Liberty University - HIST 701 - Module 7 - Blog - Family Genealogy

 Wilson Genealogy 

"Still Fishermen After All These Years"

I am fortunate enough to be able to trace my family tree back 8 generations, to the early to mid-1700's, with potential leads going back even further. While I have included some new information in this post - mainly that of DNA results - the new data only confirms what was passed down to me from my paternal grandmother, Mildred Wilson.

As my Grandma Mildred Wilson (paternal mother) once shared with me, we had documented family names and dates which told an all-to-common story - that of European immigrants coming to the British Colonies in America. The "Goheen Brothers" as they were called (maternal line surname) were fishermen from the British Isles who found themselves shipwrecked off the coast of Wales. As the story goes, they were rescued by an immigrant ship heading west; they were able to strike a contract purchasing their passage - the price consisted of contracts of indentured servitude.

They eventually prospered in the New England area, eventually moving to Canada and Michigan before making the trek south to Georgia and Florida in the mid-1800s. 

One relative, Reverend Walter Robins (d 1934), was a Methodist minister who found himself serving as Pastor at Ley Memorial Church in Key West immediately after a series of hurricanes (possibly in 1926) devastated the region. Rev Robins was listed as a Local Elder in the Journal of the Florida Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1932. Even though he survived the move to the Keys, his marriage didn't. In a letter dated August (year unknown) to my Great Grampa Ira Goheen (d 1967), he mentions his wife, Martha, is "up in Kentucky somewhere and never, never coming back." Evidently, this was the 5th time in 3 years she had "had enough" and left.

Pastor Robins closes out his last letter with, "God still lives and Prayer changes things," with a final familial plea to "Remember me to Mildred, Leatha, and all of them. Pray for me."

Eventually settling north of Tampa in the early 1900's, my ancestors planted deep roots. My great uncle Sydney was the first boy born in Lutz, Florida and would grow up following much the same path as others - part time farmer, railway worker, carpenter, and preacher. This next image is from a collection housed in the history department of the University of South Florida.

My 2nd great grandparents were founding members (and builders) of the Lutz United Brethren Church in 1914; this church would become the First United Methodist Church, the church I was baptized and married in.  

Liberty University - HIST 701 - Module 3 - Blog - "Early American Christianity"

Popular Views of Christianity in America - Late 1800's

In the January 3rd, 1857 edition of Harper's Weekly, the author states there are three institutions vital for the success of a civilization: the Family, The Church, and the State (in that order). "It will be seen at a glance that the Family, the Church, and the State mutually and powerfully influence each other, and that their aggregate fruits constitute the civilization of any people" (Harpers Weekly, 1857). 

The periodical goes on to state "The influence of the Family and the Church upon civilization in Mohammedan and Pagan lands is not so open to our view. We find, however, clearly this one great fact, that the civilization of these lands is greatly inferior to the civilization of Christian countries." Furthermore, those nations outside of the Christian faith are at a stand-still regarding their development, and are "sickly and decaying." If only the writers knew what trials of faith the United States would soon face...

American Christianity During the American Civil War

During America's Civil War, the perspective of what would quickly become the “Confederate States of America” was that slavery - particularly in terms of African slaves - was ordained by God and upheld in the Holy Scripture; thus began the South’s embrace of religion as its moral defense and its motive force (Stout, 2024). Recent scholarship has shown that religion stood at the center of the Civil War for both sides. Leaders as well as common soldiers on both the North and South sides looked to God for meaning in the face of the War's brutality, and numerous ministers proclaimed that God would determine the outcome. Since colonial times, clergy and politicians alike proclaimed themselves God’s “chosen people." Now, the Civil War would test both God's favor as well as the survivability of the American political experiment.

Throughout the war, however, the flame of Christian faith continued to burn, as shown by a letter from Catherine Siscoe of Illinois to Private Justus Norse where she explains the happiness she feels in accepting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. 

Image 1. Letter from Siscoe to Pvt Morse (ca. 1864)

This is not to say there wasn't disagreement amongst learned men regarding the role Christianity was to play in "real life." Sawyer argued in the December 16, 1864 edition of The Liberator that faith and the Scriptures are only as good as the men who preach them. "The Scriptures are not given us to supplement reason, or to supersede it, but to serve it. They reveal God and his laws as apprehended by the wise and good, whose experience and opinions they report. How far they reveal God and his laws correctly we must determine by their evidences of the faiths respecting them which they teach; and by other legitimate and reliable information (Sawyer, 1864)."

As a result of the segregation within Christian society, numerous all-black congregations and denominations were established. Colonel Henry McNeal Turner was the first African American chaplain commissioned by the United States Government and, during the Civil War, Colonel Turner was appointed chaplain of a regiment by President Lincoln. He was later ordained minister and bishop for the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and his popularity amongst the citizens allowed him to serve briefly in the Georgia State Legislature. Not to be confined to our shores, he actively promoted the African colonization movement and helped organize AME churches in South Africa, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. 

Sources and Bibliography

(Note about Image 1: Morse was a Private in the 47th Indiana Volunteers, Co. G. This collection begins with Morse headed South with his unit, fighting in Missouri, Tennessee, and then in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, good letters of the fights and activities. The correspondence ends with a large group of letters from the City Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, where Morse is recovering from his wounds and from 'Fistula;' he writes accurately and eloquently about the hospital and the people there, both soldiers and medical people. ("Papers and Images of the American Civil War" - National Humanities Center, http://www.americanhistory.amdigital.co.uk/, Sabin American, Jerry Falwell Library))

“HarpWeek - Electronic Access to Harper’s Weekly.” n.d. Accessed July 13, 2024. https://harp-alexanderstreet-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/view/article/text/10009/18894.

“Ministry During the Civil War · ‘Gladly Laid Upon the Country’s Altar’: Methodists and the American Civil War · Drew University Library Special Collections.” n.d. Accessed July 12, 2024. https://omeka.drew.edu/exhibits/show/civil-war/ministry.

“Accessible Archives | Search.” n.d. Accessed July 13, 2024. https://www-accessible-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/accessible/print.

“C. Siscoe to Justus Morse Regarding Her Embracing Christianity.” 1864, August 21, 1864. http://www.americanhistory.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/GLC02170.56.

Stout, Harry. 2024. “Religion in the Civil War: The Southern Perspective.” National Humanities Center. Diving America: Religion in American History. July 12, 2024. https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/cwsouth.htm.