Goff Family History - Part 3

Ruth Goff Lloyd

Introduction

This account was submitted by Melbourne and Leone Lloyd.

Narrative

Ruth Goff was the daughter of Thomas Goff and Harriet Smith. There were 11 children in the Goff family. She was born at Long Whatton, Leicestershire, England, October 16, 1856. She was baptized in 1864.

May 23,1866, she sailed for America with her parents, her brother, Heber and two sisters, Mary Ann and Naomi. They crossed the ocean on the sailing ship, “The American Congress”, and it took 6 weeks to reach America, due to the strong winds. Sometimes they would sail backwards instead of going forward. The trip was long and tiresome.

Then came the long journey across the plains. They crossed the plains in Captain Joseph R. Rawlins’ Ox Company.

After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, October 1,1866, they located in the West Jordan area, which included the town of Midvale at that time. Their first home was an adobe one room home near the banks of the Jordan River, later moving into a log house with sand floors and a dirt roof.

Many hardships and trying times were endured by the family. They helped clear the land and prepared it for planting. They fought the grasshoppers who ate the crops and left them in very poor circumstances.

They were the parents of 11 children:

• John Thomas married Effie Ann Brown;
• William Henry married Mary Ann Newbold;
• Mary Ann married Charles H. Osborne;
• Harriet Alice died in childhood;
• Joseph Amos married Ada Newbold;
• Ruth Ethel married Oscar Johnson;
• Eliza Mae married Howard Beckstead;
• Hyrum Laffayette;
• Clara Jane;
• Zina Vilate;
• Heber Emery married Birdella Lloyd.

Heber Emery was about 2 years old when his mother died. His sister Ethel cared for him for a while and then his brother Thomas, took him into his family and cared for him as one of their own children until he married.

Ruth died and was buried in the Sandy Cemetery.

John Thomas lived in the home after the parents died, until his death. The home still stands and is now owned by Delmar and Delbert Lloyd (1963).

John Lloyd and Ruth Goff Lloyd

John Lloyd was born April 17, 1855 in Aberkinlig, Glamorgan, Wales. He was the son of Daniel Lloyd and Mary Lewis. He joined the church there in 1865 and served as a home missionary there in his native land from 1870 to 1874. He then immigrated to Utah in May 30, 1874. After coming to Utah he worked for President Brigham Young and Elias M. Morris for a while.

He then moved to the West Jordan area which comprised of what is now Midvale also, and obtained work at the smelter which had been built there. Here he boarded with Hyrum Lancaster and his mother, so he must have been the only member of his family to come to this country.

On November 15, 1875, he married Ruth Goff. He and Ruth and Hyrum Lancaster and Mary Ann, who was Ruth's sister moved into the Sandy area at what is now 9600 South and 5th West, where they homesteaded some property extending to the Jordan River and bordering on the Wilson property to the south. They also continued to work at the smelter.

Their first home was a 'dug-out' on the river bank; while they homesteaded and built a home, as they could afford it they built nice brick homes. John's home was on the west side of the RR tracks. His home still stands.

He was called back on a mission to Aberkenlig, Wales, August 1,1896 and returned home July 23.1898. His wife died, he then married a widow, Mary Young of Union. She and her family moved to Crescent to live for a time and then they moved to her home in Union to live.

His son, John Thomas then moved into the home and at this writing (1963) it is owned by grandsons Delmar, and Delbert Lloyd. John died at the home in Union, January I, 1919. Burial was in the Sandy Cemetery.

Editor's Notes

This document is the most recent of many editions.

1. Kory L. Ainsworth transcribed and edited parts 1 and 2 of this document on 18 August 2001. He edited part 3 on 27 November 2001. He added and edited part 4 on 16 December 2001.
2. The source document for parts 1 and 2 was a typed transcript created many years ago by his mother, L. Jane (Goff) Ainsworth, a Goff descendent.
3. The source document for part 4 was a typed transcript created about 1990 by Cindy (Jensen) Goff, daughter-in-law of Ielo and Grace Goff, married to Michael.

This edition contains many corrections of spelling and grammar from the original documents, but great effort has been made to maintain the content and context of the original narrative.

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