of surnames
complete list of 102 names
list of 13 persons assumed living
cleaned GEDCOM file (85K)

Goucher is the least well understood part of my family tree.  This database goucher  is a study of surname Goucher (and variations) in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

This database reflects work in progress.  For the current status of my Census research, see Notes under George E. Goucher (1836-1897).

The three longest lines in this database have earliest ancestors who are:

1. Robert Goucher b.abt.1680, who came from France abt.1697.  He was the g-g-g-grandfather of Rev. Dr. John Franklin Goucher 1845-1922, the founder of Women's College of Baltimore (later renamed Goucher College).
2. William Goucher b.abt.1795, the ancestor of six generations of Gouchers in Stroudsburg, PA.
3. My g-g-grandfather Thomas H. Goucher (abt.1810-abt.1845) of Philadelphia.

A skeleton in the closet (maybe):

I now believe that Lucy C. Goucher (1868-1916) was the married sister-in-law, and not the unmarried sister, of my grandmother Eleanore Edwards Goucher (1877-1950).  I believe Lucy was abandoned by her husband (Eleanore's unknown half-brother), and my grandparents not surprisingly described her as Eleanore's unmarried sister in order to avoid embarrassment.  Eleanore was the youngest of seven children, including (probably) five by a different mother.  One sibling is unaccounted for, unless Lucy and her husband were both counted!  My theory will be proved if Lucy's marriage certificate to a Goucher is found; or disproved if her birth certificate shows her to be Eleanore's half-sister.

Current priorities:

1. marriage certificate of Lucy ___ to ??? Goucher, probably in Brooklyn around 1885-1890.
2. birth certificate of Lucy Goucher, Jan. 1868 in NY (probably Brooklyn).  I believe that Goucher was not Lucy's father's name, but that needs to be confirmed.
3. birth certificate of Eleanore's half-brother George W. Goucher, July 1866 in NY, probably Brooklyn.
4. birth certificate of Eleanore's father George E. Goucher, abt. 1836 in PA, probably Philadelphia.
5. birth certificate of Eleanore's mother Jane Clementine Wiggins, Aug. 1840 in PA, probably Philadelphia.

The file goucher.ged of 3/22/98  (102 names) was exported by Family TreeMaker 4.4 in FTM GEDCOM 5.5 format. With the use of GEDCLEAN, information was censored for living persons, except for name, gender, and relationship.  A person was assumed dead if born before 1898.

GED2HTML v3.0b cannot properly handle the GEDCOM output of FTW version 4.  To avoid this problem, the GEDCOM file was pre-processed with scripts fixftm40.csh and fixftm40.ed.   Then, in crocker.com, a Linux 2.0.0 (Posix) system, the GEDCOM file was converted to HTML with GED2HTML 3.0b (Linux ELF version of 5/28/97). Custom files options3.g2h and custom3.g2h were used to include the birth and death dates of parents, spouses, and children.

Database goucher was submitted to Gene Stark's GENDEX and to Chris Perry's GENMATCH as database goucher, and to Cliff Manis' GENSERV as database mera8de.

Questions regarding database goucher should be directed to merrill@crocker.com

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Deane Merrill, merrill@crocker.com