The Goree FamilyAuthor(s): Victoria CrossSource: The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Summer, 1953), pp. 115-118Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40037926 .

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THE GOREE FAMILY

By Victoria Cross Fayetteviile, Arkansas*

The Goree Family has always been under the impres- sion that their forefathers came to America during the Huguenot emigration, but research seems to point to the fact that the first of the family came to America a short time before the Revolution, and settled on one side of a river in South Carolina. A Welsh colony lived on the other side of the river, the two peoples intermarried, the French colonists modified their names and accepted the religion of their Baptist neighbors, the Welsh. Just what the river was has not been verified, but there are numerous Welsh names among those who married into the family, and abundant traces of the Baptist faith.

Many of the Huguenots came to America by way of England, Holland, or the West Indies, but it appears ac- cording to Hirsch in his Huguenots of South Carolina, that the Gorees came with Pastor John Louis Gilbert, a French- man, who under contract with the English government brought over 371 French people in 1764, settling them at Long Canes, about forty miles from the present town of Newberry, South Carolina. They were to receive land grants at the rate of one hundred acres for each family head and fifty acres for each white or black man, woman or child in the family. They called their town "New Bordeaux," many of them having come from Bordeaux, France. Transactions Number 19, of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, states that they were "to apply themselves to the culture of vines and silk worms and to such other departments of agriculture as may seem most adapted to the lands assigned to them." Hirsch reported that twenty-seven more families came in 1772 and that separate families continued to come,

*The writer acknowledges gratefully the invaluable assistance of Miss Eddie Sue Goree of Burnet, Texas, a descendant of Langston James Goree, in the compilation of this genealogy.

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TIg ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

up to the Revolution. Most of these people were distress- ingly poor, worn out by several centuries of war and perse- cution in their own land, but because of their character and great industry the British government encouraged their emi- gration by giving them land.

The land grants mentioned above were one hundred and fifty acres on the Tyger River to Edward Goree, and one hundred acres on the Enoree River to Edward Goree, Junior. The indices show that one hundred acres were given to Clement Goree, but the date and location are not given because the grant itself is missing. These grants lie in what was formerly called "Newberry District." Several counties were formed from this district. The courthouses of all these counties except Chester contain numerous wills and land transfers made by Gorees between 1775 and 1867. The court- house in Chester County was in Sherman's line of march and was burned. Only a few records prior to 1865 are to be found there, and several of them concern the Goree family.

There is a record, also, of a bounty of two hundred acres to James Goree, on the Saluda River ; but it was given in 1785 for his services to the South Carolina Continentals. The Historical Commission of South Carolina shows nine Gorees listed among Revolutionary soldiers and patriots. There was James, who gave a wagon and two horses, John and Margaret who gave provisions to the army ; two more Jameses, Ashford, Eleazar, John Ashford and John Junior, who served in the South Carolina Continentals.

John Junior was the ancestor of the Goree family of Arkansas today. He married Lucy Lyles, whose mother was Jo ice Goree Lyles, only they spelled the name Gorefy, a relative of his father's. The children of this union were Joseph, James, Langston, Lucy and Polly. The will books of Newberry County show that John Goree, Junior, died in 1807. Joseph Goree died in 18 16, he named his brothers and sisters, James Lyles, Langston, Lucy Kenner and Polly Ashford as his legatees.

In 1802 John Goree and his wife, Lucy, deeded land on the Enoree River to one of the Henderson's, another relative. The brief description sounds like the same piece

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THE GOREE FAMILY jj^

of land which Edward Goree, Junior, received from George III in 1775.

Lucy Lyles Goree, wife of John Junior, was a widow wThen she married John Junior, her first husband having been a Colonel James Lyles, a Revolutionary hero and a kinsman of her father. She had three daughters by her first marriage. Some unhappiness arose in the family because of a step-parent and James Goree and his brother Langston left home. James and his wife, Martha Rabb sold their place of 466 acres and Langston and his wife, Susan Ken- ner sold their 233 acres. Early in 1830 the two brothers with their families, settled in Marion, Alabama. James dropped the Lyles as his middle name and became James Langston Goree; his brother Langston became Langston James Goree.

James Langston Goree organized Marion Institute, in Marion, Alabama, and became its first president and teacher of mathematics. His name is on the foundation stone and may be seen today. Langston' s family moved to Texas, and many of his descendants are scattered over the state. James wanted to be a doctor so, he prepared himself for that pro- fession and moved to Arkansas. He bought a plantation at Auburn, near what is now Varner. Auburn has long since gone into the Arkansas River, but a vestige of the past re- mains in the Goree stockade at the State Farm at Cum- mings. James Langston Goree married Mary Elizabeth Dixon, of Dixon Springs, Tennessee, and had two sons, James Langston Goree, Jr., and Don Dixon, and two daugh- ters, Lucy and Mollie. Don was drowned. Mention of him was made by Henry M. Stanley in his autobiography, The Life of Henry M. Stanley, and of his entertainment by Dr. Goree in his plantation home. Lucy married Colonel Gregg, and had three sons and five daughters, many of whom are living today in Texas. Mollie married Judge Storey and lived in Harrison, Arkansas. She had two sons and one daughter, both sons became doctors but they died in early life. The daughter and her husband, W. J. Lanier, moved to Forrest City. She is living today and has a large family.

James, Junior went to Louisville, Kentucky to study medicine, following in his father's profession. There he

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jjg ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

met and married Victoria Evans. After a short stay in New Gascony, they moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Five chil- dren were born to them: Victoria, James Langston III, Mary, Evan and Don Dixon. Victoria alone survives. James, an attorney, of Denver, Colorado, died November n, 1952, in Palm Springs, California. Mary died in childhood. Evan married Dr. Gibbs Biscoe. One daughter survives her, Goree Biscoe, a practicing physician of Dumas, Arkansas. Goree married Mickey Westbrook and has two sons, David and Jimmy.

Victoria married Claiy Cross, who died in 1933, leaving four daughters and one son. The eldest, Mollie, married Gerald Starmer, who died in Independence, Kansas, leav- ing her with two daughters, Ann and Mollie ; later she mar- ried Shaffer Haley, of Pine Bluff, whose name the younger child, Mollie has taken. The second daughter, Victoria Goree, married Mack Tarpley, and has one daughter, Vicki. They live in Kansas City, Kansas. Clay Rice Cross, the son, and wife, Nell live on the Cross plantation near Dumas, Arkansas. They have two sons, Clay and Flournoy. Mildred married Griffin Smith, Jr. and lives in Little Rock. Their children are Griffin III, and Leslie. Camille married W. C. Dudney Jr., and lives in Texarkana. They have a son, Billy, and a daughter, Donna Camille.

The Goree name has disappeared with the death of James Langston Goree III without issue. But a cousin who lives in San Diego, a descendant of Langston Goree, who was christened Langston James, has by consent of the court changed his name to James Langston Goree.

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