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Eleanor Josephine Goff was a daughter of Stephen and Helen (Ellis) Goff. She was born in Cherokee, Iowa on December 22, 1883. She had two older sisters, one six years older (Maude), and one eight years older (Lillian). Another girl was born to Stephen and Helen who would have been five years older, but she died less than two years after she was born. Her name was Josephine E. Goff, and we wonder if her middle name might have been Eleanor. If so, then Stephen and Helen's last daughter (Eleanor Josephine) might have had the deceased child's name but in reverse. It was probably important to Helen to name a daughter after her mother, Eleanor. Helen herself was probably named after Eleanor (who was known as "Ellen"). Helen had a sister named Anna Josephine who lived in Cherokee, and that is probably where Eleanor Goff's middle name came from. And Eleanor Goff's oldest daughter would be named "Helen" after her mother . (And her daughter Helen would name her first daughter "Helen," also...That's where it ended.) Eleanor also had two brothers older than she was, and three more brothers were born after she was, though one of them apparently died soon after birth. His name was Carlton C. Goff. The next son born to Stephen and Helen, though called "Carl," was named Stephen Carlton Goff, Jr. This might be another case of a subsequent child taking the name of a deceased sibling, and of course they would want to name a son after his father. When they got a chance to do it again, they gave him the father's entire name (and their last son, Frederick, was named after Stephen Goff's father).
Photo provided by Marge and Bob Witcraft |
| We recall that we were told that this was Eleanor and her sister Maude, but Maude was six and a half years older than Eleanor and it seems more likely that this was Maude and another sister, Lillian, probably in the late 1880s. Lillian was born on October 4, 1875, Maude was born April 11, 1877 and Eleanor ("Ellie") was born December 22, 1882. |
Back to Eleanor Josephine Goff, the subject of this biography, whom we've now surrounded with brothers and sisters, parents, and a couple of grandparents. You can read more about her grandparents, Melinda Crandall, and Eleanor Rankins and Robert Ellis, and about Eleanor's parents, and Frederick Goff, Stephen's father (whom you can read about on Stephen Goff's biography) by clicking on these underlined links. Meantime, though, there's much more to say about Eleanor Goff, though some will be left to the next (and comparatively very short) edition of this family project, which will focus mainly on the next generation after Eleanor's.
To the next page on Eleanor Goff
Stephen Goff & Helen Ellis and Families
Cherokee, Iowa - Picture Links