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.